Apocalyptica + Swallow the Sun
Glasgow ABC, 6th December 2008
Yet again, we get to Glasgow just in time to miss the support. Not because we were stuck in traffic (for once) but because the doors of the ABC open at seven, and the support act are thrown onto the stage at around quarter past, while most of the audience is still queuing round the block. Now apologies to Apocalyptica for hijacking their review with a rant, but this shows very little respect for the support, who are presumably playing to about twenty people when they first come on, most of whom are probably at the bar, or indeed the audience, who paid £12.50 (plus booking fee) for the event and would really like to see the whole thing. And it was freezing.
Not, to be honest, that Swallow the Sun's brand of ponderous, keyboard-laden, melodic, doomy, Scando metal was really my bag anyway – a bit too 'sitting in my room drinking my own blood' for my liking – but that's not the point. I paid to see them, and instead I got to see Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday night, and believe me, that ain't a pretty sight.
Fortunately, Norse heavy metal cello gods Apocalyptica more than make up for the gripes and grumbles. Leaping up from magisterial skull-shaped thrones to wield their instruments like chainsaws (okay, apart from the one who looks as if he'd rather be in Kraftwerk, who stays solidly seated), Apocalyptica combine the pomposity of Spïnal Täp with the ferocious full-on thrash attack of old school Metallica, the flair and showmanship of Steve Vai, the slightly bonkers broken English of Hanoi Rocks and the classical virtuoso skill of Julian Lloyd Webber. Watching their fingers fly up and down the necks of their instruments to the likes of 'Fight Fire With Fire' and 'Bathory' or feeling the hairs on the back of your neck prickle as the deep, resonant, mournful notes of 'Bittersweet' or 'Nothing Else Matters' reach out and pluck your heartstrings is a sheer revelation.
There is simply nothing else in the world like the Apocalyptica experience. If there's a list of musical things you have to do before you die, then experiencing their intense fusion of hardcore classical metal is definitely somewhere near the top (along with the Alice Cooper show and Madam Butterfly). And seeing a thousand Weedgie metallers moshing to 'Hall of the Mountain King' is pretty special too…
Sweden Rock 2008, 5th-8th June 2008
