Live Report: AMORPHIS Live at Milyon Performance Hall, Ankara, Turkey – December 14, 2019

By Prog Sphere on December 25, 2019

Finnish melodic death metal powerhouse Amorphis ended the decade with a three-show mini tour in Turkey, playing Izmir, Ankara and Istanbul between December 13-15. The group is still promoting their latest opus, 2018’s critically acclaimed Queen of Time released via Nuclear Blast, and therefore it was expected to hear and see them performing a setlist that was pretty much intact for the past few months.

For this mini-tour there were no opening acts; Amorphis played a 15-track set with a selection which, beside already mentioned Queen of Time album, also included songs from Under the Red Cloud, Tales from the Thousand Lakes, Elegy, Skyforger, and Eclipse.

Amorphis have gone through a pretty interesting evolution over the years, and Queen of Time is a great example of that, especially considering that the group’s goal with the release was to try something new but also retain the character and vibe that adorned their previous releases. The band sounded absolutely amazing at Milyon Performance Hall in Ankara. The glorious aesthetics of the the stage, evolving around the artwork of Queen of Time, welcomed that very Amorphis sound more so. It’s that ability to maintain a consistency sonically that is a feat on its own, but it’s the entertainment aspect together with precision playing that make this a very well rounded show.

As mentioned, focusing largely on later material with only the occasional nod to earlier works like the popular “Into Hiding,” “My Kantele,” and “Black Winter Day” (which was a part of the encore), Amorphis set out to achieve unity with their fans to embrace the sound that the band want after almost three decades of recording and touring. Judging by the reactions, the crowd was definitely on their side and so Amorphis set forward to display one unique track after another.

Frontman Tomi Joutsen was in a particular good mood that evening too, what’s very important when it comes to the overall atmosphere and interaction with the audience. Although the house wasn’t packed tonight, that’s a sure sign that Amorphis have really been hitting the nail on the head with recent albums and serves as a good indicator of the potential return to the city in the future.

Fan favorites “Silver Bride,” “Black Winter Day” and “House of Sleep” rounded out the set towards the end of the night which seemed to go way too quick even for a Saturday show. But that’s what happens when a show is that enjoyable, time is lost as you soak in the brilliant sounds of a band who have transformed from an innovative metal band to a genius act. The night of 14th of December was about as good as Amorphis has ever been and while a few more older cuts would have been nice, the set we got was still a damn good one.