Arch Enemy w/ Amorphis, Eluveitie, Gatecreeper – O2 Apollo, Manchester – Friday 31st October 2025

It’s Halloween. Doors open at the un-gig-like hour of 1700 and there are even orderly queues inside the foyer of the Apollo awaiting the final doors. The witching hour having been brought forward by several hours there are tricks or treats to be had – probably a bit of both. As we enter, a deep hue of colour covers a busy stage where amidst a hive of activity as finishing touches in preparation for four bands with an international flavour with Metal in common, is completed.

GATECREEPER

A few chugs of of the six string variety (which do sound rather loud – perhaps not enough bodies in the room to soak up some sound as of yet?) and we’re immediately asked, or told, to “put your hands up!” It’s not Robin Hood or another notorious outlaw, but Case Mason (aka Hellahammer), master of ceremonies for the Arizona outfit.. You can tell Gatecreeper is a proper modern metal band by the logo – all roots and branches with the letters concealed within; add a few skulls to the top of the amps and a constant saturated green hue and we’re set.

“SING WITH YOUR FISTS“

Much long haired head shaking is the order of the day as the most recent album, Dark Superstition gets heavily featured. It’s a lost art we think, especially impressive as some co-ordinated hair twirling (one clockwise, one anti clockwise) adds a pleasing symmetry. The vocals might challenge some. You can almost hear old school fans uttering something along the lines of “I can’t tell a word he’s saying…”

The gutteral might be indecipherable to those less familiar but enough are able and willing to join in on some choruses – The Black Curtains “Undead…Unliving” chant being an easy ask. and the encouragement to form a pit as the band launch into pit inducing thrash tempos. The two and a bit minutes of Mistaken For Dead is suitably intense with Flamethrower offers a final chance for a bounce, but reserving some energy, there’s an eye on not peaking too early.

ELUVEITIE

It’s also three years since Amorphis and Eluveitie teamed up at Manchester’s O2 Ritz since when fiddle/violin player Lea-Sophie Fischer has come on board to join the front line alongside Fabienne Erni and Chrigel Glanzmann. Also with a new album – Ànv  – reasonably fresh in the thoughst, Eluveitie take the Metal in a different direction once Ategnatos has clearly established their heavier face.

Immediately noticeable is the upping of the production values. Drums set on a high riser with platforms either side and there’s a cheer as a new backdrop reveals the Ànv  art. The horned figure in a woodland – think Herne The Hunter from Robin Hood, the visual element complementing the racks of distinctly un-Metal instruments. Harp, fiddle/violin. hurdy gurdy sitting vert comfortably with the harsh vocals and electric guitars. The eight piece slip easily from devilishly heavy to churning out Folk metal jigs and reels where the fiddle, whistle or whistleS (plural) as likely to take a lead as the guitar.

“A WONDERFUL SAMHAIN”

Deathwalker does exactly that, but when they head into The Prodigal Ones with Fabienne’s clean and emotive vocals soaring as she twists and crouches elfin-like across the monitors. Not for the first time, they slip into a Symphonic metal groove where a band like Delain exists. All flashing strobes, mane shaking and hip swaying, and Chrigel wishes us “a wonderful Samhain“

The intro to Rose For Epona is recognised and greeted by an increasingly partisan crowd within in few seconds as the mandola rhythm accompanies crunching riffs and a dancing whistle line. Those roots remain intertwined with Death Metal guitar and aching violin merging seamlessly as do the switches in language from English to the ancient. It’s an incongruous but clever and dazzling combination that’s evolved across the past twenty years. The finale of Inis Mona, the oldest song they play sees the guitars step back to power chord on the riser and leave the traditional instruments to line the stage front and take the spotlight.

A simply fantastic and inspirational set that’s going to take some following.

AMORPHIS

Another band armed with a new album. Borderlands is just over a month old as the frontline of Amorphis line up in the dark safely ensconced behind a line of small platforms onto which they occasionally venture. A band that’s more static in the grand scheme, relying on creating an atmosphere of mood lighting and dark backlit silhouettes, yet one that’s perhaps the most melodic and overtly dramatic of the bands on show. The presence of the keyboards and the calm and serene presence of lead guitarist Esa Holopainen make their mark.

RISE – SIR ESA OF HOLOPAINEN

He’s arguably the most emotive musician onstage tonight – watching and listening to him, he seems to be The Edge of Metal; delivering echoing arpeggios that cut through the shadows and lead lines that might challenge the masters of the melodic art in the Gilmours and Hacketts. Check his Silver Lake project for more of the same.

The new record provides the opening number in Bones. A song that could be, and possibly was, written as an opening piece of marching thunder. Think Ghost’s Rats but much heavier and bolder. Anyone noting the hair shaking trend of the evening will be disappointed by the Amorphis showing, restricted by two guitarists with top knots/buns, although singer Tomi Joutsen more than makes up.

Amorphis delivers a sort of ‘greatest hits’ set with Joutsen switching between clean and harsh vocals – The Moon does exactly this, with Holopainen’s nouse for melody and and pumping tempo sets up a tense groove. Death Of A King takes an ethic direction and that guitar tone is just so seductive but pairs with some brow beating riffing. They take Black Winter Day from “one killer of an album” (Tales From The Thousand Lakes) that sits more comfortably with the denser themes of the night, yet the melodies and hooks are back in place for Dream Of Sleep where the crowd, maybe one a second wind know their place for joining in. The Bee plays the same hand; the verses showing Amorphis at their heaviest yet never too far away from a hook in the chorus or a cascading guitar line.

UNDENIABLE HOOKS WITH HEFT

A great set; one that flies by in their 50 minute slot and one that proves a nice pallette cleanser and ship steadier after the buoyancy of Eluveitie. Understated but packed with drama, tension and undeniably catchy hooks drawn from the guitar of the man at stage left.

ARCH ENEMY

Almost three years on from another epic evening, Arch Enemy return to the Apollo on the Blood Dynasty tour, headlining a bill that rivals that night back in ’22. In fact it’s only a year since we saw the show in London with Soilworks and In Flames. Heady days indeed for what they declare to be Pure Fucking Metal.

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE OCCASION

Yes, that curtain. And to give Arch Enemy their due, they certainly deliver what they promise. No issues for the trading standards authorities here. The drum battery of Deceiver Deceiver comes accompanied by giant backlit silhouettes on the curtain before it drops and Alissa White-Gluz is off the blocks, emerging from plumes of smoke, throwing shapes and poses in a striking costume. She’s fully into the spirit of the evening, having aided Papa’s cosmetic case and fully made up in a terrifying ghoulish face mask. Twirling her blue mane at every opportunity, most down by the barrier will spend the set trying to unravel the script on her body hugging catsuit.

A METAL LEGACY

It might be a dose of melodic Death Metal, but the onslaught is Metal at its extreme. Dream Steraler is total frenzy, emergency services standing on alert while Ravenous is aptly titled. The twin guitar intro from Michael Amott and Joey Concepcion taking the chance to snatch the spotlight on the front and centre riser and the fan that makes for those oh so flowing hair images. The title track – nice twin guitars again guys, offering up a melody that Amorphis would be proud to call their own – sees the band overseen by the skeletal monarchs of yore from the album art as they deliver a full Metal celebration of the blood dynasty. A legacy that runs through the veins.

The sharp syncopated funk that dominates My Apocalypse has the stalls jumping – just about enough energy in reserve before the logo flag comes out for Illuminate The Path. Needless to say, it steamrollers in the ongoing onslaught yet with a refreshingly wash of a clean vocal. The latter seems quite at odds with the presence of the vocalist for whom the throat ripping singing seems perfectly in keeping with tonight’s music and image.

New material checked off, the second half of the set sees the Arch Enemy catalogue trawled. Mentions in dispatches for the combo of riff and sweet lead lines in The Eagle Flies Alone and the ongoing commitment to furious paced tempos. No Gods, No Masters is a personal highlight as the lore surfaces amidst a dramatic series of passages where the musical patchwork of drilling rhythms and stomping riffs. Arch Enemy conclude with a force that has laid waste to Manchester and left no prisoners. Those in attendance, beaten into submission, declaring surrender, the thirst for (Pure Fucking) Metal fully quenched.

All photography by Andy Pountney (Event Photography Awards Winner 2024 and 2025). You can check out more of his work on shot_in_the_dark_photography2 on Instagram.

Arch Enemy online: Website / Facebook / Instagram / X (formerly Twitter) / YouTube / TikTok

Amorphis online:  Website / Facebook / X – Twitter / Instagram

Eluveitie online: Website / Facebook / X – Twitter / Instagram / Youtube

Gatecreeper online: Website / Facebook / Instagram / X

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