Opeth + Cynic + The Ocean | Live - Vicar St, Dublin

What is caught of The Ocean’s set turns out to be an altogether more satisfying experience than what was expected. Shorn of several members into a touring outfit of five (!), some of the German group’s slower sections do have a tendency to come across as somewhat self-indulgent and generally ponderous. Thankfully, when they do come at you with plenty of crunchy nods to early ISIS and a steady stream of gut-busting roars, they give a firm account of themselves.

Despite the onstage gear and multiple drum kits of the two headliners almost forcing them, banging and screaming, out onto the barricade, they pull off an engaging and concise set that will have tickled the fancies of the more adventurous early attendees filling up the venue. Sure, the hardcore-isms of the of singer and their general self-conscious melange of styles won’t be to everyone’s taste, but you can’t deny the whack of intensity they deliver in their best moments.

A swift exodus from the bar and a good-natured crush up front is the result of the intercom announcing that Cynic are taking to the stage. Talk in the aforementioned bar mainly concerned how it all somehow seemed too good to be true. One of the defining and most cherished bands of early 90s technical Metal having suddenly come out of hibernation with an album rivaling their hallowed debut, and now hitting Dublin. An atmosphere of rapt attention develops as the sound check bleeds over into the set proper, a brace of new numbers in the form of the lush ‘Nunc Fluens’ and finally ‘The Space for This’ crashing through with a lead break of glorious energy.

It’s obvious they’re not afraid of plugging the new one in any way, as one more cut from it paves the way for a typically gushing reaction from Masvidal to the crowd chanting their name. Then we’re hit with a Focus double-whammy, ‘Veil of Maya’, and straight into ‘Uroboric Forms’. Manna from heaven. Truth be told, the sound set-up doesn’t carry as much bite in the riffing department as it probably should, but this is incidental, especially as Reinert ratchets away in a kit to the side of the stage with all the taste and skill of a master, laying down a perfect backdrop. Wrapping up after a mere half an hour and an airing of ‘Textures’ featuring a delightfully nerdsome appearance of a Chapman stick, the sea of happy and content faces milling around afterwards tells the story itself. Far, far better than their European festival slots with piped-in harsh vocals last year, the total scrum at the merch stall underlines how Cynic are back and as loved as ever.

Opeth are playing their third show in the same venue for three years running. Yet they still manage to drum up a real sense of occasion every time they do so. The fact that new album, Watershed, features some of the better music they’ve written in a few years means that when they do open up to a rapturous reception in the sold-out venue, they have the firepower and strength of song in ‘Heir Apparent’ to live up to it.
They come across as totally at ease onstage, with Akerfeldt happily chatting away about his ‘totally killer’ Conan the Destroyer t-shirt and handing CDs around to be signed by band mates.

In terms of set predictions, it was a night for mid-period fans of the band, with Still Life’s ‘Godhead’s Lament’ and Blackwater Park’s ‘Bleak’ rearing their respective epic sounding heads early on in the set. Special mention must go, as always, to the utterly hair raising finale of ‘Deliverance’, with the band thundering out the final section to perfect synchronization with Vicar St.’s lighting effects. It’s a class act all the way. Keyboardist Per Wiberg looks like he’s about to bang his head clean off his shoulders, Axenrot is in exceptionally fine form behind the kit and new guitarist Fredrick Akesson is on the button all night, coping with the change into the much quieter ‘Hope Leaves’ with zero problems. The crowd goes wild and ‘The Drapery Falls’ proves an apt title to end with. At this stage, did you really expect anything less from Opeth?

Lorcan Archer ::: 18/11/08
Photography by Simon Ward