AMARANTHE Are Finally Set To Embark On Their First Ever Tour Of Australia

After conquering stages across the globe and on the back of their stunning new album The Catalyst, Swedish metal virtuosos AMARANTHE are finally set to embark on their first ever tour of Australia.

AMARANTHE have walked their own unique path from the start. With a sound that combines the sharpest, cutting edges of modern melodic metal, electronic rock and razor-sharp pop, their impact was immediate and undeniable. Their music is absurdly infectious, genre defining and is led by the unique three-way vocal assault of the electrifying Elize Ryd, Mikael Sehlin & Nils Molin who deliver an unprecedented aural attack that is complimented by scything guitars and pulsating keyboard passages.

Now seven-albums deep into their career, amassing hundreds of millions of streams and captivating metal enthusiasts worldwide since 2008 AMARANTHE have been an unwavering breath of invigorating fresh air. Now the time is right for AMARANTHE to showcase their incomparable sound and blistering live show to Australian audiences. Singer Elize Ryd talks to Hi Fi Way about the tour.

The band must be really looking forward to coming down to Australia for your first ever tour?
Yes, yes, it’s crazy that it’s finally happening and we are super excited.

Is there a whole level of excitement going to a new country for the first time?
In the beginning of our career, every place was a new place and I was so uplifted by that and then now it’s been fifteen years of touring the same places mostly, and finally something new and fresh pops out and it gave me this same feeling I’ve had sixteen years ago when I started going on tour. So I feel like a kid in a candy store.

Has there been much pressure from fans asking about when the tour is going to happen in Australia?
I haven’t seen too much, not like come to Brazil, which you see every time! South Americans are very eager to tell the artist to come over to their country. Australians have always been very chill. I’ve done interviews for each album and then I’ve heard that there is a fan base here and that we should come here and play. I’ve heard from other bands how amazing it is to go to Australia and play shows there. I’ve also met a lot of Australians on festivals in Europe and at the 70000 Tons of Metal cruise for example, they were like we’re from Australia but we haven’t seen you in our country yet! I always say, yes, we’re going to come but we haven’t got offers from booking agencies and promoters saying yes, but maybe next year we’re going to come or this is going to happen next year, and then it’s next year would come and it was always something else. We’re used recording an album and going on tour. When we have tour booked in Japan we felt being in Japan we should have come to Australia. But it’s not the band’s decision as we are not doing the schedule for all our tours. We did say please, we want to go to Australia, and we don’t have anything else booked, can we do it now? Finally, it is happening. Australians have always been very supportive. It feels stupid that we haven’t been there before, but at least now is the first tour is happening and I hope it’s not going to be the last.

Is the Australian tour set list focused mostly on the new album The Catalyst?
We’re going to try to cover the entire back catalogue. I just made a call to my band colleagues saying that we need to play this specific song from this album because I got a request from the previous interviewer, and I was like oh yes, good, we need to play it. It’s really hard for the brain because you’re so used to each album and then you focus on that and you keep some of the singles from the past in the set. But now we have every album to cover and if we don’t play a single track from any of these albums it would be weird, especially touring for the first time somewhere. I figured that we’re going to play one or two tracks from each album, then a few more from the previous one, which is fresh in our minds and what’s happening right now.

Is there enough time between shows to get around and check out Australia while you’re here or is airport, hotel, soundcheck, venue, repeat?
Yeah, that’s how it’s going to be unfortunately. In my imagination I was thinking that we will play one show and then have a day off in that city and then travel and go to the next. Then I saw the schedule and it was like a show every day. A couple of us in the band are going to travel two days earlier to New Zealand to be able to get adjusted to the new time zone so we won’t feel like super drowsy on the first show. So I think that was really good. I think after the tour I will try to stay an extra week or so just for sightseeing.

Have you been really stoked with their reaction to the album The Catalyst?
Yes, I think it’s been very good. I see the process as a timeline where the development goes a certain way and each album takes a little turn in a particular direction. Of course, I’m always very curious to see if the fans get the energy and if they understand the meaning behind the album. We needed to find that change to push us and “The Catalyst” was like that. I think as far as I’ve understood from the feedback the message has got through and it’s always about encouraging and inspiring the listeners. I think they seem to be very confident about it, so that’s a good sign.

It seems that with this album you’ll be bringing a big stadium rock sound in to smaller clubs on your Australian tour?
Oh yeah, I think so too. It’s going to full of massive songs and it’s going to be interesting for us to see what the venues are like, how it sounds and the of course the response from the crowd. For us it doesn’t matter if it’s in a stadium or if it’s in a smaller club. It is much more personal when it’s in a smaller club.

With six members how did you fit everyone on stage in some of these smaller venues?
I haven’t like checked out the measurements one hundred percent yet. I don’t want to think too much before going there. When we play in a very small stage, of course it makes you think a little bit like, ok, well, I’m used to running in this direction because we have a choreography with the three of us at the front. Of course, that could be a little bit random, but for the fans who have followed us for a long time in Australia, they understand that if the stage was bigger, it would have been like this. We will perform as well as possible, get connected with the audience, really take in the vibes and share this. Share the moment together rather than pulling off a big stadium show with the pyros and all that. That can happen next time!

Rumour has it that there is another album in the thought process. Is that true?
Oh yeah, as soon as we release a new album we start to think about the next one. The funny thing is that we talked about it and we’re like, OK, we did so much piano driven songs, isn’t it time to like bring back the heavy riffs and make the songs more guitar driven this time and we agreed on that. So yeah, that’s a little bit hint about what the next album is going to be like and that’s exactly what we did for the first two albums. I think people will recognise that sound as well.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Amaranthe on the following dates, tickets from Metropolis Touring…