Live Review: Apocalyptica, We Lost The Sea, Tempest Rising

Behold Apocalyptica! The Finnish cellists don't perform gigs, they create something very special — an event of sight and sound. Perth was the first stop in this band's first headlining tour of Australia.

Kicking off the evening's proceedings were Perth's own metalheads Tempest Rising. Led by enigmatic frontman Vin Trikeriotis, the five-piece were hellbent on making their mark. With his foot up on a foldback and the rest of the band thrashing behind him, Trikeriotis gave it his all. The boys no doubt gained new fans with plenty of heads nodding in appreciation.

The power and brutality of Tempest Rising was a stark contrast to prog rockers We Lost The Sea's atmospheric, gloomy soundscapes. Three guitars, bass, drums and a MacBook wasn't enough to hold the attention of many punters.

But the night belonged to Finland's finest. Apocalyptica didn't so much play their instruments as attack them, slinging them about like they were guitars. There's little doubt that the creator of the cello Andrea Amati had no idea his beautiful instrument would end up, centuries later, in the hands of some seriously talented (and classically trained) metalheads. The three cellists - Eicca Toppinen, Perttu Kivilaakso and Paavo Lotjonen — backed by drummer Miko Siren, exploded onto the Amplifier Bar stage with some of the heaviest music ever emitted from classical instruments. A crushingly heavy cover of Sepultura's Refuse/Resist sounded as if it had come from Hell itself. The same could be said of the Metallica classic Master Of Puppets — stunningly beautiful, yet with the brutality of a punch in the face; seeing and hearing Kivilaakso play one of Kirk Hammett's guitar solos on a cello was enough to give you goosebumps.

With the inclusion of vocalist Franky Perez, a soulful and powerful voice added yet another dimension to the show. While they played tracks off the Shadowmaker album you could close your eyes and almost forget there were three cellos onstage, not traditional rock instruments. It was a show of light and dark with the band's sense of humour on full display, not least of all when Toppinen threatened to punish the crowd with classical music (because, in his words, we "love that shit") and launched into a blistering rendition of Edvard Grieg's In The Hall Of The Mountain King.

Budding musicians, put down that Stratocaster and pick up a Stradivarius; metal belongs to the cello.