Halloween and extreme music have always shared a symbiotic relationship, both trade in drama, darkness, and a sense of the theatrical. On this particular Friday night in Manchester, that union felt gloriously complete. Outside the Apollo a brisk autumn wind carried the scent of rain and face-painted fans in black coats and band shirts snaked down the venues exterior like a gothic procession: skeleton makeup, corpse-paint, cloaks, and tour shirts. The mood was festive but anticipatory, everyone knew that this was a stacked bill of epic proportions.
Up first were Arizona’s Gatecreeper who detonated the first wave of sonic punishment. The band emerged to minimal lights and maximum distortion, there was no preamble and no theatrics, just thick sludgy Death Metal which was bathed in a constant green hue from the lighting. From the opening deathened barrage the pit opened like a mouth ready to consume. The sound mix was raw but from my vantage point it sounded a little muddy and a little lost in the colossal cavernous Apollo however the guitars sounded like rusted chainsaws and bass frequencies hit you square in the ribs. Frontman Chase Mason barked into the mic with unflinching ferocity, his voice soaked in reverb that made it feel like a transmission from the underworld and by the time ‘From The Ashes’ hit, the early-arriving crowd were fully engaged, circle pits, fists pumping, and heads banging.
Gatecreeper didn’t need elaborate stagecraft, their set was all about authentic Death Metal, short, sharp, and effective controlled violence. It felt like a punch to the gut, a ritual cleansing of the ear canals. Their early evening slot might have been the shortest of the night, but it was undeniably the most visceral.
The transition to Eluveitie was like stepping into another world. Roadies scurried around setting up hurdy-gurdies, flutes, and bagpipes all which drew curious murmurs from the pit but when the Swiss nine-piece finally appeared the atmosphere shifted from aggression to epic immersion.
The set was opened with ‘Ategnatos’, a song that perfectly encapsulates their hybrid sound, crushing guitar riffs underscored by haunting folk melodies. Vocalist Fabienne Erni floated across the stage like a woodland spirit, her clean vocals soared above the distortion yet in contrast Chrigel Glanzmann provided the growled counterpoint, anchoring the ethereal with something primal and earthy.
The visuals were striking, the stage felt mythic and with the crowd still buzzing from Gatecreeper’s intensity they found themselves transfixed. With anthems such as ‘A Rose For Epona’, ‘The Call Of The Mountains’ and ‘Inis Mona’ the sing-alongs filled the Apollo, melodic, proud, and oddly emotional for a Halloween gig.
Eluveitie’s musicianship was undeniable, few metal bands can shift from folk interludes to galloping riffs so seamlessly. They were undeniably the night’s most atmospheric act, a reminder that heaviness can come from beauty as well as brutality.
By the time Amorphis took to the stage, the crowd had swelled but it was still comfortable enough to not be stood on top of each other. The Finns, veterans of melodic Death Metal’s evolution, brought a different kind of power — more restrained, more textured, but equally commanding. They opened with ‘Bones’ and immediately cast a spell over the room. Tomi Joutsen and his deep resonant growls dominated the stage, his transitions between guttural roars and clean, melancholic singing were flawless, a masterclass in control. The guitarists, Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari, traded harmonized leads like twin wizards weaving sonic spells and during ‘Silver Bride’ the entire crowd swayed in time, a sea of raised arms catching the light.
There was a subtle melancholy to the Amorphis performance, less overt fury and more emotional gravitas, they provided a necessary breather between the visceral chaos of Gatecreeper and the militant precision of Arch Enemy. When they closed the set with ‘Bee’ the audience roared their approval, the melody lingering like an echo long after the band exited.
Then came the main event, the lights dimmed and red strobes pulsed like a heartbeat. A pre-recorded ‘Set Flame To The Night’ rolled over the PA and silhouettes appeared behind a massive white curtain emblazoned with the Arch Enemy logo. The tension in the room was now electric and when the curtain dropped and ‘Deceiver, Deceiver’ exploded from the speakers, pandemonium broke out. Alissa White-Gluz bounded onto the stage, face painted like a spectral warrior queen which was simply a perfect Halloween vision of power, her voice hit with surgical precision which displayed equal measures of feral growls and piercing screams that could strip the paint off the Apollo’s walls.
The band sounded immaculate, Michael Amott’s razor-sharp riffs sliced through the mix while Daniel Erlandsson’s drumming was thunderous yet precise. Songs like ‘War Eternal’ and ‘My Apocalypse’ proved that Arch Enemy are a well-oiled machine. The crowd responded in kind, a seething head-banging mass with fists raised and voices unified during the anthemic choruses.
The twin-guitar solos between Amott and Jeff Loomis were breathtaking and blended shred precision with sheer emotion. Highlights for me included ‘Liars And Thieves’, ‘The Eagle Flies Alone’ and the massive anthemic ‘Ravenous’. The band closed the set out with a masterful ‘Snow Bound’ and a chilling yet perfect ‘Nemesis’ which saw the crowd united with one deafening voice and a shower of oversized balloons which cascaded from the heavens reminiscent of an unrelenting tropical rainstorm.
Few Halloween shows feel as complete as this one. Four distinct bands, four shades of heaviness, from Gatecreeper’s swamp-soaked brutality to Eluveitie’s pagan symphonics, Amorphis’s melancholic elegance, and Arch Enemy’s metallic perfection. The night was a carefully balanced feast of extremes and a thunderous reminder that after nearly three decades Arch Enemy, in my books, remain untouchable in their genre.
As I left the venue into the chilly Manchester drizzle I felt that the calmness was almost surreal after such intensity but if Halloween is meant to be a night where the line between the living and the dead blurs, this gig achieved that metaphor in full. Every riff, every roar, every scream was alive with dark energy, a communion of the macabre and the magnificent. For a few hours, the Apollo had been a cathedral of sound, a temple of darkness, and the perfect place to spend Halloween.
