Live Review: Nightwish, Eyefear & Black Majesty

The lights of the old-styled billboard glittered above the doors of Metros on Saturday night as a throng of black-shirts gathered below. The circus was in town. Melbourne power-metallers Black Majesty have proven their class live many times and the powerful sound system of Metros was put to good use. Rectifier tubes glowed with energy as riff after riff was laced together with soaring Dio-style vocals and some quality shredding. Not to be outdone, Eyefear came out in a blaze of symphony and double-kick. Sporting the 'Longest Hair in Metal™' frontman Danny Cecati soared high above the mix with his prodigious vocal attack- the two bands marking the cream of the Australian crop.

In case you've being living on a giant rock on the other end of the Earth (...and you have) then you will know there is no Scando band bigger than Nightwish. The band frequent the pop charts as often as your atypical white trash coke junkie would stateside. Their latest offering - Imaginareum - ended up at number one in the Finnish charts, and went triple platinum. It became quickly evident they were here to celebrate at the last stop of the world tour. A long symphonic intro was punctuated by the trademark heavy guitars and soaring vocals of newly anointed frontwoman Floor Jansen. The new songs translated to the live arena well – as epic and catchy as the album promised. I Want My Tears Back was ripped out early. Over the Hills And Far Away and Last Ride Of The Day brought it home. The band defied their long-in-the-tooth appearance to blast one of the best live shows we've seen from this style in ages.