WORDS AND IMAGES: CHRIS LOOMIS | Death metal in an arena . . . YES it happened in epic form on Saturday, May 25 as the Viking Metal Gods Amon Amarth made the final stop of their Metal Crushes All Tour 2024 at the 18,000 capacity Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. This culminated the 24-date trek across North America that had fellow Death Metal heavyweights Obituary and Cannibal Corpse in direct support with Dallas Texas youngsters Frozen Soul opening the show. This was without a doubt the must-see heavy metal event of the year.
With an early start at 6:30PM, Frozen Soul took the stage as fans were filtering into the venue, although the first third of the floor was already jammed packed with death metal die-hards. Vocalist Chad Green wasted no time getting the early-birds fired up as he belted out some serious guttural vocals and demanding the crowd to do push-ups in the pit. The band squeezed in seven killer songs in their short 30 minutes on stage and proved they are indeed part of the next wave of death metal giants to carry the metal torch for years to come.
Having toured with Amain Amarth on The Great Heathen tour in late 2022, Florida’s Obituary took the stage next with a seven-song set that weighed heavily on their latest album Dying of Everything. Opening with the killer instrumental “Redneck Stomp” then into the brutal track “Barely Alive,” John Tardy owned the stage with his unique Death Metal vocals. Tardy joined his brother Donald on the drums for the killer rhythms of “Slow Death” as the band proved their longevity in the death metal scene is not a fluke and that Obituary in 2024 is delivering their most brutal music and stage performances of their 30-year career.
Now things were about to get exponentially more brutal as Cannibal Corpse took the stage. From the first note of “Scourge of Iron” to the last beat of “Hammer Smashed Face,” Honda Center may have just experienced the most brutal performance in the venue’s 31-year existence. Vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher not only has the thickest neck in death metal, the most haunting, guttural voice in death metal, but he can headbang and do hair whips like no other human being can.
The mosh pits were crazy, the body surfing picked up tenfold and it was pure chaos for the 45 minutes Cannibal Corpse was onstage. Bassist Alex Webster along with machine gun drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz are the genre’s most ferocious rhythm section and guitarists Rob Barrett and Erik Rutan book ended the stage providing blazing solos and thick crunchy rhythms. Of course, “I Cum Blood” and “Striped, Raped and Strangled” were played but it was nice to see “Death Walking Terror” back in the set after several years. Cannibal Corpse TOTALLY crushed as they always do.
Shortly after 9:00PM the curtain dropped and Amon Amarth took the stage with a huge production and stage setup (very similar to an Iron Maiden show). These Vikings may very well be the first true death metal band to headline the Honda Center. The band opened the show with “The Pursuit of Vikings” and “Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags” that had an insane amount of pyro shooting off all over the stage adding to the spectacle of this massive stage production.
Vocalist Johan Hegg addressed the crowd, welcoming Anaheim and thanking them for coming out. The band consisting of guitarists Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg with bass player Ted Lundström and Jocke Wallgren on drums took the Anaheim crowd through a 15-song journey of Swedish melodic death metal better known as Viking Metal to Amon Amarth fans.
One of the highlights of the night was “Put Your Back Into The Oar,” an ode to the epic Viking row that in a live setting has fans sit on the floor and simulate rowing in unison—quite a spectacle to witness. The band mixed up the setlist to represent highlights of their catalog that included “Deceiver of the Gods,” “The Way of Vikings,” and “Raise Your Horns,” and ended this grand gathering with the crushing “Twilight of the Thunder God.”
Amon Amarth has proven worthy of an arena setting as they tell tales of Viking folklore with the most brutal of deliveries. Based on the last two years touring schedule and stage productions, the trajectory for the future of Amon Amarth appears to have no limits.
CANNIBAL CORPSE
OBITUARY
FROZEN SOUL
