Amon Amarth brings their North American Berserker Tour to Las Vegas with support from Arch Enemy for a night of death metal.
Death Metal is a very specific genre of music but you wouldn’t know it from the crowd packing the House of Blues in Las Vegas tonight. Many in the crowd are dressed as vikings and have their drinking horns showing they are clearly ready to party tonight. Amon Amarth is a death metal band from Sweden and the crowd really embraces them for their music and stage show but before they take the stage Arch Enemy is up first.
Arch Enemy is unique as they are a female-fronted melodic death metal band that has a long history. Tonight they are performing up close with the crowd due to Amon Amarth’s stage set up and this is a rare treat for the fans. Singer Alissa White-Gluz comes onto the stage and immediately everyone can’t stop watching her. Her vocal is strong and her performance is always on. She pays attention to every aspect of the performance and the fans appreciate this. Their eight-song set features “The World is Yours,” “War Eternal,” “My Apocalypse,” “First Day in Hell” and “Nemesis.” The mosh pits are intense for this performance and the room is packed which is definitely unique for a death metal show like this but it shows how much the fans of this music like both these bands and Arch Enemy don’t disappoint with their performance tonight. It is easy to see how they headline their own shows often, but the ability to see these two bands together is something these fans don’t want to miss.
A large black curtain covers the stage during the set change and as the first notes begin to play, it is dropped to reveal Amon Amarth and a giant Viking helmet that holds the drums. Elaborate stage setups aren’t unusual for this band. During the last tour, they had a Viking ship on the stage but this is just as impressive, especially on the House of Blues stage since the horns seem to span the entire stage.They open with “Raven’s Flight, “Runes to My Memory” and “Deceiver of the Gods.” This band has been around since the early nineties but they seem to have gained a lot more popularity in the States more recently. Death metal has a very specific audience but the nearly sold-out crowd tonight is no indication of that. Frontman Johan Hegg interacts with the crowd speaking to them frequently while the rest of the band sticks to playing. They all come to the front of the stage to raise their Viking horns and have a drink with the crowd which the fans love. The ten-song set continues with “Crack the Sky,” “Shield Wall” and “Raise Your Horns” before the two-song encore closes out the night, ending the Viking theme perfectly with “The Pursuit of Vikings” and “Twilight of the Thunder God.” They manage to mix perfectly the right amount of fan interaction including a singalong at the end with the music.
These two death metal bands really show what the genre is all about. The music is fast and technical and there is the theatrical mixed in. The nearly sold-out crowd loves every minute of this performance and it is easy to see why. These two bands are two of the best Death Metal bands when it comes to stage shows and should not be missed.
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