Confirmed: The Revenge of the Underworld has begun! Six Feet Under and the mighty Nile are the source of its power and it’s coming for you!
Hangar 1819 in Greensboro, NC, is the perfect metal club; big enough to accommodate audience demand but not too big so the room feels empty, a waist-high stage with no front barrier, and pitch black decor that makes finding the bathrooms for the first time a harrowing experience. A double-bill of two heavyweight metal bands, Six Feet Under and Nile, brought their Revenge of the Underworld Tour to town and everyone was up for it. Joined by Embryonic Autopsy and Psycroptic, the close-to-capacity audience was brought through death, thrash, heavy, and technical metal styles. A little something for everyone.
Opening the evening, Embryonic Autopsy from Chicago, IL, continued their mission to “bring back old school 90s brutal death metal.” Performing for the first time in North Carolina, the band started hard and fast and ended the same. Pulling from their two released albums, Embryonic Autopsy was, as advertised, heavy, fast, powerful, and also somewhat unexpectedly diverse. Using a simple, melodic, almost calming backing audio track on most songs, the guttural vocals and heavy guitar had a sonic depth and complexity that made their music far more engaging than expected. No one showboated on stage, equally contributing to the music and turning in a true band performance. The setlist including “Orgies of the Inseminated,” “Cleopatra’s Spawn,” and closing with “Cauterized Womb Impalement” was consistently heavy without a weak link. Embryonic Autopsy displayed they have what it takes to become a well-known name in the death metal community.
Psycroptic hails from Australia and easily won the “traveled furthest to attend the gig” award for the evening. Psycroptic is familiar to Nile, having toured with them back in 2019, and Nile made a great choice adding them to the tour. Often conjuring up similarities in their sound to Lamb of God, their performance was exceptional due to the highly technical fretboard skills of Joe Haley on guitar and audience engagement by vocalist Jason Peppiatt. Using a combination of thrash, heavy, and death metal components, Psycroptic’s sound pushed the boundaries of death metal similarly to bands such as Whitechapel who add technology such as electric bass drum effects and backing tracks, in addition to expanding their songwriting beyond the traditional death metal expectations. The venue was perhaps half full for their performance, leading Jason to provide explicit instructions on what he expected from the audience for each song. A song for headbanging, a song for moshing, and a song for circle pits, Jason pulled the best out of the audience throughout the set. Deserving more recognition in the United States, Psycroptic delivered an exceedingly good performance limited only by the reservation of audience energy for what was to follow. Everything inside Hangar 1819 was turned up to 11 when Six Feet Under frontman Chris Barnes took to the stage. Haggard and tired-eyed, Chris told the audience he had been quite sick for several days but could not resist performing tonight. While physically less energetic than his usual stage presence, somehow Chris delivered a stellar end-to-end performance with the band that was easily the highlight of the night. The contrast between Six Feet Under and the opening bands was immediately apparent. Whereas the opening bands used technology and complex, highly technical song and solo structures, Six Feet Under pounded forward like 6000 tons of unstoppable punishment, on fire, in the back of a hot rod dragster from hell. From the first chord, Six Feet Under did not stop.The sixteen-song setlist kicked off with “Torn to the Bone” from their debut album Haunted and closed with “Hammer Smashed Face” from their debut EP. Playing live, Six Feet Under is an excellent example of how uniquely different death metal songwriting can be. From the metronome marching rhythm of “Seed of Filth” to the Rob Zombie-esque groove of “Lycanthropy,” Six Feet Under’s performance was interesting and engaging. Hard, loud, and punishing of course. Mosh pit-inducing and crowd surfing-inspiring as well. Six Feet Under absolutely crushed their set and lit Hangar 1819 on fire.
Closing the evening was the co-headlining Nile. Founding guitarist Karl Sanders waved to the excited audience as he entered the stage, announcing the presence of the death metal veterans. With his long flowing hair waving seductively in the cooling breeze of an upward fan, lead vocalist and bassist Daniel Vadim Von, with his too-cool-for-school demeanor, reset the vibe in the room from heavy and punishing to speed demon thrash with a death wish. With an eleven-song setlist, Nile opened with “Stelae of Vultures” from The Underworld Awaits Us All, immediately showing off drummer George Kollias’ stamina and locked-in accuracy.The technicality of Nile’s music becomes readily apparent in performance. Requiring precision, dexterity, and concentration, the mental energy and focus displayed by all band members throughout the set was intense. Karl’s ocean-deep death growls married with Daniel and guitarist Zach Jeter’s vocal range and power were like a safety handle to grasp onto when the warp speed intensity of the music overwhelmed the senses of time and space. The exhausted audience headbanged but retained very little energy after Six Feet Under to show their enthusiasm.
The Revenge of the Underworld Tour continues through February 22, 2025, ending in Houston, TX.SIX FEET UNDER
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