Amon Amarth/ Goatwhore/ Skeletonwitch/ Lazarus A.D.

Call it Death Metal, Thrash Metal, I call it FUCKIN’ METAL!! I’ll have to say that this is by far, one of the best metal shows I’ve been to. With a show just about every night, I was surprised that the energy of all four bands was still set to maximum level. The sound was dead on and tight; except for feedback during Goatwhore’s set, and I didn’t have to strain to hear the vocals because the guitars were turned up too high.

Much to my disappointment I arrived a little late and missed most of Lazarus AD’s set but just in time to catch the last few songs. To be honest I have never heard of them before, so I checked out their myspace page, liked what I heard, and immediately went out and purchased their debut CD “The Onslaught”. Old Skool Thrash at it’s best. I’m already working on getting my tix for when they open for Testament next month at the Starland Ballroom.

Skeletonwitch’s set was about 40 minutes with non-stop aggressive in your face assault. Performing most of their 2007 release “Beyond The Permafrost”, including ‘Baptized In Flames’, ‘Beyond The Permafrost’, and ‘Sacrifice For The Slaughtergod’. About halfway into the set vocalist Chance Garnett introduced us to a new song for their forthcoming disc titled ‘Crushed Beyond Dust’.

I’ll admit that until seeing Goatwhore live, I wasn’t much of a fan. Almost an hour of hearing Sammy Duet’s shredding, and Ben Falgoust growl out the vocals I was hooked. ‘Invert The Virgin’ off their first album was the opener. Performing songs from their first three discs included ‘Blood Guilt Eucharist’, ‘Alchemy Of The Black Sun Cult’. In addition to keep our ears bleeding, we were also treated to three new songs off the latest offering “Carving Out The Eyes Of God” due out in June; ‘The All-Destroying’, ‘Apocalyptic Havoc’, and the title track.

Supporting Part Two of the North American Twilight Of The Thunder God Tour, Amon Amarth have been going almost non-stop since the beginning of March with ‘Twilight Of The Thunder God’ being the opener of over an hour of crowd favorites. Vocalist Johan Hegg could be the brother of Odin, belting out ‘Guardians Of Asgaard’, ‘Fate Of Norns’, ‘Victorious March’, and ‘Runes To My Memory’, just to name a few. Ending the night with a two song encore. Unfortunately, this leg of the tour is almost over, but be sure that whenever Amon Amarth comes back to the States, the house will be packed, and I will be there.