On Monday April 25, Rochester New York fell prey to one of Sweden’s most notorious metal bands. Amon Amarth kicked off their 2016 Jomsviking North American tour on April 17. Joining them on their voyage are fellow Swedes, Entombed A.D. and American thrash metal band, Exmortus.
The line outside the venue stretched the entire length of Water Street and then some. Some concert goers went as far as dressing in viking armor, helms and bracers in support of Amon Amarth’s musical theme.
Setting the pace for the evening was Sourthern California quartet, Exmortus. Their performance was enthusiastically received by the crowd throwing up their “horns.” The band consists of Jadran “Conan” Gonzalez on vocals/guitar, guitarist David Rivera, bassist Michael Cosio and Mario Moreno. Their set list for the evening was as follows: “Rising” “For the Horde” “Foe Hammer” “Death to Tyrants” “Moonlight Sonata (Act 3)” and “Metal is King.”
With the crowd already hungering for more, Entombed A.D. was next to take the stage. Consisting of Lars-Göran Petrov on vocals, Olle Dahlstedt on drums, Nico Elgstrand on guitar and Victor Brandt on bass, the Stockholm based band’s heavy riffs added fuel to the fire, as crowd surfers began making their way towards the front of the venue towards waiting Security. The band’s set list for the evening was in support of their February 26 album release Dead Dawn with songs such as “Dead Dawn” “Stranger Aeons” “Second to None” “Midas In Reverse” “Living Dead” “The Winner Has Lost” “Revel in Flesh” “Wolverine Blues” and “Left Hand Path.”
With the venue at near capacity, the fans were ready battle when Amon Amarth time came to slay the crowd. The stage was set with a giant viking helm emitting smoke with the drum kit perched atop between it’s horns. With their new album release, Jomsviking, which has dominated the charts around the globe, the band took the stage like a storm starting things off with the song “The Pursuit of Vikings.” The performance was met with more crowd surfing, chanting, fists in the air and horns raised enthusiastically. With frontman Johan Hegg sporting a drinking horn on his side and decorated leather bracers on his arms, he appeared as a viking warrior straight of some epic story. Backed by guitarists Ted Lundström and Johan Söderberg along with bassist Olavi Mikkonen and new drummer Tobias Gustafsson, the show raged on through the night with songs from the new album along with some old favorites. The set list being, “The Pursuit of Vikings” “As Loke Falls” “First Kill” “The Way of Vikings” “At Dawns First Light” “Deceiver of the Gods” “Cry of the Black Birds” “One Against All” “Thousand Years of Oppression” “Destroyer of the Universe” “Death in Fire” and “Runes to My Memory”
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