Saturday
night at a sold out venue in a posh part of Toronto, who knows how many long
haired delinquent looking metalheads decent on this part of the city will all
the “proper” people walking buy looking quite shocked to see this mess in their
neighbourhood. Needless to say we all decided “fuck em” tonight is Exmortus,
Entombed A.D. and of course, the main event in all their Viking glory, Amon
Amarth. This wasn’t my first time at The Danforth Music Hall, but it was
definitely the most insane.
Once
the doors opened and most people got their merch, the venue packed in a ton
before the first band even hit the stage, which is a little strange sometimes.
After a little bit of a wait and getting acquainted to my new friends beside me
Exmortus took the stage and took over the crowd. From beginning to end, the
crowd was super into these guys, after cranking through the Warcraft inspired “For
The Horde” and fan favourite “Foe Hammer” the band broke into “Death to Tyrants”
which got heads banging everywhere. Anyone who didn’t know this band was
floored fairly quickly when asked “is anyone a fan of Classical Music?” the
band broke into “Moonlight Sonata (Act 3)” which was 5-6 minutes of pure, intense,
consistent solos from every single member of the band. The crowd, including
myself, was in absolute awe of how tight this band played such insane stuff,
but much to quickly the band was forced to say goodbye after going through what
is bound to be a Metal anthem in years to come “Metal Is King”.
After a
short layover, Entombed A.D. came to say hello, and the sound and atmosphere
was much different. This band was a bit slower and more melodic and the vocals
were more of a yell than a growl, but all the same this was a band with
presence. They moved and used the entire stage, they played a few Entombed
songs (pre-copyright whatever) and did their thing but some of the crowd was
getting a bit restless, they wanted Amon Amarth. Luckily, near the end for the
last few songs they were joined by a special guest on stage, none other than
Johan Soderberg to play guitar with them. After “Revel In Flesh,” “Wolverine
Blues” and “Left Hand Path” the band was calling it for the night, and the
crowd got intense to say the least, the floor packed in and there was hardly
room to breathe and this was all before the pit opened and took up even more
room.
After a
break, a quick sound check and of course, setting up the stairs to the giant Viking
helm that took up half the stage, it was time to begin. The lights dropped, the
sound of war filled the venue and the instantly recognizable opening riff of “The
Pursuit of Vikings” began, the crowd went crazy and instantly I was crushed,
absolutely impossible to breathe. After “Loki Falls” and, the opening track
from the new album, “First Kill” the band backed off up onto the helm and two
vikings came out centre stage, sword and shield in hand. “Sure, these guys are
gonna play fight” because that’s the whole point of the song “The Way of
Vikings,” it’s about two Vikings fighting. Not quite, these two went at each
other with insane force, as the main riff began they started to swing their
swords and chips of their shields were flying everywhere and it was amazing and
mesmerizing to watch these two fight with such force. After one was killed,
they were dragged off stage and the shields were collected as the band finished
out the song. They continued with songs old and new, “At Dawn’s First Light,” “Cry
of the Black Birds,” right up to a song from the album “Versus the World” where
they slowed the pace right down for “A Thousand Years of Oppression,” which is
a personal favourite Amon Amarth song of mine. The pit was still going strong
and it was still hard to breathe with the big guy behind me pressed right up on
me. A few songs later, vocalist Johan Hegg disappeared and the band began “Father
of the Wolf” and during the opening, returning up the stairs came Hegg dressed
as Loki himself. While this was only the case for half the song (it’s probably
stupidly hot in that mask) it created an atmosphere for the song that already
gave off a vile, sinister feel. The Vikings returned for “One Thousand Burning
Arrows” standing on the platforms on the helm aiming bows into the crowd and
for the last song of the main set “Victorious March” where they stood guard
with spear in hand. After a short intermission the band returned with new fan
favourite “Raise Your Horns” and the mainstay of the band “Twilight of the
Thunder God” and with that I knew it was over because I could actually breathe
again. I guess due to time constraints with the venue being in such a posh area,
the band were forced to skip over “Guardians of Asgaard” which was meant to
follow “Raise Your Horns” which was a bit of a bummer, but I’m over it.
Overall, I’ve never been so sore after a concert and not having been in the pit
for this one, that’s saying something but this is a tour to see and to see from
beginning to end, as all the bands have their own draw, but Exmortus and Amon
Amarth definitely make it worth the ticket price, no matter what it may be, but
that’s just my opinion.
Exmortus Performance: 95/100
Entombed A.D. Performance: 65/100
Amon Amarth Performance: 98/100
Overall Experience: 90/100
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