AMON AMARTH BRINGS SKULL CRUSHING
The Fillmore
Philadelphia, Pa
11/22/2022
By: Steve Trager
It has been another great year for live entertainment and for many of us who thrives on the ultimate experience of capturing their favorite band or bands even for that matter up close and personal is what anyone would call a hard core fan of live music to the finest degree.
For some of us we waited for many great bands to set foot in our backyards and this time around right here in Philly, metal heads had the distinct pleasure of being a part of the “The Great Heathen Army Tour” Featuring the bands first full scale high tech visual production as a headliner which for many of us who waited a long time to see Amon Amarth go into a full over drive show this tour was certainly it.
Along for this amazing tour were three sensational bands crisscrossing boundaries of extreme metal featuring great sets opening the festivities with Death grinder metalers from San Diego Cattle Decapitation playing just six songs to already a packed house at 7 pm.
Next the wait was truly over for Tampa Florida’s Obituary to crush everyone’s mental state of mind. For a band who has certainly shaped their talent throughout their song writings and sheer attitude with sensational recordings dating back to their early days, they should have gone on right before the headliner, however another quick set and a spectacular stage show.
As if the first two bands were brutal enough with short sets, The Fillmore and the extremely packed from front to back we were ready for Carcass hailing from Liverpool UK, again this was your typical tour with a melting pot of music and several degrees of extreme death metal to burn your mental senses.
Not being familiar with Carcass or their music, I thought okay let’s give this band some attention and see just how great they are live and they don’t disappoint.
Opening their ten song set with “Buried Dreams” pulling out fan favorites with the likes of “This Mortal Coil”, “Incarnated Solvent”, and The Scythe’s Remorseless
Swing” After sitting through the bands set I was pretty impressed as having never seeing them nor even have any idea who Carcass is, yet they been around for decades. This tour certainly gives any metal fan the rare opportunity to discover new levels of entertainment.
The Fillmore was sold out to deep capacity to a point if you wanted a drink at the bars with in the opposite directions of the stage, it would take you a long ass time to go from a short walk even for a trip for a bathroom break. Overlooking the balcony at the stage and a sea of people tightly jammed all the way to the stage, we knew it was time for Viking Metal Masters Amon Amarth to showcase their all new stage production and bring to the table perhaps one of the greatest headlining shows to bring Philly’s hardcore fans a show that will burn in everyone’s mind for a long time.
While this Swedish band is no stranger to Philly, seeing them a few years ago with a Viking ship as part of their set was already an eye opener on the Megadeth Tour going back to 2019, this production out beats the semi Viking ship, after all Amon Amarth are true Vikings in metal in their own right.
After four long years the wait was over for Philly to embrace one of the greatest shows that truly gives any metal fan who enjoys the extreme depths of metal from five individuals who bring to the table a whirl wind of songs fast and furious truly captivating both a mystery of a show and a visual spectacle all within under ninety minutes.
As they say some bands can give you a good show and then very few can be a power house with decibels of music than can shake the walls of the Philly’s Fillmore and Amon Amarth absolutely did just that.
Opened their amazing set with three heavy hitters “Guardians of Asgaard”,”Ravens Flight”, and “Deceiver of the Gods”.
Tons of great songs spanning a history career including their new song,
“The Great Heathen Army” which they rolled out in their set for the first time on this tour and that sounded truly amazing even never hearing any of the new material ever.
A history making show with classic songs “Destroyer of the Universe”,
“Cry of the Black Birds”, “The Way of the Vikings”, “First kill” and rounding out with “Raise Your Horns”, and “Twilight of the Thunder God”
As a music fan I have always admired euro metal, many great bands that have never come to America and when a hand full do, they sometimes skip over Philly market, then you think man Philly loves its hard-core metal come bring a solid show here and you will never leave without a smile and that is exactly what Amnon Amarth did for the extremely sold-out Philadelphia show.
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