Walking into Milwaukee’s newest live music venue, The Landmark Credit Union Live felt very fresh and clean. Excitement filled the air for a great lineup on the Amonklok tour. A sea of black filled the venue, from the pit to the balcony.
At 7 p.m., Castle Rat, a doom metal band from Brooklyn, New York, took the stage, which looked like a dark castle with candles. With lots of makeup and costumes, the guitarist appeared as The Count, singer Riley Pinkerton as The Rat Queen, the bassist as The Plague Doctor, and the drummer as The Druid. The whole look and sound right from the start locked the audience into their set as they opened with “Dagger Dragger.” With stage theatrics, different characters would come out and interact with Pinkerton, including a giant rat. At one point there was a sword fight in which singer Pinkerton was killed, only to be brought back to life after The Plague Doctor gave her a drink from a cup of blood. Pinkerton got back up, spit up blood, and with blood dripping from her mouth finished the last song of the set, “Serpent.” Castle Rat only had a four song set, but it lasted about a half hour. The set also included “Wizard” and “Siren.” From the excitement of the crowd, I think Castle Rat was something totally different and a band many were looking forward to checking out.
Amon Amarth then took the stage with their Viking fueled metal. With two large statues on both sides of the stage and the drums sitting atop a large Viking helmet, the eyes in the helmet acted as screens. The band from Sweden turned things up a notch, starting the set off with “Raven’s Flight.” At times, actors dressed as knights would come up onto the platforms in front of the large statues, adding theatrics to the set. Johan Hegg’s growling vocals set to the blazing melodic guitar riffs of Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Soderberg sounded great in the venue. From the many Viking type scenes playing on the large screen behind them to the whole stage setup, Amon Amarth always has a very cool looking production. Halfway through, the giant statues were replaced with a giant Viking ship. The band then went into the fan favorite “Put Your Back Into The Oar,” in which at one point during the song the audience all sat on the floor and started rowing like they were in a boat while chanting “ROW, ROW, ROW.” A totally unique part of an Amon Amarth show. I’ve seen these guys live so many times, and they just seem to get better and better with each experience. Johan Hegg said it was great to be back in Milwaukee, and what I found interesting was that Hegg said the band’s very first show in the USA was right there in Milwaukee.
Then came time for Dethklok, a death metal band from the animated series Metalocalypse. The band played in front of a huge screen showing scenes from the animated series while the members appeared only as silhouettes in front of it. They tore into the crowd right from the start with heavy guitars and heart pounding drums along with Brendan Small’s death metal growls on vocals. A Dethklok set is quite different, as it’s not really about the band since they are fictional, but more about what is happening on the screen. The set started with “Deththeme” and kept the heaviness coming until halfway through “Black Fire Upon Us,” when somehow the venue’s fire alarms were triggered. The venue lights came on and the band’s set was cut short. People were left hanging for about a half hour before the venue was evacuated. So it ended up being a totally abrupt end to the show, which was unfortunate because fans could not see Dethklok’s entire set, although the venue is issuing refunds to ticket holders.
Other than the unexpected event of the fire alarms ending the night, the Amonklok show was great from start to finish. I really look forward to seeing the bands on their next stop in the area, especially more of Castle Rat.
Dethklok Tour
