Toledo metal warriors explore the gates of Hell with the legendary Obituary at the Civic Music Hall and special guests Exmortus.
First off, congratulations Toledo on having an outstanding metal venue in the Civic Music Hall. The staff are helpful and friendly, sound was good, and the beer prices were just right. The local metal crowd was just like at home, a lot of great people who love metal and enjoy a night of seared ear drums.
Taking the first stab into this metal feast was Hate Unbound from Detroit. The band quickly drew the crowd toward the stage with a relentless onslaught of technical death. They wasted no time with small talk choosing to strike first and deadly with swarming guitar fury backed by concussive volleys of drum and bass. Blast furnace vocals reminiscent of The Haunted and Decapitated punctuate each brutal thrust that the music can deliver. Detroit’s premiere metal band surely gained new fans this evening.
The hometown band Hanging Fortress brought a swarm of fist and leg swinging dervishes who were here for some heavy fucking death metal. The band asked for no lights and used a few red torches that radiated mortal terror. Hanging Fortress play festering old school death metal and their fans devoured it with eyes wide with blood lust.
If you are like me, you love neoclassical guitar, but get tired of the sad-ass weak vocals. A few bands can do it right by combining death vocals into the musical menagerie. Exmortus trumps them all with a blend of death vocals, thrash riffs, and neoclassical guitar nirvana. I have been a fan of their music for a while and this was my first time seeing them live. What a fucking treat. They kicked off with the opening three songs from their stellar new album ‘The Sound of Steel’ and never looked back. The highlight of the show was the salute to Beethoven on “Moonlight”. The impeccable musicians in this band make some of the most outstanding metal music ever heard.
The intro tune of “Snortin’ Whiskey” by Pat Traverse captures the aural insanity to follow when Obituary take the stage and assaulted the fans with “Stinkupuss” followed by “Threatening Skies”. Marrow mashing drums of Donald Tardy obliterate the senses when Terry Butler’s bass doubles down on the intensity of the devastation.
The voice of American death metal, John Tardy roars in smothering agony to “Turned To Stone” and “Straight To Hell” from Obituary’s latest self-titled album. Fans raise the horns in salute to the majesty of the suffocating riffs of Obituary. Reeking with sludge the legendary riffs of Trevor Peres insight a mosh pit to “Deadly Intentions” and “Don’t Care”. Wailing with psychotic abandon is the lead guitar of Kenny Andrews. After a short break off stage with the crowd screaming for more, Obituary comes back for an encore that concludes with the epic “Slowly We Rot”.
The founding fathers of American death metal Obituary stormed into Toledo to delight fans in a night of skull crushing metal mayhem. There is a reason this band is revered by fans and musicians alike. They created a genre of devastating brutal music and they hold true to sound they have created. Obituary continue to deliver bone breaking tunes and they were at the top of their game in Toledo.