A hearty cadre of fans welcomed legendary forefathers of Florida death metal, Deicide to Harpos in Detroit. It has been five years since Deicide has been to Michigan, and fans were eager to hear the band and pay homage to these masters of death metal.
Getting the night’s festivities off to an impressive start was the band Nagazi. They played an inspired set of music that suggested elements of Pantera and Lamb of God. The music featured thick and meaty grooves with a vicious attack. The band’s stage presence was impressive as well, making good use of the ample stage at Harpos.
Tyrant from Lansing brought a lively set of old-school speed metal to the Harpos stage. They brought a solid contingent of fans who moshed it up in the pit, which was situated nearly 7 feet below the stage. Obviously with that distance there was no stage-diving, but plenty of enthusiasm on the stage and below. This young band has a real passion for metal and cranked some speedy tunes that night.
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On a darkened stage framed with two light bars on each side of the drummer, smoke billowed from the center of the stage as Pick Axe Preacher ripped into action. The band created a firestorm of thrash metal. They delivered one pummeling blow after another with their nonstop metal assault. Pick Axe Preacher kept the stage banter to a minimum, instead focusing on giving the audience a savage thrashing.
The pit below the staged filled up with fans as the house lights came down. This was followed by a roar as Deicide hammered into “Scars of the Crucifix”. The band’s set was massive and relentless. Glen Benton snarled and barked with tremendous intensity as the mosh pit below him boiled. Drummer Steve Asheim was buried behind a massive drum kit as he poured out blistering blast beats and crushing tom rolls on “Death To Jesus”, “Serpents of the Light”, and “Kill The Christian”. The man was a monster on the drums.
Guitarists Kevin Quirion and Mark English traded off unholy solos on “In The Minds of Evil”, “End The Wrath of God” and “Sacrificial Suicide”. Mark just joined the band at the end of 2016, but sounded like he had always been a member of Deicide. The daunting speeds that each of these guys played at was amazing to witness.
There wasn’t much time wasted with words between songs. However, Glen did thank the audience for coming out and flipped some souvenir picks out to some lucky fans. Deicide ultimately closed their set in a blaze of glory with “Dead by Dawn”.
The menacing malice of Deicide burned with the intensity of a pagan funeral pyre. The band sounded as merciless and uncompromising as ever, giving the fans at Harpos in Detroit a sound beating. Their set was stacked with fan favorites performed with hellish force. All in all, these flag-bearers for Florida death metal reigned supreme.