What do you have to go through to get to a concert? You have to save up for gas, drinks, and food. Plus, merch and the tickets to the concert. Just think if you had to get visa approvals, plane, and hotel arrangements, too. That’s just a few of the things that Vader from Poland had to struggle with, which delayed the start to their current tour. But luckily, they had their opening bands ready and waiting for them when they hit U.S. soil. The “Carnival of Death Tour” welcomed in October with opening bands Skeletal Remains, Malevolent Creation, and Kataklysm. All brought their A-game to the night of heavy thrash metal entertainment.
Skeletal Remains, a death metal band from Los Angeles, California, with five albums under their belt, brought the LA death metal scene to El Paso with hard driving songs, hair-flipping, and mosh-pit-worthy songs. Each song brought new intensity as the crowd of people filtered into the venue. Many people came in the door and went right to the barrier to see who was rocking the stage.
They are selling their latest album, just released in 2024, Fragments of the Ageless. With songs entitled “Relentless Appetite” and “Cybernetic Harvest,” they have heart and soul in each song. They are a great opening band; they got the crowd worked up and ready to a full night of hard-driving heavy metal.
If you would like to know more about this band, here are a few links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Malevolent Creation, a Florida-based band that in 1993 stormed the death metal world, has made a name for themselves with their gore-focused lyrics. This band in heavy duty brings energy and power to the stage. I liked their lyrics and how the instruments danced with those lyrics. They are no rookies to this death metal genre, and they want you to hear them perform.
On their 13th album, released in 2019 and titled 13th Beast, the band created through some lineup changes. There is also a rumor of a 14th album being written. From their first album, The Ten Commandments, their album art is what a good horror movie should have been made from. If I had not just become a fan the night of their show, I think I would have collected their albums for the artwork over the years.
Here are a few links to their pages.
Kataklysm comes from the Canadian death metal scene, where they have made a name for themselves and even received their first Juno Award for “Best Album of the Year” in the Heavy Metal category. They have gone on to win two more Juno awards over the years. They are 15 albums in, creating a stronghold in Canadian heavy metal music.
In 2023, they released the album Goliath, which in 2024 was nominated once again for a Juno Award. It didn’t win, but it does not matter – the band keeps pulling rabbits out of the hat, giving their listeners something fresh and new all the time. These guys were so good I almost forgot there was a fourth band, the headliner Vader, that still needed to perform.
I want you to look up Kataklysm through these links and see how they became Canada’s first heavy metal band winners:
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Vader, a death metal band from Poland, together for 37 years and approaching 40 soon, shows there is no end in sight. This band brings raw energy and talent; the band members are very personable and love to work the crowd.
When they first stepped on stage, the audience went wild. The more people filtered in, the louder the band got. It was intense and a wonderful feeling as the building shook and the drums vibrated the chairs that people were sitting in. The crowd kept pouring in, and before long, the floor was full from the stage to soundboard.
This year has been busy for them. Despite everything going on, they have also been able to release their latest album, Humanihility, which offers scorching new songs that prove to be vicious, thrash-laden anthems perfectly blending old-school thrash with Vader‘s unique straight-forward fury and neck-breaking tempos.
They opened the show with three songs off their 2000 album, Litany: “Wings,” “The One Made of Dreams,” and “The Calling.” They jumped around to other albums, playing fan favorites, and ended the show with “Black Blood” off their 2004 album, The Beast. Vader may be from behind the iron curtain, but with their dynamic sound and presence in the Poland heavy metal scene, they have torn down the iron curtain and replaced it with an open window to many more albums to come. I hope they have opened the door for more bands from their country to travel to the U.S. and feature their unique sound.
If you are interested in more about Vader and listen to their music, check out these links.
Website | Facebook | Instagram
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