Amon Amarth [Jomsviking NA Tour] // Commodore Ballroom

May 16, 2016 - Repost from Aesthetic Magazine.

"Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth, who released their tenth album, Jomsviking, on March 25th, 2016 via Metal Blade, which was mixed and produced by Andy Sneap (Accept, Saxon, Opeth, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, Exodus, Megadeth), performed at the Commodore Ballroom on May 16th with Swedish death metal band Entombed A.D., who released their second album, Dead Dawn, on February 26th, 2016 via Century Media, and thrash metal band Exmortus."

Exmortus

Entombed A.D.

Amon Amarth

---

Setlists

Exmortus

1. Rising
2. For the Horde
3. Foe Hammer
4. Death to Tyrants
5. Moonlight Sonata (Act 3)
6. Metal is King

Entombed A.D.

1. Eyemaster
2. Stranger Aeons
3. Second to None
4. Dead Dawn
5. Living Dead
6. The Winner Has Lost
7. Wolverine Blues
8. Revel in Flesh
9. Left Hand Path

Amon Amarth

1. The Pursuit of Vikings
2. As Loke Falls
3. First Kill
4. The Way of Vikings
5. At Dawn's First Light
6. Deceiver of the Gods
7. Cry of the Black Birds
8. One Against All
9. Thousand Years of Oppression
10. Destroyer of the Universe
11. Death in Fire
12. Runes to My Memory
13. One Thousand Burning Arrows
14. Father of the Wolf
15. War of the Gods
16. Victorious March
17. Raise Your Horns (Encore)
18. Guardians of Asgaard (Encore)
19. Twilight of the Thunder God (Encore)

Marty Friedman - ExMortus - Skull Vultures // Rickshaw Theatre

September 26, 2015 - Well, a little backed up - partially due to fatigue, but I'll be honest - I've also been pretty lazy with updating this thing (let me know in the comments if there's anything you'd like me to fix with my style of writing or blogging!)

Regardless, I had to hop on the train to shoot Marty Friedman, the former lead guitarist of Megadeth during the 90s and now solo musician residing in Tokyo, Japan.  

Anyway, to begin, we had local act Skull Vultures, a progressive metal act consisting of Jason Puder and Eli Slamang.  These guys tear it up on the guitar and bass respectively  - holding their own and lighting the way for how the rest of the night will go.  Unfortunately, it's been a while since the show but I would love to see these guys open up again for more of the technical bands that roll into town!

You can check out their music here.

Up next are Exmortus, a metal act from Whittier, California.  Oh my god, these guys literally gave me a guitar-gasm - the shredding was for real.  Constant neo-classical riffs including tapping, sweeping, arpeggios and a beautiful combination of both rhythmic and melodic bits made for music to my ears.  Unfortunately Jadran Gonzales, the vocalist was unable to show, but the instrumental setlist was more than adequate to win the crowd of headbangers over (myself included!)

Their newest 7", For The Horde, is now available!

Lastly; the man, the legend, Marty Friedman - internationally recognized guitar legend had finally set off for a North America tour.  Friedman is known for his improvisation on the 6-string and draws inspiration from a plethora of sources including but not limited to:  Eastern music, neo-classical, thrash and progressive rock.  

Complementing him for the show were his touring bandmates: Chargeeee, a drummer who draws his aesthetic inspiration from hair metal with drummer flair to boot; guitarist Jordan Ziff who held his own against Friedman both with stage presence and skill; and lastly, bassist Kiyoshi Manii.  I have no words for what I saw that night - one might have stereotypically labelled her as a timid Asian girl in a red dress but boy, was everyone wrong.  She probably had the most stage presence of all the whole band, running left, right and centre while keeping the fan morale up with crowd interaction.  The show also contained solos from each of the band members, and also a moment where a guitarist was called on stage to shred with the band...and the lucky member was Eli from earlier!  I've never seen someone so excited to jam with one of their heroes in my life - his glee was sky-high and boy did he ever shred.  All-in-all it was a very fun show and has definitely inspired me to keep playing the guitar (even if I'm not so great!)

---

Setlists

Unfortunately none for Skull Vultures.

Exmortus:

1. Rising
2. Immortality Made Flesh
3. Slave to the Sword
4. Foe Hammer
5. For the Horde
6. Moonlight Sonata (Act 3)
7. Metal is King

 Marty Friedman:

1. Hyper Doom
2. Amagigoe
3. Street Demon
4. Elixir
5. Stigmata Addiction
6. Devil Take Tomorrow
7. Tibet
8. Angel
9. Kyioshi Bass Solo
10. Kyioshi Higher Ground Fragment
11. Ashes to Ashes/Forbidden City/Tornado (Medley)
12. Ripped
13. Jordan Ziff Guitar Solo
14. Inferno
15. Undertow
16. Dragon Mistress (with Eli Slamang of Skull Vultures)
17. Thunder March/Ballad of the Barbie Bandits
18. Kaeritakunattayo (Encore)