By the end of this year, I will be looking back at all of the great shows that have come around in the year 2014. I can guarantee that the evening of February 1st, at the House of Blues Boston will certainly be one of the first I touch upon. On this evening, the Boston crowd was treated with stand out acts: Skeletonwitch, the almighty Enslaved, and one of the biggest metal bands out there today, Amon Amarth. By the end of this show, I was dehydrated, tired, broke, but oh so very happy with the beating my body, specifically my ears, had taken.
To start off the show with a bang was Ohio’s own black/thrash five-piece, Skeletonwitch. Personally, I knew with an open slot, and a new album out, we would probably see a good selection of newer material. About half of the set was of new material, but boy did they pick out the best tracks! My favorites out of the new tracks were ‘I Am of Death (Hell Has Arrived)’ , ‘Beneath Dead Leaves’, and the ever epic, ‘Burned From Bone.’ The Boston audience was also treated to some older tunes such as the classic, ‘Beyond the Permafrost’, ‘Crushed Beyond Dust’ , and the closer, ‘Within My Blood.’ Even with a shortened set having to be the opening act, Skeletonwitch provided proof as to why they are one of my favorite bands today and they should be yours as well! Just when some thought it was safe to go grab a quick beer or hit the merchandise tables, Enslaved was quickly set up and ready to go.
As Enslaved was walking out to the stage with their intro sample playing, I heard someone behind me say something to the effect of 
“oh yeah I looked up this band, they are boring.” Let’s just say after the next 45 minutes, they had quite a different opinion of the legendary Enslaved. Of course with such long, wonderfully created songs, you don’t quite get a lot of songs from such a “short” set. Enslaved was able to play six songs for us that night and quite honestly, save one song I still am dying to see performed live, I really can’t complain at their selection! Enslaved’s newest release, RIITIIR, was quite the spectacle after it became available and still grows on me to this day. We fortunately got to hear two very good tracks off of the album. The feverish Boston head-bangers got ‘Death in the Eyes of Dawn’ to open up the set and then got the album-titled song, ‘RIITIIR’ halfway through the set. Even if there were only two newer tracks played, this gave room for some previous favorites like ‘Ethica Odini’ and the usual closing song, ‘Isa.’ It was also a treat to hear an absolute classic, ‘Allfaðr Oðinn’ from the year 1993 (which very well may be older than a portion of the fans in attendance)! Overall, Enslaved has proven the test of time and I do not see them slowing down by not even the smallest of margins. I did get a chance to mention to keyboardist/clean vocalist, Herbrand, over a beer down the street that the next time Enslaved makes their way through Massachusetts that we must hear the amazing single, ‘Roots of the Mountain.’ He seemed to agree with my plea. As if there is any doubt that I would make it to the next Enslaved tour, but this moment certainly cements it.
Finally, it was time for the Swedish Viking Metal Titans, Amon Amarth to make their way to the stage and literally bring us to the might feasting halls of Valhalla to speak of the many tales in Norse Mythology. Before we get into the amazing set that was, I have a slight tale of my own regarding Amon Amarth and Enslaved earlier that day. It quickly became shared throughout the internet that on the very day this tour had come through Boston, that a few members from Amon Amarth and Enslaved were seen at the Boston Bruins hockey game in the newly created, special edition Amon Amarth Hockey Jerseys! These have been on sale throughout the tour and of course, I had to get one. Now back to the show. Starting off the night was the newly made music video song from Amon Amarth’s latest album, ‘Father of the Wolf.’ During this intro, Johan Hegg (vocals) had come out wearing his recently obtained Boston Bruins/Loui Eriksson jersey which led to a hug pop to kick off the set! Since this was the headlining tour for the new Amon Amarth album entitled Deceiver of the Gods, all in attendance were very excited to hear the new material live and did the five Vikings from Sweden ever deliver. Some tracks included ‘Shape Shifter’ , the album title ‘Deceiver of the Gods’ , ‘We Shall Destroy’ , and ‘Warriors of the North.’ Personally I was hoping for ‘Under Siege’ but it was not meant to be. Amon Amarth had made up for this ever so small discretion by playing classics like ‘Death in Fire’ , ‘Free Will Sacrifice’, ‘Destroyer of the Universe’, and ‘The Last Stand of Frej’. Just when it appeared Amon Amarth was going to set sail back to Scandinavia after the single ‘War of the Gods’, they returned for a two song encore to ensure even the greediest of the Bostonians at the House of Blues last night went home happy. The encore consisted of the huge single, ‘Twilight of the Thunder God’ and then wrapped up the night with the sing-a-long ‘The Pursuit of Vikings’. Something about that last song’s opening riff just really gets everyone fired up and it gets me every time I have the pleasure of seeing this band play. Overall, this tour was exactly as I was hoping for. Getting to meet the bands afterwards and enjoy a beer with Herbrand was just icing on the cake after what a great show and overall experience I got to share with some close friends. In all honesty, I wish House of Blues had canceled their rave night that evening so all three bands could have played longer sets or maybe even had a local opener start the show off. At this point, however, I am just being greedy at what was already an early candidate for Show of the Year.
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Words: Tim Ledin
Photos: Hillarie Jason Photography