Dethklok: Riverside Municipal Auditorium - Riverside, CA - 4/21/24
Dethklok is an animated fictional melodic death metal band that is featured on the Adult Swim show, Metalocalypse. Although the band itself is animated, the band features real musicians who also play in other bands. In 2023, Dethklok released their fourth album Dethablum IV. Joining them on tour are British power metal band Dragonforce and melodic death metal band Nekrogoblikon. One of the stops on the tour was the Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, California. SoCal were so excited for this show that it ended up being a sold-out show. In fact, it was oversold to the fans had trouble moving around and were packed in like sardines. After the first two bands went up, it was time for Dethklok to finally hit the stage.
The lights went out and the fully packed venue cheered with excitement as the animated intro to Metalocalypse started which is called “Deththeme.” The band members made their way to the stage to play the actual song. The first song played was “Briefcase Full of Guts.” In classic metal etiquette, fans started moshing to the brutal music. The first thing you’ll notice about the band’s performance is that they chose to keep the stage as dark as possible. The main things giving light to the band is the LCD screen in the back that was showing clips of the Metalocalypse show and from past music videos. After a few more songs, the show came to a pause as the screen lit up and showed one of the Metalocalypse characters known as Facebones. His role this time was to alert the audience of a thing called hygiene. He spoke to the audience about proper concerts etiquette and concert hygiene which also included the use of showering and deodorant before a show. Once that ended, Dethklok came back out to play more brutal music. A few more of those songs included “Bloodlines,” “The Gears,” “Awaken” and “Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle.” After that, Facebones came back out, but this time to talk about Drinking and Drug Use. Apparently, Facebones himself was on drugs and his visuals went from looking normal to completely drugged out. Once that was over, Dethklok came back out to play some more. One of the highlights of the set was when they played one of their best songs, “Murmaider.” The mosh pits were wild and even crowd surfers were making an appearance. The last song of their performance was another one of their most popular songs, “Thunderhorse.” Dethklok finished the song, the left the stage. After a few minutes, frontman Brendon Small came out to play out the voices of the some of the characters he voices on the Metalocalypse show. The show wasn’t over yet and so Dethklok came back out for some encores. Dethklok played “Fansong” which a song dedicated to all the fans that Dethklok has acquired over the years. The next song was “SOS,” and the final song of the night was “Go into the Water.” When the show ended, the lights came up and lit up the stage. You were finally able to get a glimpse of the band members and Small was more than happy to introduce each member. They thanked the audience for coming out then left the stage once more. Dethklok is always a great show live and is a must see for any metal heads whenever they come to your area.
