Arch Enemy, Exodus, Arsis, Mutiny Within – The Palladium

Jan 2010 – Review by Brian Cross – Photos By Diana Guay

Arch Enemy’s “Tyrants of Evil” tour hit the Worcester Palladium on January 23, 2010, and though the weather was freezing, metal fans weren’t left out in the cold. New Jersey-based metalcore act Mutiny Within kicked off the night, using their potent brew of groove riffs, clean vocals, and occasional growls to warm up the masses. The crowd sure loved ’em, if the circle pits were any indication!

mutinywithin

Shortly thereafter, technical death metallers Arsis forced the crowd to rock in support of their upcoming album Starve for the Devil. This kicked the overall energy of the evening into an even higher gear, as the band showcased their intricate metal arrangements spiced with just the right amount of classic thrash influence.

Arsis

Exodus

The third band on the roster needed no introduction. lineup changes over these past thirty years, their edge Exodus have been a thrash metal tour de force since their inception three decades ago, and despite numerous has never been blunted. Nowhere was this more apparent than their performance at the Palladium; they may be thrash metal’s “elder statesmen,” but these guys could instruct any young group of upstarts in exactly how it’s done. Speaking of education, no night at The Exodus School of Metal is complete without “A Lesson in Violence.” It’s one of the band’s trademark songs, and the sheer fury it unleashed in the crowd shows just how powerful it still is, even a quarter century after its original release.

Exodus

Arch Enemy

At long last, Arch Enemy took to the stage. Led by mind-blowing frontwoman Angela Gossow, the Swedish masters of melodic death metal blasted everyone’s heads off with songs spanning the past decade. While the “Tyrants of Evil” tour may be named after their two most recent albums (Rise of the Tyrant and The Root of All Evil, respectively), their setlist was an even mix of tracks from the Gossow era, with one classic piece — “Bury Me an Angel” — thrown in for good measure. Fan favorites like “Ravenous,” “We Will Rise,” and the encore “Nemesis” whipped the crowd in a chanting, fist-pumping frenzy. Arch Enemy’s skill is unparalleled, and they proved once again why they are masters of their craft.

The heating system at the Palladium might’ve been on the fritz, but the metal bands onstage brought more than enough fire to the audience. The “Tyrants of Evil” tour cannot be ignored.

Arch Enemy