I arrived to miss Philadelphia's own Devil Master cover the place in cob webs. However, I caught the end of Midnight's set, as they ripped through their mosh pit anthem "You Can't Stop Steel" and ended the night with "Unholy and Rotten."
Then came the one and only Abbath, fresh off the release of his new Outstrider record (which I also reviewed a few months ago). The original Grim and Frostbitten one endured a few technical difficulties with faulty monitors through the opening number "Count The Dead."
A few songs later, and he swung off his black flying V, his body language apparent he was displeased with his instrument's performance. A stage crew member handed him another identical black flying V, and he was back in business.
"It works," he yelled as his replacement roared to life with distorted power chords.
The Philadelphia mosh pit erupted into madness through the blast beat filled "Bridge Of Spasms," one of the strongest numbers off his new album.
Abbath also pleased the Immortal fans with a three-song detour through their classic Sons Of Northern Darkness album: "In My Kingdom Cold," "Tyrants," and of course "One By One."
Abbath's mannerisms in between songs were just as entertaining as the concert. Despite his demonic corpse paint, he's clearly a guy who loves to rock and roll and play loud. He crab walked in between songs and made funny faces. He threw up frozen jazz hands in a gesture for applause, then yelled at the audience to "SHUT UP" (hey, that's my line!) before he struck another pose to lap up their affections.
A grim showman, indeed.
Abbath and friends hit the singles "Harvest Pyre" and "Outstrider" from the new album. Usually a band's new album is the one I'm least excited to hear live, but these numbers were all enthusiastically received and met with mosh pits.
Abbath concluded with "At War!" from his 2016 self-titled record. Just like a flash blizzard from the cursed realms of the winter demons, it was over. Abbath held a final Jesus Christ pose with a towel over his sweaty face, and handed it to a kid in the front row.
Next up was Obituary. But first, the lights went black as the twangy guitar riffs of Pat Travers' "Snorting Whiskey" blared over the house system.
Obituary incited a frenzy with their instrumental opener "Redneck Stomp." The rowdy gang of moshers in the front row attacked with full force, and the circle pit hardly relented for the remainder of the evening.
Obituary played choice cuts their Cause Of Death, "Chopped In Half /Turn Inside Out," "Dying," and "Find The Arise."
It was a storm of bodies bashing into each other, and also, many headbangers losing balance on the floor made slick from spilled beer and sweat. But I'm happy to report that whenever some metal maniac landed on their ass, no matter how violent the pit was, people made room for them to be helped up. Everyone in the pit had friendly violent fun.
Obituary unleashed their new single "A Dying World" as the penultimate track, and all hell broke loose once again for the legions of slam dancers. I was relieved this song is only two minutes long. Any longer and my lungs might have exploded.
The band ended with their eternally gruesome "Slowly We Rot," the perfect marriage of knuckle-dragging caveman riffs and D-Beat madness.
It's totally brutal to see these dudes at the top of their game after three decades. Bravo, perverts.
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