Classic Death Metal Served With A Side Of Darkness – Morbid Angel At The Fine Line

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A line was forming into the ally of the venue as I walked up to Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis for the Morbid Angel, Watain and Incantation show. As I waited to enter the venue I spotted someone I had gone to high school with and hadn’t seen probably since high school about 10 years ago. If I am going to run into anyone from high school what better place than at a Metal show, right? So, I secure my photo pass and walk into the venue. The merch game was strong and there was already a sea of black jackets and attire filling the venue up. Due to my lack of height or a photopit I secured my spot close to the stage for prime photos of the show to come. Attendees slowly started to fill in Fine Line.

Incantation opened up the show. They haven’t been to Minneapolis on tour in almost 9 years and fans seemed eager from them to be back. This 4 piece death metal band hails from New York City and is considered to be one of the leaders of the NYC scene. In more recent years the band has relocated to Pennsylvania. Their performance was setup with dark and atmospheric music and a recording of someone speaking about “incantations”. Then the band took the stage. They wasted no time getting the crowd warmed up. The mosh pit began to pick up pace as Incantation picked up the pace. The crowd loved them! The aggressive double bass and blast beats paired the deep growling vocals almost made it impossible for someone to stay still. 

 

Swedish black metal band from from Uppsala was up next and to be honest, I was a little nervous. There were stories of end trails being thrown at shows and there were rumors going around that pig’s blood might even be dumped. I slowly backed away from center stage in caution as animals bones and metal structures were being brought onto stage. To left the left of the stage the band performed a pre-performance ritual and then lit a bunch of incense and took the stage. I noticed that one band member was missing. Pelle Forsberg, the bassist for Watain, had been denied entrance into the country. “Upon his entry to the States last week, Pelle was … taken into custody, locked up in a cell and interrogated during an entire night, only to finally have his newly approved US Working Visa — which he has been granted five times prior to this one — revoked and made void,”. Needless to say, the band put on one hell of a show, and no, there was no pig blood and my camera made it out safe. Their set was hard, aggressive and well thought out. Watain has a very memorable stage presence and it complements their dark music style well!

 

Closing out the show was classic American death metal band, Morbid Angel. They are based out of Tampa, Florida and visit Minneapolis on tour pretty frequently. Morbid Angel is known for being a pioneer in the Death Metal scene. Their music incorporates deep growling vocals. blast beats and dark tempo changing atmosphere. There are always two things I noticed when I see these guys live. They are skillful musicians and they hold a commanding presence on stage. Morbid opened with “Piles Of Little Arms” off of their most recent album, Kingdoms Disdained. The band played a good mix of songs from some of their older albums after that. The energy never really died during their set. The most pit was spinning and the front row viewers were in a cadence of head-banging. Morbid Angel finished their set with Nothing Is Not. 

Morbid Angel’s Sickness Tour brought a night for classic death metal served with a side of darkness Saturday at the Fine Line. Each band complimented each other so well and showed their excellent craft for making dark, commanding heavy music.

 

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