Metal meets theater at the Amonklok Conquest Tour
The Promise: “Three bands. One night. The strong will scream. The weak will fall. Limbs will be lost. We will crush skulls beneath our boots and tear the halls down stone by stone. This is not a concert. It is a reckoning. If you survive… perhaps the gods have other plans for you.”
CASTLE RAT
We are Castle Rat. Welcome to the Realm! Castle Rat is a fantasy doom metal band that evokes a 70s-metal-aesthetic-meets-Renaissance-Faire. The music has that classic metal sound that the 70’s girl in me would have loved to hear on the amusement park thrill ride or at the roller rink.
The band is made up of The Rat Queen (Riley Pinkerton), The Count (Henry Black), The Plague Doctor (Ronnie Lanzilotta), and The Druid (Joshua Strmic). And the Rat Reaperess (Madeline Wright) is the arch-nemesis of the Rat Queen.
The 4-song set led to a sword battle between the Queen and Reaperess, with the Queen instructing the audience to show our loyalty to her by chanting that in this realm “NOW IS FOREVER!”. The set culminated in a battle, with the Rat Queen being stabbed by the Reaperess and falling to the ground, only to be revived by a potion offered by The Plague Doctor. The potion brought the Queen back to consciousness, writhing and sputtering blood, to prevail as the Queen of the Realm.
The set was long enough to introduce Castle Rat’s fantasy realm and depict the epic battle for control between the Queen and Reaperess. But it was far too short, the audience also needed our potion to extend our time in the Castle Rat world. We can, however, revisit this battle by summoning the Realm via this link to their January KEXP Live Session: https://youtu.be/rQixE9aPd0w?si=We3ozQsQKpQjmaaH
AMON AMARTH
Raise your horns for Amon Amarth’s Mythological metal spectacle. Next up was the Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth. The band consists of vocalist Johan Hegg, lead guitarist Olavi Mikkonen, bassist Ted Lundström, rhythm guitarist Johan Söderberg, and drummer Jocke Wallgren. Often called Viking metal, Amon Amarth lyrics are mostly based on Norse mythology and Viking themes. And the fans at the barricade dressed the part, adorned in horned knit beanies, face paint, leather, and braids.
Prior to the reveal, the Amon Amarth set was shielded behind a giant curtain. As the set intro swelled, the shadows of two immense, ominous, growing structures cast through the fabric. The curtain dropped to show a stage flanked by giant inflatable vikings and an elevated drum kit atop a viking helmet with horns. They launched into Raven’s Flight, followed by a nearly 90-minute set, while the screen behind the band projected visuals of fire, storms at sea, and vikings ready for battle. Near the end, the crowd joined in for a raucous rendition of “Raise Your Horns”, raising horns and glasses of beer as images of Amon Amarth fans and warriors filled the screen, doing the same.
Dethklok
The virtual Dethklok band becomes a real-life band. The projected virtual world visuals would become the focal point for the Dethklok set. This is because Dethklok is a fictional band (the World’s most popular metal band featured in the Adult Swim animated television series Metalocalypse).
Dethklok celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2026, marking two decades since Metalocalypse premiered and two decades for fans to anticipate experiencing Dethklok Live. For the Amonklok Conquest Tour, Dethklok is a live band made up of accomplished musicians: Brendan Small on guitar and vocals, drummer Gene Hoglan, bassist Pete Griffin, and guitarist Nili Brosh.
Despite this, all attention was directed to the animated projections towering over the silhouetted musicians. Visuals from the show flashed on the screen while the band played, accompanying songs while the audience cheered for their favorite characters.
Before the set, I overheard a few people say that seeing Metalocalypse live was a childhood dream. I think it is safe to say that, with the combination of the fantasy worlds of Castle Rat, Amon Amarth, and Dethklok, everyone at the show was feeling nostalgia for the days when we could get lost in fantasy realms.