PHOTOS + REVIEW — Amon Amarth at the Yuengling Center in Tampa 2024

Amon Amarth • May 18, 2024 • Yuengling Center — Tampa, FL • Photos by Randy Cook — instagram.com/horns_raised

Review — Amon Amarth

May 18, 2024 | Yuengling Center, Tampa FL
Review by Randy Cook /// @horns_raised

On Saturday, May 18th the Tampa Bay area was dealt a crushing metal show when Amon Amarth brought along Cannibal Corpse, Obituary and Frozen Soul supporting the ‘Metal Crushes All Tour 2024’. I had been looking forward to this show for quite some time because the last time Amon Amarth had a show here in August 2023 Hurricane Idalia had Tampa square in its path and their concert with Ghost was cancelled with no reschedule date. Once I had received confirmation that I was credentialed to photo this show, the day of literally could not get here fast enough.

My friend, The Foz and I made our way over to the venue and met up with our friend Timbro. I had not seen a show at this venue since September 1996, so it is great to see music shows on the schedule here again. Sadly, due to media rules I was not able to spend any time with The Foz or Timbro once we got inside the venue. With a jam packed lineup and little time for set change over between bands, by the time I would have made it over to my friend’s seats after three songs in the photo pit then storing my gear, I would have had to turn around as soon as I got there and get back to the media room to be ready in time for the next band. After my time behind the lens for the opening bands I came out to the back of the general admission area with a fellow photographer and just took in the sights and sounds.

As with all of the Shows I Go To, I am fascinated by the demographics of the crowd and with a lineup like this I knew this show would be a people watching goldmine! As expected the audience skewed heavily towards middle aged males, although I can say there the ladies were well represented. I noticed only two or three real young kids with metal parents and I did notice one family where mom, dad and son all proudly wore Goatwhore shirts. The family that headbangs together!

Hailing from Texas, the death metal quintet Frozen Soul opened the show and immediately began to pummel our ears with brutal and crazy heavy breakdowns. Lead vocalist Chad Green led the charge of riling up the crowd to get a circle pit going, saying “…I want to see chaos!” Through their six song set, Chad made several references to Tampa being the death metal capitol, and how without bands like Cannibal Corpse and Obituary, there would be no Frozen Soul. Their lighting was a steady blue hue which gave the band an ominous look and I really appreciated their sound of what I got to hear when I was in the back of general admission. I noticed one person being led from the mosh pit and wheeled out to the safety of the venue’s concourse. Also of note was just how full the crowd was already this early in the evening, which is a great showing of support for the metal scene in general but also exposure to the very vast majority of the crowd who had never seen Frozen Soul, myself included.

Local death metal legends Obituary were next to hit the stage. With their logo projected up on the section of the venue where the side wall meets the roof it was very ominous looking down upon us. We photographers mentioned to each other to beware of crowd surfers coming over the barrier and sure enough, we did not have to wait long for the first one to be in our area and escorted out to rejoin the frenzy. This band is about as brutal and crushingly heavy as they come and their performance this evening left no doubt they played their hearts out for the hometown crowd. As brutally heavy as I recall this band being live, they were all that and more. Their raw energy, crushing riffs, and ferocious vocals reverberated through the venue, creating an atmosphere of pure aggression and adrenaline and as I was in the back of the general admission area watching after being in the photo pit, I saw two more people coming out in wheelchairs. Intense does not begin to describe seeing this band live.

Cannibal Corpse is another of the bands that put Tampa on the death metal map, relocating here from Buffalo in the late 1980s. Legendary does not begin to describe this band, as they are as iconic as they are horrifying. Considered the best selling death metal band based on album sales, they were given a hometown welcome by those in attendance. Lead singer George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher was wearing a “Respect the neck” shirt and as always challenged the crowd to try and keep up with him headbanging and wind milling his hair around. He goaded the crowd to “…try and keep up with me…and try not to embarrass yourself – do not disappoint me!” He asked the crowd if we were having a good time and of course that was met with a roar of approval, at which point he said “…good! Well, allow me to ruin it” as he introduced what he called a “fun little song about spewing blood from your c*ck” which made me laugh and think how that was the best song intro ever! For our time in the photo pit, we actually got an extra song to photo as the person herding us photographers could not tell when the third song ended and the fourth song began. After the third song ended, I and a couple of other photographers, started to exit the photo pit only to be told that was only the second song. Not going to get any argument from me having extended time behind the lens.

Then it was time for the main event, the reason why people were adorned in their best Viking outfits for the evening. The stage setup was an appropriate giant Viking helmet and Amon Amarth took the stage to a full house and dug right into their crushing hit ‘The Pursuit of Vikings’ which sent the crowd into an absolute frenzy of horns in the air, fists pumping, heads banging and of course a circle pit opened up in the middle of the crowd. Lead vocalist Johan Hegg looks like a real live fearsome Viking as he rears his head back and screams his appreciation of the crowd’s energy that is fueling the band to just crush this song and propel them into the next one. They played a fifteen song set that touched on seven of their studio releases and the crowd never once stopped their energetic ways, enjoying every bone jarring song and expressing their appreciation for the gods of Viking metal. It was fascinating to watch and be part of the symbiotic relationship with both the band and the crowd feeding off each other’s energy. This band is simply freaking amazing to see live, they have such a stage presence and every song they played got a huge response from the crowd.

After my time behind the lens I made my way up near where The Foz and Timbro were sitting to the standing Club section and had a great view of the stage and the crowd as a whole. During “Stand Tall and Fight” there appeared a rather large sized ‘mosh island’ where a group of people stood in the center of the mosh pit and let everyone circle around them. As tradition dictates, during “Put Your Back Into the Oar” a good portion of the crowd on the floor assumed the sitting position and began the Viking rowing motion of a ship headed to battle and I noticed quite a few people in the stands doing the same.

An Amon Amarth concert is a visual and audio journey with epic battles upon the stage with swordfights and dragons, while kick ass death metal songs are being performed about the epic tales in Norse mythology complete with Viking warriors on stage waving battle flags behind the band. Both sides of the stage are adorned with giant blow up Viking statues and the drum set is affixed above a giant Viking helmet. After the statues deflate, large sea serpent heads inflate on both sides and the stage takes the look and feel of a Viking ship. Absolutely creative and it is a very photogenic layout. The band put on a very fun and enthusiastic performance and I saw only smiling faces as we departed.

I give props to the sound team this evening as every band had great, clear and crisp sound. I think this was the first time in quite some time that a metal show of this heaviness and magnitude was at this arena as I witnessed some of the older ushers covering their ears and making cringe faces in literal horror as Cannibal Corpse played. That made me laugh thinking they had absolutely no idea what they were in for this evening. After the show I met up with The Foz and Timbro and we all reveled in the amazing concert we just witnessed. While there are only a few dates left on this tour with this amazing combination of bands, I urge everyone to check out Amon Amarth as a headlining act at least once (that way you get their full stage show), it is an epic journey and you will want to fight and slay the demons in your life after the fact.
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Amon Amarth is:
Johan Hegg – Vocals
Olavi Mikkonen – Guitarist
Ted Lundström – Bassist
Johan Söderberg – Guitarist
Jocke Wallgren – Drums

Amon Amarth set list for May 18, 2024:
The Pursuit of Vikings
Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags
Guardians of Asgaard
Raven’s Flight
Blood Eagle
Deceiver of the Gods
As Loke Falls
Find a Way or Make One
Put Your Back Into the Oar
The Way of Vikings
Heidrun
War of the Gods
Shield Wall
Raise Your Horns
Twilight of the Thunder God