04) Fleshgod Apocalypse – Pool Deck, Day 04

Photo Credit: Tom Mis

I really missed the boat on Fleshgod Apocalypse – pun intended. This was my first exposure to the band, despite being told for years that I’d really love them. Everyone was right – they’ve captured something really special here. Their pre-show hype-up music was nothing but classical pieces, which had me confused for a moment until they hit the stage with their unique brand of Symphonic Death Metal with very clear classical influences. Their image and stage show only supported this – they looked like corpses of old composers, back from the grave to play death metal (somebody reboot Queen of the Damned with this premise, please). It’s hard to stand out in such an oversaturated genre – and with their sound and image, it would be really easy to overdo it – but they had the music to back it up, and back it up well. I’ll be sure to sing their praises from here on out…!

05) Kataklysm, In the Arms of Devastation Set – Pool Deck, Day 03

Photo Credit: Tom Mis

Though Kataklysm is not a nostalgia act, they saw an opportunity here to present two incredibly different sets on board. The first was playing their 2004 breakthrough, Serenity in Fire from beginning to end, but for me, their defining moment has always been 2006’s In the Arms of Devastation. The band perfected their approach to death metal, the riffs hit hard, the drums were executed with precision, and Maurizio Iacono truly found his voice. Why not play the album from beginning to end on board? It hit like an absolute hammer, with the band firing on all cylinders. All the hits are here – “Like Angels Weeping (The Dark),” “It Turns to Rust,” and my personal favorite, “Open Scars.” If there was anything that made the set slightly less than perfect, it was the absence of a guest vocalist, since “It Turns to Rust” was originally a duet with Kittie’s Morgan Lander. While I would’ve loved to see them bring on someone to cover Morgan’s vocal duties, Maurizio Iacono impressively sang both parts of the duet!

06) My Dying Bride – Pool Deck, Day 02

Photo Credit: Tom Mis

This is not My Dying Bride’s first stint on board 70000 Tons of Metal. The juxtaposition, I will admit, is a bit jarring at first – you’ve got the doomiest, most depressing band playing on a stage sitting next to… three hot tubs and multi-colored fake palm trees. But as soon as the band begins, all of that melts away immediately. My Dying Bride is so mesmerizing and enchanting that you simply lose sight of everything else. Though some technical hiccups shortened their set, it didn’t make it any less impressive. Of course, they played the hits (“The Cry of Mankind” stands out in particular), but they closed with “Turn Loose the Swans.” And truly, even if they had simply taken the stage, and only played “Turn Loose the Swans” and immediately retreated back to the pub on Deck 5, this still would’ve been one of the best sets on board. Original members Aaron Stainthorpe and Andrew Craighan still deliver both death and doom better than anyone, and the current lineup is debatably stronger than ever. They have nothing to prove by putting on a show this emotionally intense, but they do it anyway.