After seeing Crowbar conquer Brooklyn in the heaviest way possible at the Saint Vitus Bar, I returned a week later for another sold-out high-energy gig at the only darkly lit “heavy metal” bar in the New York area worth going to.
When the first monsoon to hit New York in 2023 tries to cause confusion and delay with everything, opening night for a tour for any band could result in unbridled joy or debilitating pain. It was luckily the former with a few mishaps when two icons in Revocation and Unearth kicked off their 2023 North American tour at Saint Vitus with Entheos and High Command. It was a dark and stormy day. It was a rainy day. Those who traveled from New York and presumably other parts of the tri-state did not give a flying fuck about the rain or give a shit about the weather. All we cared about with heavy metal beating in our hearts was to witness this shpadoinkle touring package keep Brooklyn in a figure-four leg lock from beginning to end.
I missed out on seeing High Command. When Mother Nature will not admit that she has a drinking problem, she has a way of altering logical priorities. It is what it is, so I rationalized it as maybe next time.
I finally got to the venue around 8:00 p.m. – just in time for most of Entheos. You can say what you want about how they approach progressive death metal, but when it comes time to command the stage, Chaney Crabb and Navene Koperweis do not screw around. Entheos delivered a ferocious, swift set. I had heard people tell me that Chaney Crabb sounds better live, but I did not know how well she performs. The woman can growl and sing with the best of them! She is up there with Oliver Rae Aleron (Archspire) and Mallika Sundaramurthy (Abnormality). The band played better than anticipated and blew me away. However, as great as they were, their set did not go without flaw. From my vantage point, the surround sound acoustics had trouble with amps cutting out a few times during each song for Robert Brown. Aside from that first night downside, Robert held it down like a beast. Entheos is a band fighting the good fight for the future of extreme music, and they did not disappoint.
Up next was the almighty Revocation, one of my favorite bands since checking out their Chaos of Forms album via receiving a promotional copy. The mix of ferocity and power drew me in fast with David Davidson’s Swiss army knife style of vocals. They are one of the few bands I try to see when they come around. Revocation also performed a quick but fantastic set. The band started with Godforsaken. That is when I knew I was in for a wild time. They had great stamina and played many great tracks like The Outer Ones and Diabolical Majesty. Most modern tech-death bands tend to overload the senses in a live situation. Their style is more relaxing on the nervous system as their songs offer subdued moments for each of the seven cuts they choose for their set list, and it was invigorating to see them again. They sounded as great as they always did the previous times I saw Revocation and nicely warmed up the crowd for Unearth.
Up last was Unearth to set alight to an already intense tour kick-off. Unearth scalded Brooklyn. The crowd responded with their fuck yeah, time to mosh seal of quality. Their set consisted of the heaviest high-points of their back catalog, including Incinerate, The Wretched, The Ruinous, and The Great Dividers – keeping the slam dancing moving. They closed with Black Hearts Now Reign and sent the old-school fans and newcomers home happy.
The three groups I saw made the most of a dicey opening night between equipment issues and a large portion of merch missing for purchase for Unearth. Thanks, UPS. Yet nobody seemed to give a damn. These things tend to happen, but Entheos, Revocation, and Unearth came in clutch under the torrential circumstances. Everyone sounded great, and Brooklyn had a great time seeing them. As for myself, I procured some Gatoraid and a Belly Buster with roasted beef, pastrami, bacon with BBQ sauce, peppers, cheddar cheese, and bacon at the Greenpoint Deli across the street from Vitus before taking a bus ride back to Williamsburg. That said, the show I saw was excellent and was worth braving the elements for.
