Hipsters, metal heads, frat boys, tattoos, chain mail and children. All were represented as the Swedish death metal band treated fans to a two-set show at On Sunday night.
Last month the band released their ninth studio album, “Surtur Rising,” and played it through in its entirety for the opening set. This music has only been on the streets for a few weeks and the packed house responded. Heads bobbed and the pit swirled as people sang along with a mind-boggling knowledge of the lyrics. It was as if they had been singing them for years, not weeks.
Of course the band then turned to their tried and true fan favorites as the second set opened with the the title track of “Twilight of the Thunder God.” Freshly rested from the break, the crowd picked the energy up a notch and kept it going through other choice picks such as “Live for the Kill,” “Guardians of Asgaard ” and “Varyags of Miklagaard.” Arguably the best was saved for last as the the three-song encore kicked off with “Cry of the Black Birds” followed by “Runes to My Memory.” As he had all evening, vocalist Johan Hegg once again fired up the crowed as he thanked the Denver fans and told them it was nights like this they could just keep playing all night, which took them into the final song of the night, “The Pursuit of Vikings.” Included was a short sing-a-long which included some Hegg lyric instruction that was clearly not needed by this crowd. Odin! Guide our ships!
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Mateo Leyba is a senior photo editor in multimedia for The Denver Post and a regular contributor to Reverb.
