The Klash of the Titans 2023 featuring co-headliners Kreator and Sepultura stopped at the House of Blues in Dallas for an evening of brutality Monday night. Death Angel and SpiritWorld are along for the ride as well.
Bay Area thrashers Death Angel serve as main support for the co-headliners and duration of the tour. Spirit World from Las Vegas has the responsibility of introducing the metal nightly, preceding Death Angel.
The tour presents a variety to the masses with international flavors of metal. Kreator from Germany, Sepultura with Brazilian roots, San Francisco’s Death Angel and Las Vegas desert metal from SpiritWorld.
A tour with co-headliners, main support and an opener requires a much earlier start at 6:30 sharp. That’s the time SpiritWorld took the stage to deliver their brand of what some call Death Western Metal. The band is supporting their 2022 Century Media release Deathwestern.
SpirtWorld were able to deliver their fiery brand of metal, making an impact on the early arrivals to the House of Blues. The band definitely left their mark, the only thing missing was the SW branding iron.
The tour is billed as the Klash of the Titans but for the Dallas stop, it could be rightly renamed the David and Goliaths tour. The Goliaths being Kreator and Sepultura and as for David, that’s Death Angel and that’s what they did.
As surprising as it sounds, Death Angel pulled a David on both Kreator and Sepultura. It wasn’t expected but there were rumblings that it could happen if Death Angel delivered another lethal blow as they did in the Fall.
In September, Death Angel delivered a stunning set at Amplified Live on the Bay Area Strikes Back Tour. Talk was the band took out the co-headliners and it happened again Monday night at the Dallas House of Blues. It’s not a knock on the co-headliners at all.
As soon as the acoustic intro for “Love of Hate” and the electricity kicked in, it was gloves off. Death Angel brought to life the textbook definition of live thrash metal, fast and furious.
There’s not much of an age difference between the three but there is definitely a difference vibe wise on stage. The general consensus is that Death Angel is underrated, it’s the injustice of the metal world. The band is due a proper headlining tour.
The 22 city tour is hitting major markets throughout the United States as well as crossing the northern border into Vancouver. Kreator and Sepultura share closing duties nightly. The schedule sees an even split between the two closing each night but it’s not an every other night schedule. For the Dallas stop, Kreator followed Death Angel and Sepultura would close out the night.
Kreator is out supporting their Hate Über Alles album and that’s what kicked off their set, the title track following the intro “Sergio Corbucci Is Dead.” The intro is a nod to Sergio Corbucc, an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer of violent Spaghetti Westerns. The Kreator stage visuals definitely projected that theme with hanging effigies in red.
Violent Mind, Kreator’s mascot stood guard, looking over the stage from behind the drum kit.
Kreator pulled several title tracks such as “Enemy of God,” “Hordes of Chaos” and “Violent Revolution.”
For the speed Kreator was delivering, the band was extremely tight but the anger was missing at times. Kreator seemed a little reserved but their sound was as solid as it could get. Kreator vocalist Millie Petrozza did sound great.
Sepultura was tasked with closing the night’s festivities taking to the stage with “Isolation” from Quadra, their 2020 release. In total five tracks from Quarda were utilized for the band’s set. Sepultura spewed out “Means to an End,” “Guardians of the Earth,” “Ali” and “Agony of Death” all from Quarda. .
The band did reach back and pull out the classics such as “Arise,” “Refuse / Resist” and “Roots Bloody Roots.”
Volume level wise, Sepultua’s sound was literally blasting. It was a bit over the top, enough to feel body vibrations, enough to cause one to step back.
The tour is approaching the itinerary’s mid-point and is a great introduction leading into the Summer months.
