I was super excited for this lineup, as I am a huge fan of both bands. Arch Enemy is currently on an extensive tour in support of War Eternal, their best album in years, and Kreator is one of my all time favorite bands and always an electrifying live act. Plus, I was taking my 12-year-old son and we always have a blast together at shows.

My excitement was compounded by the fact that I had been offered an opportunity to interview Arch Enemy mastermind Michael Amott before the show.

Pandemonium
Cavalera Conspiracy
CD|MP3|Vinyl
Release Date: November 4, 2014

When in the hell does Max Cavalera sleep? I can’t imagine that he gets very much shut-eye with the level of productivity that he maintains. Just this year the former front man of Sepultura has released Savages the ninth album by his primary band Soulfly, the absolutely brilliant eponymous debut album from his metal supergroup Killer Be Killed, and his autobiography My Bloody Roots: From Sepultura to Soulfly and Beyond.

Now, to top it all off, along with brother Igor Cavalera and their band Cavalera Conspiracy, he has released his most brutal offering since the early days of his tenure at the helm of Sepultura, titled Pandemonium.

Global Purification
Thanatos
CD | MP3
Century Media Records
Release date: November 17, 2014

Thanatos is the longest-running extreme band from The Netherlands. They are currently celebrating their 30th anniversary. Despite enduring numerous lineup changes and a seven-year hiatus in the ’90s, the band’s level of ferocity remains as high as it has always been. Recently signed to a new deal with Century Media Records, this week Thanatos releases its sixth full-length studio album, Global Purification.

The NYC Doom Crew set out for a fine night of metal on October 24, 2014 to see Kreator and Arch Enemy live at the Best Buy theater in New York, NY. The venue is on the “fancy” side where security and ushers there will tell you to “enjoy the show” upon arrival and to “have a nice night” as you depart. There’s plenty of standing room around the stage and then one small level up, with stadium general admission seating all the way the back. And the sound – it’s fantastic. While it’s not the kind of place you’d expect a metal tour like this one to fit right into to, but thankfully it did. (I’ve seen other metal shows there, and those too were a good fit.)

California’s Huntress was the opener band for this stop on this North America, and while I was really looking forward to seeing them, I unfortunately just missed their set. (Check out their latest album, Starbound Beast.) German metal titans Kreator, who released the live album Dying Alive last year, were the direct support for headliners Arch Enemy, touring for latest effort War Eternal, their first album with new singer Alissa White-Gluz.

King Diamond is one tough dude! The 58-year-old rocker has endured a triple bypass surgery, but that hasn’t stopped him from launching his first American tour in 16 years, and on this night neither would food poisoning, but more on that later.

The current trek by the former Mercyful Fate leader and his eponymous solo band has been highly acclaimed, playing to sold-out houses and glowing reviews. Lucky fans, including myself, were ecstatic to learn that the tour would be making its Los Angeles stop on Halloween, a holiday that is custom made for King Diamond’s brand of macabre, occult fueled, shock rock theatrics.