SEPTICFLESH Tears Las Vegas Apart with VLTIMAS, STORMRULER and SIGLOS at SWAN DIVE

This was my first time at Swan Dive and I loved everything about it. Located in the Arts District, Swan Dive is a fantastic place to see concerts and has a variety of music genres on the roster.

SIGLOS from LA started the night off, power vocalist PEDRO SANCHEZ bringing his Spanish / Mexican roots and traditions to the stage, starting the show with a ritual cleansing before crashing into their doom metal/industrial style set. The band also features former Ministry guitarist SIN QUIRIN, and I knew I would be in for a pounding industrial guitar sound. Siglos songs were all in Spanish, but it was the sound that grabbed you and held throughout their show. I LOVED everything about this band, from the stage face paint, tribal metal sound, and the tribal ceremonies throughout their show. The band has put out several albums and singles, check them out HERE.

STORMRULER was a last minute add to this show, and well chosen. The band hails from St Louis and their sound is thrash / black metal. Wearing old school spikes, wrist and arm bands this band hit the stage like a wall of sound and did not stop until the last chord of their set.

Fast and furious, with guitars screaming on both sides of the stage, the band really was a force, and vocalist Jason Asberry did an excellent job on both vocals and guitar. The band's most recent album, Sacred Rites & Black Magick, was released in 2022, and spawned several videos - you can check out more on their website HERE

VLTIMAS who totally blew me away. Fronted by former Morbid Angel singer David Vincent who looked like the WWE’s The Undertaker, dressed in a long black leather coat and a matching round brimmed hat pulled down over his eyes, made for an evil presence onstage and an even more dynamic frontman.

The band is considered a black metal supergroup, and is filled with legends, formed by former Mayhem guitarist Rune “Blasphemer” Eriksen, along with drummer Flo Mounier, bassist Ype TVS and guitarist João Duarte. The band released their second album recently in 2024, Epic, a black metal scorcher that you can hear HERE.

It's been years since I have seen SEPTICFLESH, and I was really looking forward to seeing how the band's sound and stage show have evolved for this Greek symphonic death metal band. Led by vocalist Spiros Antoniou, who absolutely killed it all night and had the crowd on their feet, raging into the set with classic "The Vampire From Nazareth", and performing a lengthy fourteen song set.

Included were newer songs like "Neuromancer" and "Hierophant", along with classics such as "Portrait of a Headless Man" and "Anubis", all played perfectly and with brutal intensity. SepticFlesh has released their latest EP, Amphibians, digitally via Nuclear Blast Records this month, and you can check it out HERE.