“The Amonklok Conquest” tour already sounded absurd on paper: Amon Amarth and Dethklok co-headlining a fully theatrical metal package built around Viking warfare, animated violence, and sheer spectacle. But inside The Theatre at Great Canadian Casino Resort on May 1st, the concept actually worked because both bands leaned completely into what makes them unique rather than trying to outdo one another directly. The tour itself was promoted as a night of “pure theater and over-the-top heavy metal entertainment,” and Toronto got exactly that.
The evening opened with Castle Rat, a rising Brooklyn outfit whose “medieval fantasy doom metal” aesthetic felt almost custom-built for a tour shared by Amon and Dethklok. Led by vocalist and guitarist Riley Pinkerton, the band brought a theatrical mix of doom metal, fantasy lore, and live-roleplaying spectacle, complete with costumed characters and stage storytelling inspired by swords-and-sorcery imagery. Truly a refreshing sight to see the effort around a really curated show, down to the band’s interactions on stage. Their live reputation has grown rapidly over the last two years thanks to that combination of heavy riffs and immersive world-building. Probably an easy new favourite for anyone who’s seeing them the first time during this tour and truly a band to keep an eye on.
What made Castle Rat such a fitting opener was how naturally they bridged the gap between the two headliners. Their performances lean heavily into mythology, characters, and visual storytelling, which echoed the Viking grandeur of Amon Amarth while also sharing some of the theatrical absurdity that makes Dethklok work so well. Rather than feeling like a conventional support act, they functioned almost like a prologue to the night’s larger universe of fantasy and metal spectacle making the show feel more cohesive from the start.
By the time the headliners took the stage, this 4-piece from New York City had already established a mood where elaborate costumes, larger-than-life characters, and full theatrical commitment (complete with blood and death) felt completely normal. It just made the transition into Viking battle hymns and animated ultraviolence surprisingly seamless, turning the entire Toronto stop of “The Amonklok Conquest” into a night that felt more than a concert package but also one continuous fantasy-metal world.
Amon Amarth opened their set by immediately establishing scale. Once the black curtain that had a big and bright projection of the band’s logo dropped, Raven’s Flight and Shield Wall turned the room into a battlefield almost instantly, with the former track already seeing a circle pit plus crowd surfers taking advantage with the latter already having become one of the defining songs of the band’s modern era thanks to its giant chant-along chorus and live crowd participation. Viking warriors also came out on stage and formed a shield wall for this special track as well with archers appearing later in the set too for One Thousand Burning Arrows. After frontman Johan Hegg asked the crowd if they were ready to “feast like Vikings”, the set continued to move fluidly across their catalogue with loud cheers approving the epic journey Amon Amarth had planned ahead. Live for the Kill and Cry of the Black Birds represented the late-2000s breakthrough years, while Death in Fire and Asator reached all the way back to the early 2000s, giving longtime fans a reminder of the band’s rawer melodic death metal roots. The progression felt intentional by starting with the polished modern anthems before gradually digging backward into the catalogue’s heavier foundation.
The theatrical centerpiece of the Amon Amarth set arrived with Hermod’s Ride to Hel – Lokes Treachery, Part 1, featuring Livia Zita appearing in skull makeup as Hel herself. That moment perfectly captured why Amon Amarth remain one of metal’s premier live acts because they understand that spectacle matters just as much as riffs. On top of that, Livia couldn’t have said it better: “they could have generated an AI video for this in ten minutes. Instead, they hired a human and put me on a giant screen in front of thousands of people. That means something, both personally and for human artists broadly.” It was clear from the energy of the fans that it meant something to them as well.
The musicianship and theatrics combined with the iconic Viking Helmet set piece that gave drummer Jocke Wallgren the best view of the audience, plus the inflatable Viking statues that reached the height of the entire stage, these legends in the genre just know how to put on a show that would make any ticket holder feel like they got their money’s worth and more. More importantly, a show with these many moving parts means there’s also an excellent stage crew to thank, and it looked like the band had one nothing short of amazing the way they were able to take down these Viking statues in a flash and replace them with inflatable Viking boats that introduced Put Your Back Into the Oar and We Rule the Waves perfectly. The former song is a live favourite, with fans creating a “row pit” that includes them mimicking rowing a Viking boat in unison sitting on the venue floor with this edition apparently being the “biggest of the tour” according to Johan – a great way to get the crowd engaged and gives first time watchers a story to tell at work on Monday. These two tracks are those newer songs that have already become staples probably because they fit so naturally into the band’s mythology-heavy live environment.
Raise Your Horns predictably became one of the biggest communal moments of the evening with Johan literally cheers-ing the crowd with his a loud “Skål!” and thanking Toronto for always making them feel like home, his drinking horn in hand with who knows what in it. Even still, a big climax arrived with Twilight of the Thunder God. An absolute epic from their 2008 album of the same name that saw the night’s most incredible inflatable: a giant sea monster of legend Jörmungandr, the Midgard serpent from the story the song was based on. Very much a definitive Amon Amarth song at this point and arguably one of the most beloved melodic death metal anthems of the last two decades. Just like Thor, Johan used a hammer to slay the beast which was just a satisfying end to the set while still maintaining the throughline of visual storytelling across the bands.
Where Amon Amarth relied on historical mythology and cinematic staging, Dethklok weaponized absurdity. The jump from Viking metal grandeur into animated ultraviolence somehow made perfect sense, especially on a tour celebrating 20 years of Metalocalypse. After a comedic animated intro to amp up the fans, the band hit the stage. Kicking the door in with Deththeme felt like the obvious choice for an opener instantly inducing “Dethlok” chants from the crowd announcing the arrival of the Metalocalypse universe before Awaken, Bloodtrocuted, and Burn the Earth unleashed the first truly overwhelming wave of chaos especially with each song of the night supported by crazy strobes and cartoon antics. Structurally, Dethklok’s set moved like a barrage of songs, visuals, animation breaks, and comedy sketches all colliding together at rapid speed which really takes the show to a unique level.
After Aortic Desecration ripped up the pit, Toronto saw the band’s mascot Facebones hit the screen for the first time and fans were more than quick to cheer once the beloved show icon inevitably appeared for some quick comedic relief after an already brutal start to the show. Described as “an animated version of the Dethlok logo, with a twisted jaw and visible brain”, the floating creature joined Charles Foster Offdensen (band manager and CFO like his initials) to say “Happy Klokaversary” and celebrate 20 years of “palling around, laughter, brutality”, and according to Facebones, “Mateloctopus”.
Keeping the momentum, the middle stretch especially highlighted how much of Dethklok’s catalogue has evolved from novelty into genuine fan-beloved metal material. Going into Birthday Dethday (appropriately), Black Fire Upon Us, and Dethsupport balanced humor with legitimately crushing musicianship, while the inclusion of the Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle and Concert Tips with Facebones animation breaks kept the entire set tied directly to the show’s surreal and out-of-this-world identity. Rather than interrupting the pace of the set, those transitions actually enhanced it, making the audience feel like they had stepped inside an extended episode of Metalocalypse and isn’t that really what the fans came for? Honestly, the diehard Deth-heads probably needed these breaks anyways seeing how much insane energy was being spent in the pit thus far.
Late in the set, the focus shifted toward some of the band’s biggest fan favorites. The Duel and The Gears pushed the musicianship forward, but Face Fisted became one of the night’s most chaotic moments probably because of the accompanying Batmetal visuals, which fans online had already been celebrating earlier on the tour complimented by a slow intro to get the crowd really hyped up. Andromeda was a good follow-up instrumentally but also took the visuals to a level that might be too obscene for some. But heading into the encore, it somehow acted like the calm before the final Explosion (pun intended).
From there, Dethklok delivered the four-song encore that everyone was waiting for after a quick thank you from lead vocals/guitar AND series co-creator/mastermind Brendon Small. The Cyborg Slayers was a strong start to re-spark the crowd, but once Murmaider began, the room knew what was up ahead. It remains perhaps the defining Dethklok song and one of the tracks most closely tied to Metalocalypse itself that also really highlights their dual-guitar action. The guitars continued to showcase as Thunderhorse went on to escalate things even further with its crazy arpeggios and at this point, it’s easy to say it has transcended parody status entirely and can be a genuine masterclass in melodic death metal. Ending with Go Into the Water was an inspired choice because it gave the finale an unexpectedly epic and atmospheric ending rather than simply going for maximum speed or brutality. The closer crawled with Toronto to the end of the set like an alligator prowling towards its prey – a heavy and satisfying cooldown to act as the proud sigh at the end of a victorious conquest.
It’s obvious that what made the night so successful was that neither band compromised its identity. Amon Amarth delivered triumphant Viking-metal spectacle rooted in decades of melodic death metal history, while Dethklok embraced complete multimedia insanity. Instead of feeling mismatched, the pairing worked because both acts fundamentally understand that heavy metal can be both theatric and full of skill, not taking it so seriously except in the parts that actually matter as to not close any doors of possibility. One drew from mythology, the other from animation, but both turned this stop of “The Amonklok Conquest” into something that felt far larger than a standard co-headlining show. A “conquest” indeed, it was an epic journey that Toronto took together and Skål to all that made it to see this Hel of a show!
Keep up with the latest on this tour on their website kicking back off in the UK this October.