Amonklok Conquest Tour 2026: Metalocalypse:Dethklock, Amon Amarth, Castle Rat

Phantom Light Media
Jun 1
3 min read

The drive from Boise to Salt Lake City isn't too terrible. All freeway and 80 mph most of the way. I took the drive to catch the Amonklok Conquest Tour at The Union Events Center. This was quite the night. What I expected the performance to be was exactly what I got. With Castle Rat starting the show. Amon Amarth performed second and Dethklok closed the night. The whole night felt like I had been transported into the 1981 classic “Heavy Metal”.

To start the night we had Castle Rat from Brooklyn, New York. This doom metal fantasy band put on a show that seemed like it was straight from the movie “Heavy Metal”. Riley Pinkerton, the rat queen narrated the night in-between songs and theatrics dressed in her golden scale mail. Brandishing her long sword as she battled the rat that would lurk in out between the songs. The theatrics were a spectacle to behold. They were a big reason I made the trip. Great just too watch and even more fun to photograph. Each member of the band was character unto themselves from the plague doctor on the bass to the druid on the drums. There set told a story from start to finish with some death and resurrection by potion every thing a medieval fantasy should have.

I was excited to see Amon Amarth. I got the chance to cover them last summer with Pantera. That was an outdoor show on a significantly bigger stage. So I was ready to see the difference if there was one at this show. Over all there wasn't much. They still had their viking helmet drum riser. Their outfits remained the same and there energy level hadn't wavered one bit. Missing were there giant viking statues that adorned either side of the stage. I also didn’t see any vikings brandishing shields either. I feel this was likely a space thing but I missed them either way. Something I did get to do was photograph from the crowd as well as the barricade. I looked forward to this for “Put Your Back Into the Oar” I wanted a photo of droves of fans rowing for the band. Over all it was a great production. The fans were all for it to with a steady mosh pit and stream of crowd surfs through out their set. It was like a party straight out of Valhalla.

Now things got heavy, dark and hazy we have traveled to Mordhaus. We covered this show from the front of the mix. I was fine with that. Know quite a bit about what to expect from a Metalocalypse:Dethklok show it really is a good spot to be. This show is all about the animated series I began watching when they first aired 20 years ago on Adultswim. As for the show, Its all about the video board and the animations. After all Dethklok is a virtual band so the musicians preforming remain silhouettes until the each. Although there instruments do match that of the bands. Brandon Small who voices many of the characters even has a matching guitar to that of Skwisgaar Skwigelf. Over this is a two hour episode of Metalocalypse being projected onto a large screen being performed by a live band held in anonymity until the end. It’s about the lights the noise and the video. It is well worth seeing if you are a fan of the series and love the music.