Arch Enemy: Riverside Municipal Auditorium - Riverside, CA - 10/5/26
One of the biggest metal tours of the year was announced and it was titled The Wrath Across North America 2026. The tour featured co-headlining sets from Arch Enemy and The Black Dahlia Murder with support from Septicflesh, Crypta and Thrown into Exile. The first stop on this massive tour was at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, California. Even on a Monday, dedicated metalheads showed up even before doors opened to prepare for a night of brutal metal.
Crypta is a death metal band from São Paulo, Brazil formed in 2019 and have since released two albums with the latest being Shades of Sorrow in 2023 and a third album currently in the works. Crypta came out and started their show with "The Other Side of Anger" off the latest album. The death metal growls of Fernanda Lira filled the stage. The audience immediately went into a frenzy and started to mosh. The next song was Lord of Ruins and got the crowd moshing just as much. All the band members did a great job with playing the music. The next song was a great song called "The Outsider" and had the audience head banging to it. Due to technical issues before the start of their performance, Crypta were forced to cut their set short and were unable to perform the live debut of their new song, "A Portrait of Decay." To end the show, Crypta played the ever satisfying "From the Ashes" and the crowd loved moshing to it and banging their heads. A short set, but Crypta made every minute count. The band thanked the audience for coming out and left the stage to make way for the next band.
Septicflesh are a symphonic death metal band from Athens, Greece. In 2022, they released their eleventh album, Modern Primitive. The lights went out once again and the audience cheered with excitement. The first song performed was "Communion" and it was a blast to hear live as fans bang their head to the song. The next song was the fan-favorite, "The Vampire from Nazareth." The death metal growls of vocalist Spiros "Seth Siro Anton" Antoniou filled the venue. The powerful "Martyr" was next, and fans were also singing along. Antoniou made note on how they were performing on this tour as a three-piece band for the first time because lead guitarist Christos Antoniou was injured due to falling and breaking a rib and would join the band later on tour. One of the best songs performed by them was "Anubis" and Antoniou had the audience sing along to the beginning of the song as well as the catchy chorus of the song. The final song of their performance was "Dark Art" and is always a fitting song as a finale. Septicflesh thanked the audience for coming out early to check out their set and then left the stage. Plenty of music was still left for the night.
The Black Dahlia Murder released their tenth album Servitude in 2024. It is their first album to not feature original vocalist Trevor Strnad who tragically passed away in 2022. Rhythm guitarist Brian Eschbach stepped as guitarist and took over vocal duties since then. Plenty of TBDM fans were in attendance as they wore their merch. The curtains were closed and opened back up once show was about to start and the floor was covered in fog. The band members came out and started their show with "Necropolis." This is the first time that the band has played this song since 2020. The ferocity of the music didn't take long before it made the audience mosh just as hard and even crowd surfers made an appearance. The brutality continued with "Contagion" followed by "Mammoth's Hand" off the latest album. Eschbach made note on how they would be playing songs that they haven't played in years. One of those songs was "Moonlight Equilibrium" which they haven't played since 2016. Other rarities included “Miscarriage” that they haven’t played since 2009 and “Christ Deformed” that hasn’t been played since 2010. Other brutal tracks that were played included “Everything Went Black,” “Nightbringers,” and “Statutory Ape.” The audience never let up and stayed moshing all night and crowd surfers kept the security up front busy. To end their set, TBDM played their most famous song “What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse” and Eschbach copied the arm motion that Strnad used to do during the opening of the song as a tribute to him. Eschbach thanked the audience for coming out and then left the stage. One final band on this tour and things were still heating up.
Arch Enemy is a melodic death metal band from Sweden. In 2025, they released their twelfth album, Blood Dynasty. It is the last album to feature singer Alissa White-Gluz who would leave the band later that year. In her place, they got Lauren Hart who is the former singer for the band Once Human. This show and tour would make Hart’s USA debut with Arch Enemy. The venue was packed and ready for one of Sweden’s best bands. The lights went out once again and the now fully packed venue roared with excitement as all the band members made their way to the stage and started the guitar intro to “The World is Yours”. Vocalist Lauren Hart was the last to come out and started to unleash her harsh vocals. The next track was one of their most popular songs, “Ravenous”. A great and shredding song to sing along to the guitars. The third song performed was “War Eternal”, one of the songs from the 2014 album of the same name. The fans still had plenty of energy and kept moshing to the fast music. More classics were played which included “My Apocalypse”, “Under Black Flags We March”, “The Eagle Flies Alone”, and “No Gods, No Masters”. All the band members were interactive on stage with Hart headbanging most of the night. Every song was played to perfection. Nearing the end of the show, Arch Enemy played their most popular song, “Nemesis”. With the intensity of the song, the crowd continued to mosh and release any leftover energy they had left. The song ended, and Arch Enemy decided to play one last song. That song was Fields of Desolation, which is off their 1996 debut album, Black Earth. Arch Enemy finished up their set, thanked the audience for coming out and left the stage. A thunderous start to a glorious tour and this is just the beginning of it. If you see it come near you, it’s a must-see show!
