There has been no shortage of well put together Death Metal tours in the last couple of years, in 2024, Amon Amarth toured with Cannibal Corpse and Obituary, I Am Morbid toured with Suffocation, Death to All and Cryptopsy are just a few and 2025 is keeping the momentum going with the Revenge of the Underworld Tour. This KILLER tour consists of Death Metal giants Nile and Six Feet Under along with Psycroptic and Embryonic Autopsy. The six-week trek made the first of two Southern California stops at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Friday February 7 to a packed venue of extreme music maniacs. This was sure to be a night to remember as with due respect to all bands, the anticipation for Six Feet Under was off the charts as this was their first tour in 12 years, and with this being many in attendance’s first-time seeing Chris Barnes and Six Feet Under Live.

The night started early as Embryonic Autopsy took the stage at 6:30pm sharp with a brutal 25-minute set of old school mid-tempo Death Metal. The band is led by Tim King from the mid 90’s alternative rock band Soil. Tim was in another Death Metal band Oppressor with two of his Soil bandmates back in the early 90’s prior to Soil and he has returned to his roots with Embryonic Autopsy providing some killer low-pitched growling vocals. The band is out supporting their 2024 release Origins Of The Deformed and they quickly owned the early crowd with their ferocious set and accomplished the goal of getting all in a Death Metal state of mid.

This tour is all killer and no filler as Psycroptic hit the stage next led by brothers Joe Haley on guitar and Dave Haly on drums. Opening the show with “Cold” off 2015’s self-titled album, the first thing you notice is Jason Keyser (Origin vocalist, former Skinless vocalist) is fronting the band on this tour and that is not a bad thing. Keyser has a radiant stage presence and was deeply connected with the crowd in between songs asking for some head banging and circle pit action.

Psycroptic songs contain that brutal technical riffing from Joe Haley providing that Death Metal gallop throughout the set in sync with his brother on drums. The band played a 40-minute eight song set that ended with Keyser politely pleading with the crowd to get some crowd surfing going since this was their last song as they blasted through “Enslavement” – and the crowd came through as the first crowd surfers of the night made Keyser happy.

The anticipation for Six Feet Under was off the charts as that is all you could hear fans talking about during the set change. After 12 long years the “God-Father of Death Metal vocals” is back on the stage – yes all were chomping at the bit to see and hear Chris Barnes who infamously fronted Cannibal Corpse on their first four albums and who set the standard for guttural Death Metal vocals and violent, horror inspired lyrics.

The band took the stage with Barnes on vocals and original Cannibal Corpse guitarist Jack Owen on rhythm guitar with Jeff Hughhell on bass, Marco Pitruzzella on drums and playing lead guitar Ray Suhy and they began their 60 minutes of brutality with “Torn to the Bone” then into “Return of the Zombie” that had the capacity crowd in a frenzy right from the start. While Barnes obviously looks a bit older as he is sporting a full white beard, his vocals are as strong as ever as he sounded spot on all night long with his guttural delivery, gurgles and pig squeals.

It was obvious Barnes was thrilled to be back onstage and thanked the crowd many times for the continued support. The setlist was sprinkled with songs from throughout the Six Feet Under catalog and featured such tracks as “Know-Nothing-Ingrate” off 2024’s Killing for Revenge, “Feasting on the Blood of the Insane”, “Seed of Filth”, “Human Target” and many more. Fans were screaming at Jack Owen all night and he was also having a blast with all the smiles and crowd interaction – hey 2/5 of the original Cannibal Corpse was onstage – pretty awesome when you think about the performance like that and well the band sure ended the night in the most EPIC way as the last two songs of the set were not only Cannibal Corpse songs but two of the most iconic Death Metal songs that gleam with Barnes’ violent songwriting and extreme musical delivery.

Six Feet Under ended their set with “Stripped, Raped and Strangled” and the finale being the monster track that was featured in the 1994 Jim Carrey film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective – “Hammer Smashed Face”. The crowd response was off the hook for these two songs with moshing, hair whips and crowd surfing. Barnes and band thanked the crowd and all in attendance just experienced 60 minutes of Death Metal euphoria.

Now about 9:30pm, Nile had the difficult task of following the epic Six Feet Under performance, it is unclear if Nile is closing the show every night but playing after Chris Barnes’ return to the stage is no easy task. The band hit the stage and opened the set with the killer tune “Stelae of Vultures” off their 2024 release The Underworld Awaits Us All. Now there are a few new faces in Nile as they again went through some personnel changes with the addition of Dan Vadim Von (formerly of Morbid Angel) on bass and vocals and Zach Jeter (Hideous Divinity) on second guitar and vocals while Karl Sanders and George Kollias remain the anchor of the band.

Next up was “To Strike with Secret Fang” and then “Sacrifice Unto Sebek” and this new lineup works really well live as Sanders, Von and Jeter all trade off vocals with Sanders providing the deepest guttural growls known to man all while Kollias creates the most insane drum patterns that a human being can ever imagine – just incredible. The band was certainly in sync and kicking ass, but the crowd seemed a bit reserved, maybe due to releasing all their energy for Six Feet Under? Also the stage lights for Nile were faint plain white lights that seemed to take away some of the vibe of the show based on the lighting from the previous bands.

Nevertheless, Nile remains King of Egyptian themed technical Death Metal and kudos to Sanders for being able to shout out the incredibly long song title off their new album “Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes” – WOW, what a mouthful but a seriously killer song. Of course, in typical Nile fashion the set ended with the brutal title track off 2000’s Black Seeds of Vengeance. What an incredible night of Death Metal and for many a somewhat religious experience witnessing Chris Barnes back on stage. The Revenge of the Underworld Tour makes a stop in Los Angeles at 1720 on February 15 and then ends on February 22 in Houston, TX. Horns Up!

Six Feet Under Set List:

Torn to the Bone | Revenge of the Zombie | Silent Violence | Lycanthropy | Know-Nothing Ingrate | Murdered in the Basement | The Day the Dead Walked | The Enemy Inside | Feasting on the Blood of the Insane | Victim of the Paranoid | Seed of Filth | Death or Glory (Holocaust cover) | Human Target | Beneath a Black Sky | Stripped, Raped and Strangled (Cannibal Corpse cover) | Hammer Smashed Face (Cannibal Corpse cover)

Nile Set List:

Stelae of Vultures | To Strike With Secret Fang | Sacrifice Unto Sebek | The Black Flame | Smashing the Antiu | Kafir! | In the Name of Amun | Sarcophagus | Long Shadows of Dread | Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes | Invocation of the Gate of Aat-Ankh-es-en-Amenti | Black Seeds of Vengeance