Fit For An Autopsy and Exodus Slay in Las Vegas with Guests Darkest Hour and Undeath

One of the last big metal shows for 2023 olled into the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas over the Thanksgiving weekend. The stacked lineup featured co-headliners FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY and EXODUS, with support from DARKEST HOUR and UNDEATH.

All the way from New York was the band UNDEATH, and this death metal band did their job in getting the crowd wound up and ready to mosh. Vocalist Alexander Jones encouraged the crowd to start the pit, and thanking all the bands on the tour for including them in the lineup. Alexander also stated that he had already lost $100 gambling, and after the show would see everyone at the black jack tables. Guitarists Kyle Beam and Jarred Welsh compliment each other perfectly, and the set, though short, was a ferocious startand the band left their mark on the crowd.

Washington DC's DARKEST HOUR have been around since 1995, and their sound is more of a melodic deathcore / thrash sound than the heavier opener Undeath. These guys love Scandinavian bands and list nearly everyone of them as an influence on their sound. Darkest Hour played a solid set, but on the band's final song the singer, John Henry left the stage, and the band played by themselves and he did not return to say goodnight, we werent sure if they were done. Sorta strange way to end a show but a great set.

EXODUS was first up on this co-headlinging date, and I was really ready to see them again, I have seen many Exodus shows and each and everyone has been fantastic. Exodus are the elder statesman on this tour, having been around since 1979 - Kirk Hammet of Metallica was a founding member and

roadie Gary Holt took his spot after he left and the rest is as we say, is history. This is one of my favorite bands, and Gary Holt is one of my favorite guitarists, having seen him perform live in Exodus and with Slayer on the final tour, he is one of the best thrash guitarists IMO.

Steve Souza is the vocalist and really knows how to engage the crowd throughout the show, he encouraged those on the main floor to come to the stage and crowd surf their way to the front. Bodies were flying all over the place and the mosh pit was insane, and It seemed the sound and pace picked up, the scene was frantic and security had their hands full. Rounding out Exodus was Tom Hunting drums, Jack Gibson bass and Lee Altus also on guitar. One of the best live thrash bands around the crowd gave them a long and loud applause to a blistering set.

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY formed back in 2008 in Jersey City, and were the final act for the night. As the band took to the stage it was pretty noticeable that a sizable portion of the crowd decided to depart, not sure if it was the late set, but was too bad because they missed a great set by this deathcore band. It seemed to me they started off a littel slow but quickly picked up the pace after a couple of songs, and by the middle of their set this band proved

to me why they are co-headlining this tour. FFAA started with 2 songs off their 2022 cd Oh What the Future Holds, and after a couple more songs vocalist Joe Badolato brought out Vegas' Molotov Solution singer Nick Arthur for “Iron Moon”. The set was about an hour long, and they closed out with “Far from Heaven, which I LOVED, and "Two Towers”. Exodus is a tough band to follow, and I was not sure how Fit For An Autopsy would stack up, but I can honestly say they really won me over and from here out will be a huge fan of this band.