Review and Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: The Nile & Mantooth
Venue: The Nile Theater, Mesa, AZ (https://www.theniletheater.com/ )
Date: Friday June 7th, 2025
Tour: The Show Me Your Goblin Tour
I have seen all of the band previously except for Ov Sulfur. This is the 4th time I have seen Nekrogoblikon and I love that they are headlining this tour.
It was a hot night outside, but inside the Nile Theater it was also very warm. During the show each of the bands commented on how hot it was. When Revocation performed, guitarist Harry Lannon was constantly wiping off his face and arms between songs. At multiple times during the performance, you could see the sweat physically dripping off his arms and down the guitar body.
The night started with Exmortus, an American thrash metal band formed in Whittier, California in 2002. They are a 4-piece band with 2 guitarists, but tonight guitarist Chase Becker was not with them. So Jadran “Conan” Gonzalez had to provide all of the guitar work and singing. He was joined by drummer Adrian Aguilar and bassist Brice Snyder. They provided a solid starting point for the night. They got the crowd moving. The one thing that impressed me with Exmortus was their drummer, Adrian. He was a monster on the kit. At times I thought part of the kit might break.
Next up was Ov Sulfur. This was a new band for me. I meet the drummer and lead guitarist at the merch table prior to the show and got to talk to them a little. They were very friendly and couldn’t wait to get on stage. When they started playing, I was impressed. They were the surprise band of the night for me. This 5-piece band was both powerful and energetic.
Ov Sulfur is an American deathcore band formed in 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band’s lineup currently consists of vocalist Ricky Hoover, guitarist and vocalist Chase Wilson, bassist James “Ding” William and drummer Levi “Leviathvn” Xul and guitarist Tre Purdue.
Revocation is an American technical death metal band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band consists of founding members David Davidson (lead guitar, lead vocals) and Ash Pearson (drums). They are joined by rhythm guitarist Harry Lannon and bassist Alex Weber.
Even though I singled out Ov Sulfur, all 3 bands were very good. I can recommend seeing any of them in the future.
Finally, Nekrogoblikon was going to take the stage. But first the roadies had to blow up the giant Goblin head in the middle of the stage. Nekrogoblikon is an American melodic death metal band based in Los Angeles, California. The group was formed in 2006. For those that haven’t figured it out yet, the main character on stage is a person dressed up as a Goblin, “John Goblikon” (or is it a real goblin, lol). Grady Welch is “John Goblikon” and he shares lead singing duties with Dickie Allen. Together they play off each other with Dickie doing all of the harsh vocals. They are joined by lead guitarist Alex “Goldberg” Alereza, keyboardist Aaron “Raptor” Minich, drummer Eric W. Brown and rhythm guitarist Joe “Diamond” Nelson.
Like I said, this is the 4th time I have seen Nekrogoblikon. The first 2 were as opening acts so they had a very limited set. Now they are finally touring as the headliner and they have a full set that lets them really show how great they are.
As a typical metal band, they have 2 guitarists. The one strange thing is they don’t have a bass player. While writing this review, I just realized that they didn’t have a bass player. During the show I didn’t notice it. The bass part is picked up by the bottom string on the guitars and Aaron on keyboards.
The majority of the songs tonight were from their last 2 albums, Welcome to Bonkers and The Fundamental Slimes and Humours. They started the show with “Darkness” which is a very up beat song with John Goblikon dancing all around the stage. Even the crowd was jumping and dancing along. It was followed by the very fast song, “Dressed as Goblins”. At this point the mosh pit was in full motion and growing. If there ever was a band designed for mosh pits, it is Nekrogoblikon. They fast pace songs are perfect to get the crowds moving.
Their 14-song set lasted about 80 minutes. But at the end everyone seemed burned out from just the overload of energy expended dancing and jumping. The people in the mosh pit looked like they had been outside running for hours. We even had a few people dressed up in goblin outfits.
Would I recommend going to see Nekrogoblikon, YES. They put on a fantastic show and John Goblikon is a hoot to watch running around the stage. They are also very good musicians which can’t be said for some Deathcore Metal bands. If nothing else, they are just fun to watch perform.
So, for less than $30 (ticket price at door), you got to see 4 very good Deathcore/Thrash bands. Overall, they performed from 7 til 10:45 . Personally, I like these small venue shows. For the price of a mega band, you can purchase anywhere from 5 to 10 of these shows.
I have provided the social media sites for each of the bands. You can find out more information about the bands and where they might be touring soon. One more note: please help the bands out by purchasing items from their merch tables. By buying directly from the bands, you help them keep touring and producing music. It costs a lot to tour, with the bus, its driver, the road crew and just the band members themselves. Just 1 CD purchase is more than 10,000 streams of one of their songs. Personally, I collect patches and they are very reasonable priced at $10 each. So, you don’t have to make a big outlay to help the bands.
Nekrogoblikon
Social Media sites:
Website: https://nekrogoblikon.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nekrogoblikon/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nekrogoblikonofficial/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Nekrogoblikon
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nekrogoblikon
Record Label:
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2025, All Rights Reserved
Revocation
Social Media sites:
Website: https://www.revocationband.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Revocation/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Revocation/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/OfficialRevocation
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/discover/revocation-band-2025
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2025, All Rights Reserved
Ov Sulfur
Social Media sites:
Website:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ovsulfur/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ovsulfur/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/OvSulfur
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tag/ovsulfur
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2025, All Rights Reserved
Exmortus
Social Media sites:
Website: https://www.exmortusmusic.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exmortusofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exmortus_official/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@EXMORTUSTV
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tag/exmortus
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2025, All Rights Reserved
Nekrogoblikon setlist: (Album)
Darkness (Welcome to Bonkers)
Dressed as Goblins (Welcome to Bonkers)
Row (Welcome to Bonkers)
Bones (The Fundamental Slimes and Humours)
Fiend (Show Me Your Goblin / Fiend (Single))
Going to Die (The Fundamental Slimes and Humours)
The Many Faces of Dr. Hubert Malbec (Welcome to Bonkers)
Bring Us More (Heavy Meta)
Prince of the Land of Stench (Stench)
Show Me Your Goblin (Show Me Your Goblin / Fiend (Single))
No One Survives (Stench)
Powercore (Power)
Encore:
The Magic Spider (Welcome to Bonkers)
This Is It (The Fundamental Slimes and Humours)
