Currently on the road to promote their upcoming album, Once More ‘Round the Sun, the Atlanta foursome not to be trifled with, Mastodon, take the most eco-friendly (and heaviest) band in the world, Gojira, and the six-piece stranglehold from Norway, Kvelertak on tour with some of the most bone-crushing riffs to take the stage.

Please enjoy a note from our photographer and a slew of photos behind the cut!

Hey Heavy Blog readers, it is now storytime. I live in Philly but as my older sister graduated college this past weekend, the only possible way to catch the Mastodon // Gojira // Kvelertak tour was to head up to NYC on a Thursday night. I was told I didn’t need to come into work last Wednesday last minute on Tuesday night, so I immediately hit up my friends at Saint Vitus Bar to ask if I could shoot the (very sold-out) Kvelertak headline show @ their venue. They thankfully said yes, and I bought a bus ticket and went up to Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon.

I’ve been seeing/shooting Kvelertak on every single U.S tour they’ve ever done (since 2011), and they are truly wonderful individuals who know how to put on an incredible show. As they were the opening act for Mastodon and Gojira, they had a 30 minute set time each night on the tour. Seeing them headline a 230 capacity venue in Brooklyn allowed them to play an 80 minute set, which was essentially their entire 2-album discography. I got to hear every song I wanted to hear, and Erlend dove into the crowd on multiple occasions. I am super happy with the photos that I ended up with, and this really shows the energy that Saint Vitus has.

I ended up crashing at my friend’s apartment in Brooklyn, and headed over to Terminal 5 in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon. As I had nothing to do I ended up walking around the venue, and I and ended up talking to the Mastodon and Kvelertak dudes for a few hours before they had to load in. I got into the venue fine and grabbed my photo pass, and then went to go shoot Kvelertak. They ruled, as usual, but shooting them at a 3000 capacity venue with a first 3 songs/no flash rule paled in comparison to shooting them at a tiny club. Gojira came on next, and they proved to me why they are one of the heaviest live bands in existence today. After a 20-30 minute wait, Mastodon finally came on and opened with “Hearts Alive”. That ruled super hard, and the crowd loved it.