On Friday, May 8th, 2026 Canadian tech death giants, Archspire brought their "Long Roads Big Loads" tour to The Underground in Charlotte, North Carolina. This tour started on April 24th and is going strong through June 6th. Supporting Archspire on this tour is Mutilation Barbecue, Crown Magnetar, and Undeath.
MUTILATION BARBECUE
Mutilation Barbecue is a thrashy death metal band based out of Cleveland, Ohio. I honestly had not heard much about them prior to this show, but they really impressed me! They kicked off the show precisely at 7PM. They had so much energy and got everyone in the venue moving right off the bat! Their set was very fun, including songs such as "Amalgamations of Gore," "Grave Implosion," "Hive Mind Homicide," and "Realm of the Ossified." Vocalist Tristan Wright was running around the stage (even with comically limited space due to the backloading of instruments) and jumping around the entire set. The crowd was moshing and moving around along with him the whole time. I thought this set was a ton of fun and enjoyable.
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 4 acid tubs out of 5
This set deserves a solid 4 out of 5 because the stage performance was unmatched, and the energy never died. I was never bored of the set and felt immersed the whole time. The sound was good, I have no complaints at all with how everything sounded. I enjoyed the thrashy nature of the music, especially since the two following bands had a slightly slower pace being death and deathcore. I think this band was an amazing opening band for Archspire and really set the precedent for the energy of the show. I would definitely recommend seeing this act!
CROWN MAGNETAR
Minnesota's Crown Magnetar was next to hit the stage. I was excited for this set, as I had not seen Crown Magnetar perform before. They performed "Nailed the Fuck Down" and "Decapitation Ritual" off their 2025 EP, "Punishment," along with their recent single, "Desecrate Infinite." They played a good mix of songs from their previous works, including their hits, "Full Spectrum Hatred" and "Black Lotus." Everything sounded pretty good, and the crowd seemed to really enjoy their set as well. I thought that the members commanded the stage well, and had good energy too. Bassist Mike Sahm was notably the most energetic member on the stage, I enjoyed seeing him so into the music and performance.
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 3.5 decapitation rituals out of 5
I think this set was good overall. The sound was good and the stage performance is exactly what one would expect to see from a deathcore act in 2026. I wish it was slightly more memorable, but that is just a personal opinion. It seemed like the crowd was thoroughly enjoying the set! Everything hit heavy and the vocals were nasty too. Can't go wrong with a standard act like this!
UNDEATH
New York's Undeath took the stage next. This band is a modern death metal band. They were entertaining to watch, and had about the same level of energy as Crown Magnetar. They played a lot of their older material. I was actually surprised they only played one song from their more recent album, but I thought the setlist was good overall. They played songs such as "The Funeral Within, "Suitably Hacked to Gore," "Shackles of Sanity," and "Lesions of A Different Kind." They even played "Endless Graveyard" from their 2019 Demo EP. They ended their set with their hit, "Brandish the Blade."
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 3.5 Lesions out of 5
I have similar feelings for this set that I had about the Crown Magnetar set. It was overall good, but could have been slightly more memorable with more movement and energy. I think that the sound was really good and the music overall is great modern death metal. I enjoyed seeing the bassist playing a beautiful fretless bass. I have no complaints about this set, and would see these guys play again in the future!
ARCHSPIRE
Last but absolutely not least to take the stage was Archspire. This was my 2nd time seeing Archspire play. They are phenomenal musicians and are incredibly entertaining to watch perform. This is their first tour with their new drummer, Spencer Moore. Knowing that he previously was in Inferi, I knew he was going to be a wonderful addition to the band. He was amazing live, and easily kept up with the material! This tour is backing their new album release, "Too Fast To Die." Archspire is so fun to see live, they play ridiculously technical music, but they also have a blast on stage. Vocalist Oliver Rae Aleron was joking around and smiling the whole set. He was blasting the crowd with a bubble gun periodically as well. It was great seeing the other band members laughing and joking around on stage as well. You can tell they genuinely enjoy being on stage and performing.
The set was absolutely perfect in my opinion. I was starving to death, as I drove 3 hours without stopping after work to get to this show on time. In all honesty, I was tempted to leave the show a little early to get food before my 3 hour drive home, but they just kept playing banger after banger. I stayed the entire time and it was so worth it. They started their set with "Drone Corpse Aviator," "Remote Tumor Seeker," "Red Goliath," and "A.U.M." Then they jokingly went into playing "Run To The Hills" by Iron Maiden and I wish they finished playing it because it sounded pretty good. Oli's stage banter is always fun, and you know he is always going to encourage some fun crowd shenanigans. He asked the room to divide in half based on if they were "cut" or "uncut" to settle the debate of which is better. Then he asked the crowd to then go into a ‘wall of death’ while the next song came in. The rest of the set was just a continuous onslaught of great songs such as "Bleed the Future," "Golden Mouth of Ruin," and "Involuntary Doppelganger." They ended the show with the very serious cover of "The Noose" by Six Feet Under. You would have thought that Chris Barnes was on stage himself. They then said farewell to the crowd with their recent single, "Carrion Ladder."
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 5 big loaded bubble guns out of 5
What can I say? These guys know how to put on an unforgettable show. I love how unserious they are while being seriously talented musicians. Their set was perfectly curated, they kept everyone's attention with great banter and energy on stage. The crowd was obviously very entertained and moving for the whole set. You genuinely can never go wrong seeing Archspire perform. They put on one of my favorite performances that I have seen so far this year. I wish it never ended! Not to mention, the members are known for being nice and chill. When I was desperately running to the bathroom before the show started, I ran into Oli and gave him a fist bump because they didn't have the back area closed off by the bathrooms like the venue usually does. He was just walking around and didn't seem annoyed that I recognized him and said hi to him. It is cool to see that they are genuine people and don't mind seeing their fans. I think this show was really fun and I would definitely recommend going to see them perform on the rest of the "Long Road Big Loads" tour!
The "Long Roads Big Loads" tour is still going strong. There are plenty of date remaining, as the tour goes until June 6th. If this tour is hitting your town, or close by you NEED TO GO! I cannot stress enough how much you do not want to miss this! If you can't make it out to one of the remaining shows, then you can still "stay tech" by streaming Archspire's recently released album, "Too Fast to Die" down below!
