“The Underworld Awaits Tour” at Talley Ho Theater

Leesburg, Virginia – Brutal technical death metal veterans Nile came to annihilate Leesburg with support from Montreal’s technical death metal masters Cryptopsy, Mansfield, Pennsylvania’s deathcore outfit The Last Ten Seconds of Life and Johnstown, New Jersey’s technical death metal/deathcore band Cognitive.

This show for me personally was a walk down memory lane, it had been twelve years since I last saw Nile live, ten for Cryptopsy, three for Cognitive and The Last Ten Seconds of Life I was seeing for the first time. I was pretty stoked to attend this show and tolerated the four hour drive to Talley Ho Theater.

Cognitive got things going early with a short set of songs from their last two albums. This is the first time I have seen them live in a larger venue than in the past and they sounded great. The crowd response was lukewarm, there was some moshing and hardcore dancing, but not what the band was expecting. There were several attempts by lead singer Shane Jost to motivate the crowd to mosh. To me, it wasn’t the band as much as it was the crowd.

Cognitive setlist
Insidious
A Pact Unholy
Rorschach
Containment Breach
Rot Eternal
To Feed The Worms

The Last Ten Seconds of Life’s lead singer Tyler Beam was less impressed with the crowd, yelling at one point “If you’re not going to most, at least headbang.” Again, there was the handful of people who moshed and danced, but it was not what the band expected. I am not a big fan of deathcore, but the band played well and grabbed the attention of a few people.

The fan focus shifted when Cryptopsy started their set from semi-interested to involved. While Matt McGachy had to call a few times for a pit, the response was far different than with the two previous bands. My impression initially that the younger members of the audience would gravitate toward Cognitive and The Last Ten Seconds of Life, I was surprised that they showed up for the heavy hitters. There wasn’t any crowd surfing that I noticed, but Tally Ho Theater is not set up with a barrier like most venues. Their barrier/photo pit has sound gear at both ends and there is barely enough room for photographers to shoot from. Having security and crowd surfers would have been problematic. The audience was more than happy mosh and headbang as Cryptopsy played a killer set of songs, including a couple from their June 20th, 2025 album “An Insatiable Violence” .

Nile has had a few lineup changes over the years and their latest addition on bass, Adam Roethlisberger formerly of Vitriol, who is absolute beast on guitar and vocals showed his stuff during the set. In a conversation I had with one of my friends after the show, we agreed that Adam was a great fit for the band. At one point I closed my eyes and listened to Nile play, and it was like nothing had changed in 12 years. They sounded as brutal now as they did that night I saw them in Richmond, Virginia in a venue that has long since closed. The consistency of their sound is incredible.

Nile setlist
Stelae of Vultures
To Strike With Secret Fang
Sacrifice Unto Sebek
The Black Flame
Smashing the Anitu
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
Naqada II Enter the Golden Age
Black Seeds of Vengeance

There have been a lot of sick tour packages come through this year, and this is one you need to put on your short list and check out. The Underworld Awaits Tour runs through October 11th with the last stop in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Hi-Fi Annex.

Show Date: September 14, 2025