Metal mayhem erupts at Palo Verde Lounge as ETERNAL kicks off tour

Eternal performing at Palo Verde Lounge in Tempe, AZ on March 6, 2025. Photographed by Justin de la Cruz.

PALO VERDE LOUNGE, Peavy Lounge, The Dirty Verde, whatever you would like to call it, was the spot to be for a night of ass-kicking metal last Thursday in Tempe. Phoenix death metal band ETERNAL kicked off their south west tour with help from valley acts DOGYARD, HIGH ON FORMALDEHYDE, and HIGH CASTLE.

DOGYARD aimed to get adrenaline pumping and people to flip their hair around with good old headbanging thrash. CHRIS CHENG, lead vocalist of HIGH CASTLE, took it upon himself to start a pit for the young thrash metal group early on. HIGH ON FORMALDEHYDE and their chaotic spew of grindcore madness gave unfamiliar audiences genre whiplash. This is the soundtrack to a mutant in Fallout giving you a noogie until your head gets crushed by accident, much like the end of “Of Mice and Men,” except comically dumber. HIGH ON FORMALDEHYDE’s discography consists of short, furious bursts of unrelenting anger that don’t last longer than fifty seconds at most, so they were able to cram most of their discography in a short window of time.

HIGH CASTLE harkens back to 80s heavy metal and fantasy. If the name and stage outfits of leather and chains weren’t enough, lead singer CHRIS CHENG would make an entrance wielding a sword. The mind immediately goes to paintings of FRANK FRAZETTA, JULIE BELL, and BORIS VALLEJO when hearing the cavernous vocals and sick guitar solos in songs like “Castle Queen” and “Endless Fight.” CHENG would periodically waive the sword around and hold it up like a stance for battle, like no one taught him proper scissor etiquette. He would knight fans with his sword towards the end of the set as a show of thanks, and also because the stage gimmick called for it. Fans of CIRITH UNGOL, ICE WAR, HAUNT, and ANGEL WITCH will find something to love from Phoenix’s newest heavy metal group.

Before embarking through California, ETERNAL gave their home state crowd a proper tour kickoff with the help of ROB EUGENE of THRA filling in on bass guitar. The slow, creepy organ intro “Doorway To Tribulation" tantalized the crowd before hitting them with intense guitar shredding and pulverizing drums in the song “Cryptic Lust.” From start to finish, the atmosphere of an undying, vengeful, and relentless evil did not waver, and the audience only wanted more. ETERNAL ended their performance on the song “Cauldron Entrails”, with their essence of evil waiting to be unleashed on California.