Inter Arma is marking two decades of heavy music with a special East Coast tour, giving longtime fans a chance to hear material pulled from across the band’s sprawling catalog.
The Richmond, Virginia group will launch its 20th anniversary run October 8 in Atlanta before traveling through several East Coast cities and wrapping things up October 16 in Philadelphia.
The milestone carries some serious history for the band. Inter Arma played its first show in a Richmond basement on October 12, 2006. Twenty years later, the group has reached the 900-show mark and built a reputation for music that refuses to stay comfortably inside a single metal subgenre.
For the anniversary concerts, Inter Arma plans to dig deep into its catalog. Along with more familiar material, the band intends to bring back songs that have been absent from its live sets for more than a decade.
The tour will feature two different supporting acts. Antichrist Siege Machine will join Inter Arma for shows in Atlanta, Asheville, Chapel Hill and Richmond. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean will take over support duties beginning with the Baltimore date, followed by Buffalo, Worcester, Brooklyn and Philadelphia.
The celebration also comes with a catch for fans hoping for another immediate round of shows. Inter Arma says the anniversary dates will be its final performances for the foreseeable future.
That does not mean the band is calling it quits. Instead, Inter Arma plans to turn its attention back to the practice room and continue work on its next studio album.
The short run therefore serves as both an anniversary celebration and a temporary farewell to the road. After 20 years and hundreds of performances, Inter Arma is revisiting its past before getting back to the business of creating whatever comes next.
