[ATTENDED: February 25, 2026] Ametropia
I saw Arkona open for Korpiklanni back in 2018. When they announced a show in Clifton,I just had to go. It was my first time going to Dingbatz, a (mostly) heavy metal club. The place is really small (200 people) and the show was not sold out (yikes).
So if Arkona was the headliner and not many people knew of them, you can imagine how unknown the openers were.
Heavy metal is a great genre if you want to learn about obscure words. Like Ametropia which is a general medical term for refractive errors—including myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism—where the eye cannot properly focus light directly onto the retina, resulting in blurred or distorted vision.
How about that.
The band Ametropia is a trio from south central PA. They released an album last year. When they came out on stage, the lead guitarist/singer was wearing a read hooded robe. They played heavy and fast and the singer was a standard growling evil death metal type of voice.
I thought the sound was pretty bad–couldn’t really hear the bass. I’m not sure how clearly he sings the growly vocals, but I couldn’t hear them clearly. Mostly it was snare drum and low rumble. One of the songs was a big middle finger to the Catholic church and the pedophiles that are in it (it was creepy, for sure).
It makes me laugh when opening bands insist that people act like they’re the headliners. There were about 30 people in the room when Ametropia went on and they were insisting on a circle pit. When it started there were about 9 people in it.
I though the robe was an effective way to present the band because as soon as he dropped the hood and you could see his face, he was just a dude growling.
I liked them more than I thought I would–they had some real grooving parts and some nice time changes. But it almost felt like a battle of the bands show. For all three opening bands, actually.
But there were some teenagers there and they loved it–full bodied headbanging and first entrants into the pit.
I’m not sure what their setlist consisted of, but they were pretty fun even if the sound wasn’t great.
I Just Read About That... 