Death metal made a big return this past Thursday with Cannibal Corpse headlining a show at House of Blues. They were here for the Evisceration Plague tour and are on the road with a stellar lineup of metal bands. This show got off to a very early start as the first band went on at 5:15pm!
Lecherous Nocturne took the stage when most people were just getting off of work. Their brand of death metal was very fast and punishing. Lots of hyper fast drum beats and thrashing and screeching guitars. While the band was laying this noisy and violent foundation, their singer howled and growled his lyrics over it. Aside from his constant plea for the crowd to start a pit, the band sounded really good and were definitely worth getting there early to see.
The mighty Skeletonwitch soon followed. This was the first time they have been back in about a year and the band have put out a couple of new records since their last visit. Time has been very kind to them as they have only gotten better and tighter in that time. The band is a perfect blend of thrash and death metal styles and they are just really gritty and powerful. Their singer stalks the stage and flails about as he alternates between guttural growls and howling shrieks. Their short set was spot-on in its delivery and they left the crowd wanting more. I wouldn't be surprised to see them headlining venues like this in the next year or so as they are that good.
Hailing from Norway, 1349 was the only non-death metal band on the bill, as they are a black metal band. They came out in full corpse paint with at least one member wearing a cloak! They also played under very little light. Unlike most black metal bands though, 1349 had no synths and were actually a lot harder than many of their peers. The double kick drum never stopped and the spastic drums drove the heavy and speedy guitars while the singer shrieked up a storm. The band looked completely menacing and intimidating in their costumes and their music would instill fear in most mortal men. The crowd loved it and they could have easily come back for an encore had that been allowed.
Unlike the band that preceded them, Cannibal Corpse came out to a well light stage full of bright white lights and in fact the lights didn't change the entire time they played. Within seconds of them striking the first chord of "Scalding Hail", everyone in the band was banging their head while playing and their hair was flying everywhere. Cannibal Corpse are easily the most hair flying, head bangingist band in all of death metal and the crowd would agree with you as they were doing the same.
As the band crushed the audience as they crushed their instruments, the crowd was full of moshing, head banging and lots of crowd surfing. The security guards had no shortage of kids to catch as they flew over the barricade and the crowd never really stopped moving except for in between songs when the band wasn't playing.
The band played a good mix of songs both new and old including the very first song they ever performed live, "Scattered Remains, Splattered Brains" as well as such brutal numbers as "Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead," "Devoured By Vermin," "Pounded Into Dust," and the title track to their latest album, "Evisceration Plague" which sounded pretty amazing. As a live band, Cannibal Corpse know few equals in the sheer intensity and power departments and there is likely never such a thing as a bad performance by the band.
After playing for well over an hour, the show came to a close as the closing song from the old Incredible Hulk TV show played over the PA. It was barely after 9pm but it felt like a long and satisfying night of great metal delivered by four quality bands, especially Cannibal Corpse!
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