Friday marked the second day in a three day run of shows for me. This time it was to see the Metal Blade Records 25th anniversary tour featuring Cannibal Corpse and four other bands. Death metal shows aren’t my usual events so I figured it would be a fun change of scenery for a show. I still can’t believe it has been 25 years since that label started! I bought some of their earliest releases back when I was in high school which was right around the start of the label. We are both old now!
After spending 90 minutes in traffic to get to the House of Blues from work, and another 15 minutes in the line to get my passes, I got upstairs to find out I had just missed the first band, The Absence. From what I was told by someone I knew at the show, they were good and I missed out! Dammit!
Goatwhore
Goatwhore
Goatwhore
Goatwhore
I unpacked my camera and a few minutes later Goatwhore took the stage. They were decked out in full metal attire, including one guy having giant spiked gauntlets on his arms! They played at their brand of death metal at high speeds and didn’t really change gears the entire set. It was a constant onslaught of thrash and power. The crowd were pretty enthusiastic for a good portion of their set and I found them to be quite enjoyable for most of their set.
The Red Chord
The Red Chord
The Red Chord
The Red Chord
The Red Chord
After a pretty quick turnaround time, The Red Chord took the stage next. They had a much more diverse appearance about them, in fact the singer looked more like a jock than a metalion! Their style of metal had a lot more hardcore influence than Goatwhore. It reminded me of modern metalcore mixed with a tinge of the late 1980’s crossover style. They too played with a ton of energy and it was a mostly non-stop wall of energy from the start.
The Black Dahalia Murder
The Black Dahalia Murder
The Black Dahalia Murder
The Black Dahalia Murder
Another quick set change (now this is a trend I’m glad to see catching on!), The Black Dahalia Murder came out and I could feel the anticipation in the crowd for them. It took all of about two chords into their first song when a pretty good sized pit formed and kids started crowd surfing and just generally going wild. They were more like Goatwhore on the metal spectrum; fast and furious complete with evil sounding vocals. As far as power goes, they tipped the scales compared to the previous acts and again there was little in the way of tempo changes, they just put the pedal down to the floor for their entire set, much to the delight of everyone in attendance. It was obvious that they had a hell of a lot of fans in attendance that night and after seeing them play, I can understand why.
Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse
After a much longer equipment change, the curtains opened and Cannibal Corpse were standing on the stage. The crowd erupted with approval and pushed forward. The started playing and the main floor erupted in a sea of controlled violence. The pit was huge and there was a sea of crowd surfers. I had to duck or dodge about every 30 seconds when someone would get tossed over the barricade into the waiting arms of the security guards who were catching them and sending them back into the crowd. I have to say they did a great job of keeping me from getting smashed or kicked in the head!
Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse
The band were a wall of low end and speed. The sound was excellent and the band played with precision and the crowd never stopped being enthusiastic for them. During the instrumental parts and solos, the singer would bang his head and swing his hair around so furiously that it’s amazing he didn’t get whiplash or has neck problems. But it wasn’t just him doing it, they all were! The stage was one big mass of flying hair and snapping necks, it was truly a sight to behold. In between songs, the singer would make some small talk in a normal voice and then say the name of the song they were about to play in his guttural growl.
Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse
They played about an hour and never tired, they were a force to be reckoned with and the crowd were certainly up to the task. During the set at times I was having flashbacks to metal shows in the late 1980’s and how things haven’t changed much in that time and that this is still a viable genre of music that hasn’t gotten boring in the 25 years that this particular label has been around, and that really says something. When the band was done, the house lights came on and the crowd left exhausted from a solid lineup that had no weak moments in the entire evening, which is pretty tough to do on such a large bill!
Additional photos can be seen on my flickr stream.
I got to see Cannibal Corpse and Black Dahlia Murder here in Victoria, Canada a couple years back and they put on an equally great show. They also made the effort to hang out with the fans outside the venue after the show, which impressed me seeing as not a lot of bands put themselves out like that anymore. The funny thing was the BDM guys were mobbed instantly and the dudes from Cannibal Corpse were just leaning up against their bus on their own for about 20 minutes before anyone noticed they were there!