Death metal hitting arenas was not what I expected, though the more mainstream sounds of Amon Amarth drew in a large portion of the crowd. It was a hometown show the two death metal legends Obituary and Cannibal Corpse. The evening's first band. Frozen Soul served as the impetus to get me out of the house and to the Yuengling Center. Their "Glacial Domination" album is my favorite metal album of 2023. They opened with "Encased In Ice" which set an ominous enough tone for their introduction. Frontman Chad Green was very engaging, and perhaps the most eager to connect with the crow. The band stomped in the more recent fare with the crunching chug of " Morbid Effigy", They streamed the songs and got to the point with none of the atmospheric build-up heard on the albums. "Arsenal of War' got the moshing going. Their groove style of death metal works well with larger crowds. artic stranglehold, no snow machine or magic the Gathering was being played in the pit, just the enthusiasm of a band taking the step up to play in larger venues along aide their idols.
Obituary was impressive and very professional. The last time I caught them was at a club in Atlanta, during one of the periods when Death Metal was not as popular as it is now, so 2009 sounds about right. Production wise everything was dialed in. They might have even been the tightest band. But there was a feeling that despite this being a hometown show they were not into it and punching the clock. Even punching the clock they are still top tier. They only played songs from their two most recent albums, which are both rippers so that was not bad, it was just with a limited time frame, they could have thrown in one classic. Regardless it was clear they deserved to be on an arena stage because, in terms of execution, it was like watching Slayer in their prime,
.jpg)
Cannibal Corpse took the stage with little fanfare and a great deal of authority. "Scourge of Iron", was a fitting opening song as it is more deliberate so was no the band just hammering you with a barrage of brutality from the word go. They proved they have been perfecting their grooves over the years with "Blood Blind" from their most recent album. The more thrashing attack of "Inhumane Harvest" from "Violence Unimagined' felt even more powerful. "Evisceration Plague" would not have been my first choice for their set list, but it translated well, and kept their momentum going. They are pretty confident in their body of work and when they dug into "Death Walking Terror" it proved they have every right to be. Some songs even worked better with " I Cum Blood" certainly being one of them. "Summoned For Sacrifice" was once again proof that their newest album holds up against their body of work. While Fisher claimed "Stripped, Raped and Strangled" was their last song they did come back and play "Hammer Smashed Face". They were one of the most crushing heavy bands I have seen live.
Before they went on I knew that no amount of Viking ships, dragons, or Castles could make Amon Amarth as crushing as Cannibal Corpse. Not only was this proven true, but the weaker sound of the Swedish band bored me three songs into their set. Only made it halfway through their set and I was done. I was glad to have caught Cannibal Corpse and I recommend you do the same thing if you have not yet been hammered in you face by these guys.
pst266
No comments:
Post a Comment