Cannibal Corpse

support DevilDriver + The Black Dahlia Murder + Hour Of Penance
author SC date 15/02/13 venue Amager Bio, Copenhagen, DEN

This Friday, the center of death-, groove-, melodic death- and technical death metal collected in one hard hitting fist punch right into your pretty little face at Amager Bio. Due to a change in the time schedule, I did not get to Hours Of Penance in time. I did see one and a half song performed, though, and on that basis I cannot mention anything else then a minor remark of what I felt when I entered the room. The Italians performed their technical death metal in a bit of a noisy state of mind. The sound was not on their side because of muddy wall that strangled the solos, and perhaps because of this they never really got hold of the audience.

The Black Dahlia Murder

The Black Dahlia Murder

The Black Dahlia Murder was the second dish on the menu. Their metalcore approach to melodic death metal with loads of breakdowns created a nice stylistic bridge between the two headliners. Lead singer Trevor Strnad was from the very beginning incredibly charismatic with a big smile all over his face that invited the crowd to enjoy the music with him. Unfortunately, the music did suffer from a bit of poor sound quality, which normally is not characteristic for Amager Bio. This meant that some of the solos drowned in the distortion, while some stood perfectly clear and crisp as the show progressed. The sound problems combined with some of the new band members’ either fear of being on stage, or just lack of joy of playing, which impaired the expression. Especially the drummer Alan Cassidy did not look like he liked being behind his drum kit. The over-energetic lead singer and the tired drummer created a sort of a paradox, which I am afraid affected the audience. From the start, the mosh pit was happening in the front, but in the back, they only received some appreciative nods and unfortunately not a lot more. Their instrumental skills are not to be criticized, yet The Black Dahlia Murder did not achieve to entirely get a grip of the crowd.

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DevilDriver

DevilDriver

DevilDriver were the first of two co-headlining acts to enter the stage, and boy did they do that! In my eyes, DevilDriver’s groovy metal was the highlight of the evening. They opened up the show with “The End Of The Line”, which is a fast, heavy, and melodic track with tough riffs and a nice groove. From there on, they had set the bar high for the rest of the gig. Dez Fafara filled up the room with his enormous presence despite his small size, and extended the dance floor significantly. The sound was considerably improved compared to the Black Dahlia Murder show, which influenced the audience to increase support and participation, shifting the atmosphere to a more relaxed and enjoyable level. John Boecklin’s drumming is really extraordinary, and creates an impressive foundation of the DevilDriver soundscape. Every single hit was made with precision and he just shined of pleasure while thundering on throughout the show. One of the highlights in the show was “Clouds Over California” from their 2007 album “Last Kind Of Words”, which contains all the characteristics of DevilDriver’s soundscape with an amazing guitar riff on top of the bass, and the second guitar powered on by the drums with Dez Fafara shouting and screaming at you with his harsh and yet decipherable delivery. Everybody on stage where interacting with each other and with the audience, which affected the crowd and lightened up the room.

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Cannibal Corpse

Cannibal Corpse

Death metal legends Cannibal Corpse were the headlining act this evening. When the lights where lowered in the room, and their black banner came into focus with its blood dripping band name on it, the entire room went silent, partly in fear and partly in expectation of what was in store. The band immediately got going and the crowd responded with a loud cheer and a mosh pit. It quickly became clear that these guys were the main attraction amongst the majority of the audience. The speed was increased tremendously compared to the other bands, causing the mosh pit to grow almost double in size. Cannibal Corpse, however, seemed rather reserved and did not seem to react to the crowd response. The guitarists were playing well, and the riffs were delivered with precision which emphasized their technical abilities. George "Corpsegrinder" Fischer’s outrageous and constant head banging was almost uncomfortable to watch, although it was extremely impressive at the same time. During “I Cum Blood”, he turned up the speed after asking the crowd to compete banging with him. Personally, I’m not a fan of his vocals because they are so monotonous, so it did not help that his microphone was often far louder than the music, resulting in periods that took the breath out of the show. The second last song was the classic “Hammer Smashed Face”, which lightened up the audience and set fire to the room for the last time tonight. I don’t know whether the crowd was filled to the brim with metal or the band just did not deliver the goods, because during the last song “Stripped, Raped and Strangled”, people started to walk towards the wardrobe and there wasn’t a consensus of cheering on for an encore, which ended the show with a mixed and almost confusing feeling. Nevertheless, Cannibal Corpse did stress their legendary position within this horrific approach to death metal, and it was a pure power demonstration if anything else.

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Photos by: Rasmus Ejlersen

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