Live Review: Cannibal Corpse, Psycroptic, Disentomb, Entrails Eradicated

There are some hulking titans in the world of death metal, bands that unite old and new fans alike, and in 23 years Cannibal Corpse have cemented their place as a progenitor and a driving force in the genre. Opening fell on the shoulders of local technical death metal group Entrails Eradicated and they had plenty left for the home crowd after taking it to the other states in the week prior. For a band that's been sans-bass for so long the addition of bass guitar would require some serious restructuring but the newly minted quintet have reinforced an already heavily fortified sound with an even tighter rhythmic assault than previously possible and the impact was evident on the faces around the crowd. Disentomb got some of the crowd moving ahead of the headliners and the Queensland quartet fired through a set punctuated with breakdowns and sheer heaviness. They're a fresh band on the scene but cuts like Cystic Secretion and Forced Adornment Of The Funerary Crown are evidence of a new powerhouse in Aussie death metal.

Could the energy at a Cannibal Corpse show it be quantified as an equivalent to Hiroshima bombs? Two, three, more? No band brings carnage like Cannibal Corpse and tonight was a demonstration for all that this band is the best at what they do. Demented Aggression opened the set and it was one of several tracks off this year's Torture LP. Two more cuts from that album followed and that served to show a crowd hungry for classics that any Cannibal Corpse album, new or old, is equally brutal. Disfigured took things back to the '90s, then Evisceration Plague back to '09 and by the end of the set there was barely an album in their catalogue left untapped, all the while George Fisher lorded over the stage with the presence only he can hold. The misogynistic masterpieces you'd expect were dedicated to the 'ladies in the house' and after an hour on stage things started to wind up. Hammer Smashed Face and Stripped, Raped & Strangled where the final offering to an audience who, at the behest of George, slammed their way through to the final note.