November, it's the time of the ancient ones in my opinion. The sun has gone into hiding. The cold is starting to cut to the bone.
It finally feels like when the temperature hits 35F that it's probably going to stay here for a long time.
At the end of November in St. Louis, MO, Cannibal Corpse brought their current tour to Delmar Hall on, you guessed it, Delmar Blvd.
7pm found this blogger in the car listening to Sepultura in order to get into the mood. Frankly, there something in the back of my brain gnawing at me. As I drove to Delmar Hall to see the most infamous, notorious, and plain famous death metal band on the planet, it was after the backside of my consciousness.
In less than 12 hours, my alarm would go off and it would be time to go make pancakes for the the little short girl who lives in my house. She had a hockey game early in the morning and needs her carbo load.
Cannibal Corpse was scheduled to take the stage at 10pm and they did. Thank Ford for truth in set times. So the math for creating my getting any sort of a good night's sleep was off of the table.
Oh well, life's rough right?
But, when you're an OCD gent like myself, little things that shouldn't bother you do, and that cast a bit of a pall on the evening for myself.
On the road with the legendary death metallers were relative newcomers Harms Way and Hate Eternal.
Both bands played with the right amount of anger and tightness. Both very talented bands, but neither one struck the nail on the head for me that night.
As the clock is about to strike ten, it's time to pull away from the hockey game on the TV behind the bar and move into the main viewing area.
Now it wasn't my first time seeing the Death Metal legends in concert, but for some reason this time, I began to get a sentimental about this band who played almost none of the soundtrack of my youth.
My old friend Tom, who was my first real best friend, was the one who introduced me to this band. The same guy also introduced me to Eazy-E and N.W.A. as well. Possibly, it was the language that really spoke to him...the shock value of them, not so much the message.
So, as my mind wandered from the stack of pancakes I had to cook to my friend telling me Cannibal Corpse had a song called Fucked By A Knife....they took the stage.
It wasn't like the staged entrance of Harms Way, and the Buffalo Natives certainly didn't have anyone as ripped and inked like Harms Way to show off, but it was the kind of entrance that oozed confidence.
The reality is that this is a band that hasn't had to do record a single note since 1992 and they'd still continue to draw a crowd when they played.
Having a vice president speak your name aloud on national TV will do that for you, as will a cameo in a Jim Carey movie...
Once assembled it was time to do the deed.
This is the same band whose road crew can out riff half of the death metal bands touring today. The men themselves, they know how to get the job done. That's what they did. The band didn't put on a show.
They performed only to within an inch of the word. There's no serious need to do more than play their campy, grindhouse songs.
The blast beats laid down cover for the twin guitar attack. it was death metal performed in the way it was meant to be.
This show was different from my last time seeing them. There wasn't a pit to fear. Audience interaction was at a premium and that made the already disturbing music more powerful. The feeling of self-confidence that they can just come out and throw down is palpable.
It was twenty six minutes into the set before Corpsegrinder spoke. By that time, your friend and humble narrator was already pummeled into the ground.
Cannibal Corpse is good at one thing, and they're one of the absolute best at it.
There's no room for nuance, for mood, or for dynamics at a Cannibal Corpse show. They're going to start at 11 and end at 11.
It was a completely awesome feeling to have the band drag me back into the room instead of being miles away in my head.
That's the power of a hammer smashed face.
They've never been one of my favorites, but they're a band that connects me to a point in my past that no longer really exists. The connection to my old friendship still keeps me coming too listen to them. Beyond that, they have become a rite of passage in terms of death metal fanhood.
Have you seen Cannibal Corpse?
Setlist:
Code of Slashers
Only One Will Die
Red Before Black
Scourge of Iron
Evisceration Plague
Firestorm Vengeance
Staring Through The Eyes of the Dead
The Wretched Spawn
Pit of Zombies
Kill or Become
Unleashing the Bloodthirsty
Devoured by Vermin
Gutted
A Skull Full of Maggots
I Cum Blood
Make Them Suffer
Stripped, Raped, and Strangled
Hammer Smashed Face
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