Tonight is an astonishingly phenomenal bill that is not routine in the capital. Not only are homegrown death metal legends Carcass live in London but the heavy-hitting pedigrees of Obituary, Napalm Death and Voivod are in tow – each proficient enough to drag in the punters in their own right. Understandably, the downstairs area of the Forum is completely sold out tonight the venue's ground floor an intimate squeeze.
Still early on in the evening, progressive thrash metallers Voivod take the stage with their off-beat sci-fi metal. They were last spotted at the Underworld back in May but a swift return is evidently treasured by those present. Attempting to charm those with a thirst for death metal and grindcore appetites with progressive thrash metal is no easy battle but the Canadians' idiosyncratic metal courts vociferous support and mosh pits rapidly. Travelling through the likes of the rhythmic 'Kluskap O'Kom', the thrashing 'Overreaction' and the multi-faceted 'Tribal Convictions' to name a sample shows the musical diversity of this band. Unfortunately for them however, the poor sound subtracts from their music but the comical stage presence of the band ensures eyeballs are retained on them. Closing with the song 'Voivod' grows a particularly fervent mosh pit and gives way to abundant applause from the attendees.
The venue notably swells uncomfortably for grind godfathers Napalm Death as thefour-piece proceeds to pummel the audience with short sharp punches. Rabid grindcore and frenetic death metal is what these Brummies have been vomiting forth since 1981. Rampaging through fan favourites 'Suffer the Children', 'Scum', 'When All is Said and Done' and their cover of Dead Kennedy's song 'Nazi Punks Fuck Off' alongside prime cuts from this year's 'Apex Predator – Easy Meat', like the title track, 'Smash a Single Digit' and 'Adversarial/Copulating Snakes', Napalm Death's limitless energy transpires into the crowd with headbanging and moshing in abundance. Guitarist Mitch Harris is sitting out attending to family illness and replaced by John Cooke from fellow grinders Corrupt Moral Altar who proves an admirable substitute. Frontman Barney Greenway enjoys his stage banter and effortlessly incites the violence colouring the venue. Much like their music, the set sprints by quicker than anyone realises.
The aural devastation continues with old school death metallers Obituary, teasing the crowd with the instrumental 'Redneck Stomp' as an opener before propelling the venue into untethered chaos with 'Centuries of Lies'. Their death metal adopts the gritty guitar tone of Celtic Frost with rhythms perfectly crafted for headbanging as they dip their toe into the doom metal side of the spectrum. Alternating between faster and slower passages keeps the music interesting as opposed to being faithful to a single tempo. Whipping out the likes of 'Intoxicated', 'I Don't Care' and ''Til Death' is more than enough to have hearts pulsating dangerously. Frontman John Tardy is active on stage, his signature shouts supported by his bandmates partial to contagious headbanging. The opening notes of 'Slowly We Rot'signify that the band are on the threshold of their exit but they do not relinquish the stage until their most popular track annihilates the venue. Outstanding.
Finally, goregrind pioneers Carcass takeover the stage to a taped rendition of '1984' before bolting straight into 'Unfit for Human Consumption' an intense selection from the widely acclaimed reunion album 'Surgical Steel'. Providing an austere presence for a background to the aggressive crowd, the headliners pull their set generously from their latest full-length; 'Captive Bolt Pistol', 'The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills' and 'Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System' seamlessly combine the death metal vigour of 'Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious' with the melodic guitar of 'Heartwork', engineering relentless and memorable contemporary metal. It is scarcely surprising that these newer creations eke out as hearty an ovation as some of the fan favourites.Frontman Jeff Walker displays his dry sense of humour on stage, riddled with a touch of cynicism, no qualms in making the audience smirk.
'Buried Dreams' and 'This Mortal Coil', both from 'Heartwork',fuse urgent melodies into death metal and its straight-forward to understand why this album was so instrumental in spawning mass interest in melodic death metal. Although 'Swansong' is a heavily derided album, the quartet present 'Keep on Rotting in the Free World' to the audience, a terse track that may not be Carcass at their most venomous but its rocky conviction still promulgates it as a strong song in the band's repertoire and the intensity of audience belligerence fails to abate in the slightest. For those hankering for Carcass' goregrind early days, 'Exhume to Consume' and 'Reek of Putrefaction' are stitched together with Bill Steer providing blood-curdling vocals. The same fans who belittle the melodic death labours can probably sink their teeth into 'Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious' choices 'Incarnated Solvent Abuse' and possibly their most celebrated number' Corporal Jigsore Quandary'. To see the audience out is the beloved 'Heartwork', with its catchy chorus encouraging fans to sing along and concluding the night on a gravity-defying high.
Tonight was an unforgettable spectacle of four key metal icons that have been around for over thirty years – the mythical calibre of a line up one would expect if they went into a time machine to when extreme metal was more youthful. Perhaps more pertinently is that on their Facebook account, Carcass mentioned that this could be one of their last European tours…but they do have a wry sense of humour.
FUTURE GIGS
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