» Cannibal Corpse 2014 10 17  
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Reviewed by Tengan
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Special guests: Revocation, Aeon
City: Stockholm, Sweden
Venue: Debaser Strand
Date: 17 October 2014
Cannibal Corpse set length: 1 hour 30 minutes
Revocation set length: 45 minutes
Aeon set length: 30 minutes

Aeon

Choosing Aeon as the opening act on their European tour might seem as an extremely predictable move by Cannibal Corpse, the influences of the Floridians in the music of the Swedes is undeniable. The technical and brutal death metal of Aeon is performed with honours straight from the School of Cannibal Corpse. Without any extravaganzas, only vocalist Tommy and bassist Tony pulls of any frequent headbanging this evening, yet with authority the band pulls of a nice gig with good technical skills, well placed tempo variations and good varied growls.

Frontman Tommy has surely studied Cropsegrinder's tricks for keeping the audience in ones pocket and grabs the attention of most of the audience. Except for a somewhat fuzzy guitar sound and annoyingly triggered bass drums, the sound is surprisingly good for an opening act, wrapping up a good gig that impressed yours truly enough to get a decent neck warm-up.

Performance: 7 chalices of 10
Stage sound
: 6 chalices of 10
Best
: Forgiveness Denied
Worst
: The bass drum sound

Setlist: (might be slightly incorrect)
Satanic Victory
Forgiveness Denied
Kill Them All
Aeons Black
Biblewhore
Still They Pray
Forever Nailed

Revocation

If Aeon got my blood pumping, Revocation did quite the opposite. Their overtly technical music from the borderlands of thrash and death metal is well-executed and the band does absolutely everything to fire up the audience, but at the end of the day this is not my cup of tea. I do not mind technical extreme metal, but when the technical extravaganzas take the upper hand and becomes technical for technical's sake without goal or purpose I do not see the point.

The fact that for the first thirty minutes everything but the vocals is way too low int eh mix does not help Revocation's cause. Said vocals are tricky and not overtly impressive, but still performed by a qualified frontman who appears to be a spotting image of a young Jeff Walker. Trying their very hardest and performing with honours, Revocation still seem to slow the audience down rather than get them all fired up about coming events.

Performance: 5 chalices of 10
Stage sound
: 4 chalices of 10
Best
: Good stage performance
Worst
: The mixing job

(sorry, no setlist)

Cannibal Corpse

If the crowd was slightly reserved towards the opening acts it goes absolutely bloody ape when Cannibal Corpse fire of their set with 'Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead'. A mosh-pit is formed instantly, one guy even starts his private little mosh-pit before being aware of the larger one, and heads starts banging everywhere. The band has an immense routine and delivers and incredibly tight set.

It's impressive to see the technical bits performed without the bands heads stopping to move for a second (Webster's solo in 'Hammer Smashed Face' anyone?). Corpsegrinder delivers a powerful vocal performance and fires up the crowd with his famous helicopter banging and some well placed Swedish foul language.

The hour leading up to Cannibal Corpse charging the stage is spent with a rather sullen sound technician perfecting every detail. Some displeased voices raise from the crowd, but in retrospect it was worth the wait. The sound this evening is among the best yours truly has ever heard at a club gig, everything is crystal clear and perfectly balanced, another testimony to the professional attitude towards the band.

In the last 10 years Cannibal Corpse has released an impressive string of albums, with this year's offering 'A Skeletal Domain' being the high water mark. The trio chosen from said album fits perfectly into the set (as expected 'Kill or Become' kills in a live setting) even when played consecutively rather than safely thrown in between classics.

The set overall is extremely well chosen balancing the best of the bands latter era with the mandatory classics. None of the necessary personal favourites has been left out. I could keep throwing superlatives over the bands performance this evening but these concluding remarks pretty much sums it up: Awesome gig by an awesome band and a sore neck the following morning.

Performance: 8,5 chalices of 10
Stage sound
: 9,5 chalices of 10
Best
: Addicted To Vaginal Skin
Worst
: No


Setlist:
Staring Through The Eyes Of The Dead
Fucked With A Knife
Stripped, Raped And Strangled
Kill Or Become
Sadistic Embodiment
Icepick Lobotomy
Scourge Of Iron
Demented Aggression
Evisceration Plague
Dormant Bodies Bursting
Addicted To Vaginal Skin
The Wretched Spawn
Pounded Into Dust
I Cum Blood
Disposal Of The Body
Make Them Suffer
A Skull Full Of Maggots
Hammer Smashed Face
Devoured By Vermin

Related links:
www.cannibalcorpse.net
www.aeon666.com
www.facebook.com/cannibalcorpse
www.facebook.com/revocation
www.facebook.com/aeon666