 | CANNIBAL CORPSE UNLEASHES THE BLOODTHIRSTY IN TORONTO @ THE OPERA HOUSEWritten by Alex Stojanovic CANNIBAL CORPSE w/ THY ART IS MURDER and PERDITION TEMPLE @ Opera House Toronto, ON, Canada November 15, 2019 Presented by Inertia Entertainment The end of the year (and decade) is near, and what better way to slowly close out the year and decade than by going to see some awesome bands. With that said, Cannibal Corpse are currently on a North American trek, which is serving as the last leg in support of their most recent album Red Before Black. Joining them are Thy Art Is Murder and Perdition Temple. The tour made a stop in Toronto on a really cold Friday night on November 15th at the Opera House. It was a night full of awesome heavy raging riffs, blast beats and gutteral vocals. Did I mention the show was sold out too? |
It has been a long three years since I last saw Cannibal Corpse, and that was when they came with Obituary, Cryptopsy and Abysmal Dawn, which also happened to be at the Opera House. As everyone was gathering in the venue, the choice of music playing on the P.A. was rather interesting. Instead of death metal, they were playing a mix of Toto songs. When "Africa" started playing, people were dancing and clapping their hands to the rhythm, with some people even singing the lyrics with gutteral vocals. Some way to get warmed up for a death metal show, eh?
It was now time for the metal. Starting off the party were Perdition Temple, who are a death metal trio from Tampa. I believe this was their first time in Canada, and being that they were from Tampa, I'm sure the extreme cold weather was a bit of a culture shock to them. What I always tend to find pretty cheesy with some death metal bands is when they feel the need to keep the gutteral vocals going when they're addressing the crowd. Gene Palubicki handled the duties of backing vocals and addressing the crowd, while Alex Blume handled much of the lead vocal duties. In terms of the music, there wasn't really anything special about their sound, except for a lot of "been there, done that" moments.
Up next were Thy Art Is Murder, who I honestly am not a fan of because I'm not a deathcore fan. The only standout part of their set was drummer Jesse Beahler, whose performance was really tight. Chris "CJ" McMahon even admitted that he was physically sick because they're not used to the cold, being from Australia, and he couldn't understand how we Canadians can live in such extreme conditions. Given that he was sick, his performance made it seem like he wasn't, so I'll give him that. He even took a stab at Justin Bieber early in the set for comedic purposes, and it certainly drew some laughs, but most of the fans, including myself, were wondering, "Did you have to go there?". I give Thy Art Is Murder respect for what they do, but they aren't my cup of tea.
It was now time for Cannibal Corpse to hit the stage. The band never have intro music playing before they come on. The lights go out and they walk out on stage. They currently have Erik Rutan filling in on lead guitar while Pat O'Brien gets help and works out his legal matters after his controversial episode last year. I don't think they could've found a better fill in than Rutan, because Pat's riffs and solos are extremely difficult to execute perfectly, and Rutan nailed the parts. The band slammed their way through a brutal set with headbanging stompers like "Death Walking Terror", "Scourge Of Iron" and "Evisceration Plague", pit-starting ragers like "Code Of The Slashers", "Red Before Black", "A Skull Full Of Maggots" and "Kill Or Become", as well as a bunch of signature rippers like "Devoured By Vermin", "Make Them Suffer", "I Cum Blood", "Stripped, Raped & Strangled" and "Hammer Smashed Face".
As always, Corpsegrinder never fails to hype up a crowd with his signature windmill headbanging, and to get huge laughs and roars out of the crowd with his in-between song banters, especially when he pokes fun at people in the crowd. Case in point, he was throwing water bottles out to the front row, and he roasted the people who dropped them. However, the best part about this segment was when he told the person who dropped the water that he was going to give him something because he felt sorry for him, and he revealed it to be nothing. Classic Corpsegrinder comedy. The crowd's energy level went skyrocketing through the roof, with constant moshing and crowd-surfing from the first song to the last. The Cannibal pit gets more intense every time I see them. Even after 30 years, the old-schoolers are still showing the new-schoolers how it's done.
It was now time for the metal. Starting off the party were Perdition Temple, who are a death metal trio from Tampa. I believe this was their first time in Canada, and being that they were from Tampa, I'm sure the extreme cold weather was a bit of a culture shock to them. What I always tend to find pretty cheesy with some death metal bands is when they feel the need to keep the gutteral vocals going when they're addressing the crowd. Gene Palubicki handled the duties of backing vocals and addressing the crowd, while Alex Blume handled much of the lead vocal duties. In terms of the music, there wasn't really anything special about their sound, except for a lot of "been there, done that" moments.
Up next were Thy Art Is Murder, who I honestly am not a fan of because I'm not a deathcore fan. The only standout part of their set was drummer Jesse Beahler, whose performance was really tight. Chris "CJ" McMahon even admitted that he was physically sick because they're not used to the cold, being from Australia, and he couldn't understand how we Canadians can live in such extreme conditions. Given that he was sick, his performance made it seem like he wasn't, so I'll give him that. He even took a stab at Justin Bieber early in the set for comedic purposes, and it certainly drew some laughs, but most of the fans, including myself, were wondering, "Did you have to go there?". I give Thy Art Is Murder respect for what they do, but they aren't my cup of tea.
It was now time for Cannibal Corpse to hit the stage. The band never have intro music playing before they come on. The lights go out and they walk out on stage. They currently have Erik Rutan filling in on lead guitar while Pat O'Brien gets help and works out his legal matters after his controversial episode last year. I don't think they could've found a better fill in than Rutan, because Pat's riffs and solos are extremely difficult to execute perfectly, and Rutan nailed the parts. The band slammed their way through a brutal set with headbanging stompers like "Death Walking Terror", "Scourge Of Iron" and "Evisceration Plague", pit-starting ragers like "Code Of The Slashers", "Red Before Black", "A Skull Full Of Maggots" and "Kill Or Become", as well as a bunch of signature rippers like "Devoured By Vermin", "Make Them Suffer", "I Cum Blood", "Stripped, Raped & Strangled" and "Hammer Smashed Face".
As always, Corpsegrinder never fails to hype up a crowd with his signature windmill headbanging, and to get huge laughs and roars out of the crowd with his in-between song banters, especially when he pokes fun at people in the crowd. Case in point, he was throwing water bottles out to the front row, and he roasted the people who dropped them. However, the best part about this segment was when he told the person who dropped the water that he was going to give him something because he felt sorry for him, and he revealed it to be nothing. Classic Corpsegrinder comedy. The crowd's energy level went skyrocketing through the roof, with constant moshing and crowd-surfing from the first song to the last. The Cannibal pit gets more intense every time I see them. Even after 30 years, the old-schoolers are still showing the new-schoolers how it's done.
| CANNIBAL CORPSE George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher - Vocals Alex Webster - Bass Rob Barrett - Guitars Erik Rutan - Guitars Paul Mazurkiewicz - Drums Label: Metal Blade Records Website: www.cannibalcorpse.net | PERDITION TEMPLE Gene Palubicki - Guitars & vocals Alex Blume - Bass & live vocals Ronnie Palmer - Drums Label: Hells Headbangers Records Website: www.perditiontemple.com | THY ART IS MURDER Sean Delander - Rhythm guitars Chris "CJ" McMahon - Vocals Andy Marsh - Lead guitars Kevin Butler - Bass Jesse Beahler - Drums Label: Nuclear Blast Records Website: www.thyartismurder.net |
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