Live Report - Cannibal Corpse / Dying Fetus / Necrophagist / Unmerciful - Nov.14, 2006, The Medley, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Metal Reviews

Release year: 0
Reviewed by Jason
If I were to travel back into time a couple of years and tell myself that I was going, and quite excited, to see Cannibal Corpse in a couple of days, my older self would likely wonder what sort of traumatic future event(s) are going to lead in the degradation in my taste in music. Well, truth is that though CC’s newest release Kill is getting my hails because of the coherent lyrics and sharper instrumentals, I am not exactly the biggest fan of raw Death Metal. Though I do love brutal and technical music, Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus and Necrophagist are not exactly what you would call poster-boys of melody. Putting aside my usually preferences, what I craved to witness that evening was 3 solid hours intensity to a degree of which I had not witnessed before, and so that I, and my entire radio show team could fulfill the pact we made which was that we would all be in the pit for Hammer Smashed Face. Well, Mission accomplished.

The bill for the evening was truly an all-star one when it comes to Death Metal: starting with Unmerciful, Necrophagist, Dying Fetus and then headliners Cannibal Corpse. When Unmerciful hit the stage I unfortunately only heard the faint sound of double-bass from outside due to the fact that the foxy lady I was waiting for was late, and the bouncer at the front door gave everyone on guest list a hard time. Though I can’t really comment on Unmerciful’s performance, others that were at the show said the band played a very tight set. When I walked in, Necrophagist had just taken the stage and everyone near the front was going completely wild. These German-based technical Death-Metallers had been scheduled to perform for the first time here in Montreal a couple of months ago, but due to financial issues and problems in the band’s management the show was canceled. Fans have been long waiting for this band to perform here and I’ll bet all the pent up frustration that had built up from the previous cancellation was being vented that evening. Though they gave virtually no stage presence, Necrophagist released a continual onslaught technical death metal that sounded like it was virtually off the album. Of all the 6 or so tunes the band played, I was only familiar with two of them: Intestinal Incubation and Stillborn One which they saved for the final song. One of the highlights of my evening was simply staring in awe at Hannes Grossmann annihilating his drum kit with surgical precision. Following Necrophagist’s set, the usual roaring and name chanting ensued, but was later very surprised to see the audience give significantly less applause for veterans Dying Fetus.

To be honest, I expected more out of Dying Fetus. Though the music itself was riled with intensity and performed with the same precision as Necrophagist, there was little to enjoy if you weren’t familiar with the band because the set was so straight forward. The band walked on stage, played their set with 2 or 3 pauses, said maybe a word or two and left. Thankfully the girl I brought is quite the Fetus fan, and informed me that some of the tracks they played that night were: Praise the Lord (Opium of The Masses), One Shot One Kill, Pissing in The Masses, and Skull Fucked.

As a teenager, I had always heard about these kind of urban legend mosh-pits where people would get completely leveled at shows in this style, and so far that evening I was pretty disappointed to have only seen maybe a maximum of 20 people throwing themselves around at the same time. This disappointment quickly changed when Cannibal Corpse hit the stage and kicked-off their set with the title track off their new album. The second Corpsegrinder began screaming “KILLLL!!!” over half of the floor erupted into a frenzy thrashing which lasted almost the duration of the entire show. Though we said we would only go in the pit for Hammer Smashed Face, we landed up spending a majority of the evening thrashing to tunes like Murder Worship, Butchered at Birth, and The Pick-Axe Murders. During one of the pauses, I couldn’t help but admire Corpsegrinder’s chivalry when he dedicated a song to all the ladies in the building: “This one goes out to all the ladies here tonight…. This one is called, FUCKED WITH A KNIFE”. The highlight of the show, of course, was when Hammer Smashed Face as the second to last track, and literally the whole floor erupted in total chaos.

Overall, the show was a successful evening of brutal entertainment, and one which I am happy to have experienced. Though Cannibal Corpse may not be for every metal fan, they are still worth seeing at least once, because not many other bands are capable of putting on an aggressive spectacle as they do. If you have the chance to seem them on their current tour, I suggest checking them out!

Killing Songs :
Jason quoted
Other albums by Live Report that we have reviewed:
Live Report - Marduk / Vader - United Titans Tour 2022 - 17th March 2022 - Rebellion, Manchester, UK reviewed by Goat and quoted
Live Report - Genesis - The Last Domino? Tour - 25 September 2021 - AO Arena, Manchester, UK reviewed by Goat and quoted
Live Report - Mgla, Lvcifyre, Wode - 15th March 2019 - Rebellion, Manchester, UK reviewed by Goat and quoted
Live Report - Pestilence, Grimaze, Damim, Cryptic Shift - 23rd February 2019 - Rebellion, Manchester, UK reviewed by Goat and quoted
Live Report - King Crimson - Uncertain Times Tour - 9th November 2018 - Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK reviewed by Goat and quoted
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