The House of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts was overcome with a dark energy last night as death metal titans Cannibal Corpse and Behemoth brought their co-headlining tour to Beantown. Unsurprisingly, Both bands did not fail to live up to their icon status and delivered incredible performances.
Continuing an annoying recent trend I've fell into, I once again missed this show's opening act. I've never listened to Tribulation before, but I've heard a lot of good things, so I was kind of disappointed that I missed them. I arrived about 5 minutes before the second band of the night, Aeon, hit the stage. Aeon-who hail from Sweden-put on a pretty killer show the first time I saw them on their first-ever U.S. tour in 2013 and that was once again the case last night. They are easily one of the most pure, unadulterated heavy bands I've ever had the pleasure of seeing live. Every song is relentless as they pile on the crushing riffs without ever giving the listener anything that even resembles a break. I'll admit that the lack of variety in their songs makes Aeon becomes a little bit dull after a while, but their ability to get a crowd going with their groove-based, mosh-friendly brand of death metal makes them a pretty great opener for a show like this.
Behemoth was the first of the co-headliners to take the stage. This was the first time I'd seen Behemoth where I was actually fan of theirs, so to say that I was excited would be a strong understatement. I actually hated Behemoth until the first time I saw live Rockstar Mayhem Festival in 2009. but after experiencing their powerhouse live show, my views on them drastically changed. Since that fateful day in 2009, I've become a huge fans of theirs and now consider them to be one of my all-time favorite bands. From the minute they rolled out their equipment and stage setup which included prominent Pagan imagery and the burning of strong incense, I knew I was going to be in for an unforgettable experience that at the very least rivaled the first time I saw them in 2009. Not only did they manage to match the quality of the first performance I saw from, they blew it out of the god damn water. From the ominous yet atmospheric power of their music to the manner that guitarist/vocalist Nergal and bassist Orion stalk the stage, Behemoth establishes a level of intensity in their live shows that their peers simply can't match. Behemoth has always been a band with a distinctly grim sound, but their signature aura of darkness has only been intensified by Nergal's triumphant return to music after defeating stage 3 leukemia in late 2011-as evidenced by the commanding gloomy nature of their 2014 comeback record The Satanist. The cuts from The Satanist served as the driving force of Behemoth's set and garnered the type of strong reaction that you rarely see from material that has practically just been released. I can't speak for the rest of the audience, but these songs strongly resonated with me because of their massive sound, dynamic instrumentation and darkly beautiful tone. The sprawling nature and immense crunch of The Satanist tracks were only amplified in a live setting, and made them the undisputed highlights of their 50-minute set. Behemoth just flat-out tore up the stage every moment they were on it. I really hope it won't be another six years before I get the opportunity to see them again.
Despite the fact that they had a far simpler stage layout, Cannibal Corpse took far longer to set up than Behemoth. However, The seasoned death metal stalwarts proved to be well worth the wait as they handily put on the best performance out of the four times I've seen them. The key to the success of their performance was the sound mix. The last time I saw them at Summer Slaughter 2012, their sound mix was absolutely dreadful and made all the songs bleed into one another, which put a huge damper on the quality of their set. This time around the sound was pitch perfect. The mix was clear enough so you could hear all of the vocals and instruments yet sloppy enough to accentuate the grittiness Cannibal Corpse is known for. The setlist was pretty standard for them with a wide variety of material that spans that spans the entirety of the two decades vocalist vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher has been in the band and a handful of tracks from the late 80's-mid 90's Chris Barnes-era thrown in for good measure. Staples such as "Hammer Smashed Face" and "A Skull Full of Maggots" were fun as always, but it was the attention-grabbing velocity and pizazz of the material off their new record A Skeletal Domain that really stood out. Each one of the three tracks ("Sadistic Embodiment", "Kill to Become", "Icepick Lobotomy") that they played should go on to be cornerstones of their set for the rest of their time as a band. Cannibal Corpse redeemed themselves majorly from the last time I saw them and showed the crowd of 1,500+ in attendance exactly why they are legends in the genre.
Scores:
Aeon 8/10
Behemoth 9/10
Cannibal Corpse 8.5/10
Setlists:
Aeon:
Satanic Victory
Living Sin
Forgiveness Denied
Kill Them All
Blessed by the Priest
God Gives Head in Heaven
Forever Nailed
Behemoth:
Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer
Conquer All
Ben Sahar
Decade of Therion
Messe Noire
Ov Fire and the Void
At the Left Hand Ov God
Slaves Shall Serve
Chant for Eschaton 2000
Encore:
O Father! O Satan! O Sun!
Cannibal Corpse:
Scourge of Iron
Demented Agression
Evisceration Plague
Stripped, Raped and Strangled
Kill or Become
Sadistic Embodiment
Icepick Lobotomy
The Wretched Spawn
Dormant Bodies Bursting
Addicted to Vaginal Skin
Make Them Suffer
A Skull Full of Maggots
Hammer Shamed Face
Devoured by Vermin
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