If the death of rock n’ roll means there will be more death metal in the world, we’ll bring the poison to the party.
There’s no way around it, most people will give strange questioning looks when the latest Cannibal Corpse album is praised as a fantastic album (which it absolutely is). Death metal? Really? Yeah, it’s odd at best to applaud an album with song lyrics telling stories of extreme gore and tortuous brutality but the music is such an excellent example of what powerful metal music is capable of. Get past the lyrics, it’s a superb album.
The Ramkat is a small, 1000 person music and arts venue in Winston-Salem, NC. Feeling like a miniature House Of Blues, it’s a wide-open venue, well operated, and the sound was excellent. On this chilly night, Metal Blade Records sent an amazing line-up of death metal heavyweights from their label for the second night of their 40th birthday celebration tour. To experience this lineup of bands in such a small club was a tremendous gift to everyone lucky enough to get tickets.
Shadow Of Intent opened the evening and set the tone perfectly. There was no easing in, within seconds a very full venue began raging as if these guys were the headliners. New songs like “Genocide” and old such as “The Catacombs” were heavy as hell and the band’s special groove bounced underneath legit death metal intensity. The audience was clearly blown away by how good these guys were. The performance was genuine. For the entire set, the drummer was smiling like he was having the best time of his life. Top-notch performance, awesome way to start the night.
Revocation deserves a second chance. Blowing a guitar amp in the first song followed by more technical issues caused the crowd to lose some energy. In between issues, Revocation played well but it felt they were a bit distracted. Who could blame them? They honestly deserve a gold star for sticking with it. The audience could feel the potential in their stoner death jam-band style but technical issues just didn’t let the band shine. Whitechapel was more co-headliner than an opening act. Touring for their latest album Kin, released in 2021, Whitechapel pushes the boundaries of the death metal genre and their setlist demonstrates their range from death growl to Tool-esque progressive metal.The word that came to mind as Whitechapel walked onto the stage was “titans.” Oozing with confidence, they made it clear they were about to grind hard and kick ass. With raised devil horns in appreciation of the audience and a wild light show, Whitechapel dominated the evening with a headliner-worthy performance. Performing “Blood Soaked Symphony” from Kin and reaching back for “Lost Boy” and, of course, “Saw Is The Law” to close the night, this band has the potential to engage an audience far beyond the typical death metal norm. Every fan would agree that Cannibal Corpse needs to continue performing for decades to come but death metal’s future is in good hands with Whitechapel.
When Cannibal Corpse appeared on stage, the room erupted. After a calm and unhurried walk onto the stage, lead vocalist and freak of nature George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher and the band flipped a switch and vaporized every ounce of silence and peace from the room. Cannibal Corpse reminded their younger Metal Blade label-mates what makes them so legendary.Ditching most of the stage light show, Cannibal Corpse only needed their music to ignite the audience into a frenzy. They pounded through their multi-album setlist including their latest release, Violence Unimagined, and was rewarded with 1000 people simultaneously head-banging around a hyperactive mosh-pit. Unexpectedly personal and humorous, asking if the audience was ready to “party all night” midway through the show it was obvious the band was thrilled to be back on stage.
Welcome back, Cannibal Corpse, and thank you Metal Blade Records for having us at your birthday party. It was f*cking incredible!
CANNIBAL CORPSE
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WHITECHAPEL
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REVOCATION
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