It was a very lucky night for me last night at the Carcass reunion tour at the House of Blues.
The night started out with Finnish guys Rotten Sound which put on a solid performance. Next Aborted picked up and man those fellas really sounded good live, one heck of a pit frenzy. Chatted with some old school and new school fans in and around the show during the breaks. Saw Shane from Napalm hanging out at a T-shirt booth with a sign behind him saying “Don’t Ask Stupid Questions” which was pretty hilarious.
After Aborted 1349 went on which I had never seen live before. They use face makeup and are pretty fast for a black metal band. Suffocation presented a nice change in the pace of the pit and I have to say that was the only band that I actually understood what the singer was saying when talking to the audience between songs. They really grinded up the crowd when the played Infecting the Crypts.
Then finally the moment of truth, after a 30 minute setup period. CAR CASS CAR CASS chants started. There was a very creative intro with a formal sounding lady’s voice with a British accent reading a very morbid script. Really cool stuff, I wish I had that script or hear it again. Then for the first time in more than 15 years Carcass came out and they played one heck of show. Last time I had seen them was with Death (RIP) and Pestilence back on 10/05/1990 at the legendary Country Club (used in the Boogie Nights movie) in Reseda, which is no more. I can’t say enough about how truly good Carcass was last night. Truly a legendary band with a classy performance. Bill Steer, Michael Amott, Jeffery Walker, and Daniel Erlandsson (deep resume) subbing in for Ken Owen who is out due to a brain hemorrhage. My prayers and best wishes go out to Ken. They played lots of their classics like “Incarnated Solvent Abuse” and “Exhume To Consume” and amazingly done. I would say the sounded even better than they did last time I saw them live.
So the lucky part was at the end when Daniel came out and threw out his drum sticks and one landed almost perfectly vertically and between my two feet. This was with about 50 other people trying to get it with their hands up in the air. I was so happy!! I will cherish it for ever.
Long live the English Death Grind core Kings Carcass. I’m predicting this tour will somehow influence them to create a new album once they get back home. They are playing tonight at the Grand Ballroom in San Francisco. Don’t miss it! It might be the last.
More old school death metal is on the way, Obituary are set to play HOB next Wednesday 9/24/08. I will try to make it there.