Carcass live

I never got a chance to post about seeing Carcass a few weeks ago. Life has been too hectic. Or maybe I just haven’t felt like writing. Either way…

Despite some fairly serious technical mishaps (I was at the Seattle show, and Bill Steer’s guitar pedal kept fucking up, also there were some visual blunders), the show was great. Everyone had fun, and seeing some of my favorite songs ever played live was a real treat. Although not one of my favoritest Carcass songs, I have to say that the highlight of the set for me was probably “Incarnated Solvent Abuse” which just killed live. “Heartwork,” “Corproreal Jigsore Quandray” and “Exhume to Consume” were also great of course, and the ending with them playing the last bit from “Carneous Cacoffiny” was the perfect way to end the set.

I really can’t give much more in the way of impressions of their set as I just felt like the 14-15 year old me for a lot of the time (I got into Carcass around 1995) and it was just really… special for me to see. I’m really glad they did this tour, now I’m happy if they never do anything Carcass-related again. I always wanted to see them live but never got the chance until now. I got my badass “Tools of the Trade” t-shirt and everything (strange that they didn’t play that song…). Man, what a great night.

1349 played a great, albeit very short, set, too. I hadn’t seen them  before, but now the next time they roll through town I’ll definitely go.

Next show I go to… maybe Asunder? Not sure.

At the Gates

I saw At the Gates a couple of days ago. It was a great show. It’s been a really long week for me so I’m not going to say too much about the show, other than it was everything I was hoping that it would be.

All of the best songs were played (they were the same as on the setlist announced on Babbermouth awhile ago- no link for the moment because Blabbermouth appears to be down), the band was really tight and the energy from the band and the crowd was high and intense. Everyone was having a great time (except for the guy I saw pulled down from crowd-surfing by security). My only disappointment was Tomas’ vocals, which were a little more hardcore/screamy than his really grim screams from back in the day, but he delivered a very exuberant performance with good showmanship, so I can’t speak too harshly of his vocals, which he has obviously evolved over the last decade or so.

Aside from ATG themselves, I had perfect timing going to the show. I arrived just as the previous band ended and I scored an awesome place to stand to watch the show. Also, I got the news that motherfucking Carcass, the Gods of Grind themselves, are going to be playing in Seattle on September 21st. To prepare, I’ve already started going through the discography repeatedly. Seeing Suffocation for the first time in 11 years and 1349 will be great, too.