Review by: Jamie Cook
Photo: Mel Hone

Once upon a time, Death Metal bands that toured this great country we call Australia was rarer than rocking horse shit. However, over the past four or so years, there have been more of these groups hit our shores than illegal boat people. It was that time once again for Metal Heads to hold onto their faces, as the legendary Cannibal Corpse was in town to rip it off.

Apologies go out to the local lads from Brazen Bull and Defamer for missing their set, as other commitments caused me to arrive that extra bit late.

With only minutes to spare until show time, the band many had been waiting to see were about to take their places on the starting blocks. Last gracing a Brisbane stage at the Arena (R.I.P) in October 2006, the boys from Buffalo were back with a new album and were about to show their fans why they have been one of the premier Death Metal bands in the world for almost twenty years. Bursting into action with such ferocity throwing their hair around in windmills in time to a near perfect mix of sound, lead man George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher lets loose his bellow that sounds a cross between a thunder storm and someone who had smoked unfiltered cigarettes for the course of their entire life. Drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz was like a machine gun with unlimited ammo, as he never appeared to run out of puff for the full ninety minutes. Rob Barrett and Pat O’Brien showed off their guitar talent by dealing out crushing riffs and blistering solos, while bassist Alex Webster let his incredibly fast fingers do the walking on the fret board.

Cannibal Corpse took the audience on a trip through a good selection of their favourites; Fucked With A Knife, was dedicated as “a song for the ladies”, while the rest of the crowd was happy to hear classics like I Cum Blood, The Wretched Spawn, Make Them Suffer, Pit of Zombies, Five Nails Through the Neck, and newer tunes such as Evidence in the Furnace, and Priests of Sodom.

It has been a long time since I can remember watching a band play with such fierceness and brutality (probably not since Cannibal’s last visit), that even during the break between songs, my head still felt like somebody was pounding it with a sledgehammer. Yes, it was that relentless. As this beautiful Spring night drew to a close in the River City, Hammer Smashed Face got a big thumbs up from the crowd, while Stripped, Raped and Strangled wrapped up tonight’s affair with the lords of all things sick, and it was evident the horde of drunken metal heads were wanting some more. Unfortunately, Cannibal Corpse didn’t grace us with an encore, but instead served up ninety minutes worth of pure insanity to send the metal mob on their merry little way into the early hours of a new working week. Great stuff!!