Cannibal Corpse, Dark Funeral, Ingested, Stormruler – Live at Rock City, Nottingham -23/04/2023
Cannibal Corpse, Dark Funeral, Ingested, Stormruler
Rock City, Nottingham
23/04/2023
Live Review by Rick Eaglestone
You would think that the last night of the tour may show signs of fatigue but on a brisk Sunday night I witnessed four bands who obviously had not got the memo and played like it was opening night.
Before even setting foot in the venue, the band I was most looking forward to was North America’s imperial black metal crew Stormruler and well, it’s a crown they kept as they were the highlight band of the night. As they took the stage, I almost had to do a double take as I felt as though Venom had walked on. Pure blackened thrash was clearly on the agenda with the band blistering through five tracks concluding with a cover of Dissection’s “Where Dead Angels Lie.”
https://www.facebook.com/StormrulerOFFICIAL
Up next were Manchester’s Ingested. Nowm I know there was curfew but they tried to lay to waste everyone there. Walls of death, circle pits and wave after wave of crowd surfing ensued with some of them even filming it as they went over. Personal highlights for me were ‘No Half Measures’ and ‘Impending Dominance’.
A little after the set I saw a young lad who was incredibly proud that he had lost his shoe, more about him later…
https://www.facebook.com/ingesteduk
Swedish black metal titans Dark Funeral took to the stage and brought with them a funeral fog of intensity. There was a no frills sacrifice to the infernal master which varied along the band’s timeline with a nice inclusion of 1997’s ‘The Secrets of the Black Arts’ which just happens to be my all-time favourite track from the band.
https://www.facebook.com/darkfuneral
Headliners Cannibal Corpse need no introduction. Their set was as intense as the puddle of vomit someone had left in the middle of the gents’ toilets beforehand, and as visceral as they were they were also in a jovial mood – especially one Mr George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher.
Throughout the 90-minute evisceration which included classics such as ‘A Skull Full of Maggots’ and ‘Hammer Smashed Face’ (Set Closer), embedded within in were newer tracks ‘Inhumane Harvest’ and ‘Condemnation Contagion’ which sounded great in a live setting.
At one-point Dark Funeral out of corpse paint and stage gear crashed the stage with party streamers and balloons which CC took in their stride.
Now earlier on I mentioned the lad with the lost shoe, well he’s back! During the songs’ break he wanted everyone to know he lost his shoe, and this eventually caught the ears of Corpsegrinder who at 52 was kicking people’s asses energy wise was in full on dad joke mode. He interacted with the fan a few times and eventually held out his hand, revealing he had nothing. He chuckled and handed over a setlist to said fan – as everyone was leaving I saw the guy again, and he had also lost the other shoe!
It had to have been at least 15 years since I last saw Cannibal Corpse and my word, they have matured like fine cheese! Fierce yet technically brilliant and a great conclusion to a very enjoyable evening.
Lastly, I want to applaud the stage security as they were incredibly busy for the last set and really took care of people coming over the barrier, even building a rapport with some repeat surfers.
https://www.facebook.com/cannibalcorpse
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Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rick Eaglestone and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
