Vicar Street, Dublin

Oct 26th 2015

Dublin has waited 18 years for a Carcass gig and in the space of 13 months they roll into town twice, this time with a host of Metal legends as part of the Deathcrusher Tour. Since it was announced back in June it was touted as the biggest extreme metal event to ever visit Dublin but, for me it was a question of who was going to come out on top.
The night’s mayhem began with New Yorkers “Herod”and although they had just a 20 minute set and a still half empty venue to play for they gave it their all and had the crowd, when they eventually dragged themselves from the bars and the merchandise stall, in good spirits for when Voivod hit the stage.
Voivod, who last appeared in Dublin in 2012, were a better known entity, and as the venue had filled up, appeared with a cameraman and lifelong Voivod fan Eric Campbell who was doing a video tour diary. 
The Canadian outfit blasted through Psychic Vacuum from their earlier career and thundered on towards The Unknown Knows and Voivod. Like Herod before them, time was not on their side but it was plain to see both band and crowd enjoyed it.

It was now time for the English to show what they can do and Napalm Death did not disappoint. 
No matter what other shit is going on, the English metal bands will always rule in Dublin, they can communicate with the crowd like life-long drinking buddies, as we say here, “havin’ the craic”. Vocalist Barney Greenway tearing around the stage like he was been attacked by a swarmwasps takes us through old favourites like Scum, Suffer the Children to material from their latest album (Apex Predator) Smash a Single Digit and Metaphorically Screw You. They finished up what was an energy charged set with their cover of the Dead Kennedys Nazi Punks Fuck Off. By this stage the crowd looked exhausted and there were still two bands to go.
Obituary was always going to have it tough, sandwiched between two of England’s “Gods of Grind”, they needed to show what they were made of. Unfortunately it was a bit of a letdown as it appeared John Tardy and Co wasmore interested in waving their perfectly groomed hair around like they were auditioning for a shampoo commercial. Don’t get me wrong, they did rip it up with “Centuries of Lies” and “Slowly we Rot” but it was all too tame for what I hoped for and they stuck rigidly to set times.
The same can’t be said for Carcass, time slots weren’tgoing to dictate their show. Carcass came out on stage and tore through “Unfit for Human Consumption and Buried Dreams”. Like Napalm Death earlier in the night there was an element of good old fashioned banter. Vocalist Jeff Walker insisting that because of some Irish blood he was going to get to the comedy section a bit later in the set. No stand-up act came but what did happen was a show that ripped every ounce of energy from the crowd, bodies went tumbling over the barrier at the front of the stage onto a busy few security guards as Incarnated Solvent Abuse and Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System was delivered with such intensity you could feel your bones vibrate. By the time Exhume to Consume and Reek of Putrefaction came round the crowd were totally fucked but they kept going, finding that extra bit of energy you can only summon at a Death Metal gig. 
Yeah, Carcass played over-time and yeah we missed our buses home but it was worth every ear-splitting second. The question before, who came out on top? Well the answer is obvious; the night belonged to Carcass and Napalm Death.    
Review by Andrew Cooke