CANNIBAL CORPSE (US) - VIRVUM (CH)
Dynamo - ZÜRICH - 15.08.2018
presented by Good News Productions AG
Photos and review by dalia di giacomo
https://www.facebook.com/virvum/
The evening has been absolutely hot: warm Summer weather, unstoppable Death Metal. I like all celebration of my fave Metal genre, Death Metal indeed, and when the Veterans Cannibal Corpse from Buffalo (now based in Tampa) hit the stage in a location near you, you have to do just one thing: be there. It is Death Metal Royalty. The band is around in the scene for almost three decades, a really long career crowned by the release of the 14th studio album: "Red Before Black" . The other day the mighty venue Dynamo in Zürich was truly crowded when George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher and his fellow guys started to ignite the already warm atmosphere. The music is brutal yet even catchy at times, always very precise. The band doesnt move that much on the stage yet the impression you receive is very dynamic. Bursts of riffs , great drumming, shredding and intense bass lines and the exceptional guttural growls of George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher are the ingredients of the battle. It has been the first time I saw Cannibal Corpse live and of course the first thing I cared about was to observe Fisher's headbanging: so yes, I can assure that his windmills are mythical, incredibly fast. It is a challenge to bang your head with him: you can simply try. People associate Cannibal Corpse with gory imaginery , with violence and horror, but I was surprised to find out how enjoyable the songs are, in spite of their fierceness and their lyrics. Don't understand me wrong: enjoyable for true Death Metallers. Cannibal Corpse are the Kings of Death Metal and their music is absolutely extreme, but a true metalhead who is used to this genre will be confident and will find home in Cannibal Corpse's songs played live. I read that George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher once said in an interview:
"We don't sing about politics. We don't sing about religion...All our songs are short stories that, if anyone would so choose they could convert it into a horror movie. Really, that's all it is. We like gruesome, scary movies, and we want the lyrics to be like that. Yeah, it's about killing people, but it's not promoting it at all. Basically these are fictional stories, and that's it. And anyone who gets upset about it is ridiculous."
In Zürich many hits has been brought to the audience. Here the setlist: 17 songs played as there were no tomorrow. A true "excursus" in the whole career.
Code of the Slashers
Only One Will Die
Red Before Black
Scourge of Iron
Evisceration Plague
Scavenger Consuming Death
The Wretched Spawn
Pounded Into Dust
Kill or Become
Gutted
Corpus Delicti
Devoured by Vermin
A Skull Full of Maggots
I Cum Blood
Make them Suffer
Stripped, Raped and Strangled
Hammer Smashed Face
Fisher announced "Stripped, Raped and Strangled" as the last song of the evening but after that track was played he asked the crowd if they wanted to hear one more song. You can imagine the answer and the setlist was completed with "Hammer Smashed Face" . All who attended the concert can really say it was time to fire up the chainsaw.
Band members:
George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher – vocals
Pat O’Brien – guitar
Rob Barrett – guitar
Alex Webster – bass
Paul Mazurkiewicz – drums
Opener for Cannibal Corpse was the Swiss band Virvum from Zürich, recently signed under the label Season Of Mist, that has released their debut album "Illuminance". Virvum is a really interesting and good looking band to tell the truth. Bryan Berger and his guys are talented and presented half an hour circa of technical Death Metal tainted by melodies and a certain epic charisma. Intense .
Band Members:Bryan Berger - Vocals
Nic Gruhn - Guitars
Arran McSporran - Bass
Diego Morenzoni - Drums
Toby Koelman - Guitarsdalia di giacomo