It’s an evening of extreme metal inside the Corona Theatre tonight with death metal royalty in the house courtesy of Florida legends Deicide.
Kicking proceedings off though are symphonic black metal band Carach Angren, complete with full corpse paint their sound is as melodramatic as their look, with layered keyboards adding to the atmospherics. It’s all been done bigger and better by others but the dutch band do make a big sound for a 3 piece.
California’s Abysmal Dawn are brutal and precise and seem to win over a good chunk of tonight’s crowd within the first couple of songs. The Inevitable Return to Darkness is pulverising metal at its finest and makes me want to investigate their back catalogue further. There are plenty a squealing guitar solos over the metal bombast and they do what they do with a certain amount of style. Playing for just over 20 mins they end with In Service Of Time, leaving the crowd still wanting more.
24 years into their career, Athens’ Septicflesh receive a warm welcome from tonight’s packed Corona Theatre. Communion is thundering symphonic death metal of the highest order, whereas new tracks like Burn and Prototype from their new album, Titan, prove they show no sign of slowing down just yet. Frontman Spiros “Seth” Antoniou dedicates Anubis to the enthusiastic Montreal crowd and I suspect they’ve won themselves some new fans here tonight.
All of that pails into insignificance though compared to the sheer ferocity of Glen Benton’s Deicide. The band, infamous lyrics which cover topics such as Satanism and anti-religion, causing them to be banned from venues, sued and attacked by religious groups, are on fine form tonight, playing songs spanning their almost 30 year career. The sound is so loud the stage vibrates from the thundering rhythms but it all sounds magnificently immense.
As musicians, they are obviously accomplished to the point they make it all look effortless, and they rarely move from their designated spots on stage, but the music is consistently relentless. Benton remains a compelling and somewhat intimidating character centre stage but seems to be enjoying himself too, interacting regularly with the audience.
“This is another new one then we’ll play some old ones and then we’ll go and scare the shit our of the customs and immigration guys” deadpans Benton. “It’s just another day!” End The Wrath Of God, from latest album, In The Minds Of Evil, sounds as good as anything they’ve ever recorded but it’s the older songs which receive the biggest reaction.
Set closer Deicide is as intense as ever and sends fans home with no room for complaint.
Review & photos – Steve Gerrard
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