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Tag Archives: Abysmal Dawn
Cannibal Corpse – Obituary – Cryptopsy: Live At the Paradise Rock Club
February 18th, 2016 will be a day that most Boston death metal fans will not soon forget. The Paradise Night Club was jam-packed for a tour package that consisted of death metal veterans Abysmal Dawn, Cryptopsy, Obituary, and Cannibal Corpse. Unfortunately, Abysmal Dawn did not make it out to this stop on the tour as they were apparently stuck in New Jersey. But, as the cliché goes, the show must go on!
Cryptopsy was up first which was probably my most anticipated band of the night as they were the only band I had yet to see live. It was nice to say I had finally seen the long time technical death metal band, but it just did not seem the same without hearing Lord Worm’s vocals. Even with a set list that was a majority of old material from None So Vile (Century Media) and Blasphemy Made Flesh (Century Media), I just found myself disinterested in Matt McGachy’s vocals. The mix was also a little off as the bass was clearly overpowering the other elements on stage.
Next up, the legendary Floridian death metal outfit, Obituary. I, for one, was very excited to see them again since my first experience seeing them at Maryland Death Fest last year was limited (hey, a guy has to find food, even if that means sacrificing time in the pits). From the start of the set until the final note (which seemed like they were cut short), the fans had the floor moving violently and very well stole the show. Prior to this evening, I already considered myself a fan of Obituary. However, after this set which seemed to fly by was over, I realized that I liked them a lot more than I initially had thought. One of the better sets I have ever seen from a death metal band.
Finally, it was time for the biggest name in the death metal scene, Cannibal Corpse. Having seen this group countless times, I had most of the set list figured out going into the night. Staple tracks such as ‘Scourge of Iron’ , ‘Stripped, Raped and Strangled’ , and ‘Make Them Suffer’ were scattered into the sixteen song set. As for some surprises, we were lucky enough to catch ‘Death Walking Terror’ , ‘Pit of Zombies’ (my personal favorite) , and ‘Born in a Casket’. I had not yet seen any of those three songs live yet so it is safe to say I was very happy with Cannibal Corpse this time around. For a band that tours as much as they do, it must be hard to try and promote new material while also playing some older tunes but have about 30 years of material to cover in a short window. Having said that, switching up a few songs here and there to pull out some rarely played live tracks is always a crowd pleaser. Obviously the biggest pit of the night went to ‘Hammer Smashed Face’ which even included a few female participants!
Overall, I was very pleased with the show even after being let down by Cryptopsy and Abysmal Dawn not making it out of New Jersey in time for this show. Obituary and Cannibal Corpse proved to the Boston fans in attendance how they have stood the test of time as death metal bands and can still bring it on a live setting.
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WORDS BY TIM LEDIN
PHOTOS BY EVIL ROBB PHOTOGRAPHY
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News: Abysmal Dawn Joins Upcoming Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Cryptopsy Tour
Photo Credit: Rodrigo Fredes
Los Angeles extreme metallers Abysmal Dawn will be supporting on the upcoming Cannibal Corpse, Obituary and Cryptopsy North American tour, with dates posted below.
Feb 12: The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Feb 13: Ziggy’s by The Sea – Wilmington, NC
Feb 14: Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
Feb 15: Theatre of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Feb 16: Irving Plaza – New York, NY
Feb 18: Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
Feb 19: Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY
Feb 20: Opera House – Toronto, ON
Feb 21: St. Andrews Hall – Detroit, MI
Feb 23: Turner Hall Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI
Feb 24: The Ready Room – St. Louis, MO
Feb 25: The Granada Theater – Lawrence, KS
Feb 26: Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN
Feb 27: Metro – Chicago, IL
Feb 29: The Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO
Mar 01: The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
Mar 02: Revolution Center – Boise, ID
Mar 03: Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR
Mar 04: Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC
Mar 05: El Corazon – Seattle, WA
Mar 07: The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
Mar 08: Mayan Theater – Los Angeles, CA
Mar 09: The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
Mar 10: House of Blues – San Diego, CA
Mar 11: Club Red – Phoenix, AZ
Mar 12: Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM
Mar 14: The Aztec Theatre – San Antonio, TX
Mar 15: Gas Monkey Live! – Dallas, TX
Mar 16: House Of Blues – Houston, TX
Mar 17: Varsity Theatre – Baton Rouge, LA
Mar 18: The Side Bar Theatre – Tallahassee, FL
Mar 19: The Ritz Ybor – Tampa, FL (no Obituary)
Mar 20: Revolution Live – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Cryptopsy, Abysmal Dawn Book US Tour
Death metal legends Cannibal Corpse have booked a winter US tour featuring fellow brethren Obituary, Cryptopsy and Abysmal Dawn.
Cannibal Corpse USA tour dates, with Obituary, Cryptopsy and Abysmal Dawn.
Feb 12: The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Feb 13: Ziggy’s by The Sea- Wilmington, NC
Feb 14: Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
Feb 15: Theatre of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Feb 16: Irving Plaza- New York, NY
Feb 18: Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
Feb 19: Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY
Feb 20: Opera House – Toronto, ON
Feb 21: St. Andrews Hall – Detroit, MI
Feb 23: Turner Hall Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI
Feb 24: The Ready Room – – St. Louis, MO
Feb 25: The Granada Theater – Lawrence, KS –
Feb 26: Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN –
Feb 27: Metro – Chicago, IL –
Feb 29: The Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO
Mar 01: The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
Mar 02: Revolution Center – Boise, ID
Mar 03: Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR
Mar 04: Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC
Mar 05: El Corazon – Seattle, WA
Mar 07: The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
Mar 08: Avalon Hollywood – Los Angeles, CA
Mar 09: The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
Mar 10: House of Blues – San Diego, CA
Mar 11: Club Red – Phoenix, AZ
Mar 12: Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM
Mar 14: The Aztec Theatre – San Antonio, TX
Mar 15: Gas Monkey Live! – Dallas, TX
Mar 16: House Of Blues – Houston, TX
Mar 17: Varsity Theatre – Baton Rouge, LA
Mar 18: The Side Bar Theatre – Tallahassee, FL
Mar 19: The Ritz Ybor- Tampa, FL *no Obituary
Mar 20: Revolution Live- Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Cannibal Corpse continues to tour in support of A Skeletal Domain released from Metal Blade in 2014. You can purchase it here: http://www.metalblade.com/cannibalcorpse
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Knotfest 2015: Live At San Manuel Amphitheatre in Devore, CA.
Slipknot brought back heavy music into their brand of a festival called Knotfest once again to Southern California as they packed two days (plus a VIP only Friday evening event for campers) full of headbanging and mayhem at San Manuel Amphitheatre in Devore, CA.
The VIP pre-party show consisted of brief sets by Khaotika, Motorbreath, Rings of Saturn and The Faceless, while Sepultura became the main focus of that evening, performing many longtime favorites from their 30th anniversary tour, such as ‘Refuse/Resist’, ‘Arise’ and ‘Propaganda,’ while working on a few of the newer songs such as ‘Choke.’
Saturday’s main stage led the charge with the return of Pepper Keenan with Corrosion of Conformity, working in favorites such as ‘Clean My Wounds’ and ‘Albatross’; then Trivium and Mastodon both brought out powerful sets of powerful guitar driven hard rock leading into Korn’s semi-setlist of their début self titled album (ie they played only half of the album but they still brought their usual powerful live show) while working in other favorites like ‘Freak on a Leash’ and ‘Falling Away From Me.’
Headliners Judas Priest came out strong with a cross-section of newer songs such as ‘Dragonaut’ and ‘Valhalla’ while working in longtime favorites such as ‘Breaking The Law’ and ‘Hell Bent For Leather,’ as well as ‘Turbo Lover’. Following a strong showing on their previous tour, they did not disappoint and showed that after all of these years they can still deliver classic metal the right way.
Unlike the 2014 edition, Slipknot only played one day instead of both days, and they brought back the mini roller coasters and the Slipknot museum for attendees to enjoy. Another addition to this year’s edition was the Extreme Stage with such bands as Kataklysm, Abysmal Dawn, Belphagor and Inquisition living up to their musical brand and the headbangers representing as well.
The only band who did not quite fit the stage was Chilean-Canadian alternative-metallers The ReAktion, where their synth-driven riff metal was something fans grew accustomed to but was greatly out of place on that stage. The early set time worked in their favor on Sunday, with fans enjoying sightings of Slipknot DJ Sid Wilson around their set. Despite that, their eclectic sound was refreshing and somewhat interesting to see how they evolve from here.
Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor made a brief appearance with fellow Iowans Green Death during their brief set later on Sunday. Fans got acquainted quickly with the band despite their lack of recognition prior to the show.
Stages 2 and 3 were placed on the revolving stage where bands could get going much easier. Saturday’s set began with Battlecross, Red Fang and Goatwhore getting early set calls, but the packed crowd showed up to rock out with each band. Even the well publicized Josh Barnett joined in the pit action early on.
Veteran metallic hardcore outfit Earth Crisis brought back memories of their appearance of Ozzfest 1996 at this venue. Other highlights included At The Gates’ aggression driven set, while Body Count plowed through their set of classics (despite minor technical difficulties with Ice T killing time with his attempt at telling jokes on stage). GWAR capped out the stage with their usual antics and over the top stage show, moving forward post Oderus Urungus (a.k.a. Dave Brockie).
Sunday’s main stage opened with Ghostface Killa and Mobb Deep’s brief old school hip hop set that attracted curious onlookers, while Clutch came in with their usual power riff rock set that their stripped down stage show appeared a bit bare for such a large sized stage.
Bring Me The Horizon’s updated stage show and sound definitely caught the attention of the crowd with their LED powered backdrops with the letters to SPIRIT aligning with each word of their opening song ‘Happy Song.’ Frontman Oli Sykes had the crowd moving along with his commands, and kept the show entertaining. Plus their newer synth oriented melodic rock sound on songs like ‘Throne,’ and ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ made their live show much more anthemic driven tunes for the crowd to sing along to. Even with the older heavier songs like ‘Chelsea Smile,’ Bring Me The Horizon showed that they have a full arsenal within their bag of tricks and is no surprise why they have the attention of the hard music world.
When Slipknot took the stage, they unveiled their new stage setup that resembled the carnival from hell, and they took charge from the opening minute. Opening with ‘Sarcastrophe’ and leading into ‘The Heretic Anthem’, Slipknot was on a mission to show why they are one of the biggest hard acts on the planet and can command their own festival. They even worked in ‘Me Inside’ (which they have never played live before apparently) and ‘Eeyore,’ giving the crowd more to get manic over.
The second and third stages on Sunday featured hard rockers Devour the Day and Kyng giving the crowd energetic melodic rock to nibble on, while semi-hometown favorites Snot got the crowd rocking with selections from their Get Some album while paying tribute to their late singer Lynn Strait.
Helmet, All That Remains and Beartooth all plowed through power sets of rock and metal that got the crowds working up a sweat, while led into the massive stampede of fans eagerly awaiting Cannibal Corpse and Suicidal Tendencies to perform. Cannibal Corpse simply owned Knotfest’s second stage and possibly had the largest crowd of headbangers and mosh pit participants of any act, which bled into Suicidal’s already veteran LA punk rock fan base. Overall, the insanity that came with those acts simply made the observing that much more enjoyable.
Overall, Knotfest 2015 brought together a strong collection of acts within the heavy music world once again and gave fans something to be excited about. After two consecutive years, hopefully Knotfest will continue to be an annual event (or something close to it).
PHOTO SET DAY 1:
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PHOTO SET DAY 2:
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PHOTOS BY MELINA D PHOTOGRAPHY
Festival Preview: Knotfest
Slipknot’s Knotfest is taking over, and if you have doubts about this I feel sorry for you. Growing to new locations and opportunities, Slipknot continues to grow their brand and the legend of these concert events. Taking place this weekend at the San Manuel Amphitheater and Festival Grounds in an Bernadino California, kicks off tonight with a private pre-party for campers ad VIP’s with performances from Sepultura and The Faceless among others. In addition to camping and vendors, this year’s Knotfest has crazy attractions like the Knotfest Museum, Street Drum Corps Blood Drums Experience, Thunderdome – Fire Area, Ring of Fire Carnival Ride, Flaming Carnival games and more.
Slipknot, by Evil Robb Photography
Music is the thing that makes Knotfest come alive and Saturday is headlined by the mighty Judas Priest prepared to put on their legendary stage show. Followed up by Korn, who is in the midst of their debut album, 20th anniversary. Next on the main stage is Mastodon, followed by Trivium, COC with Pepper Keenan and a surprise special guest TBD.
Dr. Michael Bishop as Blothar of GWAR, photo by Meg Loyal Photography
The #2 and #3 stages for Saturday boast the likes of GWAR, Earth Crisis, Body Count, Goatwhore, At The Gates, Red Fang, Born of Osiris and Battlecross. Meanwhile the extreme stage has Kataklysm, Inquisition, Her Name In Blood, Belphegor, Abysmal Dawn, and Khaotika. Plus there is a Headbang for the Highway Stage sponsored by Zippo.
Sunday is no less impressive with Slipknot putting on their typical astounding show. They have out done them selves in every edition, and this should be no different. Bring Me The Horizon has possibly the biggest album of the year on their hands and are in the penultimate support slot appropriately. Rock giants Clutch follow closely along with Mobb Deep and Ghostface Killah.
The eclectic and star heavy second and third stages have bands such as Suicidal Tendencies, Beartooth, Cannibal Corpse, Snot, Helmet and Devour The Day. On the extreme stage legends Dying Fetus with have a chance to show fans how real technical death metal is done. They are joined by Internal Bleeding, The Reaktion, Disgorge, Green Death and Kings of Carnage.
You can still get tickets for Knotfest here:
1349, Origin, Abysmal Dawn & Wolvhammer US Tour Dates Announced
The Chaos Raids USA Tour with 1349, Origin, Abysmal Dawn and Wolvhammer have announced dates for the tour:
Feb 08: The Orpheum – Tampa, FL
Feb 10: Dirty Dog – Austin, TX
Feb 11: Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
Feb 12: Joe’s Grotto – Phoenix, AZ
Feb 14: The Complex – Los Angeles, CA
Feb 15: DNA Lounge – San Francisco, CA
Feb 16: Jub Jub’s – Reno, NV
Feb 18: Marquis Theatre – Denver, CO
Feb 19: Riot Room – Kansas City, MO
Feb 20: Mojoes – Joliet, IL
Feb 21: The Foundry – Lakewood, OH
Feb 22: Championship Bar – Trenton, NJ
Feb 23: Gramercy Theatre – New York, NY
Feb 24: Empire – Springfield, VA
Feb 25: Ground Zero – Spartanburg, SC
Abysmal Dawn Streaming “Night’s Blood” Cover
Abysmal Dawn is streaming their cover of Dissection’s “Night’s Blood” here. Their new album Obsolescence is now out via Relapse Records, but are streaming their performance video for “Perfecting Slavery” here individually and together here. The song also features a guest guitar solo from Christian Muenzner (ex-Obscura, ex-Necrophagist, Spawn of Possession, Alkaloid). Watch their video for “Inanimate” here.
Abysmal Dawn on Twitter
Abysmal Dawn on Instagram
Abysmal Dawn – Obsolescence
Whisper it softly around these parts so as not inflate the head of one of our sterling writers, Richie HR, but he is right. In his recent review of Annihilated’s XIII Steps To Ruination (Unique Leader) here he commented about how “Average is the new bad, and it’s far, far worse than rubbish ever was”, casting light on the fact that we are inundated with decent, OK, average, not bad, it’s alright metal (especially Death Metal) these days. Passing muster isn’t the same as it was, and if you were ranking on a Bell Curve (curb your tittering at the back), what would have passed for decent would now be at the bottom, as the overall level has come up.
There are also way more Death Metal bands per head of metal fan than any other genre, and far too many average, going nowhere bands. Labels used to be a filter for this sort of stuff, but it now seems even those labels that should know better have gotten into the conveyor belt mentality of it all (and Relapse really should know better, having gestated some of the cream of the DM crop). We have a sea of the unimaginatively named Wretched, Annihilated et al producing the unimaginative; the differences between them each are minimal, very few of them have any identity or any chance of releasing anything essential. Good Death Metal is great, and there still is good new Death Metal out there. Average Death Metal is mediocre and uninspiring.
So, it’ll probably come as no surprise to hear, Abysmal Dawn, Obsolescence (Relapse), sound a lot like a lot of other bands. It’s a bit technical, predominantly chuggy, Death Metal, with vocals more bark than growl. It’s inoffensive (which is another problem… ) and has good cover art. Their version of Dissection’s ‘Night’s Blood’ is several shades shitter than the original (aren’t they always). They aren’t as good as, let alone better than, the bands they were influenced by, which probably includes Malevolent Creation, Pestilence and The Black Dahlia Murder.
Other than that, it’s not shit. It’s not brilliant, either. It’s dictionary definition meat and potatoes meh Death Metal. And one thing Death Metal should never be is staid enough to be ‘meh’.
5.0/10
STEVE TOVEY
In The Minds of Evil Tour: Deicide and Septic Flesh: Live At The Webster Theater, Hartford CT.
On October 8th, 2014, In the Minds of Evil North American tour featuring Carach Angren, Abysmal Dawn, Inquisition, Septic Flesh, and headliners, Deicide, took The Webster in Hartford, CT by storm. It is not often that a tour package truly puts together from to opener to headliner a bill where every band brings out excitement in the audience. This tour, however, defied those odds and had every fan in attendance wanting more after the final note ended.
First up is symphonic black metal three-piece, Carach Angren. Coming into this show, I had not heard a single peep about this band or what they were all about. Sure, some of you may think that is ignorant and I should listen to the band’s work first. I, however, love the element of surprise and this band surely had the upper hand on my ignorant ears. Most of the set was dedicated to the latest album, Where the Corpses Sink Forever, with half of the songs being from said album. Personally, my favorite track played, entitled ‘Bloodstains on the Captain’s Log’, is off of the previous album that is entirely about The Flying Dutchmen legend. Upon doing some research, I found that Carach Angren albums are all concept albums, each about a different folklore/legend. This band will certainly be making their way onto my iTunes library in no time.
Another new band to me was up next on the bill, Abysmal Dawn. Awkwardly enough, I confused this band for Amberian Dawn which is a vastly different band. In my opinion, I think I made off a lot better with Abysmal over Amberian. I unfortunately do not have any of the song titles that played, but I am certain we got one song off the yet to be released album entitled Obsolescence (Relapse). If that song was just a taste of things to come, I will be sure to pick up the next release without a doubt. Abysmal Dawn rocked The Webster hard throughout the whole set with their aggressive yet groovy death metal which certainly left me wanting to hear more of what the LA foursome had to offer.
The celestial black metal two piece known as Inquisition had the middle of the card to play (which I was extremely excited for as they have become one of my favorite black metal bands out today). I figured with a new album out last year and minimal North American tour exposure we would get a good chunk of new material and we did. The set opened up with ‘Force of the Floating Tomb’ (yes I chanted “raise the chalice” with Dagon) and saw other new favorites ‘Master of the Cosmological Black Cauldron’ as well as the closing song, ‘Infinite Interstellar Genocide’. The Hartford crowd also got older tracks such as ‘Those of the Night’, ‘Nefarious Dismal Orations’, and ‘Command of the Dark Crown’. Overall, Inquisition got to play 8 songs in total over a 40 minute span which actually seems like a lot, but of course I could really go for a headline tour at some point by the next album’s release. If you have not checked this band out yet, the new album, Obscure Verses for the Multiverse (Season of Mist), was one of the best albums to come out in 2013 and I highly recommend it.
What better way to follow up the band that released my favorite album in 2013 then to have the next band playing be the creators of my favorite album of 2011! Septicflesh, who may be the greatest extreme metal band out there today, brought their A game as per expected with the creepy sounds of the Prague Philharmonic playing over the PA. I may have mentioned how good The Great Mass (Season of Mist/Prosthetic) was in 2011, but Septicflesh’s newest release that came out this year, Titan, is also a larger than life release from these Greek geniuses. Ironically, only two new songs made the cut for the set. Even so, the two choices were excellent choices with ‘Order of Dracul’ and ‘Burn’. Staple songs such as opener ‘Vampire From Nazareth’, ‘Communion’, and ‘A Great Mass of Death’ kept the fans head’s banging and bodies colliding in the pit. Typically, I have seen Septicflesh close their sets with ‘Five Pointed Star’. This time around, I actually got to see one of my favorite SF tracks as the closer, ‘Anubis’. I am happy to report that I sang along with the Sotiris vocal recordings over the PA while others just started at me like I had six heads.
To close out the night, The Webster attendees were greeted to a lengthy set list from the death metal icons themselves, Deicide. The set list contained a couple of select tracks from the newest release (‘Beyond Salvation’, ‘End the Wrath of God’, ‘Thou Begone’, and the title track, ‘In the Minds of Evil’). However, most of the remainder of the set list brought a ton of classic Deicide for fans ranging from as young as 17 to as old as 48! Some of the classics played were: ‘Once Upon the Cross’, ‘They Are the Children of the Underworld’, ‘Dead by Dawn’, ‘Dead but Dreaming’, ‘Trifixion’, and the set closer, ‘Kill the Christian’. The moment that I got the most excited (along with a lot of other fans around me) is when album track ‘Scars of the Crucifix’ was played. Something about that song live just brings out the crazy side in people which I absolutely loved. Front man/bassist Glenn Benton was in his usual form. He even got a good laugh out of the audience when he flicked a bass pick over to a fan, the fan missed it, and he exclaimed “Nice catch, Fuck Face!” Overall, this showing by Deicide was the best I have seen them yet and I am looking forward to the next time they come around.
Even though I was coming right from my day job almost two hours away, had a hard time finding parking with no cash on hand, and was a little nervous for my interview with Christos from Septicflesh (coming soon) this journey was very much worth it! This was also my first show at The Webster in Hartford and I have to say I certainly enjoyed the venue. I will definitely be making a return to Connecticut for the next big tour that does not make it to Massachusetts for sure. For now, I am going to catch up on my Deicide and Inquisition while growing my music library with albums from Abysmal Dawn and Carach Angren.
Inquisition on Facebook
TIM LEDIN