It was a Sunday evening. An evening with severe weather alerts and the oncoming dread of another work week the following morning. But none of that could stop me from making that hour-long drive to see Meshuggah, Cannibal Corpse, and Carcass at The Fillmore in Detroit, MI.
Once I arrived and parked, the line to get in was looking long and worrisome. My fear was that I’d miss some of Carcass’ set. While patiently shuffling along the downtown Detroit sidewalk, a gentleman exited a side door of the venue with his hood up (almost as if to disguise himself). But with an impressive neck like that, Corpsegrinder (vocalist of Cannibal Corpse) would’ve walked among us more stealthily in a scarf, I’d think.
Carcass began only a few minutes after I found my spot on the venue floor. And they were rad. They played classics like “Corporal Jigsore Quandary” and “Heartwork”. Axe-masters Bill and James were shredding all over the place. Daniel was absurdly tight with the beat. Jeff was having a great time, flicking picks into the crowd as if he had hundreds on him. Although they didn’t play “Rotting in the Free World”, Jeff did bestow upon us a similar pun: “Detroit Rot City”.
After a short break, Cannibal Corpse came on and brutalized our ear canals. All the guys were great in their respective roles. Alex, Rob, and Erik picking at frantic speeds and likely literally shredding away guitar string metal filings. Paul played out of his mind on those drums. George (Corpsegrinder) would go from intimidating vocals to silly banter on the drop of a hat. And I appreciate stuff like that. At one point he lamented the decrease in crowd headbanging nowadays, but quickly pointed out that he was the best at it anyway and that we’d only bring failure upon ourselves. He’s correct, by the way. Their song names are also better when said out loud by him, but I will tell you they closed with “Hammer Smashed Face”, which is always a crowd-pleaser.
But do you know what is even more of a crowd-pleaser?! A laser/light show synced to Tomas Haake of Meshuggah’s drum set. HOLY. HELL. This wasn’t my first rodeo with Meshuggah and it still blows my mind how unbelievably dead-on they all are. Fredrik and Mårten’s mathy guitar leads, backed by Dick’s pummeling bass chugs… just so damn good. And Jens’ roooaaars furiously burrowed their way into our primal selves. Meshuggah really are one of the best bands I’ve ever seen live. They played lots of great tracks off of Immutable (opened with “Broken Cog”) and a bunch from Obzen (encore featured “Bleed).
All three of these bands broke onto the metal scene in a big way in the early 1990s and the other night all three played as if they hadn’t aged a day. The crowd reflected this as well in both the plethora of veteran metalheads there to see old friends play and the new school of 12-year-olds banging their heads and witnessing the majesty of metal for the first time.
Thank you Meshuggah, Cannibal Corpse, and Carcass for an amazing evening. I’d like to see you again. Can I call you sometime?
