LIVE REVIEW: Cannabis Corpse @ The Black Heart, London
It would have been easy, fourteen years ago – when CANNABIS CORPSE first spawned as a side-project of MUNICIPAL WASTE bassist ‘Land Phil’ (Philip Hall) with brother HallHammer (Josh Hall) – to write them off as a parody act; a joke told between tokes, spun out of control. Nevertheless, over six full-length releases, CANNABIS CORPSE have consistently reaffirmed their legitimacy as a band in their own right, and brazenly emerged from their Floridan namesake’s shadow. There is, to be sure, an affectionate affinity with early CANNIBAL CORPSE records, but there is more going on here than meets the (red) eye. Following the release of Nug So Vile in late 2019, their third album to be put out on Season Of Mist, CANNABIS CORPSE announced that they would embark on a series of European dates in support of the album, with the recently reanimated WITHERED in tow. Distorted Sound went down to witness the intimate show above The Black Heart to see what the pioneers of True Atlanta Weed Death Metal have weighed out for us.
Tonight’s festival of intoxication are Camden Town‘s very own inebriates BINGE DRINKER, who play their Crust ‘n’ Roll to a small but appreciative audience of early comers, assembled dutifully around a small puddle of lager. While it’s difficult to discern anything particularly innovative within their punk-and-metal fusion, their just-for-fun brand of hardcore sits easily alongside the weightier acts on the bill, due largely to the gurgling rasps of their vocalist – modestly credited as Doomboss. As their stage presence continues to improve, BINGE DRINKER are perfecting the art of the opening act; a light, crisp and refreshing start to the evening.
Rating: 6/10
The crew of “phenomenal technicological astrodeath” outfit CRYPTIC SHIFT, have arrived from the outer reaches (Yorkshire) and descend upon The Black Heart’s stage to deliver a message of cosmic horror. Their moniker, possibly an allusion to the perils of night work, is evocative of a progressive sci-fi themed thrash metal sound in the vein of VOIVOD and VEKTOR but, make no mistake: CRYPTIC SHIFT performs with the mechanical ferocity of many of the most accomplished death metal acts. The band have developed some rather intricate arrangements on the Beyond the Celestial Realms EP, which they translate effectively in a live setting. A dash more reverb for atmosphere, a longform approach to song writing, and who knows; we could have the UK’s answer to BLOOD INCANTATION here.
Rating: 8/10
Returning to the UK after fifteen years are WITHERED, who, after releasing a series of well received full-lengths in the mid-to-late 2000s, are rebuilding their momentum in the wake of 2016’s Grief Relic. Their self-ascribed tortured blackened doom label doesn’t do justice to the band’s stylistic fluency, which blends many of the most punishing elements of contemporary extreme metal. Centre stage is bassist Rafay Nabeel, sporting an injured thumb across the arch of his Gibson Thunderbird, flanked by guitarist and founder Mike Thompson, who lends his death howls to the ensemble, and Dan Caycedo – whose shrill vocalisations will be familiar from the long-defunct, cult-status sludge metal act LEECHMILK. Holding the anguished cacophony together is drummer Beau Brandon, who plays with an inventive twist on the double-bass focussed style. WITHERED play with the quiet confidence befitting their maturity and incite a generous response from the work-weary midweek crowd. It will be interesting to see how the new material demonstrated tonight will manifest itself on their next release.
Rating: 7/10
A dank odour spills from the dressing room door and prepares the stage for CANNABIS CORPSE, the self-proclaimed kings of underground weed death metal, who are here to harsh our mellow. CANNABIS CORPSE adds to the Floridian death metal foundation a highly technical percussive element, a knack for interesting and variegated song writing, as well as a capacity for incessant 420-friendly wordplay. There is a discernible vigour in their performance tonight, which is soon explained after opening number Conquerors of Chronageddon, when vocalist and bassist Land Phil recounts their recent brush with death on the tour bus with WITHERED: “I’m just happy to be alive, baby.”
CANNABIS CORPSE presents their music with absolute sincerity, and play a flawless set to an elevated crowd, although you can be sure that their tongue remains firmly in their cheek. It’s hard, even impossible, to keep a straight face between songs: “This one’s about killing your drug dealer for selling you shitty weed! Disposal. Of. The. Baggy!” There is a certain point to be made in amongst all this, though. The harsh penalties exacted through prohibitionary laws, paranoid psychotic episodes and the ravaging effects of burning inhalations upon the body all inform CANNABIS CORPSE’s emblazed anger, which translates into some of the most proficient contemporary death metal around. CANNABIS CORPSE are historians of their craft, as their weed-inflected song titles serve to demonstrate (Left Hand Pass, Chapel of Bowls, Cylinders of Madness etc.) conjuring images of a rehearsal space strewn with spilt bongwater and classic death metal LPs. Their last song, Blunted At Birth, is marked with a pit invasion from the weed monster himself – who adorns the cover of their latest opus Nug So Vile. CANNABIS CORPSE have carved themselves a niche playing old school death metal to rooms packed with stoners, playing brutal songs with absurd names, and they’re not up in smoke just yet.
Rating: 8/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Karolina Janikunaite here:
