LIVE REVIEW: Carcass @ Electric Brixton, London

Death metal legends CARCASS are undertaking an intimate run of shows ahead of their appearance at Download Festival, a non-stop two week club tour before capping it off with their festival appearance.

Opening for them are fellow UK metallers CONJURER, whose enthralling blend of death, doom, sludge and more has won them legions of fans and catapulted them to the very fore of the country’s scene. They’ve a truncated set compared to earlier shows now UNTO OTHERS have joined the party but they’re no less brilliant. Opening with the furious Scorn and following it with Choke then Hollow is sheer sonic obliteration, the gradually growing crowd nodding their agreement. As is practically tradition by now, Hollow opens with Dan Nightingale roaring micless, and the set closes with the towering Hadal, whose final breakdown is a close contender for heaviest matter of the universe. 

Rating: 9/10

UNTO OTHERS have been tipped as the next big thing in goth-tinged heavy metal for some time. It’s easy to see why tonight; clad in leather and sunglasses the band tear through their heavily TYPE O NEGATIVE and even IRON MAIDEN indebted metal, with cries of “ough!” aplenty and deep, almost monotonous vocals that convey a laconic sense of melancholy. They ooze goth cool, stalking the stage and encouraging the static, but cheering crowd. There’s plenty of unreleased material played alongside already beloved cuts like Nightfall and When Will God’s Work Be Done, it all slotting together with ease. While the music is morose, the crowd love it as they clap and whoop between songs and it’s plenty upbeat to get heads nodding and feet tapping. They might not have the extremity of either other band tonight, but they’ve definitely got the tunes.

Rating: 8/10

CARCASS, though, are simply unstoppable. The death metal legends are on their first club tour since the 90s and along the way they’ve been grindcore, helped pioneer melodeath and more, all the while being one of the tightest, best live acts around. Four decades in and they can still put bands half their age to shame, with a discography that’s untouchable. Opening with Buried Dreams from the seminal Heartwork, the band waste no time at all in seizing the crowd in their palms. Kelly’s Meat Emporium and Incarnated Solvent Abuse follow in quick succession, bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker commending the throng with ease as he points his bass like a rifle and snarls through each song, with Bill Steer peeling off those incredible, unmistakable riffs.

Every cut is surgically precise, backdropped by a display that cycles through their logo, images of war, medical scenes or, as in This Mortal Coil, religious symbols too. “Everyone feeling fantastic? We’re gonna piss on your parade and play one from Swansong,” Walker grins before Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody; it doesn’t get the stated reaction as the place goes wild for it, the band’s grins plain to see. The crowd is a great mix of newer and old fans alike, and everyone knows every song from Heartwork classics to the more modern Torn Arteries, all of which show a band who’ve not only written, but continue to write some of the best death metal around. Their glee is apparent throughout, Walker quipping drily regularly as they tear through a mammoth, seventeen song set. And why wouldn’t you be grinning when over a thousand people have made their way to the show despite rail strikes, to celebrate with one of the best to ever do it? 

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Emma Barrott here: 

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