Obituary
Support: Goatwhore, Krisiun, the Berzerker, Warbringer
Date: September 25th, 2009
Venue: the Opera House in Toronto, Ontario
This was a concert that I went back and forth on if I wanted to go for months. I really only wanted to see the Berzerker. Obituary I knew from a few videos back in the day and I had the Xecutioners Return album but didn’t think too much of it. Goatwhore I knew but really hadn’t heard and Krisiun I’d heard of for years but never listened to. Was I ever glad I went.
The night started out slow with Warbringer. I don’t need to get into them, everyone has their opinion. For whatever reason their one guitar player was using Ralph Santollas of Obituary’s guitar.
The Berzerker I only knew from the album Dissimulate, but I LOVED that album. My expectations for them live were really high and they were not met. Dissimulate has that wicked “gabber” electronic drum sound mixed in with the drum machine and I was hoping that live they would up the “gabber” beats and crush everything. But they didn’t. The gabber beats were barely in the mix and in the end the Berzerker were just a somewhat sloppy death/grind band. I’m not sure what they played exactly because everything sounded really shitty but I think they may have played The Principles And Practices Of Embalming and Painless off the Dissimulate album.
Krisiun was up next and I remembered them from old metal magazines ten years earlier and writers saying they sounded just like Sepultura (I only think they wrote that because they’re from Brazil). I wasn’t expecting much but for just three guys they had one of the most CRUSHING live sounds I’ve heard. They just floored everyone. I was impressed to say the least. If you ever have the chance to see Krisiun live DO NOT PASS IT UP. I didn’t know any of their material then but I’m pretty sure they played Sentenced Mourning.
Goatwhore I neither love or hate but they were really fun live at least. Apocalyptic Havoc was the only song I recognized and it was really good. Halfway through their set I was towards the back of the pit (which was pretty intense) and some guy got hit and a full 355ml beer went directly in my face. That was pretty cool. I looked over at my brother and he screams, “this concert is fucking awesome”! I’m not sure of their set but I ripped one from earlier in the week from setlist.fm that I think is pretty accurate.
Goatwhore
1. Bloodletting Upon the Cloven Hoof
2. Provoking the Ritual of Death
3. Blood Guilt Eucharist
4. The All-Destroying
5. Apocalyptic Havoc
6. Shadow of a Rising Knife
7. Carving Out the Eyes of God
8. Perversions of the Ancient Goat
9. Baptized in a Storm of Swords
10. In Legions, I Am Wars of Wrath
11. Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult
Obituary mad a fan out of me that night. I knew the Xecutioners Return album and the songs Don’t Care and List of the Dead, but that was about it. But once they hit the dual-drum break in Blood to Give I was sold that these guys were awesome. The only complaint I have about them live is the same I have with them on record; and that’s that they have too many long instrumental parts in their songs. I really like John Tardys vocals but he just doesn’t sing enough. I ended up buying their first four albums shortly after this set and really wish I’d bought the Cause of Death T-shirt. I even saw them eight months later at the Opera House again, but I went to that show more for Entombed. They weren’t as good that night.
Obituary
1. List of Dead
2. Blood to Give
3. Internal Bleeding
4. On the Floor
5. Dying
6. Face Your God
7. Threatening Skies
8. Forces Realign
9. Dethroned Emperor (Celtic Frost cover)
10. The End Complete
11. Final Thoughts
12. Contrast the Dead
13. Chopped in Half / Turned Inside Out
[encore]
- Drum / Guitar Solo
14. Slow Death
15. Evil Ways
16. Slowly We Rot
Overall this was probably the best show I saw in 2009 just because it was so fun and the bands just kept getting better and better (peaking with Krisiun).
________________________________________________________
Follow up:
Yeah, that's a really old review from years ago but I still love that show. It was one where every band was good...except Warbringer.
Obituary still soldiers on to this day. They've come to Toronto a few times since and I did see them again in 2010, as I alluded to in the original review. They've released a few albums since this show too but I've never bothered with them even though the little bits I've heard have been solid. Obituary are a band that really offer nothing new when they do an album but it's always a solid listen. As you could tell from my review I first started listening to them at the time of this show so it was all fresh and entertaining to me. If you were to start listening to them today it would be as good a time as any because they're as solid now as they were in 1988, 1997 or 2007.
Goatwhore are still around too but their star has faded a bit in the years since this show. They were poised to take over the metal underground for a while there but then they kinda disappeared. They put a new album out this year and I think they played Toronto this past summer too.
I ended up seeing Krisiun a few years later and was very disappointed because they played a much smaller club with a terrible soundman. But then I saw them again two years ago in a better club with a better soundman and they were awesome again. They're another band like Obituary who really do nothing different with every album but there's never a bad time to start listening to them.
The Berzerker broke up shortly after this show but every once and awhile they pop back into my mind and I'll see what's up with them on the interwebz. I think I saw something about them crowdfunding an album a few years ago but I moved on.
Warbringer ended up getting pretty big in the metal underground after this show then they became a metal-meme. They were on a lot of tours and it seemed like they were getting bigger and bigger without anyone actually liking them. They were riding the thrash-revival wave of 2008-2012. Then they too disappeared into thin air. But they resurfaced this year and I think they were touring with Dark Tranquility the past few months. I was actually thinking of going to that show, but when I saw the support was Warbringer I decided not to.
Support: Goatwhore, Krisiun, the Berzerker, Warbringer
Date: September 25th, 2009
Venue: the Opera House in Toronto, Ontario
This was a concert that I went back and forth on if I wanted to go for months. I really only wanted to see the Berzerker. Obituary I knew from a few videos back in the day and I had the Xecutioners Return album but didn’t think too much of it. Goatwhore I knew but really hadn’t heard and Krisiun I’d heard of for years but never listened to. Was I ever glad I went.
The night started out slow with Warbringer. I don’t need to get into them, everyone has their opinion. For whatever reason their one guitar player was using Ralph Santollas of Obituary’s guitar.
The Berzerker I only knew from the album Dissimulate, but I LOVED that album. My expectations for them live were really high and they were not met. Dissimulate has that wicked “gabber” electronic drum sound mixed in with the drum machine and I was hoping that live they would up the “gabber” beats and crush everything. But they didn’t. The gabber beats were barely in the mix and in the end the Berzerker were just a somewhat sloppy death/grind band. I’m not sure what they played exactly because everything sounded really shitty but I think they may have played The Principles And Practices Of Embalming and Painless off the Dissimulate album.
Krisiun was up next and I remembered them from old metal magazines ten years earlier and writers saying they sounded just like Sepultura (I only think they wrote that because they’re from Brazil). I wasn’t expecting much but for just three guys they had one of the most CRUSHING live sounds I’ve heard. They just floored everyone. I was impressed to say the least. If you ever have the chance to see Krisiun live DO NOT PASS IT UP. I didn’t know any of their material then but I’m pretty sure they played Sentenced Mourning.
Goatwhore I neither love or hate but they were really fun live at least. Apocalyptic Havoc was the only song I recognized and it was really good. Halfway through their set I was towards the back of the pit (which was pretty intense) and some guy got hit and a full 355ml beer went directly in my face. That was pretty cool. I looked over at my brother and he screams, “this concert is fucking awesome”! I’m not sure of their set but I ripped one from earlier in the week from setlist.fm that I think is pretty accurate.
Goatwhore
1. Bloodletting Upon the Cloven Hoof
2. Provoking the Ritual of Death
3. Blood Guilt Eucharist
4. The All-Destroying
5. Apocalyptic Havoc
6. Shadow of a Rising Knife
7. Carving Out the Eyes of God
8. Perversions of the Ancient Goat
9. Baptized in a Storm of Swords
10. In Legions, I Am Wars of Wrath
11. Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult
Obituary mad a fan out of me that night. I knew the Xecutioners Return album and the songs Don’t Care and List of the Dead, but that was about it. But once they hit the dual-drum break in Blood to Give I was sold that these guys were awesome. The only complaint I have about them live is the same I have with them on record; and that’s that they have too many long instrumental parts in their songs. I really like John Tardys vocals but he just doesn’t sing enough. I ended up buying their first four albums shortly after this set and really wish I’d bought the Cause of Death T-shirt. I even saw them eight months later at the Opera House again, but I went to that show more for Entombed. They weren’t as good that night.
Obituary
1. List of Dead
2. Blood to Give
3. Internal Bleeding
4. On the Floor
5. Dying
6. Face Your God
7. Threatening Skies
8. Forces Realign
9. Dethroned Emperor (Celtic Frost cover)
10. The End Complete
11. Final Thoughts
12. Contrast the Dead
13. Chopped in Half / Turned Inside Out
[encore]
- Drum / Guitar Solo
14. Slow Death
15. Evil Ways
16. Slowly We Rot
Overall this was probably the best show I saw in 2009 just because it was so fun and the bands just kept getting better and better (peaking with Krisiun).
________________________________________________________
Follow up:
Yeah, that's a really old review from years ago but I still love that show. It was one where every band was good...except Warbringer.
Obituary still soldiers on to this day. They've come to Toronto a few times since and I did see them again in 2010, as I alluded to in the original review. They've released a few albums since this show too but I've never bothered with them even though the little bits I've heard have been solid. Obituary are a band that really offer nothing new when they do an album but it's always a solid listen. As you could tell from my review I first started listening to them at the time of this show so it was all fresh and entertaining to me. If you were to start listening to them today it would be as good a time as any because they're as solid now as they were in 1988, 1997 or 2007.
Goatwhore are still around too but their star has faded a bit in the years since this show. They were poised to take over the metal underground for a while there but then they kinda disappeared. They put a new album out this year and I think they played Toronto this past summer too.
I ended up seeing Krisiun a few years later and was very disappointed because they played a much smaller club with a terrible soundman. But then I saw them again two years ago in a better club with a better soundman and they were awesome again. They're another band like Obituary who really do nothing different with every album but there's never a bad time to start listening to them.
The Berzerker broke up shortly after this show but every once and awhile they pop back into my mind and I'll see what's up with them on the interwebz. I think I saw something about them crowdfunding an album a few years ago but I moved on.
Warbringer ended up getting pretty big in the metal underground after this show then they became a metal-meme. They were on a lot of tours and it seemed like they were getting bigger and bigger without anyone actually liking them. They were riding the thrash-revival wave of 2008-2012. Then they too disappeared into thin air. But they resurfaced this year and I think they were touring with Dark Tranquility the past few months. I was actually thinking of going to that show, but when I saw the support was Warbringer I decided not to.
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