Decibel Magazine Tour Presents: Cannibal Corpse & Behemoth

The Decibel Magazine Tour Presents: Cannibal Corpse & Behemoth. with Guests: Arkaik, Abysmal Dawn, In Solitude, The Devils Blood, Exhumed, Waitain with more TBA

Tickets went off Sale on Sunday Apr 29, 2012 but may still be available at the door

Returning with the ceaselessly hostile Torture, Cannibal Corpse prove that when it comes to combining unrestrained maliciousness, involving song writing and technical precision they still have no equal, once again fortifying their position at the forefront of death metal. The twelfth full-length of their inspiring twenty-four year career, the Floridian quintet have never sounded so vital, the album building upon the wealth of powerful, dark, and memorable songs comprising 2006's Kill and 2009's Evisceration Plague and pointedly upping the ante at every turn. While this marks the latest progression in the band's sound, Torture also witnesses a return to what drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz accurately terms "the frenzied attack of Butchered At Birth (1991) or Tomb Of The Mutilated (1992)", infusing the band's advanced musicianship with the raw savagery that haunted their earlier releases, and in the process conceiving the definitive Cannibal Corpse record.

From the moment the aptly titled "Demented Aggression" explodes to life in a storm of blistering riffs and turbulent drums it is unequivocally apparent that the band are at their ruthless best, and everything that follows backs this up vehemently. From the monstrous chugging of "Sarcophagic Frenzy" to the deeply sinister "Followed Home Then Killed" or the loping evil of "Scourge of Iron", every track hits with sledgehammer force, and each one boasts its own hideous character, the band refusing to repeat themselves at any point. "While we make everything as heavy as possible there's a very strong emphasis placed on song writing in this band, trying to make every song individual, and I think you should be able to hit play at any point on a record and be able to tell one song from another almost instantly," states bassist Alex Webster. "We want all the songs to be brutal death metal, but we also want them to be instantly identifiable from one another, and that's something that is definitely true of the songs on Torture."

Webster also believes that stability in the band's ranks greatly contributes to the record's strength, Torture being the third consecutive album featuring the current lineup of himself and co-founding member Mazurkiewicz, alongside guitarists Rob Barrett and Patrick O'Brien, and vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher. "The band is at its strongest right now, and I think we're at our very peak as far as playing ability and song writing maturity. As a result of that this is the album where we've been able to finally best get across what we wanted to do as players and as song writers." Equally, this is their third release to be helmed by producer Erik Rutan (of Hate Eternal fame), and while Kill and Evisceration Plague were recorded entirely at Rutan's MANA studio in St. Petersburg, Florida, this time out the sessions were split between MANA and Sonic Ranch, in Tornillo, Texas. Having tracked 1999's Colin Richardson-produced Bloodthirst, as well as 2002's Gore Obsessed and 2004's The Wretched Spawn (both produced by Neil Kernon) at Sonic Ranch, the band were keen to once again experience the isolation of working essentially in the middle of nowhere, this time with Rutan calling the shots.

"The studio is about forty miles outside of El Paso, and we made a point of not having a rental car so we were stuck there, that way all we could think about was the record," Webster states. "When we record in Florida usually the only guy in the studio with Erik is the one recording that day, and having us all together rather than scattered really helped us focus and totally immerse ourselves in the music, and I think that it's a far better record for it." This approach has resulted in a record that not only delivers a devastating punch but also eschews merely replicating the sound of their previous collaborations, and Mazurkiewicz asserts that their relationship with the producer is a tremendously beneficial one. "He's a death metal guitar player and a death metal singer, which makes him 'one of us'. On top of that he's a great guy, a workaholic, and a great motivator because he's not only an extremely talented peer but he's always nitpicking and doing what he's got to do to make everything better. He pushes us to make the best possible record and does what needs to be done to give it a distinctive sound of its own."

Though the band continue to dwell on dark and disturbing lyrical areas, they long ago transcended the early notoriety bestowed upon them (based solely upon their artwork and lyrics) through proving themselves one of the best – and hardest working – live bands in modern heavy music. As such, while they certainly stand defiant as part of the old guard in death metal, through their devotion to touring and consistently releasing bigger and better records they have retained both their relevance and bite while many of the bands that hacked their way out of the scene twenty years ago have fallen by the wayside. Equally, as the genre's profile has begun to once again grow in recent years the band do not concern themselves with thoughts of being dethroned by younger generations of bands following in their wake.

"We get inspired by seeing these other bands doing killer music, but we definitely don't feel threatened by it," Webster states. With a great many contemporary death metal bands perhaps overly concerned with being recognized as the 'fastest' or 'most technical', the art of the song itself seems often overlooked, and that is a trap Cannibal Corpse have never fallen into. "I am very into ultra-fast music that shows off chops, but I think that it's important to develop ability as a musician not to show off that ability but rather to use it to write killer songs. Writing a genuinely memorable, killer song is very challenging, but the best albums are the ones with the best songs, period."

In 2012, Cannibal Corpse have ensured that the twelve songs comprising Torture are the very best and therefore cohere to make the best possible album, though they are not content to rest upon their laurels and they are as hungry as ever to unleash their distinctive breed of aural horror upon heaving mosh pits. "I haven't been this excited about a release in a long time," enthuses Mazurkiewicz. "We worked so hard at it and we hope that the fans feel the same way we do. Being out there and getting to play these songs live will once again prove to people we're not going anywhere. We're not going through the motions, we're really trying to be the best band we can be, and we're just getting better."

Evangelion is a Greek term meaning Good News and usually refers to the biblical stories of God saving humanity and Jesus and his substitutionary death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. So explains Behemoth vocalist/guitarist Nergal and his co-lyricist Krzysztof Azarewicz in the manifest for the Polish death squad’s ninth and latest full-length, Evangelion.

As anyone familiar with the band might imagine, Behemoth’s own version of “good news” is considerably different than the one offered by the Bible or the self-important evangelicals who thump it, a far cry from the do-as-I-say-but-not-as-I-do theology of grandstanding born-agains, false prophets and opportunistic conservatives from all corners of the globe. But Evangelion is more than a mere antidote to Christian proselytizing. The album’s lyrics espouse the reclamation of the self—a self unbound by the manmade strictures of tradition, politics and religion. A philosophical upheaval set to the tune of merciless, face-ripping, speaker-shredding death metal.

As the band’s first full-length for Metal Blade and the follow-up to last year’s Ezkaton EP, Evangelion ushers modern death metal into the second decade of the new millennium with nine relentlessly blackened tracks of anti-liturgical fury and towering technical precision. Produced by Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah, In Flames, Dark Funeral) and mixed by Colin Richardson (Carcass, Slipknot, Napalm Death), the album sees Behemoth vaulting over their own previous musical acmes, 2004’s Demigod and 2007’s The Apostasy. “No bullshitting here, this is the ultimate Behemoth album,” Nergal enthuses. “I’ve never been happy with any of our albums before, which is kind of weird, but it’s very hard for me to achieve any kind of fulfillment or satisfaction. This time, I have no problems putting this album in the car stereo and just banging my head and enjoying it as if I was a fan.”

Demonized in their own country, the members of Behemoth have withstood ongoing defamation from the idle hands and misguided tongues of the All-Polish Committee for Defense Against Sects, a latter-day post-Bloc version of Tipper Gore’s infamous free-speech hit squad, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). Led by a similarly misinformed government official who has repeatedly tried to censor Behemoth—going so far as to propose that the band shouldn’t be allowed to play in Poland—the Committee has dragged Nergal and his cohorts into pointless legal proceedings, all in the name of shielding Polish youth from the band’s pro-individualist stance and penchant for cosmic allegory. “It’s like a soap opera,” Nergal confirms. “This guy thinks I’m promoting violence and criminal deeds. It’s all bullshit accusations. There is no evidence; his evidence is our music and our lyrics. But he seems to have no idea what a metaphor is.”

In recounting Behemoth’s tenacious rise from behind the Iron Curtain, attempts to contextualize the band into an overarching “Polish death metal scene” are well-meaning if not entirely accurate. Nine albums, six EPs and numerous world tours into an 18-year career, they’ve long since transcended their geographical roots and are operating prolifically on the global stage. The band’s forthcoming appearance on the 2009 Rockstar Mayhem Fest tour alongside Slayer, Marilyn Manson, Killswitch Engage and Cannibal Corpse will only solidify their exalted position and increase their already considerable profile. “I know I’ve got a massive job to be completed with all this touring that’s set up for Evangelion,” Nergal says. “But I think it’s our defining work to date. And that’s not just me trying to sell the record. I honestly think that this is the finest Behemoth album. But soon everyone will listen to it for themselves.”

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