Carcass, The Black Dahlia Murder, Freedom Of Fear @ The Gov, Adelaide 4/4/2024
When it comes to pioneering Death Metal acts, I’m not sure there has been a more anticipated return than Liverpool major-league face melters, Carcass. This may also be because a close friend (that is so obsessed she has their logo tattooed on her) has been quite vocal about waiting ten years for them to finally touch down on Australian soil, but as it turns out she isn’t alone. While Adelaide enjoyed the rare privilege of a colossal clash of major Metal acts with Infectious Grooves playing down the road and causing mass FOMO, The Gov was packed and sounding crisp and clear with the delicious grooves of some very loud and sonically satisfying Death Metal.
After driving said friend to what seemed like her actual wedding day, we walk straight into the blackened hum of meticulous blast beats and the demonic sounds coming from Freedom of Fear vocalist Jade Monserrat before some seriously mind-bending technical guitar duelling ensues. It comes as no surprise that these guys are South Australia’s best metal export going around, even managing to thrust their harrowing sound into the mainstream last year as a major act in The Adelaide Guitar Festival. Freedom of Fear continue to up the theatrics of their live act with big backing tracks and big drama, embellishing the already obscene genius of their instrumentals. They are almost too big for The Gov stage at this point. Closing with Zenith, a spurring and high intensity track that rides like a thrashy banger but twirls with the frenzied screeching of blackened hell, the savage breakdown outro compels the entire venue to headbang in sync, including the small child front and centre in front of the barrier wearing the band’s t-shirt. Referred to by The Black Dahlia Murder front man Brain Eschbach as “your hometown mother fuckers’ Freedom of Fear are triumphant on home turf, blazing through their national support adventure and representing the City of Churches with their unhallowed symphonies of horror and dread.
Triumphant was the theme the night, with The Black Dahlia Murder also returning to the Southern Hemisphere, and as Eschbach acknowledges, things are different than the last time they played here. Aside from the painfully obvious absence of the giant inflatable T-rex costume that dominated the pit during TBDM’s appearance at New Dead IX in 2018, the sudden passing of cherished original front man Trevor Strnad still stings. Eschbach fills those sombrely void shoes with courage and guts, sharing the music they made together and carrying the torch with an impassioned resolve. He brings a fresh and seamless flair to the mix vocally and has a personality on him, a winning combination that wakes up the whole room with fist pumping, foot tapping jolly fun. The onslaught of popular tracks keeps fans engaged, opening with smasher Verminous while delicious fudgy track I Will Return accelerates the wild intensity with an epic guitar solo and Satan has entered the building. Closing with Deathmask Devine, TBDM wrap up a solid set which is both satisfying and exhilarating- a true testament to their determination to carry the band forward with the spirit of their late front man.
The drama peaks when Carcass commence their onslaught, and the crowd fires up even more as the legendary Bill Steer and fellow axe wielder James Blackford enter the stage. Vocalist Jeff Walker exudes a long diabolic scream for opening track Buried Dreams and we are well and truly in the throes of some incredibly tight sounding vintage death metal. Incarnated carrys that slick groove across the venue, reminding everyone exactly why we love this music. It continues to astound me how songs that are so dank and disturbing make you want to dance so much, and I don’t want to alarm anyone but this may have been the best sound I have encountered at a Metal show put on at the Gov, which makes a big impact when dealing with the complexities of Death Metal, and I am certain all the other sound nerds there would agree with me on that point.
This Mortal Coil brings the goods with some serious soloing from Billy boy that make the dudes in the audience absolutely froth, we get wind blowing dramatically on Jeff while a blunt fires up somewhere in the audience, wafting across the room. We are all aboard the groove train for another retro favourite Death Certificate quickening the pace while drummer Daniel Wilding carrys the fast rhythm flawlessly and smiles the whole time. I would proclaim that Wilding could be the happiest drummer in Death Metal, but I already gave that title to Wormrot’s Vijesh Ghariwala.
Dance of IXTAB exhibits seriously blusey soloing atop of harrowing heavy riifs, while Jeff remains staunchly placed in the centre of the guitar tornado for 316L Grade Surigal Steel, anchoring Steer and Blackford’s flamboyance with a thunderous groove and keeping Billy Boy from flying off the stage entirely on his own cloud of sonic joy. Rapid and crushing encore track Tools of the Trade whip everyone into a final frenzy, finishing the night in a riot before ending abruptly with Jeff simply yelling ‘Cheers!’. OK, cheerio then and thanks for the bangover.
It can be strange seeing such immortalised acts play such an intimate space as The Gov, especially acts of the Extreme Metal variety who are generally more at home on an outdoor festival stage- but it worked. All three bands were in top form for the Adelaide leg of the tour, the sound was impeccable, and the energy was incredible. It can also be a gamble when older bands return, with some concern that the reality will ruin the grandiose illusion of the artists we have admired for decades, but after a ten-year wait, Carcass delivered and it was a faultless execution.
Live Review By Bec Scheucher