Review: Deathcrusher tour, Marble Factory

The big-value metal package tour is a winner for everyone, except, perhaps, the band who have to go on first. Swiss ‘progressive sludge’ act Herod are new to most of the few hundred present when they take the stage at precisely 6.30pm for their allotted 20 minute slot. It’s hard to form an opinion based on such a brief set, but their material boasts an agreeably proggy, atmospheric spin.

Veteran French-Canadian progressive thrashers Voivod are tonight’s least heavy act. But they tweak their set accordingly, ditching the regular cover of Pink Floyd’s Astronomy Domine, and it doesn’t take long to get the crowd onside. When Michel ‘Away’ Langevin starts bashing out the distinctive drum pattern that opens Tribal Convictions, the first moshpit of the evening erupts, though it’s amusing to see so many wrongfooted by the song’s complex tempo changes. Kudos to the couple who were snogging amid the flailing bodies, though. Romantic, huh? Grinning like an imbecile as usual, Denis ‘Snake’ Belanger thoroughly enjoys orchestrating the chaos as they finish with a pummelling Voivod.

“This is a song about people who have to live in stinking holes, both literally and figuratively, under the fucking Tory government. It’s called Cesspits.” Ah yes, here are Napalm Death to add a bit of radical political grit to the proceedings. Like Slayer and AC/DC, the Brummie grindcore merchants have never ventured far from their defining sound, and are all the better for it. A brisk 45 minute slot suits them perfectly, and even with a stand-in guitarist they’re on devastating form tonight. The career-spanning set reaches all the way back to Scum, which this reviewer saw them unveil at the Tropic Club (remember that, Bristol pop kids?). Ooh, crikey – was it really nigh-on 30 years ago? They cheekily sneak in all 1.3 seconds of You Suffer without an intro, so it’s over before most of us realise it’s started. Suffer the Children (“a song about religious extremism written 25 years ago,” Barney Greenway reminds us) gets the biggest crowd response, next to the trad audience participation of their cover of the Dead Kennedys’ Nazi Punks Fuck Off.

Florida’s super-hairy Obituary might look like Molly Hatchet, but are gore-fixated death metal pioneers who have arguably never trumped their 1989 debut, Slowly We Rot. Frontman John Tardy opts to make a big entrance to rapturous applause during opener Redneck Stomp. It’s obvious that Obituary are the main attraction for a sizable proportion of the packed crowd and their clear, old-school twin-guitar onslaught is well served by the Marble Factory’s excellent sound system. Bloodsoaked proves an early highlight, while inevitable set-closer Slowly We Rot is greeted by a sea of crowd-surfers.

There’s some sign of metal fatigue setting in for melodic death metallers Carcass‘s 10pm headlining slot. Matters aren’t helped by technical problems and their decision to play a substantial chunk of comeback album Surgical Steel. But old favourites, notably from the magnificent Heartwork, rouse the flagging hordes, those twisted twin-guitar melodies – imagine Thin Lizzy playing death metal – being as distinctive and seductive as ever. Between songs, engaging bassist/frontman Jeff Walker talks bollocks, as is his wont, but half-jokingly makes a sound point when he reveals that among his advice to young bands is to find a really talented musician like guitarist Bill Steer to carry all the weight. Steer is certainly Carcass’s not-so-secret weapon and his return to Motion with the very different Gentleman’s Pistols promises to be a highlight of next summer’s Temples festival.