Carnifex

support Within The Ruins + Fallujah + Boris The Blade
author MBC date 19/12/15 venue Pumpehuset, Copenhagen, DEN

On Saturday night, Pumpehuset was the place to be for Copenhagen deathcore fans. At least that is how it would seem on the basis of the strong line-up of bands celebrating the ten year anniversary of Carnifex. The American band is still carrying the torch for deathcore and continues to put out strong albums, most recently ”Die Without Hope” from last year. Tonight’s three supporting acts Boris The Blade, Fallujah and Within The Ruins all have their respective qualities and the diversity of the bands’ musical styles made for an exciting metal evening. Unfortunately, what has almost become a tradition with these kinds of shows, the advertised start time did not match the actual show start which resulted in me missing the night’s first act, Boris The Blade. With the advertised show start being 9’o clock on Pumpehuset’s website, the band had begun playing at 8.20 or 8.30 instead, seemingly without explanation. Judging by the very small turnout at 9, Boris The Blade must have played for close to no people, which is truly a shame, and once again it baffles the mind why it is so difficult for venues to coordinate these things.

None of our photographers were available and so the review unfortunately will not feature pictures.

Fallujah

Following the release of their incredible album “The Flesh Prevails” last year, American progressive death metal band Fallujah has seen a lot of success, being a part of several great tours and signing with Nuclear Blast for the release of their upcoming album. They are one of the more interesting bands in metal right now with their unique approach to atmospheric death metal. I had high hopes for this performance, and the band luckily did not disappoint. Apparently, this was their third time playing in Denmark, but I do believe that this was my first live experience with them. Fallujah played exceptionally well and had the best sound of the night, especially on the vocals which were clear and absolutely brutal. The band’s highly technical, yet melodic music creates a thick and compelling atmosphere that was only emphasised with the band being bathed in blue light. At times their music is ferociously brutal death metal, at times is hypnotically beautiful prog metal. It does not necessarily encourage moshing, but the small crowd seemed to be into the band, nodding their heads in approval. The band members did not move much, which is to be expected with music as technical as this, but they did do some circle head banging and vocalist Alex Hofmann connected well with the crowd. I am already looking forward to seeing this band again.

8

Within The Ruins

Within The Ruins were up next with a pre-recorded intro opening their show. The band ripped into “Gods Amongst Men” from their newest album ”Phenomena” and from here on out the crowd was treated to an energetic djentcore show that unfortunately was plagued by bad sound with low vocals and muddy guitars. Considering how much the band relies on melodic guitar details in their sound, it was a shame to not be able to hear most of it. Within The Ruins have great grooves and melodies to get a crowd going, and although the turnout was still not exactly impressive, the band seemed to feed off of the energy from the people. As on the band’s records, this is not music that one becomes emotionally invested in, but it is definitely more exciting to experience them live than on record, even though they relied on pre-recorded backing tracks from time to time which gave the impression of the machine-like quality that their albums have. Still, this was a tight, energetic and fun show that was the band’s first time in Denmark, but they promised to be back next year.

7

Carnifex

Before going to the show, I had been expecting a much larger turnout for such a strong line-up, but was proven wrong with the venue not half filled even by the end of the night. Nevertheless, the main event of the evening did not disappoint and put on a fierce and brutal deathcore show. At about 11’o clock Carnifex entered the stage to “Salvation Is Dead” from “Die Without Hope” which immediately got the crowd going. As with Within The Ruins the sound was muddy and the vocals were way to low. “Dark Days” produced a good circle pit and the crushing breakdowns of “In Coalesce With Filth And Faith” resulted in mass headbanging from the crowd. The set list consisted of a good mix of songs from the band’s career that included “Slit Wrist Savior”, “Until I Feel Nothing”, “Die Without Hope” and of course “Lie To My Face” and “Hell Chose Me” that got the biggest reactions of the night. Front man Scott Lewis is a beast on the microphone and a relentless frontman. He addressed the audience frequently and encouraged them to circle pit, and the crowd did their best despite the physical limitations of the small venue with its huge pillars in the middle of the floor. Due to the repetitive nature of the band’s music, the constant wall of brutality did get a little tiresome to listen to after a while, especially this late in the evening, which was only accentuated by the muddy sound that never really got better. But it was great to see Carnifex live again commemorating their ten year anniversary, especially in a time where bands are breaking up left and right. The crowd was small, but the people who showed up got their money’s worth with some good shows.

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