Three decades is a long time. Governments rise and fall, society changes in a myriad of ways, trends come and go. But through all that time, Florida’s Obituary have endured a lasting appeal. Fans at the more mature end of the metal spectrum make up a large portion of the crowd inside the Electric Ballroom, but the younger faces in the audience speak volumes for the timelessness of both the band and the genre they helped create.
The men compromising M-pire Of Evil have been melting faces for even longer than the headliners, and compromising former members of Venom, are equally as responsible for forming and creating the metal landscape. Their sound is an aggressive mix of thrash and traditional ‘old-school’ heavy-fuckin’-metal, and occasionally their riffs edge towards hard-rock territories, but lose none of their bite or menace. Their setlist includes belters like ‘Hellspawn’, ‘Die Hard’, Don’t Burn The Witch’ and a furious ‘Parasite’ that bassist/vocalist Tony ‘Demolition Man’ Dolan dedicates to everyone’s boss. His gravelly tones place him somewhere between Cronos and a more hardcore Lemmy, and his fake blood spitting theatrics knowingly acknowledge the slight air of cheese around the three-piece. The crowd don’t care, and after an appearance from Obituary guitarist Trevor Peres bolsters the aural assault, Mantas and co bring the house down with a triumphant version of Venom classic ‘Black Metal’. Truly historic stuff.
There’s an overwhelming weight of anticipation before Obituary even take to the stage. They enter to a brooding soundscape before turning round and ripping the audience’s collective face off with unerring ease. They are the definition of both furious and brutal, with every stroke of Donald Tardy’s kick pedal hitting you like a punch in the throat.
Understandably the crowd go absolutely apeshit, a sea of moving bodies, banging heads and pumping fists. There’s crowd surfing almost from the moment the first chord is struck, They are intense and bludgeoning, with Trevor Peres and latest addition Kenny Andrews shredding up a storm with a thick, weighty tone that expands to fill the entire venue. Underpinning it all is the meaty, moving bass work of Terry Butler that underpins their sound and locks in the deep groove death metal is notorious for. Without a doubt, the main focal point of the show is vocalist John Tardy, who is on top form, a mass of hair (he must use Mosh and Go) who wretches his delivery out, both guttural and screeching, whipping the crowd into ever higher levels of frenzy.
Both acts make it absolutely evident that, as the saying goes, you can’t teach old dogs new tricks, but when the tricks are this good you don’t even need to. Younger bands can learn a lot in terms of showmanship and sheer, brute force.
