Thy Art Is Murder

Thy Art Is Murder at The King of Clubs, Columbus, Ohio, February 9, 2023

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , ,

Thy Art Is Murder brought their Decade Of Hate tour toColumbus, Ohio, with Kublai Khan TX, Undeath, I Am, and Justice for the Damned.

Thy Art Is Murder

If you live anywhere near The King of Clubs in Columbus, Ohio, you must go see a show there. It is an excellent venue with a generous open floor in front of the stage and a mezzanine-level horseshoe balcony that has a dedicated bar. It is the only place I go to regularly that has an announcer who, between sets, gives you a run-down of the drink specials. Every time I have been there the crowds have been great and the staff are always fantastic. While they host all manner of shows, they have a special affection for heavy metal, and the list of acts that hit their stage is very impressive.

Australian deathcore upstarts Justice For The Damned opened the Thursday night show. They told the crowd many times how they have been wanting to come to the US for years, and how they were fired up to get on the tour with fellow countrymen Thy Art Is Murder. They played like they meant it, stomping the stage and chewing the rafters. The show in Columbus was my first time seeing Justice For The Damned and they made a great first impression on me.

Justice For The Damned

Apart from the headliner, I Am is the band I most wanted to see. I had caught there act last year in Fort Wayne at Piere’s. Ever since then, I have been on the look-out for another opportunity to hear them live. They put out a new album recently, Eternal Steel, which we reviewed favorably here at FFMB (link to that review below). This Dallas, Texas death metal band is one of my absolute favorites working today, with their huge , resounding riffs and just the right amount of groove. They played music from the new album as well as crowd pleasers from their previous two records. In the second slot of five, I Am ratcheted up the expectations for the rest of the night.

I Am

Undeath is a straight-ahead death metal band from Rochester, New York – they’ll tell you that themselves from the stage, “We play death metal. That’s all we do.” Supporting their 2022 album It’s Time…to Rise from the Grave (Prosthetic Records), they were on the mark and deadly in their attack. Raucous and ready, the did the deed and got the pit roiling.

Undeath

Kublai Khan TX is on tour for the first time in a while and, judging by the reaction of the crowd, they have been sorely missed. I was very surprised by how many fans knew the words to their opening number, “The Hammer,” and sang along on the punchlines. Hard- and metalcore pounding is what was served up and their was nothing left over when they left the stage. The band’s latest record is the EP Lowest Form Of Animal, and it’ll give you some idea of what you missed if you weren’t at the show. But really, seeing Kublai Khan TX live is the best way to go.

Kublai Khan TX
Kublai Khan TX

Australian metal masters Thy Art Is Murder are stalking North America once again. I haven’t seen them for a few years, the last time being at Higher Ground in Burlington. The new tour, the Decade Of Hate Tour, is shaping up to be one that will be talked about for years to come.

Thy Art Is Murder

Starting off as usual, in the dark with blasts of strobing light, front man CJ McMahon came on stage and sang around a pedestal of the damned, laying is head back and crooning at the night. The intensity of his performance shines through is rolled-white eyes on brutal killers like “Reign Of Darkness” and “The Purest Strain Of Hate.” The show at The King Of Clubs was the second stop on the tour, but already all the bands were firing on all cylinders, and Thy Art Is Murder was ready and waiting to pounce. This was my first metal show of the year and I could not have asked for more.

Thy Art Is Murder
Thy Art Is Murder

The tour runs through to the ides of March, crisscrossing the country – see the tour poster below for dates cities near you. It is a must-see for heavy music fans. Grab your tickets before they sell out.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Thy Art Is Murder, https://www.thyartismurder.net/

Kublai Khan TX, https://kublaikhantx.com/

Undeath, https://undeathmetal.com/

I Am, https://iam-eternalsteel.com/

FFMB review of Eternal Steel, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/09/08/texas-death-metal-band-i-am-bring-the-heat-on-their-new-album-eternal-steel/

Justice For The Damned, https://justiceforthedamned.com/

The King of Clubs, https://www.tkoc.live/

Photo Galleries.

Thy Art Is Murder, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/02/11/photo-gallery-thy-art-is-murder/

Kublai Khan TX, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/02/11/photo-gallery-kublai-khan-tx/

Undeath, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/02/11/photo-gallery-undeath/

I Am, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/02/11/photo-gallery-i-am/

Justice For The Damned, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/02/11/photo-gallery-justice-for-the-damned/

© Wayne Edwards

Thy Art Is Murder at The King of Clubs, Columbus, Ohio, February 9, 2023

Cannibal Corpse, Thy Art Is Murder, and Perdition Temple at Higher Ground in Burlington, Vermont, Concert Review

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Cannibal Corpse rolled into South Burlington, Vermont Sunday night on their Red Before Black Tour. Their show at Higher Ground was a Fall highlight for North Country Metalheads looking for a night of extreme music.

Perdition Temple

The opening band was Perdition Temple, a three-piece Death Metal act featuring Gene Palubicki on guitar and vocals with Ronnie Parmer on drums and Alex Blume working the bass. Fast and aggressive, the riff-heavy, driving guitar broke the ice and set the tone for evening. Palubicki’s coarse voice and precision fretting filled the room with energy and threat. Wrapping up a tight 30 minutes in a blistering frenzy, Perdition Temple surely made the list for a lot of new fans in the audience.

Perdition Temple

The middle act was Thy Art Is Murder, an Australian band whose music is usually placed in the deathcore category. I heard many fans in the crowd saying they’d come specifically to see Thy Art Is Murder and that didn’t surprise me at all – they have a big following and they don’t tour the US all the time. The band puts up a powerful wall of sound with two guitars via Andy Marsh and Sean Delander that surround frontman CJ McMahon. The bass backing by Kevin Butler and clinical drumming by Jesse Beahler complete the scene.

Thy Art Is Murder

CJ McMahon was suffering from a respiratory infection which caused him obvious discomfort but his performance didn’t seem to suffer at all. Leaning into material from their new album Human Target (Nuclear Blast), Thy Art Is Murder shook the room and played to their strengths, not neglecting fan favorites. In fact, the only time the crowd was actually singing punchlines was during the Thy Art Is Murder set. McMahon talked the crowd into greater participation by reflecting on how wild the show in Montreal the night before had been. Burlington, he told us, was great, but Montreal was unmatchable. The circle pits were going in force, presaging the vortex they would become with the headliner. There were no disappointments with their solid heavy work.

Thy Art Is Murder
Thy Art Is Murder

The main event was Cannibal Corpse, rounding out the tail end of their Red Before Black (Metal Blade) tour. Standing in the pit in the dark after the band had taken the stage but before they began playing, I could see vocalist George Fisher, Corpsegrinder. He stood with his back to the crowd taking deep, fierce breaths, filling his lungs to ready himself for the auditory assault he and the band were about to perpetrate. Hit the lights, hit the sound, and the crowd erupted to “Code of the Slashers.” Moshing started almost immediately and within a few minutes, an enormous circle pit had formed in the Higher Ground Ballroom with a pulsing jagged edge. Metal was happening.

Cannibal Corpse

The band lead with three songs from the latest album then took a tour through their long catalogue of music. Rob Barrett and Erik Rutan brought the riffs and shreds with veteran accuracy while founding members Alex Webster and Paul Mazurkiewicz steadied the songs with an unbreachable foundation. Fisher did not disappoint with his signature hair whipping head snaps, his face completely covered by the result when he sang. This is a band that never makes any excuses and always delivers the fury.

Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse

Never slowing down, Cannibal Corpse announced in October that they would begin working on a new album, their 15th full-length release, as soon as the current tour wraps up. See the show while you can. Cannibal Corpse, Thy Art Is Murder, and Perdition Temple is a great lineup. They are three bands that complement each other by employing similar musical themes while maintaining unique identities and performance styles.

Cannibal Corpse

© Wayne Edwards.

Cannibal Corpse, Thy Art Is Murder, and Perdition Temple at Higher Ground in Burlington, Vermont, Concert Review