OMfuckingG! The DEATHCRUSHER TOUR. And this title can be taken literally! It is not impudent to say that this package is the dream of every headbanger and so THE tour of extreme metal bands in 2015. CARCASS, OBITUARY, NAPALM DEATH and VOIVOD sharing the bill – every band known to be pioneers of today’s metal scene. Every band a legend, a reference, and every band a force live on stage. And every band of them is one of my faves. Once announced I was really keen to catch them. Yes, this is truly THE extreme tour package in 2015.

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The closest city of this excellent destruction is Cologne and to make it to the • Live Music Hall • was anything but easy. What worked so fine on Saturday (on the way to the Palladium in Cologne) turned out to be a nightmare on this Monday evening. Unfortunately, Swiss Sludge metallers :: HEROD :: fell victim to Cologne’s traffic chaos.

It was also tight to arrive on time for :: VOIVOD ::. The Quebec-based progressive Thrash metallers already started with their second song, Tribal Convictions, when I fell into the photopit. Out again I needed to take a breath first but then could absolutely enjoy a fantastic show. I love those guys! Too bad, they only played a 30 minutes set. They would have deserved more. VOIVOD are in best mood and whirl over the stage. Once again, Frontman Snake tops them all. I would love to see him doing a duet with Barney Greenway. Oh, apropos… VOIVOD debuted a new song, Forever Mountain, which will be released on a split CD on Nov 6 with… tada… Napalm Death. As expected, every band on this bill plays a best-of show and so do VOIVOD. Great show! Extremely likable band! And the guys didn’t dare to come out afterwards to talk with fans and signing merch.
Setlist: Ripping Headaches, Tribal Convictions, The Unknown Knows, Psychic Vacuum, The Prow, Order Of The Blackguards, Forever Mountain, Voivod

If Voivod seemed to be odd to some, it completely changed when Grindcore godfathers :: NAPALM DEATH :: entered the stage launching with the title track of their latest record, Apex Predator - Easy Meat. In a twinkling of an eye mosh- and circle pits were created. Although the Brits played the same time their setlist was way longer ;) And of course, Mr. Barney Greenway was raging the stage, expressing his political attitudes and views regarding everything from third world poverty to criticism of the Conservative tyranny in the United Kingdom, setting an exclamation mark with Nazi Punks Fuck Off. It got well received. No need to mention that the show was a blast of brutality, on the highest level, and asskicking too. Guitarist Mitch Harris couldn’t take part in the tour and got temporarily replaced by Corrupt Moral Altar axt-man John Cooke. Good job man.
Setlist: Apex Predator - Easy Meat, Silence Is Deafening, When All Is Said And Done, Smash A Single Digit, Metaphorically Screw You, Scum, Social Sterility, Deceiver, Strong Arm, How The Years Condemn, Suffer The Children, You Suffer, Nazi Punks Fuck Off (Dead Kennedys cover), Adversarial/Copulating Snakes

Next up is :: OBITUARY :: and the crowd is freaking out. Sound tonight is pretty good. I remember way worse sound experiences at the Live Music Hall. Only lights are… well… could have been better. Such long hair needs light to be photographed ;) However, OBITUARY kick off extremely groovy with Redneck Stomp, get more aggressive with new songs from Inked With Blood, and finish the way they started: extreme and with the classic of all OBITUARY classics: Slowly We Rot. Can’t be any better.
Setlist: Redneck Stomp, Centuries Of Lies, Visions In My Head, Intoxicated, Bloodsoaked, Dying, Find The Arise, 'Til Death, Don't Care, Slowly We Rot

Oh dear. Yes, it can be better! Good, better, :: CARCASS ::. No rest for the wicked. And CARCASS get into their set likewise mighty, ripping into Unfit For Human Consumption, playing an all destroying best-of set. CARCASS present themselves in best mood, display an overwhelming delight in play, while frontman Jeff Walker has the one or the other banter on his lips. Guitarist Bill Steer is just smiling and makes every guitarist out there go green with envy. But both youngsters (Ben Ash and Daniel Wilding) didn’t fall short either. At the end, CARCASS was the only band allowed to play an encore. And there the death metal classic of all times, Heartwork, was obligatory.
Once again the Live Music Hall went out of fresh air, but the fans did not. Unfortunately, the security was really quick to seep the crowd out.  
Ok, it got proved: this was definitely the tour package of the year 2015! Hard to say which band was one step ahead. That is probably a matter of personal taste. I anyway loved them all ;) Great evening, indeed!
Setlist: 1985, Unfit For Human Consumption, Buried Dreams, Incarnated Solvent Abuse, Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System, This Mortal Coil, The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills, Captive Bolt Pistol, Exhume To Consume, Reek Of Putrefaction, Corporal Jigsore Quandary, Keep On Rotting In The Free World // Mount Of Execution, Heartwork, 1985 (Reprise)

story & pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography