Back from the dead!

I went to see Florida's Obituary in the Temple Bar Music Centre last Thursday. Unfortunately, I arrived late and missed Nailed and Alarum, so I can't tell you anything about them. I got there in time to catch the end of Necrophagist's set. My memories are a bit hazy from all the Guinness, but I remember liking what I had seen. Good death metal with crunching riffs and unintelligible vocals. Just how I like it.

Next up were Dublin's very own Abaddon Incarnate. I had met these guys a couple of times about 10 years ago, and had seen them mentioned in Terrorizer a few times, so I was eager to see them live. Well, they didn't disappoint. They play good technical death metal reminiscent of Morbid Angel. Their playing was very tight and all were talented musicians, particularly the drummer. I'll certainly be checking them out again in the future.

Finally, the headliners, Obituary, came onstage around 22.30. They played a good set, although I have to admit that I didn't know a great deal of the songs. I can only presume that many of them came off the latest album, which I don't have. Still, they belted out classics such as 'Find the Arise', 'Chopped In Half' and and the punk-influenced 'Threatening Skies'. I was in the middle of the pit going fucking mental as one does when one is quite drunk and seeing a band one was into when one was 16. John Tardy was in fine form. His vocals were as sick as ever, and, no, I've still no idea what he's saying! The only real downside to the night was Donald Tardy's drum solo. While there's no doubting that he is a very talented drummer, I felt it was about 5 minutes too long. Throughout it I was thinking, "come on, fucking get on with it!" However, I was obviously in a minority, as the rest of the crowd clearly loved it. Anyway, this self-indulgence was forgiven when the rest of the band came back onstage for the encore finishing the set with the classic 'Slowly We Rot'.

Afterwards, I got my ticket signed by John Tardy. We also had a deep and meaningful discussion about the gig. It went like this. I said, "Great gig, man". To which he replied, "thanks, man". Who says metallers can't be eloquent and profound.

I'm still hurting. Brilliant.