Only two days after seeing Diamond Head, Birdman and I headed back to The Chance for godfathers of goregrind, Carcass.

We arrived shortly before it started and ran into many of our friends inside. Unlike Diamond Head, however, the venue was pretty crowded.

Dissolve

First one were the Poughkeepsie-based hardcore/ noise rock band Dissolve. I had seen these guys once before two years ago play with All Out War. I found them to be one of the better openers on that bill. Again, they did a pretty good job. They sounded better than last time as the sound at The Chance is better than The Loft, and had great energy. The band made for a fun warm up.

Inter Arma

Next up was Inter Arma. I’d always heard good things about this band and had many friends who liked them, but never took the time to check them out. Inter Arma played a pretty interesting mix of death/doom, sludge and black metal. They were crushingly heavy and made me regret not checking them out sooner.

Deafheaven

After a crushing set from Inter Arma, came on the main support for Carcass, Deafheaven. Neither Birdman or I were ever fans of this band and weren’t excited to see them. We were both open-minded enough to wonder if they could at least be good live (they weren’t). The songs sound just as bad as they did in the studio and their performance was corny. The band all looked like Hawthrone Heights and seemed like they didn’t want to be there. The vocalist also moved his hands in a corny Broadway style.

Carcass

After Deafheaven got off the stage, all of the young hipsters started leaving the crowd leaving it a venue of mostly metalheads. I had once seen Carcass two years ago with Gorguts and The Black Dalhia Murder, and that show was amazing.

This time around, their live tone was unbeatable and Jeff Walker’s banter was hilarious. They had a great set covering greats from Surgical Steele, Heartwork, Necrotism, Reek of Putrefaction and Symphonies of Sickness (and believe it or not, they even played a track from Swansong for whatever reason). All these songs sounded great and I was glad to see them once more. After the show, we left and we both do plan to return in Febuary for Mayhem and Inquistion.