Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen, Germany22nd February 2020
Thy Art Is Murder - “Human Target” EU/UK Tour 2020 - Support: I Am, Rivers Of Nihil, Fit For An Autopsy, Carnifex
Finally they are back in Europe! THY ART IS MURDER blessed us with an amazing line-up with one of the most brutal bands that had graced this stage. Not too often, the Metal community is blessed with a tour that is so intense. Five of the most brutal and hardest bands of our time played in the nearly sold-out Turbinenhalle on Saturday.
I Am
The first band to play their set was I AM! They are a Metal band from the state Texas with five members who describe their sub-genre of Heavy Metal as Texas Death and take their inspiration from the big four of metal music: SLAYER, METALLICA, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX. They also released a new album called ‘Hard 2 kill’, which they proudly presented that night. https://www.iamtxdeath.com / https://www.facebook.com/iamtxmusic
Music & Performance
With I AM the audience also experienced a premiere: For the first time the five Americans are on tour in Europe and thus also for the first time in the Ruhr Area. Honestly, this genius mix of big bands created one of the most powerful and intense shows I have been to. I AM almost instantly set fire to the audience as they were dancing and moshing as soon they played their first song of the night ‘Texas Death’. The singer Andrew Hileman set the mood for the evening with his solid vocal delivery and motivated the people to dance along the songs. In general, I AM delivered an energetic and forthright show and connected very well with the crowd. The blue and red lights were nicely chosen and added an atmosphere that was very suitable for the venue. It was definitely a worthy start into this evening; the mood was already quite heated up thanks to the brutal and partly sludge-like slow, crushing riffs.
Setlist
01. Texas Death
02. Paid in Sin
03. Sacred Cries
04. Burn Slow
05. Hard 2 Kill
06. Peel Back the Skin
07. Grindstone
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Light: 7
Sound: 9
Total: 7.8 / 10
Rivers Of Nihil
Second band of the evening were RIVERS OF NIHIL, an American technical Death Metal band from Reading, Pennsylvania that started their band back in 2009 with three members at the beginning. To date the band has released two EPs and three studio albums. Their most recent release is 2018s ‘Where Owls Know My Name’, which debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200, selling 2,750 copies in its first week. https://riversofnihil.bandcamp.com / https://www.facebook.com/riversofnihil
Music & Performance
Their show was really impressive, the fast blasts, the brutal gutturals and generally their changing and blending of styles was appreciated by the crowd, which they responded with moshing of course. The songs were incredibly heavy and showed a high degree of finesse, progressive passages, spherical melodies and great guitar solos. Singer Jake Dieffenbach convinced with an impressive range of extreme vocal styles, from pig squeals to deep growls, everything was there. Unfortunately, the sound was not the best here. In certain songs, you almost did not hear the vocalist. However, this certainly did not stop the band from performing a great show.
Setlist
01. The Silent Life
02. Old Nothing
03. Death is Real
04. A Home
05. Soil & Seed
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Light: 7
Sound: 6
Total: 7
Fit For An Autopsy
They are an American Deathcore band from Jersey City, New Jersey, formed in 2008. FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY have released five studio albums since formation. The crushing music of FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY is for any fan of Extreme Metal, its sound and fury is absolutely unflinching in purpose. The band expertly blends excessive, force-fuelled death metal with atmospheric groove and impassioned personal diatribes, reflecting back the dark state of current events. Their fifth studio album, ‘The Sea Of Tragic Beasts’, doesn’t waste time with fantasy bullshit or cliché gore horror. https://www.facebook.com/FitForAnAutopsyOfficial
Music & Performance
After a short break, the six members of the band welcomed the crowd back with heavy riffs and aggressive growls, which was very well accepted by the audience. Some would say that there was not enough contrast between the songs, but you just could not help yourself to head-bang and raise your fists to their songs. When to ‘Hydra’ the whole area in front of the stage felt the line leading to the breakdown, the joy was visible in the faces of the band. In general, they were certainly good at exciting the crowd to create circle pits, mosh pits, walls of death and for their two last songs ‘Heads will Hang’ and ‘Black Mammoth’ everyone was moving. The sound was better for FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY as you could hear the deep growls of the vocalist as well as all the other members.
Setlist
01. The Sea of Tragic Beasts
02. Warfare
03. Mirrors
04. Hydra
05. Heads Will Hang
06. Black Mammoth
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Light: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10
Carnifex
CARNIFEX is an American Deathcore band from San Diego County, California. Formed in 2005, they have released seven full-length albums and three EPs. Since 2007, constant members of the band have been founding members Shawn Cameron (drums, keyboards) and Scott Lewis (lead vocals) along with Cory Arford (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) and Fred Calderon (bass guitar). CARNIFEX’ lyrics all are based around negative themes. Lead vocalist Scott Lewis has stated the theme of CARNIFEX will always be negative even when the state of mind he is in is positive. Their latest album is called ‘World War X’ and was released in August 2019. https://www.facebook.com/CarnifexMetal
Music & Performance
The show continued with the final band before the main act. The crowd was hot and ready for the next brutal band. CARNIFEX did not wait and started right away with their new song ‘World War X’. Singer Scott Ian Lewis surprised with his diversified vocal power and understood it perfectly to heat up the people. Again and again, he challenged the audience to jump or to put life and limb into growing circle pits. The guitar solos were fantastic as they were huge contrast to their blast beats and brought the right amount of melody and alternation in their set. It did not matter if you were in the Pit or in the back shaking your hair, everyone was moving as soon as the Vocalist started his iconic speech “I didn’t chose Hell - Hell chose me!” With that song, the band finished their set and was preparing the stage for the final act.
Setlist
01. World War X
02. Slow Death
03. Hatred and Slaughter
04. Drown Me in Blood
05. No Light Shall Save Us
06. Die Without Hope
07. Lie to My Face
08. Hell Chose Me
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Light: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7.3 / 10
Thy Art Is Murder
THY ART IS MURDER is an Australian deathcore band from Blacktown, Sydney that formed in 2006. The band consists of vocalist Chris “CJ” McMahon, guitarists Sean Delander and Andy Marsh, drummer Jesse Beahler and bassist Kevin Butler. Thy Art Is Murder has released five studio albums since formation. https://www.thyartismurder.net / https://www.facebook.com/thyartismurder
Music & Performance
Finally the band that we have all been waiting for that night, THY ART IS MURDER. Fans will know that they have a special way to set the mood for their concert. Usually most bands play Metal music that fits more or else their genre, but not THY ART IS MURDER!
They played songs by EMINEM, THE WEEKND, QUEEN and always right before their show, started ‘We like to Party’ by VENGABOYS through the speakers. The lighting went crazy like in a rave party and people were dancing and singing along. There was no better way to get into the right mood for a THY ART IS MURDER concert. The room was filled with joy and excitement when the song finished, the lights went dark and the band stepped on stage to play ‘Death Squad Anthem’ from their newest album ‘Human Target’. At the latest after the second song, the fantastic ‘Make America Hate Again’, really everyone in the Turbinenhalle up to far behind the mixing desk was going crazy.
The fans sang along to almost every song like ‘The Purest Strain of Hate’, where CJ let them sing the refrain of it. Between the songs, he also proved his famous Australian humour and made some jokes. However, with songs like ‘Human Target’ and ‘Eternal Suffering’ the laughter was over again, the sound was so intense and violent that nobody could stand still in the Turbinenhalle. The band’s light show was also a real challenge; the three screens always showed disturbing pictures and colours, sometimes in strong contrast to the dark music. ‘Dear Desolation’, for example, bathed the stage in bright pink and light green, which was particularly frightening with the threatening band logo on the backdrop. Their show was certainly the highlight of the evening, the combination of the screens and the pyro show was unexpected and matched so good to their songs and the whole show.
With the brutal ‘Puppet Master’ and the final ‘Reign Of Darkness’ we had reached the end. The audience went completely crazy once again and everyone sang along loudly. ‘Chemical Christ’ as an encore, but after more than five hours of deathcore and brutal music the party was really over. In conclusion, THY ART IS MURDER are amazing to watch live, but thanks to the excellent warm up by the other bands the show was one of the best in the beginning of the decade. I was amazed by the crowd that night, they were very present from the first minute of the evening and really made it possible for the bands to feel welcome and free to just go crazy and deliver an immense show. It is highly recommended to see them all if you have the chance to!
Setlist
01. Death Squad Anthem
02. Make America Hate Again
03. The Purest Strain of Hate
04. Human Target
05. Eternal Suffering
06. Dear Desolation
07. Fur and Claw
08. Holy War
09. New Gods
10. The Son of Misery
11. Puppet Master
12. Reign of Darkness
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13. Chemical Christ
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Light: 8
Sound: 9
Total: 8.8 / 10
All pictures by Elena Arens
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