The Chaos and Carnage Tour 2018 featuring headliners Carnifex stopped by Atlanta on Monday night with support from Oceano, Spite, Shadow of Intent, Vacant, and Shryne. The early kick-off and weekday rush hour traffic didn’t seem to stop the crowd from attending the killer show on the Heaven stage at The Masquerade.
The early openers made the most of the short set times, pumping out variations of metal- and experimental deathcore upon the eager crowd. With each opener, the crowd and myself got a little more excited for the next band up. Despite the energetic pit and solid lineup, one thing was clear as day; nearly everyone was there to witness the triple-headed monster of Spite, Oceano, and headliners Carnifex.
And for good reason. This was my first time seeing Spite and I was completely blown away by the sonic insanity and raw anger on display. Vocalist Darius Tehrani was pure rage and fury, laying down the perfect growly screams over Spite’s hard-to-define sound. There are elements of punk, hardcore, metalcore, and more in Spite’s music and that makes for one hell of a live show.
In an interesting (but perhaps expected twist), main support act Oceano rarely matched that energy when they came on stage. I had seen Oceano last year this time and remember suffering a sore neck after the show—not unlike this time. However, the more esoteric nature of their songs and the somewhat stoic stage performance combined to provide a nice contrast on the night. Adam Warren’s one-of-a-kind growls, bottom-heavy guitar riffs, and eerie melodic passages all of which comprise the band’s signature sound were spot-on. My favorite moment of the set was when the band kicked into Lucid Reality, which in my opinion is the perfect gallery of Oceano’s expansive sound.
Carnifex came on not long after and immediately launched into Drown Me In Blood and the title track off of their latest album, 2016’s Slow Death (Nuclear Blast). My initial reaction to the album back when it was first released was hugely positive: it represented a type of maturity and coming-of-age that had been in the works since 2014’s Die Without Hope (Nuclear Blast). Having seen Carnifex twice in the last two years has only convinced me more of that: the eight-string assault, eerie harmonies, sick stage design, big light show, and a shift away from classic deathcore and toward a more dynamic sound have all combined to make Carnifex a true force to be reckoned with in a niche subgenre.
I had a blast watching their set and really enjoyed the whole festival atmosphere created by Chaos and Carnage 2018 altogether, and highly recommend you catch the next bus or train to a host city near you to witness it.
9/10
