Live report CANNIBAL CORPSE, DARK FUNERAL, INGESTED & STORMRULER, Gruenspan, Hamburg – April 9th, 2023

Today, Easter Sunday, it is not only the Easter Bunny who comes to the Hanseatic city. It is also an unholy alliance, which finds its way to Hamburg. None other than Cannibal Corpse have announced themselves to serve the fans a special Easter egg with their splatter death metal.

Besides Cannibal Corpse, the Swedish black metal veterans Dark Funeral are also on this tour, along with the two support acts Ingested and Stormruler. Already at the beginning of the show there is a long waiting line in front of the door at Gruenspan, which doesn’t really bother anyone, because it’s a sunny evening and the temperatures have finally left the freezing zone. Nevertheless, a little hurry is required, since with Stormruler the first band is already on stage at 18:30.

I know the name of the band, but I had not yet been able to get familiar with the two released records. What the quartet delivers tonight, however, is of extremely good quality. With their black and death metal blend the guys fit perfectly into the concept of this evening. In total Stormruler is on stage for 30 minutes and let their music do the speaking. There is not much talk but facts are created here. One of them is that the fans in the slowly filling Gruenspan get carried away and properly celebrate the band. The guys from St. Louis are certainly to be reckoned with in the future and so much in advance; Stormruler were one of the highlights tonight.

After that we move on to Ingested. The guys from Manchester set the bar for intensity a bit higher with their mixture of brute death metal and deathcore. Like Stormruler, Ingested also have 30 minutes playing time, which the guys use for new material like ‘Shadows in Time’. In addition to circle pits, a wall of death emerges at Gruenspan and it turns out that a not insignificant number of the crowd came to see Ingested. The quartet brought a lot of momentum into Hamburg’s Gruenspan, which is also reflected in the rising temperature. All in all, time flies and before you even realize it, the time for Dark Funeral has come.

The changeover break doesn’t take too long. At 20:15 sharp it gets dark in the hall and the five Swedes march onto the stage. I discovered Dark Funeral for myself relatively late and the ‘Where Shadows Forever Reign’ was the first album I looked into more intensively. Ultimately, however, it was their live show in Haarlem, Holland in 2016 which left a lasting impression. Since tonight the focus of the 50-minute set is on the last two albums, nothing stands in the way of a pure delight to listen to. However, the set kicks off with ‘Hail Murder’, a classic from 2001 before taking a swing into the modern era with ‘Leviathan’. Dark Funeral deliver a professional show with epic songs like ‘When I’m Gone’ as well as the raging tunes (‘Nail The tot he Cross’), pushing the vibe in the hall to its next peak. And that the cross is licked, spit on and wiped on the backside is not part of Easter, but part of a Dark Funeral show. As it gets hotter and hotter you get a feeling for the hellfire for free. The final song is ‘When Shadows Forever Reign’, a newer one, in which Heljarmadr gets a flag from a troll, which is then waved abundantly. Dark Funeral have delivered and even somewhat tight stage conditions can’t stop the Swedes.

Since the temperature in the sold-out Gruenspan is rising, water is handed out by security during the break, which I have never experienced at a club show, but is very beneficial. The offer is gratefully accepted by the fans in the front row and so everyone is prepared for the headliner.

Well, what to tell about Cannibal Corpse. The veterans make the foundation of Gruenspan shake, and that already with the first riffs. With ‘Sourge of Iron’ the guys have a very great start into 80 minutes of death metal at its best. For fans there is no stopping and also the one or other, somewhat longer break between the songs does not harm the spirit. On the contrary. Everyone seems to gather new energy for another round in the splatter death metal carousel. There are not too many announcements. Nevertheless, the Corpsegrinder doesn’t miss the chance to announce ‘Fucked With a Knife’ as a song for the ladies present – five, he counted.

What fascinates over and over again with Cannibal Corpse is the precision with which the band goes to work. Despite the immense brutality of the songs, the musical component is never lost, which is also evident tonight. In addition, the guys are equipped with a first-class sound, which adds to the entertainment of this evening.

This evening has shown the diversity of extreme metal and if on the morning of Easter Sunday the Easter eggs were brightly colored, at the latest after this show they are pitch black and decorated with devil horns. Happy Blackened Easter.