Live Review: The Black Dahlia Murder, Malignant Monster, Iconoclast, Earth Rot

The doors of Capitol were thrown open to a host of septic entertainment from the good citizens of Waterford, Michigan on Thursday night as US death metal titans The Black Dahlia Murder made their return trip to our shores. 

Earth Rot opened the show, fresh of their debut international tour as a part of the Hammersonic crew, showing the spit and polish of a band that simply loves playing live. The Power In Blood set the tone — deep chugging, fist in the air material. Perhaps the most brutal gore style of the night belonged to newcomers Iconoclast with their deeply down-tuned sound and particularly guttural vocals. Born Of Malice formed the centrepiece of their set.

The very dark and malevolent Malignant Monster demonstrated why they’re regarded one of Australia’s premiere extreme metal acts, tweaking their stage show to include an even darker and more tortured feel. Until It Withers, off the incredible Yours In Murder album, set the tone and standard for the night with the corpus of the Malignant Monster feel; dark, suicidal and mercilessly heavy. The quintet unleashed Embracing Hell, one of their newer tracks, thick, heavy, chugging riffs and the trademark banshee shrieks of Cain Cressall. Blood Glutton was the twisting of the knife, with death throws slowing to an almost grind.

The Black Dahlia Murder’s version of death metal is a particularly violent strain, blasting out of the gates with In Hell Is Where She Waits For Me and Moonlight Equilibrium, both of which contain thunderous kicks to intro, the relatively new skinslord Alan Cassidy demonstrating that his inclusion in the band powered a new take on old material as he added a speed and precision to an act that was perhaps lacking on their last Australian tour. Twenty-thirteen album, Everblack, featured heavily — a real treat with so many killer songs translating perfectly to the live setting, Raped In Hatred By Vines Of Thorn the highlight — setting the kill circles alight. The flat-out pace of BDM exposed a severe lack of cardio amongst Perth death metallers, as the circles quickly petered out. The relentless death attack continued as shirtless frontman Trevor Strnad offered to delve into the back catalogue with blistering renditions of Miasma and Funeral Thirst to close the show on the band’s debut album, Unhallowed.