Texas' Pissing Razors were next to hit the stage. Their overly long set comprised entirely of very repetitious mid-tempo Pantera-clone chugga-chug numbers didn't do a damned thing for me. Despite their total lack of originality the kids really seemed to like them so they must be doing something right. Personally I couldn't wait for them to finish their set. This band did not belong on this bill.

Next to come was the Seattle debut of Swedish Black Metal masters Dark Funeral. No fire breathing and no pigs heads on poles, just 5 guys in corpsepaint pounding out their trademark brand of Swedish black metal. These guys have come a long way since I saw them for the first time in November of 2000. Magus Caligula no longer plays bass when touring so he was able to concentrate exclusively on his role as a frontman, something he does quite well. At 6'5" or so he towers above the audience and is quite intimidating. Richard Cabeza (of Dismember fame) is the touring bassist and plays like he's always been a part of the band. Synchronized windmill headbanging during some of their lightning fast numbers didn't stop the tightness of the band, which is quite a feat considering the sheer speed of some of their riffs. Matte was the typical European drum robot, delivering sheer precision and super fast drumming without so much as breaking a sweat. It was really cool to find out before the show that Lord Ahriman is a big fan of Italian horror films. Maybe they can find their way onto an Argento soundtrack in the future. I'm sure that Seattle will not forget these guys!

Cannibal Corpse was the last band to play. I have been to a lot of shows at the venue and can honestly say that I have never seen a Graceland crowd whipped into such frenzy. They played for approximately 70 minutes and played a number of songs from their latest, "Gore Obsessed", as well as many songs from their long discography, once again finishing the set with quot;Hammer Smashed Face". George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher did so much windmill headbanging at 240 miles per hour that I swear the man must have an iron neck. Despite the fact that a majority of his between song banter was done in a cookie monster voice he managed to work the crowd well. Cannibal Corpse is one of the top bands in the death metal scene and their live performance is evidence of that, brutal, merciless, and unforgiving! I've provided a partial set list based on the titles I managed to jot down:

Devoured By Vermin
I Cum Blood
Addicted to Vaginal Skin
Unleashing the Bloodthirsty
Covered With Sores
Perverse Suffering
I Will Kill You
The Pick Axe Murders
Skull Full of Maggots
Disposal Of The Body
Stripped, Raped And Strangled
Hammer Smashed Face

Photo sets of all bands (except Pissing Razors) can be found in the Photo Gallery section.

Now for my rant about some people at the show. I don't know if it's the Pissing Razors kids (I've never encountered this at a death/black metal show) but what the hell is up with people who think the person in front of them is an armrest? Through the entire Pissing Razors set I had two guys behind me who thought I was some kind of pillow or something. They had their entire arms resting on my shoulders and were pressing their entire bodies up against me like I was their girlfriend or something. I looked around and there was no one pressing their upper torsos forward so I couldn't see any reason for them to be forcing their entire body weight on me! Even a reverse head butt into the face couldn't get these fools off of me. Idiots in the pit are another thing that really gets my goat. Moshing/thrashing/slamdancing is NOT the act of running straight forward into the people headbanging in the front! That's all I have to say about that!.