Ceremonial Bloodbath terrifies my friend

So I took a buddy to see Ceremonial Bloodbath the other night. I was thinking I would also see Noroth and Phrenelith too; I'm not usually a death metal man, these days, but I had an "in" to the gig and figured it would be an interesting night out. 

It sure was!

"This isn't one of those shows where people are singing about worshipping Satan, is it?" my friend said at the start of the evening. 

"No, that's generally the stuff of black metal. This is death metal, so it's probably more about disembowelment and torture."

He laughed. Maybe he thought I was joking? But in fact, I was just wrong, it seems like Ceremonial Bloodbath really do sing about matters Satanic, or, uh, Satanic-ish, at least some of the time. From the album The Tides of Blood -- the lyrics for which can helpfully be found here --we have "Primitive," about ritual sacrifice of children... whilst in "The Book of Black Blessings," we have a priest being ritually sacrificed. That song is followed by "The Throat of Belial," where we have cheery lyrics like, "line up the throats/ for the denizens of the goat" -- wait, what? people living inside a goat? Hold on a second there. 

There is sometimes a "thesaurus-overuse-factor" with metal, you know? "Prostaglandins of the Inseminated," "Blasphemous Rhinoplasty," "Meconium of the Disinherited," etc. There seem to be times where the hardcore FEELING of a certain word trumps the MEANING. And you just know, for instance, that Cannibal Corpse came up with song titles like "Evisceration Plague" by just randomly slamming a couple of evil-sounding words together and then writing around them. Not that I'm judging: I once was in a band (sort of) called Epicurean Nightmare, named right out of a fuckin' dictionary, so I'm hardly fit to throw stones. But it's a funny aspect of the subgenre. These denizens of the goat are... whom, exactly? It makes me want to wax Seussian by way of reply: "I will not live inside a goat/ I will not let you slit my throat..." 

Anyhow, once you've lined up these throats for sacrificial purposes, you set about "spilling the blood of the priests/ Let it run like a river for the feast/ Slaughter the human sheep/ Punishment for their weakness/ Let the blood run down the ancient god's well like a river/ Let it run down the throat of Belial." That's all clear enough! Do all of Ceremonial Bloodbath's songs involve ritual bloodletting, or is this a theme album? What could my friend possibly be uncomfortable with there? Good, pro-social sentiments, these. 

I'm regretting not having picked up vinyl, now, though there's not much point buying records I am never, ever going to get to play unless I'm alone. Hell, I'm not even sure the cat could take it!

 Anyhow, having not been to a black-or-death metal show in some years, I was surprised to find myself really enjoying Ceremonial Bloodbath's music. Per genre convention, it has its punishing, pummeling aspect, is unrelentingly intense, but I was also catching Sabbath-like licks of guitar and recognizable, angular hooks that I could attach to and follow. It's actually kind of catchy, when you get the hang of it! 

My friend responded to this observation, "Are you serious?" Left to his own devices, he was mortified, nauseated, felt like he might vomit (he actually said that). It was just so evil! He even was disturbed by this guy's hoodie:

I mean, maybe I'm de-sensitized to such matters, but far be it from me to induce nausea in people. I walked my buddy to the Skytrain and, having arrived there, elected to just carry on home to hang out with the cat, since he'd been alone for awhile (Erika was out and about on her own business). But Ceremonial Bloodbath was a great time (for me, and I got a kick out of how much my friend was made uncomfortable by it, so that was kind of entertaining, too!). I would see this band again (but I guess I'd have to go alone...). 

I was mildly disappointed that I didn't recognize anyone from Anju's live score for A Page of Madness. It would have been fun to run into the Robbins twins again! I bet they could take the bloodbath. Their next chance to catch Anju will be an ambient opening slot for a metal gig, July 13th at Green Auto, with bands Liminal Shroud (first track on their bandcamp: "Nucleonic Blight;" if HP Lovecraft were alive, he'd love these titles), Empress, and Reversed. I have not always found the quality of listening all that agreeable at metal shows, so I'm hoping that someone makes a plea at the start of the night for people to shut up and listen, because that's how you're going to enjoy The Nausea, whereas if you just slam beers and talk with your buddies, the rest of us won't be able to! Event info here. Hey, maybe my buddy will like THAT show? 

Heh.