Meshuggah announced on December 10th, 2024, via their social media channels a North American Tour 2025 that started in Quebec City, QC on March 28th at the Videotron Centre and concluded on April 24th in New York City, NY at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. What makes this tour even more special is the fact that Meshuggah has two more legendary metal bands, Cannibal Corpse and Carcass, as opening support for this North American tour. These metal titans bring three distinct subgenres of metal to the table, and I feel this tour is an impressive mixture of metal music for all fans to enjoy. It has been a while since I have seen either of these bands perform live, so I have been looking forward to this evening for a very long time.

Carcass is a grindcore/death metal/melodic death metal band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1985. Carcass features Bill Steer (guitar/vocals), Jeff Walker (bass/vocals), Daniel Wilding (drums/backing vocals), and James ‘Nip’ Blackford (guitar). Carcass has released seven (7) LPs, five (5) EPs, two (2) compilation albums, two (2) demos, seven (7) music videos, and one (1) video albums. Carcass released the album Swansong in 1996 as a farewell when the band disbanded, but the band reunited in 2007 to the delight of metal fans across the globe. Torn Arteries is their latest album released on September 21, 2021, by Nuclear Blast Records.

Carcass

I remember the first time hearing both Heartwork and Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious when a friend brought over his cassette tapes, I was blown away at the complex and brilliant guitar work by Steer and Walker’s callous death metal vocals. At the time, Morbid Angel and Death were my two favorite bands in the death metal genre. But that soon changed with the addition of Carcass to my list of top death metal bands. Without Bill Steer, the metal genres of grindcore and death metal would not be the same. Steer is considered an innovator in the world of metal music and has been at the forefront of both grindcore and death metal guitarists. Bill Steer has been one of my favorite guitar players in the metal genre and every time I am in awe seeing Steer effortlessly perform live on stage. So, getting to witness Steer once again blowing my mind with his intricate, yet fierce riffs alongside Walker, Wilding, and Blackford made me one happy metalhead.
Once Carcass opened their set with a vicious performance of “Unfit for Human Consumption” off their sixth (6) album Surgical Steel (2013), I knew we were all in for a wild ride. I was ecstatic to hear a few songs off Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious: “Corporal Jigsore Quandary”, “Incarnated Solvent Abuse”, and not to mention closing with the outro to “Carneous Cacoffiny” to end their set. Add a few songs from Heartwork including “Buried Dreams”, “No Love Lost”, “Death Certificate”, and the title track “Heartwork”, and I felt this set was probably one of the best sets from Carcass that featured many songs from two of my favorite albums from the band.

Check out Carcass’ brutal set from their performance at Coca-Cola Roxy in Atlanta, Georgia in support of Meshuggah:

· “Unfit for Human Consumption”

· “Buried Dreams”

· “Incarnated Solvent Abuse”

· “No Love Lost”

· “Death Certificate (w/ “Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody” intro)

· “Corporal Jigsore Quandary”

· “Heartwork”

· “Carneous Cacoffiny” (outro only)

You can stream Carcass’ discography online or buy some merchandise like vinyl records, flags, and beanies by checking out their Bandcamp page today. Or you can go to Nuclear Blast’s US/EU webstore and their clothing webstore at Rebellion Republic.

Cannibal Corpse is a death metal/brutal death metal band from Buffalo, New York that has been making heads bang since 1988. Cannibal Corpse includes George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher (vocals), Alex Webster (bass), Rob Barrett (guitar), Erik Rutan (guitar/backing vocals), and Paul Mazurkiewicz (drums). Cannibal Corpse has released sixteen (16) LPs, two (2) EPs, two (2) live albums, four (4) video albums, twelve (12) music videos, and one (1) box set since releasing their debut album Eaten Back to Life in 1990. Cannibal Corpse’s latest release, Chaos Horrific, was released September 22, 2023, on Metal Blade Records and produced by guitarist Erik Rutan at Rutan’s Mana Studio in Florida.

Cannibal Corpse

Butchered at Birth and Tomb of the Mutilated were my first introductions to the massive discography of Cannibal Corpse when I was in high school. When these albums were released, death metal as a genre had been around since the 1980s, so the next wave of death metal bands in the 1990s had some time to cultivate their sound and imagery. Now entering the chat, Cannibal Corpse was not like any other death metal band at the time. Their extreme lyrics and horror imagery were captivating for those of us who had a connection to horror movies and the like.

Cannibal Corpse kicked off their set with “Scourge of Iron”, which is a track from their twelfth (12) studio album, Torture (2012). Since it had been a few years since I have seen Cannibal Corpse live, I was hoping to get some songs off their last few albums like the second song of the night “Blood Blind” off the last album Chaos Horrific. And the very next song of the night “Inhumane Harvest” from their fifteenth (15) studio album, Violence Unimagined, released in 2021. For all the old-school fans of Cannibal Corpse, they saved the best for last with a trilogy of songs taken from their third (3) and fourth (4) albums: Tomb of the Mutilated and The Bleeding: “I Cum Blood”, “Stripped, Raped, and Strangled”, and “Hammer Smashed Face”. I was thrilled to hear these songs live again and as a reminder of the simpler times when these records were first released.

Check out Cannibal Corpse’s setlist from this evening’s performance below:

· “Scourge of Iron”

· “Blood Blind”

· “Inhumane Harvest”

· “Evisceration Plague”

· “Death Walking Terror”

· “Unleashing the Bloodthirsty”

· “Summoned for Sacrifice”

· “I Cum Blood”

· “Stripped, Raped, and Strangled”

· “Hammer Smashed Face”

Listen to Cannibal Corpse's last album, Chaos Horrific, and give them a follow on Bandcamp. Or get some merchandise, including shirts, hoodies, CDs, vinyl records, and hats, over at Cannibal Corpse’s webstore.

Meshuggah is a progressive metal/avant-garde metal/groove metal/djent/technical death metal band from Umea, Sweden that has been active since 1987. Meshuggah consists of Jens Kidman (lead vocals), Dick Lovgren (bass), Fredrik Thordendal (lead guitar/backing vocals), Tomas Haake (drums/backing and spoken vocals), Marten Hagstrom (rhythm guitar/backing vocals). Meshuggah has released nine (9) LPs, two (2) live albums, six (6) EPs, one (1) compilation album, and several music videos in their discography. Meshuggah’s last album, Immutable, was released on April 1, 2022, on Atomic Fire Records.

Meshuggah

It has been a few years since I last saw Meshuggah perform live, 2016 to be exact when they went on tour with High on Fire and stopped by the Tabernacle to perform. So, I was eager to get in the photo pit and experience Meshuggah with a whole new approach. Meshuggah took the stage at Coca-Cola Roxy at 9:15 pm, and you could feel the anticipation in the room as the fans wondered what song would start the evening off. During the first song, we were held back from the pit while the lights were very dim for the first song of the night “Broken Cog” from their last album, Immutable. Next up, Meshuggah performed the title track to their eighth (8) studio album Violent Sleep of Reason. Coincidentally, I was really hoping that this song would make the cut for tonight’s setlist.

I was happy to hear “Rational Gaze”, “Lethargica”, “Born in Dissonance”, and “Future Breed Machine” in the regular set. Not to mention that unbelievable encore featuring a few songs from two of my favorite albums from Meshuggah. “Bleed” from their sixth (6) studio album obZen (2008) and closing the night out with “Demiurge” from their seventh (7) studio album Koloss (2012). Meshuggah managed to squeeze in an appropriate mixture of songs from their catalog that accurately represented their entire discography. Meshuggah has always performed on a level that is a step above most metal bands in the genre. Their innate ability to create intricate songs from day one has solidified Meshuggah as one of the premiere metal bands. If you have not seen Meshuggah live, I suggest the next time they come to tour North America, you make it out to one of their tour stops. Let me know what you think!

Meshuggah

Feast your eyes on this ferocious setlist from Meshuggah’s performance below:

· “Broken Cog”

· “Violent Sleep of Reason”

· “Rational Gaze”

· “Combustion”

· “Kaleidoscope”

· “God He Sees in Mirrors”

· “Lethargica”

· “Born in Dissonance”

· “Dancers to a Discordant System”

· “Swarm”

· “Future Breed Machine”

Encore:

· “Bleed”

· “Demiurge”

You can buy Meshuggah vinyl records, tee shirts, hockey jerseys, etc. at the following web stores: Meshuggah Omerch, Rebellion Republic, Puck Hcky, and Reigning Phoenix Music.

There are no dates left on Meshuggah’s North American Tour 2025, but they have some select festival dates coming up this June:

Fri, JUN 6

Sweden Rock Festival 2025

Sölvesborg, Sweden

RSVP

Tickets

Sun, JUN 8

South of Heaven Open Air 2025

Maastricht, Netherlands

RSVP

Tickets

Thu, JUN 12