Carcass – Putrefaction Tour – House of Blues, Las Vegas

September 30, 2025 – For years I’ve wanted to see Carcass headline in the United States. My experience seeing them live had previously been more akin to ‘always the bridesmaid and never the bride’. One particular occasion that I remember is the doors opening late and Carcass already finishing their first song by the time the first few dozen people had entered the venue. I’ve seen them aplenty as the opening act to some tremendously stacked tours and I suppose thirty to forty-five minutes of concentrated Carcass ranks higher than most bands I’ve repeatedly seen – but I did always want more out of the experience than the most recognizable singles. So after all these years here was my chance!

But first – the openers!

Hedonist of Victoria, British Columbia is a four piece death metal band that formed back in 2020 but has released music infrequently since then. The announcement of this tour came at a good time because I’d been on a bit of a death metal kick in the vein of Bolt Thrower and Entombed so Hedonist has been a welcome addition to the playlist. While the band’s music is very old school death metal in style the bits of melody in the guitar riffs is appreciated. I’ve caught myself humming Hedonist riffs in my day to day ever since.

Check out their full-length ‘Scapulimancy’ out now on Southern Lord Records.

Necrot has been around for about a decade longer and has more frequently released new music when compared to Hedonist but is also more of an old school death metal band though with some thrash metal DNA spliced in. Still the Bay Area band has been a breath of fresh air on this writer’s go-to death metal play list due to some especially pleasing to the ear guitar riffs.

Necrot’s latest offering from 2024 ‘Lifeless Birth’ comes to us by way of the label Tankcrimes.

Brujeria is a band that formed in 1989 and I’ve been aware of for as long as I’ve been listening to extreme metal but I’ve had trouble getting into the band. I think it’s largely due to the anonymous nature of their band more than anything. It’s something I’ve struggled with with bands with members who similarly hide their identities.

Some exceptions exist of course – David Brockie who fronted Gwar from their inception until his death was was recognizable even in the guise of Oderus Urungus even whilst many of the other roles in Gwar could be taken up by any number of people and you’d be forgiven for not noticing until there is some noticeable change to their sound on the next album.

Brujeria, if you’re not aware has been something of a supergroup for a long ass time at this point. Go look into any list of current and past members and tell me I’m wrong. There are some interesting names on those lists. More importantly I’ve found them a fun mixture of death metal, grindcore and groove metal that I’m kicking myself for not exploring their discography more before this show was announced. Better late than never I suppose.

Rest in Peace to Juan Brujo (John David Lepe) and Pinche Peach (Ciriaco Quezada) who both passed away in 2024.

To say Carcass has ranked as one of my favorite bands is a lot like water is wet. Well, it may not have been that obvious to everyone with working senses but it’s true. One of my life goals following their reformation was seeing them live. That took a long ass time on its own and by then Michael Amott and Daniel Erlandsson had returned to Arch Enemy full-time but having gotten a taste I had set my sights on the goal of seeing them headline a show. I’m here to see them play “Heartwork” as much as anyone only so many times you can tease a young man with the intro to “Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody” before you give me what I want! I need the release!

I’d been playing with the idea of a life of crime to obtain the funds to escape prosecution to England and the rest of Europe to cross off some of my bucket list bands before I would be inevitably captured and extradited to the United States. Okay – that part is a lie but I really did need this night to be a reality. Carcass is just one of those bands in extreme metal that I’ll never miss out on a chance to see perform and I don’t care if you spotted me at the last couple dates in Las Vegas where I was practically dancing like a dork as much as I was headbanging.

Blah blah influential blah blah – go listen to Carcass if you haven’t already!

You big stupid idiots.

(Note: The last sentence is sarcasm, but you should definitely go listen to Carcass.)