Extreme Metal Concert Review: Carcass, Cannibal Corpse and Meshuggah

South Side Ballroom, Dallas, TX  Wednesday April 16, 2025

By Javier Vicencio

A line of people with black shirts and faded jeans could be seeing forming outside the entrance of the South Side Ballroom as metalheads waited to enter. I joined the line around 6 pm, and it wasn’t long before I cleared the metal detectors.

With anticipation building, stepped up to the will call window to claim my photo pass, only to be handed a pink plastic bracelet. Not exactly what I expected, but I slipped it on, had my ticket scanned, and made my way inside.

Once inside I went looking for a patch at the merchandise vendors, but at $15 each, it didn’t quite fit the budget.  I moved on and found a spot to the left of the stage, bracing myself for the chaos that was about to unfold.

Three of extreme metal’s most iconic bands-Carcass, Cannibal Corpse and Meshuggah, were about to deliver a devastating concert in downtown Dallas.

Carcass took the stage right at 7 pm. Though their set lasted only 30 minutes, the melodic death metal masters were the right band to get the crowd started.

I vividly remember the first time I heard Symphonies of Sickness back in high school. Jeff Walker’s growls absolutely terrified me. Decades later, even without his trademark long hair, Walker’s vocals are still as fierce and chilling as ever.

Considered a death metal pioneer, Carcass guitarist Bill Steer looked right at home, effortlessly ripping through riffs and solos in his bell-bottom jeans and flowing blonde hair.

His counterpart, James “Nippy” Blackford, started off a bit stiff, seemingly focused on his instrument, but soon loosened up and looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself. But the one that looked having the most fun was drummer Daniel Wilding, he spent the whole show with a big grin on his mug. The photos I took corroborate this.

Carcass is one of those bands that simply must be experienced live. They exceeded expectations, even in a short set that featured eight songs including four from Heartwork and two from Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious.

Carcass Setlist:

• Unfit for Human Consumption
• Buried Dreams
• Incarnated Solvent Abuse
• No Love Lost
• Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody
• Death Certificate
• Corporeal Jigsore Quandary
• Heartwork

Carcass wrapped up around 7:35 pm. After a 20-minute break, the legendary Cannibal Corpse stormed the stage—and the crowd immediately erupted.

As soon as guitarists Erik Rutan and Rob Barrett, bassist Alex Webster, drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz and vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher set foot onstage, two things happened: Corpsegrinder launched into his signature windmill headbanging, and a tidal wave of crowd surfers began heading toward the stage.

The rate at which people were being shuffled out of the front of the stage by the security personnel was relentless. Fans were having a blast and the wave of bodies never slowed throughout Cannibal Corpse’s set.

I believe I spent an equal amount of time taking photos at the band and at the crowd surfing fans being removed by security. The photo pit was the busiest I’ve seen ever.

Judging by the crowd’s reaction and the sheer volume of stage dives, it felt like Cannibal Corpse was the band most people came to see. Their classic blend of unrelenting heaviness, technical prowess, and gruesome lyrics has earned them a die-hard following for over 35 years—and for good reason.

Their 10-song set covered eight albums, with two tracks each from Tomb of the Mutilated and Chaos Horrific. It was my first time seeing Cannibal Corpse live, and their raw energy was something else entirely. I caught my breath and reviewed some photos while we waited for the final act.

Cannibal Corpse Setlist:

• Scourge of Iron
• Blood Blind
• Inhuman Harvest
• Evisceration Plague
• Death Walking Terror
• Unleashing the Bloodthirsty
• Summoned for Sacrifice
• I Cum Blood
• Stripped, Raped and Strangled
• Hammer Smashed Face

Meshuggah kicked off their set around 9:20 pm. And their hypnotizing presence certainly lived up to their legacy. A 7-minute-long intro marked the start of their set. Photographers were not allowed to cover their first song, so we waited.

The energy shifted. Fans were still wild, but more focused, drawn into the hypnotic precision of Sweden’s kings of chaos.

Meshuggah’s set was a masterclass in controlled insanity. Guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, bassist Dick Lövgren, drummer Tomas Haake, and frontman Jens Kidman delivered a barrage of polyrhythmic insanity that was as mesmerizing as it was heavy.

The lighting design elevated the performance to a whole new level—each beat and breakdown was accompanied by a stunning visual display that made this more than just a concert.

They played 13 songs, including four from ObZen, three from Immutable, and two from The Violent Sleep of Reason. It was relentless and calculated, yet completely immersive.

Meshuggah Setlist:

• Broken Cog
• The 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
• Bleed
• Demiurge

Final Thoughts:
This wasn’t just a metal concert—it was a gauntlet of brutality, precision, and passion. Carcass brought the classics, Cannibal Corpse unleashed chaos, and Meshuggah closed the night with technical transcendence. For extreme metal fans, this was a night to remember in Dallas.

Cannibal Corpse

Meshuggah

CROWD SURFERS