Don’t be fooled by the fact there are only two album reviews this week…we give you more than your (hypothetical) money’s worth. Around these two album reviews, Brian and Nick have live reviews for concerts from those bands. As you can also see, we brought back First Impressions with a respectable eight cuts. What you cannot see, though, is there are six new tracks that we shove in your earhole. So grab a drink, sit back, and soak it all in. Or leave comments right here as you listen to the show and join the conversation. Whatever works for you.
Reviews: Carcass – Surgical Steel (Nuclear Blast); Katatonia – Dethroned & Uncrowned (Kscope)
Live Reviews: Carcass w/ Immolation @ Gramercy Theater, New York, NY on 9/26/13; Katatonia and Cult of Luna w/ TesseracT and Intronaut @ Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA on 9/23/13 and @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY on 9/24/13
First Impressions:
The Sideshow Podcast 
No Gloryhammer this week? I was looking forward to hearing Nick’s review of it.
I had said to Brian last week that Surgical Steel by Carcass was “possibly” a 5. Now I can say that it is DEFINITELY a 5. Is it album of the year? No, but it is most likely in the top 10.
Brian’s assessment of the Carcass and Immolation show at Gramercy was spot on. The only thing to comment on is: Brian, did you really expect people NOT to mosh?
Nick, TesseracT did play Retrospect at Irving Plaza in NYC. TesseracT played well and their vocalist was great. And then you said you almost left before Cult of Luna finished? I DID leave before Cult of Luna finished. You guys say that Katatonia was lackluster in concert this week but Katatonia as a band is lackluster, so what did you expect?
Oh man, now I’m REALLY mad I missed most of their set! I love that song.
Also, good call leaving before Cult of Luna finished. I wish I had the foresight to know it was gonna be an off night for Katatonia. I know you aren’t a fan, but as someone who is, I can tell you there are very definitely two versions of that band. I have seen them 4 times now. Two times have been incredible performances – highly energetic, tight, heavier song selection, and an animated Jonas. Two times now have been utter shit – which is what we got on this tour apparently.
Not that I bought a ticket because they were on the bill, but from here on out, I will not view them as a selling point to go to a show.
Speaking of which – one of these days I’ll have to come to a show in the city again so the three of us can actually all hang out.
You’ll have to wait for a review of Gloryhammer until this weekend. I was totally ready to review it, but as you could tell from the end of the show, Brian’s internet gave out on him like whoa.
-TesseracT are actually headlining Saint Vitus in NYC on Oct. 29. I realize it is a Tuesday night but a bill with Scale the Summit and Anciients is going to be hard for me to pass up. I think I need to move to Greenpoint to be able to go to all these shows at Saint Vitus. Either that or I need to find a job that I can start work at 12 noon instead of 8:30am.
-Yeah, I’ve seen Katatonia 2 times before and one time they were actually good so I know exactly what you mean.
-So I just got back from seeing the Metallica movie. If anyone is at all interested in seeing this movie I’d recommend seeing it at the IMAX. The sound at the IMAX theater at Lincoln Center was awesome (I can’t vouch for any other theaters). If you’ve read any reviews of the movie, you will know that the quasi-story scenes are irrelevant. I equate it to the cut scenes of a video game. Some video games have cut scenes that contribute to the story that you want to watch, while other games have cut scenes that you just want to skip and get on with the game. “Through the Never” was one of those that you just want to skip the cut scenes and get on with the rest of it. But overall Metallica fans will not be disappointed.