After being diverted through some rather dreary looking areas of Denver due to a shooting on the interstate, we got to the Ogden just about in time for some Cephalic Carnage to ensue. From what I gathered from friends, the openers were nothing to write home about, so I'm not counting any losses there. We ended up in the balcony because the floor was entirely too packed, which was great to see but not that surprising considering that they gave out a ton of comped tickets and only charged $6 otherwise. I was all ready to show my tits to get on the DVD, but I didn't feel like fighting my way up to the front so we headed up to the balcony.

In between sets, the audience was treated to a little sideshow performance featuring a portly gentleman who would inflict various injuries upon himself. I'm not sure if they worked between every set, but the two performances I saw featured this man pushing needles through his arms, laying down on a bed of nails and having a cinder block broken on his stomach (yawn), and having audience members staple money to him. I never thought I would see a man with two $20 bills stapled to his forehead, and the obsessive-compulsive in me really hoped he sterilized the staples.

A good friend of mine told me that Cephalic Carnage dominates live, and after last night I've got an inkling as to what he was talking about. Their set was incredibly tight, mixing in a good bit of old and new material, all of which sounded wonderful. It was also fun to see how many variations of "This next song is about smoking weed" the singer could come up with. I was unfamiliar with their music for the most part coming into this show, but for those not acquainted with CC, they tend towards a mix of grindcore and death metal, but there are plenty of other tidbits thrown in. Sometimes they reminded me a bit of Naked City without as much of a jazz element.

I've read comments about Cephalic Carnage being a boring live act, but I'm not sure if those people were seeing the same band. I'm sure that the DVD taping and the packed house were an influence in this case, but CC's show was like an expressionistic whirlwind. The two guitarists and bassist were all over the place, writhing on the floor, slinging their instruments around, jumping into the crowd, etc. There was so much going on all the time that I can really only share highlights. Several guest musicians joined them, including a saxophonist, but most of them ended up stage-diving shortly after taking the stage, or even before they did anything. At one point two people from backstage came out and started humping the bassist, who pushed one of them into the crowd with lots of playful punching as he continued fighting the other.

The last tune of the evening was a wonderful satirical medley called "Black Metal Sabbath." CC donned corpse-paint masks and nerf-spiked gauntlets to play black metal and then changed into mesh hats and hunting vests for the groovy redneck sludge of the song's second half. It was utterly hilarious but also proved that a band must possess the necessary chops in order for their satire to be effective. The joke wouldn't have been funny if Cephalic Carnage hadn't nailed both genres. I only wish I had been familiar with the song so I could have sung along with them on "Beelzebub will suck my balls!!"