Cannibal Corpse/Municipal Waste: Majestic Ventura Theater - Ventura, CA - 10/3/25
Death metal legends Cannibal Corpse announced the next leg of their tour. Since their formation in 1988, they have released sixteen albums with the latest being Chaos Horrific in 2023. With over 15 million in album sales, they are the most successful death metal band in the world. Longtime guitarist Rob Barrett was unable to join them on this tour, so Cannibal Corpse had to find a fill-in guitarist. They brought in Brandon Ellis who was a former long-time guitarist for The Black Dahlia Murder. A perfect choice for the job. Joining Cannibal Corpse on tour are Municipal Waste, Full of Hell, and Fulci. Halfway into the tour, the tour hit the Majestic Ventura Theater in Ventura, California. Even before doors opened, there was a line of metalheads just waiting to get in and enjoy some of the best metal bands around. A perfect way to spend a Friday night.
Municipal Waste are a hardcore punk/crossover thrash metal band from Richmond, Virginia. Their latest seventh studio album was released in 2022 titled Electrified Brain. MW are a favorite amongst metalheads with their fast music and themes involving beer. Their shows are truly a spectacle that need to be witnessed. Municipal Waste came out and started their show with “Garbage Stomp”. Right away, the crowd went nuts and, not only started moshing, but crowd surfers started making an appearance and made security up front work for their money. Up next was the song, “Unleash the Bastards.” The fans didn’t show any signs of slowing down and kept moshing as it always happens with any Municipal Waste show. After a few more songs, singer Tony Foresta took a couple of minutes to speak to the audience about how it’s been a long time since they played Ventura and how bands like Gwar and At the Gates had taken them on a tour in their early days that came through this theater. It was bittersweet to him because Dave Brockie aka Oderus Urungus of Gwar has passed away since then and At the Gates vocalist Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg passed away a few weeks ago. After that, it was time to get back to the thrashing. More classics were played including “Headbanger Face Rip”, “Sadistic Magician”, and “The Art of Partying”. To end their thrash-tastic set, Municipal Waste finished up with their usual ending song, “Born to Party”. Foresta told the audience that this song goes out to all the metal punks. The song has a really catchy chorus as the whole venue sang along to, “Municipal Waste is gonna fuck you up!” and the mosh pit just got bigger and faster. Municipal Waste finished the song, thanked the audience, then left the stage. One more band to go and things were just getting heated up.
Cannibal Corpse are the undisputed kings of death metal, and they show no signs of slowing down as they tour year-round. The venue was packed by now and it was getting uncomfortably hot. It was a question of whether the venue’s A/C was working or not. Still, that wasn’t gonna stop the fans from going all out. The lights went out, and the packed venue cheered with excitement as Cannibal Corpse made their way to the stage. The first song performed was “Blood Blind,” one of the songs from the latest album. The audience wasted no time in moshing and shoving once again. The next song was “Scourge of Iron,” and it has become a fan favorite when performed live as it gives the band and the audience a chance to headbang in unison as well as it gives singer George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher a chance to show off his legendary headbanging skills. It just so happens that on this day, it was the birthday of Municipal Waste bassist LandPhil. CC dedicated the next song to him and that song was “Disposal of the Body.” CC continued the death metal assault as they played classics like “The Wretched Spawn,” “Evisceration Plague,” and “Pit of Zombies.” Nearing the end of the show, it was time for CC to bring out the big gory guns. Fisher spoke to the audience and told them that this next song is about shooting blood from your cock! And so, up next was “I Cum Blood,” which is obviously one of their best songs. The fans raged even harder with lots of moshing and headbanging going around. Fisher announced that it was sadly time for one more song. The audience showed their disappointment by booing. Fisher announced the last song as “Stripped, Raped, and strangled.” Once that song ended, Fisher asked the audience if they wanted one more song. The audience naturally cheered. Fisher announced the final song, which was Hammer Smashed Face. It is the most famous song in their catalog and also one of the most famous songs in metal. The show came to an end, and CC left the stage. It was hot inside the venue, but fans left happy and satisfied to have one of metal’s finest bands come through to this city. Hopefully, it’s not long before they come back again.
