Twenty-five years ago, on September 27, Metallica bassist Cliff Burton was killed when the tour bus transporting the band hit a patch of ice and flipped, and a devastated generation of metalheads were left to ponder their own mutable relationship with mortality. Nearly four years ago, on October 29, the tour bus carrying Poland’s Decapitated, composers of two of the finest death metal platters of the last decade, 2000s Winds of Creation (written in their teens) and 2002s Nihility, and a flagship act within the genre, collided with a truck killing their eminently talented drummer, Vitek, and incapacitating newly acquired vocalist Covan who has been unable to make a full recovery from his head injuries. A new generation of metalheads had lost their hero. However, Vitek’s brother and founding member, guitarist Vogg, vowed to carry on the work. And this past summer saw the release of a fifth full length, the first since the accident, Carnival is Forever. Currently headlining across North America, alongside Italy’s Fleshgod Apocalypse, California’s Decrepit Birth and Rings of Saturn, Decapitated’s new lineup brings the show to the House of Rock thanks to the laudable efforts of metal advocacy outfit Eau Claire Uprising. Catch the catharsis on October 19. Before immersing yourself in the sights, sounds, smells, and scars of the carnival, don’t forget to catch Canada’s Blackguard at the House of Rock on October 17. They had to cancel their show here last summer, but they are back, armed with a brand new full length, Firefight.

Blackguard + A Crimson Sea + Lasting Impression /// Decapitated + Decrepit Birth + Fleshgod Apocalypse + Rings of Saturn • Oct. 17 and 19 • House of Rock, 422 Water St., Eau Claire • 10pm and 8:30pm • $5 and $15 • ages 21+ • 838-0158 • house-of-rock.com