Author: Primož Novak
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Gala hala / Slovenia
Concert date: 07.03.2016
Attendance: 250
Ticket price: 22€/25€
Suffocation are one of those bands who have been hitting Slovenia on their European tours pretty much non-stop for the past ten years. And they always bring some interesting band along for the ride. These can be acts leaning toward technical death metal, thrash metal, deathcore, grind, and whatever else you can think of. In short, every Suffocation tour drags in some promising band that can either wow the crowd or let it down. This time around, Suffocation were joined by Cattle Decapitation, Abiotic, Monument of Misanthropy and Convalescence.
Sadly, the start with Convalescence wasn’t exactly promising. The American sextet came across like some brutal version of Winds of Plague. Besides the cheesy keyboards, the band strung together a few fast death metal riffs and cliché breakdowns. But overall, their music was anything but interesting. And above all, way too forced. The band did try hard to charm the handful of people there and get them moving with breakdowns. But no luck, unfortunately.
Things went better with Monument of Misanthropy, an Austrian outfit that swears by more brutal death metal. Morbid Angel and Nile come to mind right away. The band has only one album under their belt, the music itself is nothing special, and it’s aimed more at that small crowd that backs lesser-known death metal bands. Monument of Misanthropy aren’t to be written off, but to prove themselves they’ll have to record a few more albums.
Abiotic stepped onto the stage next. Even though the band didn’t have a good sound, it was easy to tell they’re technically skilled, most likely schooled musicians judging by how demanding their playing was. Hard to say what stood out most, but the vocalist was somehow the least interesting part, while the drums went wild all over the place, the guitarists were just shredding out solos, and the bassist constantly pushed his lines, his tapping especially. Luckily the band focused on their latest album Casuistry (review HERE), so the breakdowns flew by quickly and there were no pointless stops just to get the crowd going wild. With their atmospheric passages, Abiotic showed their own identity, so we can place them somewhere between The Faceless and Fallujah. So the potential is there, and now the question is whether they’ll make good use of it.
Cattle Decapitation were probably the most anticipated band of the night. Even though it wasn’t their first time in Slovenia, the band’s popularity has shot up with their last two releases, Monolith of Inhumanity and The Anthropocene Extinction (review HERE). And they’re no longer just another average band playing brutal death metal. Cattle Decapitation today show what kind of extreme death metal can be pushed to, even though instrumentally they don’t top the likes of Origin, Hate Eternal or Nile. But CD have their own special recipe: brutal yet catchy riffs, insanely fast drums and a seriously standout vocal. Travis Ryan quickly showed that his vocals aren’t just studio trickery. Besides his growl, he leans even more on his screaming, where you can’t tell whether he’s singing or screaming. Definitely a CD trademark, though it can get a bit annoying at times. And above all, his stage presence is so strange that many in the crowd probably wondered what drugs cause that. In their short set, CD proved they’re one hell of a club band, and judging by what we saw, plenty of people are looking forward to them at this year’s Metaldays festival.
Suffocation have been through a lot of changes in the past ten years and still managed to keep excellent form. A few years ago legendary drummer Mike Smith left them, which shocked fans quite a bit, but a band with that kind of reputation finds a good drummer fast, so Smith’s departure wasn’t exactly a tragedy. Because of work commitments, legendary vocalist Frank Mullen no longer goes on tour with the band, so they try to win people over with other vocalists. First it was Bill Robinson (Decrepit Birth), then John Gallagher (Dying Fetus), and for the past two years the voice of Suffocation has been Ricky Myers (drummer of Disgorge). The lineup’s instability showed this time too, with guitarist Guy Marchais missing. Charlie Errigo (Pyrexia) played in his place. In short, an unstable lineup doesn’t exactly promise the best outlook.
In the barely one hour that Suffocation usually play, the band once again wowed with their tightness, built on an intense and energetic performance. Guitarist Charlie Errigo was fumbling a bit at times, and on some songs it was more than obvious he hadn’t nailed them yet. Nothing bad to say about vocalist Ricky Myers. His vocal is deep and intelligible, which means he actually learned the lyrics, and he fills in for Mullen well. The rest of the members played their roles with confidence, as always. Drummer Kevin Talley (ex-Dying Fetus, ex-Misery Index) really stood out, making the drums a lot faster than on the originals, especially the famous blast beat introduced by Mike Smith. The setlist didn’t change much. The band will always lean on the nineties classics like Catatonia, Pierced from Within, Infecting the Crypts and so on. Plus they’ll throw in a newer song or two. Above all, the set they played showed where the blueprint for later brutal death metal, or even slam death metal, came from. Suffocation are without a doubt the school for every death metal band today that wants to go to the extremes.
The week couldn’t have kicked off any more brutally. With Suffocation, Cattle Decapitation, Abiotic and two openers, anyone who swears by death metal got exactly what they came for. Though with a package like that, you’d expect a bigger turnout.
Setlist
SUFFOCATION:
1. Thrones of Blood
2. Breeding the Spawn
3. As Grace Descends
4. Mass Obliteration
5. Catatonia
6. Souls to Deny
7. Entrails of You
8. Pierced from Within
9. Effigy of the Forgotten
10. Funeral Inception
11. Abomination Reborn
12. Infecting the Crypts
Photo Gallery
