SUFFOCATION Gig Review
Support Acts: Cattle Decapitation, Blood Red Throne, Sadist, Cerebral Bore.

London Underworld, Tuesday 13th March 2012

Review by Yiannis (John) Stefanis

London’s extreme Metal fans should have been much contented by the number of good quality gigs that they saw last year, when legends such as Morbid Angel, Lock Up and Napalm Death decided to grace us once again with their presence.

Well, so far 2012 looks equally promising as, in the space of one week, fans of the genre have not only enjoyed a glorious performance by Buffalo legends Cannibal Corpse but also a very interesting gathering of Extreme Metal bands – one that was headed by the mighty Suffocation. Yes ladies and gents, the music heart of London pounded a tad faster on the late afternoon/evening of the 13^th of March and the epicenter of all activities was Camden’s trademark club The Underworld.

I am sure that the organizers thought that by including seven bands in the bill and opening the venue’s doors at 17:30 they would make people better inclined to part with the £22.00 that was the ticket’s asking price at the counter.

What these same people failed to realize, or care to consider, is the fact that some people have actual day jobs to attend and thus cannot accommodate such an early start for such a ‘mini festival’. Anyway, having lost the first two bands, I made it into the venue half-way through the set of the Glaswegian quartet Cerebral Bore – a band that I expected to be one of the least interesting in tonight’s billing.

You see, it did not take long for Dutch female vocalist Simone “Som” Pluijmers to help me realize the error of my ways, by commanding a stage presence and connection with the crowd that was second to none, while guitarist Paul McGuire covered every inch of his instrument’s fret board with break-neck speed and the duet Kyle Rutherford (bass)/ Allan “McDibet” MacDonald (drums) were keeping our adrenaline levels high through the use of fast and punishing tempos.

Sadist is one of the bands that I was really looking forward to seeing as I was mightily impressed by their 1993 debut “Above The Light” – a fine slab of technically demanding Death Metal. Even though the sound quality during their set was pretty abysmal, with guitars lacking any real punch and the drums sounding more like empty bins, the North Italian quartet gave a technically impressive and fairly energetic performance.

I was actually quite blown away by Tommy’s ability to simultaneously perform his keyboard and drum parts while Allesio’s performance behind the drums was on a par with Dave Culross’ (Suffocation) later in the show – a great achievement in my book.

Compositions, such as “Season In Silence” and “One Thousand Memories” were pretty enjoyable, but I was somewhat disappointed by the fact that my all time favourite “Sometimes They Come Back” was absent from the band’s set…unless it was there and the sound was so bad that I missed it altogether! London’s gig organisers – if you are reading this, please bring this band back to us asap!

2010 had been a very important year for the Norwegian outfit Blood Red Throne as founding member Terje “Tchort” Vik Schei of Emperor fame decided to part ways with the band due to family commitments. Further lineup changes in 2011 meant that the band that came on stage twenty or so minutes after Sadist had concluded their set were less than a year together; however their performance was both tight and energetic.

Even though frontman Yngve “Bolt” Christiansen was in an absolute state of intoxication throughout the show, pouring both water and beer on his head and at times shouting incomprehensible things to the audience, however he somehow managed to lead his fellow-troopers through a victorious set filled with head banging riffs and stage diving attempts, even by members of the band.

“The Children Shall Endure” and “Brutalitarian Regime” were certain crowd pleasers – a crowd that engaged in some very interesting activities that involved circle pitting around one of the main columns of the venue…enough said.

There are not many bands out there that understand intensity in Metal the same way as the San Diego Deathgrinders Cattle Decapitation and I, for one, was very curious to see how they would manage to re-create their highly demanding compositions in a live environment.

Having suffered a twenty minute delay through technical issues revolving around the sound of the drums, and obviously frustrated by the experience, the US quartet hit the stage at quarter to ten and provided us with a short but quite impressive set.

The speed with which Josh Elmore performed his riffs and the constant change of rhythmical patterns initially seems to have confused quite a few people but vocalist Travis Ryan did a fantastic job in gaining people’s attention with a personal performance that was terribly reminiscent of the legend of the Hardcore scene Roger Miret.

Suddenly all those complex rhythms and fast riffs began to make sense and by the time the last tunes of “Regret and the Grave” were performed the band had hopefully managed to convert quite a few people to their ‘cause’.

Suffocation were the undisputed leaders of the night, the raison d’être for the whole festival, and they certainly made sure that all the high expectations of both fans and media alike were totally justified.

During what turned out to be yet another long sound check I saw all the members of the band on stage apart from vocalist Frank Mullen and it was not long before we were informed that vocal duties for this trek of the tour were to be handled by Decrepit Birth vocalist Bill Robinson.

Being truly psyched by the opportunity of fronting the Long Island legends, Robinson made an immediate impact during “Thrones Of Blood” and “Effigy Of The Forgotten” and the return of Dave Culross behind the drum kit was heralded by a mind-blowing rendition of “Catatonia”.

Feeling confident enough in his resemblance to Jesus Christ, Robinson introduced “Pierced From Within”, a song that also featured an exquisite lead solo by Terrance Hobbs, while classics like “Abomination Reborn” and “Breeding The Spawn” ensured that circle pit and stage diving action were part of tonight’s menu!

Describing the figure head of Christianity as a ‘cry baby’ when introducing “Jesus Wept” was one of the absolute highlights of the show as was Robinson’s decision to stage dive during “Suspended In Tribulation” – the composition that closed the band’s main set.

Even though they had already significantly exceeded the venue’s curfew, Suffocation returned for a short encore which included a mind-blowing rendition of “Infecting The Crypts” after which they gave their last bows and left the stage in a total state of disrepair!

If you were one of those people who decided to fill every corner of the London Underground on the evening of the 13^th of March 2012 you would have undoubtedly left the venue with a huge smile on your face.

Suffocation proved once again why they deserve to be considered as legends of the Death Metal scene, Cattle Decapitation, though plagued by technical problems, proved that they are on stage as prolific as they are in the studio and the trio Blood Red Throne/Sadist/Cerebral Bore – that their choice as opening acts was a very wise decision by the organizers. This, my friends, was simply another great night for extreme Metal music!

Suffocation Set List:

“Thrones Of Blood”
“Effigy Of The Forgotten”
“Catatonia”
“Pierced From Within”
“Liege Of Inveracity”
“Abomination Reborn”
“Breeding The Spawn”
“Jesus Wept”
“Funeral Inception”
“Torn Into Enthrallment”
“Suspended In Tribulation”

Encore:

“Infecting The Crypts”

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