Live Review: Suffocation – Club Academy, Manchester
22nd February 2023
Support: Organectomy, Enterprise Earth, Sanguisugabog
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Bill Mawdsley
There’s nothing better guaranteed to blow the February blues away than three of the best up and coming Death Metal bands in the scene paving the way for a bunch of legends. And, as luck would have it, Suffocation’s Hymns to the Apocrypha tour has stopped off in Manchester and the Club Academy is sold out.
All acts are given appropriate time to cast their filthy spells and first up is New Zealand’s Organectomy, whose combination of Brutal Death Metal and Slam sets the scene for the evening. They may be opening the show, but these boys are no slouches when it comes to making devastating music, having been operational since 2010 and putting out some of their finest work with 2022’s Nail Below Nail record. Savage and uncompromising, Organectomy lit the touchpaper for an uncompromising evening.
Calls for a circle pit begin as soon as Enterprise Earth take the stage. Something of the departure from the brutality of their touring partners, these Washington state natives blend all manner of Death Metal with associated genres to form an interesting hybrid of Death, Deathcore and Progressive Metal. Fat chugs and meaty guitars give way to a huge breakdown, Malevolent Force seems to be hiding all manner of cosmic horrors within it soaring solos and the crushing riffs and ethereal keys of They Have No Honor calls to mind the more brain-melting moments of Mithras’ discography. Yet it’s not all cerebral, as they slam, squeal and ooze their way through Death Magick, Casket of Rust and Reanimate // Disintergrate, which vocalist, Travis Wolland, ominously introduces with the words: “I’ve got you for five more minutes.”
Barely five years in existence, but two albums deep into their career and Sanguisugabogg have blagged the prime support on such a high-profile tour. There’s plenty of good will toward the band in the venue tonight that even delays caused by technical issues cannot dispel. When they do get going, Sideshowbob grab us by the throat with a slow and brutal Black Market Vasectomy, peppered with polyphonic drum patterns and, although not as broad ranging as Enterprise Earth, are far from straightforward in their approach.
Tonight is singer, Devin Swank’s birthday, and to celebrate he fires into Face Ripped Off’s meaty chug and bowel-loosening bass. He hopes everyone’s staying safe, only to be met with the repost of “Fuck that,” from one of his band mates, “I wanna see a health hazard.” Free band merchandise is offered to the person going hardest on Pissed, plenty of beatdowns and classic brutality through A Lesson in Savagery, Permanently Fucked and Mortal Admonishment, and big grooves abound in the subtly titled Necrosexual Deviant.
When Devin acknowledges being in Manchester by calling Joy Division’s debut, Unknown Pleasures, one of the greatest albums ever [he’s not wrong], there’s barely a single person in the room ready to dispute the claim. Dragged by a Truck sees some sawing guitars and closer, Dead as Shit – dedicated to Her late Majesty – is slow and stomping, and all kinds of danceable.
It’s been a supporting bill for the Ages, no doubt about it, but we’re all here to see New York Legends, Suffocation, making a rare stop-off in Manchester on this Hymns of the Apocrypha tour, with a new vocalist fronting the band. Regular band collaborator, Ricky Myres, stepped up to the microphone following the departure of OG grunter, Frank Mullen and, with huge shoes to fill, Ricky is making a fine job of it.
The inimitable and ever-present Terrance Hobbs leads his Suffocation charges through a whistle-stop tour of the band’s back-catalogue; enough to slake even the most demanding of fan’s thirst. Seraphim Enslavement is the first of four new tracks and opens the show to a rapturous reception; Throne of Blood and Breeding the Spawn demonstrate Suffocation is about more than the exercise of unbridled brutality and include moments of breathtaking technicality. The seamless blending of these two, disparate elements into a coherent whole is not something to be taken lightly, but Terrence appears to do it with consummate ease.
Another newbie, Dim Veil of Obscurity, sits comfortable within a set of classics, as does the new record’s title track, which finds itself slotted between Catatonia, the first song the band ever wrote, and Liege of Inveracity, not only the first song from the debut, but also one that launched an entire genre all by itself. Funeral Inception rages with an unquenchable fire, Pierced from Within barely contains a monstrous drum sound and set closer, Infesting the Crypts slays with an unparalleled level of musical mayhem.
Which lead one to think about the status of Suffocation. There’s probably only Death themselves who have such a consistent catalogue within the genre, and they’re never anything short of magnificent as a live act; but these New Yorkers are rarely spoken off when the topic of the Greatest Death Metal Bands is raised. Barely more than a footnote in Albert Mudrian’s Choosing Death: The Improbably History of Death Metal & Grindcore, it’s shows like this that prove Suffocation to be a glorious treasure waiting to be discovered.
Photo credits: Bill Mawdsley
