Suffocation, Havok, Fallujah & Cephalic Carnage
NQ Live, Manchester
15th May 2013
The night kicked off with Fallujah stampeding on to the stage with their crushing riffs and melodic inter-sections. Their drummer was extremely impressive and with three vocalists with a range of growled and choked vocals, it was difficult not to be taken in and bang your head to their disciplined and experimental brand of death metal. [4/5]
Fallujah were followed by Havok, who sounded like Slayer and Venom mashed together. They brought chuggy riffs with a punk attitude and they really succeeded in loosening up the crowd and getting them fired up. The shrieked vocals and shredding guitar solos embodied 80’s thrash metal, but gave it a new lease of life. In light of Jeff Hanneman’s recent death, they were a welcome and fitting tribute to all that he brought to the metal world. [4/5]
Next up were the mighty Cephalic Carnage who brought a great deal of variety to their set ranging from sludgy stoner doom to the discipline and technicality of early death metal. A surprise was also in store with the guest vocals of Som (ex-Cerebral Bore) for one of their songs. The audience relished the cacophony of pig squeals and chug brandished as if it were a weapon in their faces, and the room was a mess of circle pits and head banging. [5/5]
By now, the crowd were ecstatic for Suffocation. The sound quality of the stage and mixing which had been exceptional all evening did not falter at the might of Suffocation’s pounding guitar sound and the guttural growling of Dying Fetus’ John Gallagher. He did the material proud and Suffocation lived up to their reputation and showed off their extensive experience playing live. There was stage diving, a wall of death and a circle pit to Suffocation’s slam beats and down beats, and everyone was thrilled to be a part of it. [5/5]
I personally haven’t been to a gig as enjoyable as this for a long time, and the only disappointing thing I can say about it is that it had to come to an end before 11pm. I would have happily watched Suffocation for longer, but as John Gallagher put so beautifully: ‘It is what it is.’
Overall, NQ live in Manchester is a splendid venue and the sound they came up with for all the bands was outstanding. Even the beer was a reasonable price and definitely worked in favour for this gem of a venue.
Alex Cook
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