Suffocation, Revocation, Bifurcation @ Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide 23/4/2024
Five shows in six nights. Impressive. One hour of more beats per minute that a speed head who has drank six red bulls in half hour. Insane. That was what Adelaide is treated to on the last night of Suffocation’s Australian tour for album Hymns From the Apocrypha.
A night that ends in death metal brutality can only begin in the same vein. There’s no need for gentle teasing or arousal, it’s balls deep, aggressive and hard from the off and this begins with Adelaide band Bifurcation.
There isn’t much room on the stage to move around however it doesn’t mean the music doesn’t shake the room. Insane drumming, a six string bass and a tonne of headbanging riffs including new single The Merciless Hands That Punish, it’s a solid start to the evening.
American’s Revocation are best described as being put into a giant tube and pushed down a steep hill. A huge blast of dual guitars and beats spear at you from the off with Diabolical Majesty and Nihilistic Violence opening pits up that don’t stop spinning. Madness Opus circles in that way a Wurlitzer spins you and when a guy in the crowd shouts out ‘you’re gonna die’ that is the queue for Teratogenesis as vocalist/guitarist David Davidson whips up the frenzy with his own searing solos.
Ultimately, it’s the headliners spot tonight though that has the most anticipation in the crowd. Suffocation arrive after a near decade away and their presence is huge. Literally. Vocalist Ricky Myers towers over the room in a way that makes the rest of the band look like his children.
Opening with Seraphim Enslavement it’s everything you expect. Hammering beats, solos to set the fire alarm off and a bass sound that replicates what a giant would sound like if they stomped through the venue.
Pushing and shoving to all corners of the room are commonplace by the time second song Thrones Of Blood is done and its clear there isn’t time for chat, the set list is going to be as fast as the songs. Drummer Eric Morotti’s ability to just keep going throughout is almost robotic while Hobbs and Errigo smash through riff after riff in extraordinary speed. Until they slow it down, like Perpetual Deception in which the doom rises from underneath your feet and pulls you back like a gravity drop.
Catatonia has a cool swaying vibe and the band hit each bang of the head in military unison, Myers barks like a rabid pit bull during Liege Of Inveracity and Infecting The Crypts has a dynamic switch which slaps harder than Damian Dibbel, the world heavyweight champion of slapping.
Finishing the set, and Australian tour, with encore Surgery Of Impalement has everyone – battle vested and battle hardened – feeling pretty good about themselves. It’s been too long between visits however for the packed Adelaide crowd, it was defiantly worth the wait.
Live Review By Iain McCallum