Suffocation

Sydney has been getting absolutely spoiled for big name Death Metal tours lately and veterans of brutal slamming heaviness Suffocation along with technical masterminds Revocation was a huge date on the live music calendar for any headbanger that likes their riffs as brutal as they are intricately boneheaded. Suffocation, with 30+ years in the game, coupled with a legacy few bands can rival along with the steady rise and respect Revocation have earned throughout their career, The Factory Theatre was set for a gargantuan night of riffs.

A Friday night show + the classic delay of the girls getting ready for the night resulted in this sausage unfortunately missing local legends Anoxia lay waste to the Factory. From all match reports I came across, they smashed their set and it’s no wonder why they have regularly been picking up big name supports and tours of late. Keep an eye out for Anoxia and don’t miss them like I did!

Hanging in the concrete forecourt of the Factory before

Revo’s set it occurred to me how vastly different this was to the last time I witnessed Dave Davidson (the vocalist and virtuosic guitarist at the helm of the band) and company, with their previous Aussie tour, ONLY including one show on the desert outback Arrernte land at the pilgrimage that is BLACKEN. This tour just so happened before they dropped their latest record, Netherheaven, and with the current leg of touring being the end of the album cycle, I was eager to see what the years of shredding the material would produce on stage.

Dimmed lights and Revocation took the stage – with many punters fixating on one of the most metal guitars in existence – a bright Lamborghini yellow (spiky as a 3-day growth chin) 7-string Jackson warrior – seemingly stealing the limelight for a moment…until Davidson decrees ‘We are Revocation, this is Diabolical Majesty!”. Kicking off with the lead single from Netherheaven, the intense trem picking and drum fills, with seamless transitions into the verses, had this well-oiled machine setting the tone for the mastery we were about to witness.

It does need to be mentioned that the lack of a live Bass player in the echoey space of the Factory did leave it sounding thinner than one would like, but this is where any critiques would end as the song writing, skill and confidence of the trio showed that a dedicated bass player wasn’t needed to deliver top tier death metal when the quality on display was at their level.

“I wanna see some Nihilstic Violence!” calls from Davidson got the pit and heads into motion - the audience was in big time for the rest of the set. The rawness of the triplet chugs and sheer power of drummer Ash Pearson’s chops, kept the energy high and grooves punching HARD, stirring up a proper circle pit. Davidsons vocal range and whammy abused tapping leads on the track highlighted his talents and it was hard not to see him as a type of modern day Chuck Schuldiner (of DEATH fame) as he spat out coarse growls over the downpicked mayhem.

The progressive mind melting nature of Revocations music begin to shine through as the twisted sounds of The Outer Ones spew off the stage. The dual lead harmonies quickly descend into a barrage of blasts and technicality with the track journeying to an incredibly satisfying breakdown. By this stage it was clear, there was nothing off limits in this set. Classic Revo track Madness Opus hit this point home further, in particular the cleaner almost waltz like mid-section amongst the stop start double kicks and chugs. The solo in the song had Davidson taking guitarists in the venue to school with insane runs, tasty bends and cosmic divebombs. As tasty as it gets, with everyone note feeling important and eliciting a response from the audience, the lead playing is anything but paint by numbers, but rather the work of a player that would be a guitar god if we were covering this in 1988. That Lamborghini yellow choice of finish on the Jackson made perfect sense – speed, precision, power and artistry all in one.

With the crowd subdued from the sheer weight of the prog, the set returned to it’s all out heavy grooves with Teratogensis smashing the audience back into the pit and bringing the energy back through the room. It was a sight to behold watching the gurning faces through the venue when gutturals over double kicks melded into an almost psychedelic instrumental passage gave Pearson’s obtuse choice in fills a moment to communicate Revocation are in complete control of their craft on all levels, and they’re taking you on an acid trip through hell.

The back end of their set focused on highlights from Netherheaven with Lesson in Occult Theft & Godforsaken pulverising the venue into submission. With both containing some of their most memorable riffs in their discography, it was the undeniable power of almost endless brutality in Godforsaken which saw the most devoted headbanging in unison of the set. Closer Unworldly Origin had some killer vocal trade offs between Davidson & touring rhythm guitarist Harry Lannon adding that final layer of dynamics in an already insanely diverse set. Revocation left the stage with a pumped audience ready for the main event, cementing that the years between their outback venture and this show were well spent and they are band which truly stands out from the pack.

It was time to witness one of the true pioneers of brutal death metal SUFFOCATION! One of the pillars of the heavy world, the crowd was getting ravenous as an ominous backing track filled the room. A single China crash and it was ON. It was like whiplash with how hard Suffo came out the gate straight into Seraphim Enslavement – a cut from their latest record Hymns From The Apocrypha. The brutal death metal origins of the band are not lost and all the hallmarks of the genre remain in this latest material, BRUTAL gutturals from current vocalist Ricky Myers, clicky triggered break neck speed double kicks and blastbeats, and those sweet, sweet slamming breakdowns. The immediately recognisable character of founding member and living legend Terrence Hobbs was infectious, with his dreaded skullet shaking back and forth from the first note. Headbanging which rarely stopped aside from the giant grin or animated expression between shredding leads and nonstop riffs throughout the set.

By the time the first breakdown hit, it felt like it was flattening punters left right and centre. “How the hell is this going to get heavier from here!?” I thought. I was about to be educated.

Next up a fan favourite Thrones of Blood sent the mosh absolutely insane. The response far exceeded anything witnessed throughout the night and the love for the putrid riffs Suffocation create was palpable. An energy which was matched, if not bested by what was occurring on stage, it was hard to believe a band this late into their career could still play with such intensity. Calls from the pit of “What the fuck!” & “Unreeeeeeal” were being screamed when the band were moving through the massive prolapse inducing breakdowns into atonal solos of the track. You could feel the elation from the crowd at the colossal heaviness, it was infectious.

The clanky finger picked bass playing of Derek Boyer through Dim Veil Of Obscurity was incredible to witness. For the uninitiated, watching Suffocation is almost like watching a real life episode of Metalocalypse, as he power stances over his headless pointy bass as it sat on the ground and he continuously headbangs without missing a note. It was just straight up relentless, never letting up once a track had begun and easily one of the heaviest acts you could experience. Where Revocation stood out with their dynamics, Suffocation stood out with immense brutality.



For music this grotesque, the joy on punters face was almost comical. Not to mention the muscle mummies side stage dropping it low whenever the tempo demanded it, really made the gig feel like one massive party rather than a bloodbath as the source matter could suggest.

As the set progressed back and forth between classics like Pierced From Within and fresh material, watching Terrence slay with as much enthusiasm as a teenager that just learned how to tune down to Drop D, I felt like I was watching a true artist committed to their craft. On the surface it may seem one dimensional but the small changes in dynamics and overwhelming freight train of technicality opening up to devastating grooves was invigorating. The set did not let up in the slightest, with each face melting solo seemingly amping up the audience more than the last. The robotic right hands on both guitarists was an assembly line of riffs, constantly churning out putrid intensity.

Suffocation remained obscenely tight all the way through to closer (no encores here) with Infecting the Crypts bludgeoning the audience into a final feral frenzy before the night was through. With so many years behind them, Suffocation showno signs of slowing, and it’s safe to say their death metal will always, always be BRUTAL.