New York death metallers Suffocation (pictured left) have announced a spring 2013 tour, dubbed the “Despise the World” tour. Suffocation will headline; supporting acts include Exhumed, Jungle Rot, Rings of Saturn and Adimiron.
Suffocation released Pinnacle of Bedlam earlier this month. As vocalist Frank Mullen has said in several interviews, he can no longer commit to full-time touring. It is unclear if he will perform at all the dates.
Dates below:
4/4 Long Island, NY
4/5 New York, NY
4/6 Philadelphia, PA
4/7 Detroit, MI
4/8 St. Paul, MN
4/9 Des Moines, IA
4/10 Denver, CO
4/11 Boise, ID
4/12 Spokane, WA
4/13 Seattle, WA
4/14 Portland, OR
4/15 Oakland, CA
4/16 Los Angeles, CA
4/17 Tempe, AZ
4/19 Dallas, TX
4/20 San Antonio, TX
4/21 Oklahoma City, OK
4/22 Kansas City, MO
4/23 Chicago, IL
4/24 Cleveland, OH
4/25 Springfield, VA
4/26 Toronto, ON
4/27 Montreal, QC
4/28 Hartford, CT
Chris Krovatin is the author of two young adult novels, Heavy Metal & You and Venomous. He is currently working on multiple new writing projects, as well as new material with his local New York metal band Flaming Tusk. He is a contributing writer for Revolver and generally comes off as a good-natured pain in everyone’s collective ass.
On Wednesday, November 9, I saw Exhumed, supported by Goatwhore and Havok at the Europa in Brooklyn, NY. Here’s what I witnessed:
Worst subway line in New York City: The G.
Only subway that stops in Greenpoint: See above.
Beneficial aspects: It weeds out the posers. If you’re willing to transfer trains three or four times, you’re pretty dedicated to gore metal.
Things that the saw is: The law, alive, a state of mind.
Bands I’ve missed upon arrival at Europa: Brohammer from Tuscon, AZ.
Brohammer as described to me by someone in attendance: Something along the lines of very aggressive King Diamond.
Thus: I’m not terribly upset about missing them.
Drinking a Budweiser at Europa: $5.
The Amazonian polish chick redhead bringing it to you: Priceless.
Hilarious band move: Soundchecking all the instruments, then walking five feet offstage, letting the intro tape play, and returning to the stage triumphantly.
And now: Havok from Denver, CO.
Towns that don’t seem incredibly metal: Denver, CO.
Sounds like: Breakneck, poisonous thrash metal with just the right amount of pauses.
Bassist of the night: Havok four-stringer Jesse De Los Santos. The bass at the beginning of “Morbid Symmetry” is cool and old-school as Hell.
Notable tracks: “Scumbag in Disguise”.
Official mindfuck of the night: The fat dude in the white shirt and no pants windmilling his arms furiously along the edge of the mosh pit.
True story of the night: This guy really had no fucking pants. He looked like a pissed-off Humpty Dumpty.
Coolest merch: Gotta go to Goatwhore. So many shirts, a cool patch, beer coozies, and thongs.
Minutes it takes Exhumed to sell out the Gore Metal T-shirts: Approximately 24.
Common occurrence at a gore metal show:By the end, all of the shirts are labeled ‘SMALL ONLY!’
Disappointment of the night: No Cephalic Carnage? Bummer, that’s one of the bands of my youth. Really wanted to see them tonight.
But now: Goatwhore from New Orleans, LA.
Sounds like: Celtic Frost doing peyote on top of a giant bipedal goat’s head.
Favorite Goatwhore lyric: “And the angels shall be my whores” from “Sky Inferno.”
Say what you want about Goatwhore: They are an intimidating band live.
Six degrees to Goatwhore: In college, my house’s restaurant had a baller chef named Jon Michael who knew either Ben or Sam from Goatwhore back in NOLA (maybe both).
What this means to anybody: Nothing whatsoever.
Awesome closer: “Apocalyptic Havok.”
Noted oddity: Multiple people buying the new Exhumed. It’s just not common to see folks throwing down twelve bucks on a CD these days, especially a band’s most recent album.
To be fair: The new Exhumed is really fucking good.
Back patch of the night: The dude with the all-over Artillery back patch.
Confession: Man, I don’t know shit about shit about Artillery.
Crowd rating: Overall, pretty true.
And finally: Exhumed from San Jose, CA.
Sounds like: Just, fuckin’, blood. Blood everywhere, really fast.
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Most brutal thing, ever: The three guitarists of Exhumed lifting their axes to reveal ‘GORE’, ‘FUCKING’, and ‘METAL’ on the back.
Number of bricks shat upon seeing above event: 29.
Crowd response: Exuberant.
Awesome classic track of the evening: “Casket Krusher.”
Badass new track played: “Distorted and Twisted to Form.”
Number of ‘FUCK, man’s uttered at the end of above track: 11.
Number of stage divers bumping directly into vocalist Matt Harvey: Three.
Favorite stage banter of the night: “You’ve all heard of a song called [futureusgalleryCannibal Corpse's] “Hammer Smashed Face”? Well, this one’s about Hammer Smashed…EVERYTHING.”
When I say ‘Necro,’ you say: MANIAC!
State of neck: Obliterated.
Number of train transfers required to get back to Park Slope: Three.
Number of Exhumed fans riding with me the whole way: Two.
The opening title track is a moody if predictable intro, but gives way to bilious rager “As Hammer To Anvil.” From there on, it’s one blood-drenched execution after another: “Through Cadaver Eyes” blasts moodily forward with a heavy death-metal tread, while “Death Knell” swings meathook guitar leads over thick, filthy breakdowns. “Distorted and Twisted Into Form” rides an awesomely melodic thrash riff through thorough beatdowns of breakneck percussion. Vocalist/guitarist/only-founding-member-left Matt Harvey’s layered bellows and shrieks are spectacular at the times they’re properly implemented, though the ear sometimes begs for a bit more of his old-school Dying Fetus–esque pig snort. Closer “So Let It Be Rotten…So Let It Be Done” seals this wound of an album with a final catchy tug of the suture.
What makes an album like All Guts, No Glory so awesome is its dedication to entertaining what could be considered a built-in audience. Casual listeners won’t find much groundbreaking musical progression here, but how many casual listeners will buy it? Metalheads uninterested in gore worship will overlook it, but fans of dripping blood, gaping autopsies, and ravenous zombies will absolutely adore this record. Gore lives. CHRIS KROVATIN
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