Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Aborted, Despised Icon Concert
Rating: 5 Skulls
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Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Aborted, Despised Icon Concert
Rating: 5 Skulls |
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Nator's Review (10/25/05, The Ascot Room, Minneapolis, MN):
How can this not be the perfect day? I mean, come on! Suffo and Cryptopsy on the same bill? The stars have aligned for this one, that's for sure. Shortly after working a brief yet profitable lunch shift, Gordo and I jumped on Highway 61 from Winona to Minneapolis. We decided to get smart on the way, only enhancing the gorgeous fall scenery along the mighty Mississippi on this crisp, clear, sunny day. It seemed like an oddly quick drive, much shorter than the usual 2+ hours, and we arrived downtown right about the same time the doors to the Ascot Room were opening. But when The Refuge up the block from the Ascot Room has a half price happy hour, one could only guess where we spent our first half-hour in the city. So after pounding three Ketel One's, we went and pounded on the door to Suffo's bus to establish some hook ups for later. We talked with our buddy, the facially lacerated Derek Boyer (Suffo's bass player) and agreed that we'd meet up after the show. So Gordo and I ducked into the alley behind the club to get smart again, then we went into the club and, well, kept drinking. There was a decent crowd already, but I knew it was only going to grow.Despised Icon played first and, granted, they were kinda brutal. They had a dual lead vocalist attack and the drummer was real tight, but I'm just not a fan of anything involving any type of hardcore. There were many metal aspects, but too many open E riffs. After a fairly solid set, Aborted was next to take the stage, and there was already some good buzz about this death metal outfit from Belgium. Indeed it was brutal, technical, fast, and people were moshing pretty hard, but they didn't really bring anything new or original in my opinion. But when you're impatiently waiting for Cryptopsy, well, what do you expect? By the time Cryptopsy was almost on stage, the crowd had grown exponentially, just like my blood-alcohol level. Knowing one of the mightiest death metal bands of all time was about to rip through a set featuring some brand new songs made my adrenaline level rise as well.
Almost predictably, they opened their set with "Crown of Horns" and the mosh pit went into a full-on frenzy, as expected. Lord Worm delivered a commanding performance, as did the rest of the band. A pleasant surprise, however, came from their second guitar player. I'm not sure if he's a full-time member or just filling in for the tour, but this guy was fucking good! He didn't miss a note as the band shredded through everything from old classics to the DiSalvo era "Cold Hate, Warm Blood" as well as brand new songs like "Carrionshine." Unfortunately most of the crowd hadn't been introduced to much of the new material yet, but thanks to George at Century Media, I had listened to "Once Was Not" about 50 times already, and I was quite familiar with the new album. And just so everyone who doesn't own it or hasn't listened to it knows, it FUCKING RULES! Lord Worm's stage antics brought no worm eating this time around, or snake rib smoking or anything like that from the Lord, but he and the rest of his fellow Canucks really brought the intensity. Flo blasted like no other can, while Alex and Eric did what they do best.
And speaking of intensity, Cryptopsy being followed up by Suffocation is about as intense as any hurricane or tidal wave could ever be. With the Coronas going down at an exponential rate, I was getting more and more fired up for Long Island's finest. I knew they weren't going to do anything flashy, nothing to impress. Just play. And anyone who knows Suffocation (and that should be all of you) knows that they are the sickest death metal band in the world. With a library ranging from old favorites like "Infecting the Crypts" and "Catatonia" all the way to the 21st Century tracks like "Tomes of Acrimony," Suffocation covered their illustrious 15 year career in about 45 minutes of sheer brutality. Frank was in classic frontman form, talking in between tracks, getting the crowd pumped for each impending note. Need I mention the rest of the band? I think no mention speaks for itself. A Suffocation moshpit can also go without mention, for we all know what exists in that chaos. Suffo exits the stage and the crowd starts to disperse, but Gordo and I stick around to hang out with Joe (Catastrophic guitar player and sound guy for the tour), Derek and whoever else wanted to get smart. However, we got too smart and the Suffo boys felt it foolishly necessary to leave 8 crates worth of merchandise up in the club. We rounded up some mighty sets of hands and ran upstairs to corral the derelict shirts, patches, hats and CD's.
After returning to the alley and watching RVs being surprisingly commandeered by a less than sober band member, we got even smarter and proceeded to indulge in a little pizza party action with Derek, Flo, Guy, Terrance, Frank, and any left over Suffocation and Cryptopsy members and roadies. Grievously as always, time flies when you're drinking, smoking, and hangin' with the boys. So as the clock struck 1:30 am and a 2+ hour drive ahead of us, Gordo the early rising school boy and I said farewell to the gang, swapped some contact info, and made our way back south along the mighty Mississippi. Don't forget the Neosporin Derek. You wouldn't want that to scar.
Special thanks to my brother Adam and the tour manager Keith for hooking it up.
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