Live Review: Suffocation, Decapitated, Truth Corroded

Suffocation and Decapitated make for one of the most impressive, arduous and satisfying heavy metal double-headliners you’ll get to see in Australia for a very long time. Unfortunate for you then if you missed out on Adelaide’s jaunt last night, as the respective American and Polish metallers created an evening of mass obliteration. Adelaide’s Truth Corroded made a dent in the crowd early on in the evening, and having just returned from touring Asia with Suffocation this was not your standard fare of a local band struggling to meet the expectations of their international headliner. Truth Corroded brought it hard, with express kudos to their drummer, who very effectively filled out their New York-esque sound with hard-hitting blast beats and precision accuracy. Their riffing and song structures traipsed across a number of metal subgenre’s such as thrash, grind and death metal, while their performance was entirely professional. If you’re interested in seeing them play over a big PA once again Truth Corroded will be supporting The Black Dahlia Murder later on this year.

Decapitated are not a band to fuck around, cramming so many awesome songs into the first half of their set that it already felt as if they’d played for twice as long as Opeth did in this venue the night before. A truly awesome band; if you enjoy listening to any kind of heavy metal you should take note of the fact and see them before you die. Existing as a much harder combination of Hatebreed, Fear Factory and Lamb Of God, Decapitated come across as if Pantera’s Vinnie Paul was capable of technically intricate drum patterns – you know, in an overarching way. In short, Decapitated are of the highest echelon.

Now, where Decapitated were rather pummelling, New York City’s Suffocation proved to be more pulverising, with their drummer taking the crown for the fastest rate of beats per minute on the double-kick for the entire night. The addition of thrash-laden guitar solos was also welcome in terms of technical prowess. Along with the band’s super-infectious energy and onstage presence, it was of course super-fun having a mosh and giggling at the onslaught of song titles such as Translucent Patterns Of Delirium.