Visceral Disgorge kicked off the night at Lee's Palace.
Visceral Disgorge were kind of a last minute addition and a damn good addition at that after
Soreption we unable to get visas as per the usual with touring the states. Unfortunately, due to our interview with
Cattle Decapitation's vocalist Travis Ryan, we missed the first half of their set. What we did catch though, man did these guys bring the slam. It makes sense these guys kicked off the show,
Visceral Disgorge are an absolutely killer brutal death metal band. Although there wasn't much room to move around on stage, the band made the most of what they had. Four big dudes plus a drummer pumping out slamming death metal, it wasn't all that surprising when the floor opened at the end of the bands set for a pit. These guys warmed the crowd up real well, if you're hitting up the tour, definitely make sure you show up early for these guys.
Next up is the Brazilian death metal masters,
Krisiun.
Krisiun are a band we've actually covered before, when they came through a few years back. This time,
Krisiun are coming through supporting their new album
Scourge of the Enthroned which was released only in September 2018. For fans who have yet to see
Krisiun or anyone who is new to them, this is probably the perfect set to catch from them, although it is a bit shorter.
Krisiun play a good mix from the entirety of their nearly thirty year career. Although
Krisiun have at this point released eleven full lengths, their six song set has songs from all different albums. "Ominous" and "Combustion Inferno" take on a much stronger, old school style. The title track from the new album "Scourge of the Enthroned" was even stronger live than it is studio and for the real fans, "Vengeance's Revelation" from the bands second album
Apocalyptic Revelation comers right near the end of the set. It seemed like a lot of people in the audience were unfamiliar with
Krisiun prior to this outing, but we heard nothing but good things from the crowd between sets.
Next up was the key reason this tour sold me,
Cattle Decapitation are back in town. Although they don't have a new album yet, they're always a blast live. Playing songs solely from their previous two records
Monolith of Inhumanity and
The Anthropocene Extinction the band blasted right into it from the get go with "The Carbon Stampede". Fans of
Cattle Decapitation, who have seen the band in the past couple years, will be very familiar with the bands set on this run, which is my only real complaint. We have seen
Cattle Decapitation three times since the release of the band's 2015 album
The Anthropocene Extinction. The set all three times has consisted of almost entirely the same songs. The set is killer and if this is your first time seeing the band, you're going see the best of the best.
Cattle Decapitation are incredibly strong live and they've all but mastered these songs. Especially with the new monster of a lineup the band has including the addition of Olivier Pinard (
Cryptopsy) on bass and Belisario Dimuzio on guitar. If you're a fan of blistering speed and want to be in the pit showing what you've got, you're going be a fan of "Forced Gender Reassignment", "The Prophets of Loss" and "The Carbon Stampede". If you prefer slower, heavier death metal and just want to bang your head, "Manufactured Extinct", "Clandestine Ways (Krokodil Rot)" and "Kingdom of Tyrants" are going be right up your alley. At the end of the day, Cattle Decapitation always put on a wicked show and whether you've seen them before or not, it's definitely worth catching this tour. Only real complaint about the set is simply the fact that there's no older songs from
The Harvest Floor or earlier.
Now for the main event. Capping off the Farewell to Frank tour, is the man himself.
Suffocation hit the stage fast and hard. Whether or not you've seen Suffocation before, this is the epitome of the perfect
Suffocation set. This is the band's final outing with Frank Mullin fronting
Suffocation and whether or not they continue past that appears to be up in the air. Suffocation play a little bit of everything from every album except two, ironically enough that's the self titled and the newest album
...Of The Dark Light. The set will be adored by the original fans, people who have been following along with
Suffocation from the beginning.
Souls To Deny and earlier makes up for almost the entirety of the set. As this was our first time catching
Suffocation we were unsure of what to expect, but the show was spectacular. The personality on stage was incredible, Frank was nothing but personal and friendly. For a death metal show, it's kind of unexpected to hear a band talk so much between songs, but Frank was an honest person. While the band tuned and reset, Frank talked about his life with the band, what his plans were after this tour and his love for everything. It was a very human show, it brought you back to earth that these are real people who live real lives and it made it far more special. This may be the last time Toronto ever gets to see
Suffocation and it was easily the best example of who these guys are. When the band came back out on stage for their encore, "Souls to Deny" and "Infecting the Crypts", the audience knew this was their last chance. The pit opened to its largest of the night, everyone needed to get in there and show one last hoorah to Frank and
Suffocation. The band closed the show with big smiles and one last speech from Frank before saying good-bye.
