Suffocation / Totality / Sexcrement / Abnormality / Scaphism
Middle East, Cambridge 11/11/2012
Everybody, repeat after me in your best death metal voice, “Grrrrroooowwwllllllling, Bllllloooodddddy, Fffuuuuucccckingggg Unnnnnbbbbeellllliiieevvvvaaaaabbbblllleee !!!!!” Awesome. Now pick up the nearest knife and drive it straight through your eyeball. What’s that? Which one? It doesn’t matter, you pick. Cool. Now run around the room screaming, “I just stabbed myself in the eye, Grrrrroooowwwllllllling, Bllllloooodddddy, Fffuuuuucccckingggg Unnnnnbbbbeellllliiieevvvvaaaaabbbblllleee !!!!!” Nice. Ahh, stop your whimpering. Don’t worry, eventually the pain will subside as all the blood drains from your body. You’ll also feel sleepy as death envelops you. But, this is where all your efforts pay off. I’m told that just before you ultimately perish, you will be triumphantly rewarded and hailed by devilish angels of death playing the most incredible thrashy death metal ever imaginable.
Cool Huh? What’s that you say? You want me to go first? Ah well…hmm, I’d like to, but I have yet to get my fill of the finest death metal sounds available here on earth. In fact, just last Sunday at the Middle East (downstairs) in Cambridge was amassed one of the finest line ups of death metal disciples I have seen in quite some time. No less than five awesome harbingers of death and destruction to grace us with their presence. There were four local bands; Scaphism, Abnormality, Sexcrement and Totality, who are all incredibly competent death dealers in there own right, playing along side a vintage deathcore pioneer, Suffocation.
The atmosphere in the club was electric with anticipation as the burgeoning crowd awaited the pending onslaught. I’ve always felt that the Middle East downstairs was the best venue in Boston for this type of event. Great sound system, great acoustics and great pints. Not to mention lots of room to support even the largest of revolving mosh circles. As Slimedog and I await the first band, I notice the crowd is a good mix of young and old. Just to our right is an obvious mom and dad here to support a family member in one of the bands. Suddenly, Scaphism fires off a violent chord sending mom into a frightful frenzy, frantically looking for something to stick in her ears. And so it begins ….
Scaphism is the first band of the night. Ear Raping Death Thrash!, indeed. This 4 piece death metal band hails from South Boston and consists of Tony Jordan on vocals, Evan Woolley on guitar, Tom Gretschel on bass and Alex Fewell on drums. An awesome band with a cool vibe that offers straight ahead thrashy death goodness. Nice head swirling synchronicity. They played a number of songs from their newly released CD called, “Festering Human Remains”. Here’s one tune called Raped ’til Death, included here for your listening pleasure.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/Scaphism – Raped ’til Death.mp3|titles=Raped ’til Death]Abnormality is the next band up. A 5 piece with a lot going on, both technically and musically. The band is from Marlborough and consists of, Mallika Sundaramurthy on vocals, Ben Durgin and Jeremy Henry on guitars, Josh Staples on bass and Jay Blaisdell on drums. These guys come at you like a wall of sound. The crowd is really digging them and notches up the moshing. Female singer, Mallika does a mean death growl and nimbly joins the off stage moshing several times during the set. Slimedog is amazed at how adeptly Mallika transforms her voice from sweet innocence to maniacal psychopath. As the set rages on, Jay’s drumming skills are undeniably impressive. Here’s a tune called A Chaos Reserved from their recently released CD, “Contaminating The Hive Mind”.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/Abnormality – A Chaos Reserved.mp3|titles=A Chaos Reserved]Sexcrement is the third band of the night. A fun loving group of guys that offer up technically sound groovy death metal smothered in sexual perversity. The band hails from Boston and consists of Adam Mason on vocals, Evan Duplessis on guitar, Blue Spinazola on bass and Devon Hunt on drums. During the set an attractive young lady, Samera, joins the band on stage and dances rather suggestively. As Gloryhole Caserole begins, Samera emerges sporting a bit less clothing, to which, Slimedog turns to me and says, “I’m pretty sure these guys are my favorite metal band”. I can only nod my head in approval. By now I’m sure most of you have seen Sexcrement’s great video “Trucker Bombed”, which is a tune from their newly released CD, “Sloppy Seconds”. But if not, have a look below.
Totality is the fourth band up. Formed in 2010, these guys have come a long way in a very short amount of time. They feature an adventurous brand of aggressively progressive death metal. Tonight’s set found them dabbling with a backing orchestral accompaniment for one of their tunes. The band is from Boston and consists of Danny Dodge on guitar/vocals, Jarett Norris on guitar, Zak Baskin on bass and Brian Simmons on drums. It was Danny’s mom and dad that I had noted earlier. It was clear that mom was quite proud of her son. Tonight’s show was a big one for Totality and they certainly rose to the occasion. The crowd was definitely into them and moshing heavily. From Totality’s EP called “Abaddon” here’s a tune called Confines of Man.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/Totality – Confines of Man.mp3|titles=Confines of Man]As if 4 top notch death metal bands from MA wasn’t enough, the last band of the night is none other than those legendary deathcore pioneers from Long Island, NY called Suffocation. With their debut album, Effigy of the Forgotten, Suffocation rose to prominence of death metal and created a blueprint for the genre for the 1990s spawning an entire metal sub-genre: deathcore. Their current lineup includes, Frank Mullen on vocals, Terrance Hobbs and Guy Marchais on guitars, Derek Boyer on bass and Dave Culross on drums. All, incredibly competent musicians, but tonight, they were beyond incredible. Definitely one of the best bands I’ve seen live. The entire audience of the Middle East was head bangin’ from their first song to their last (all except for the young lady that was passed out on the bench behind me). Here’s one of their tunes called, Cataclysmic Purification to keep the head bangin’ goin’.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/Suffocation – Cataclysmic Purification.mp3|titles=Cataclysmic Purification]Not bad for a Sunday evening. I’d have to say it was definitely a “Grrrrroooowwwllllllling, Bllllloooodddddy, Fffuuuuucccckingggg Unnnnnbbbbeellllliiieevvvvaaaaabbbblllleee !!!!!” good time. Let’s hope there’s more shows like this one in the near future.
(Andy Bang)
