Live Review: Live Review: Suicide Silence - 07/9/2016 - 170 Russell, Melbourne

Two things that are certain to divide heavy music fans are deathcore and gigs on a Wednesday night. Luckily, I have no complaints regarding either of those and was able to head into Melbourne to see Suicide Silence, Boris The Blade, Graves, AND Disentomb play. Which is a pretty decent bill, for sure!

Also, with two of these fine bands (that being Boris The Blade and Graves) being on the brink of releasing new music, this tour, in particular, has given many fans the chance to hear some fresh new tracks. But first, starting off the night was Brisbane's Disentomb. Their brand of slamming death metal, seemingly unceasing blast beats and brutal, guttural vocals definitely won over a fair few people in the somewhat empty room. The band's sound was a sign of what's to come for the rest of the show. But if I had one complaint, though, it's that their songs blended together a little too easily due to the similar song structures, but it was definitely a solid and very heavy start to the evening.

[caption id="attachment_1087044" align="alignnone" width="600"] Disentomb opening up the show/Digital Beard Photography[/caption]

Up next were Wollongong's heaviest, Graves. Immediately, the guitar tuning and the tempo dropped as the quintet ran through a really solid set. They debuted their latest single, 'Fear', taken from off their upcoming album 'Monster' and it went down a treat with the fans in attendance. Of course, the biggest responses of their set were reserved for 'Death Dealer' and '506', the latter of which had the ending breakdown slowed right down and it sounded gigantic! Excusing a few hiccups, this was a great showing from Graves.

[caption id="attachment_1087042" align="alignnone" width="600"] Graves: look hard, play harder/Digital Beard Photography[/caption]

The room seemingly filled out a bit more once Melbourne locals Boris The Blade hit the stage, and, in turn, there was a great deal more crowd participation. I think that aside from some cliche lyrics, 'Backstabber' will become a live staple, but the band relied heavily on the tracks from 'The Human Hive' & 'Tides Of Damnation', the ones that people are familiar with. Also, the band's guitarists, Cameron Eyre and Josh Lording, really took the musicians in the crowd to school with their Ormsby guitars.

[caption id="attachment_1087041" align="alignnone" width="599"] Mmmmmm, that's a nice guitar/Digital Beard Photography[/caption]

After three solid local metal talents, finally the headliners Suicide Silence hit the stage around 10:30pm and they did not disappoint! The one-two punch of 'Unanswered' and 'No Pity For A Coward' set the tone as the band delved into every single one of their albums. Even the tracks from 'You Can't Stop Me' got a rousing reception, even coming on par with the band's older songs.

[caption id="attachment_1087039" align="alignnone" width="370"] A lot of hair and a lot of red goes a long way/Digital Beard Photography[/caption]

Suicide Silence's frontman, Eddie Hermida, demonstrated just what a huge vocal range he has and proved yet again that he was always the perfect choice to front this band. After a partial but sick cover of Korn's 'Blind', the band ended with 'Bludgeoned To Death' (complete with the Family Guy sample ) and 'You Only Live Once'. All in all, I feel like this gig once again proves that Suicide Silence are as strong as they have ever been and that Hermida has given the outfit a new lease on life as a band. I for one am super keen to see what they drop in the future with their next album (fingers crossed for a 2016 release).

[caption id="attachment_1087038" align="alignnone" width="601"] The man himself, Eddie Hermida/Digital Beard Photography[/caption]

Big cheers to Owen Jones (AKA Digital Beard Photography), for being on hand to snap us some great shots from the night. Check out his full photo album from the gig below.