Decapitated / Club Academy / Manchester
You know when you’re heading out and the work phone rings, and you think: do I pick it up or ignore? I made the mistake of answering it, the resultant inane call ate up all my ‘contingency’ time, and as a result, traffic on the A1 and M1 mean I’m late arriving at the Manchester Academy. Originally scheduled for Academy 2, the show has been moved into the basement Club Academy room. I race downstairs to find first band Carnation in full flow
Formed in 2013, the Belgian band have been trailblazing old school death metal for ten years now. Vocalist Simon Duson dressed in black with vivid red facepaint is grinding out some ferocious vocals and the noise levels are intense from the last couple of songs I catch, Plaguebreeder (I think) and final track Where Death Lies.
It looked like it had been a great set, and I was kicking myself for answering that damn phone !
Next up are LA thrash metal band Warbringer. Formed in 2004, they’ve released seven studio albums from 2008’s debut “War Without End” to their latest release 2025’s “Wrath and Ruin”. In some ways, Warbringer seem an odd fit on the bill, surrounded by Death Metal, but that doesn’t seem to matter to anyone, as they storm through a rock solid set. Severed Reality opens the set with some fantastic heavy riffs and fierce drumming. The intensity continues with tracks like A Better World before the pace slows a little for Crushed Beneath the Tracks but despite this there is no sign of the bigs sounds dissipating.
The Sword and the Cross, from their latest album “Wrath and Ruin” is a great display of power metal, epic in its sound, real ManOwar kinda stuff. The crowd are loving every second of it, as singer John Kevill waves a heavy sword above his head.
As the set draws to a close, we enjoy some old fan favourites in Living Weapon and Remain Violentdelivered with power and energy in abundance. The LA thrash merchants show just why they are one of the best live thrash bands around at the moment.
Next up, I’m hoping we’re in for a treat, as we welcome Montreal Canada natives Cryptopsy onto the stage. Formed back in 1988 (as Necrosis), becoming Cryptopsy I 1993, they released their debut album in 1994 “Blasphemy Made Flesh” and 2025 will see the release of their 9th album “An Insatiable Violence”. Talking in the Box Office queue, it seems most folk were really looking forward to seeing Cryptospy as much as the headliners, as its been quite a while since their last UK appearance !
As the lights dim, the PA system belts out When the Bell Tolls which just serves to pump up the already amped crowd to 11 (queue why not make 10 louder quotes !)
As they hit the stage, they dive into an oldie in Slit Your Guts from “None So Vile” (1996). The reaction from the crowd is instant, and Cryptopsy see the largest number of surfer over the barrier of any of the acts. Its fast, its brutal with enormous riffs and some outstanding gravel-like vocals.
As they prepare for Lascivious Undivine from 2023’s album “Gomorrah Burns” singer Matt McGachy points out we might notice something different on stage, as he introduces the bass player stepping in for Olivier Pinard on this tour.
The intensity is relentless from Open Face Surgery savage onslaught, through Godless Deceiver to the rip roaring Graves of the Fathers which sees a circle pit engulf the floor and synchronised headbanging at the barrier. There’s Nothing Left feels just like it sounds, with surfers coming overhead there won’t be anything left after this. It’s technical, fast and relentless.
And suddenly it stops…. Just like that, like a bolt out of the blue, and the harsh relentless death metal is replaces with the soft delicate tones of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. You can see the crowd heaving from heavy breathing, you can almost feel the pent up raw energy. The classics continue with the wonderful Gymnopedies #1 by Erik Satie. A beautiful and defining moment of bliss.
And now it’s finally time for tonight’s headliners as the stage is prepared for Decapitated, the critically acclaimed Polish technical death metal band formed in Krosno back in 1996. They released their debut album “Winds of Creation” in 2000 and have released eight in total, the most recent being 2022’s “Cancer Culture”.
Cryptopsy were outstanding and delivered a raw and energetic set, but Decapitated were not to be messed with tonight. If we thought things had been wild up to now, things were going to get brutal….. very fast.
The set is well set out, with each of their studio albums getting airtime. With singer Rafal Piotrowski leaving the band last year, Eemeli Bodde, has stepped into the role made it his own, delivering vocals with power, intensity and clarity. They kick off with A Poem About an Old Prison Man from 2006’s “Organic Hallucinosis” which is crystal clear and yet fierce in it’s delivery. Perhaps my favourite track of the night goes to Three-Dimensional Defect from 2004’s “The Negation” which has a layered complexity to it, as well as being as brutal as it can get.
Decapitated are not just raw power and energy, there is a more complex edge to their sound too at times, especially in tracks like Earth Scar from 2017’s “Anticult” and Last Supper b2022’s “Cancer Culture” which demonstrate a more progressive edge to their sound.
As the set draws to a close, we go right back to the start, and Winds of Creation taken from their 2000 album of the same name, with its more raw debut feel to it, which has the crowd headbanging away before we come right back upto date and Suicidal Space Programme from the latest album, the juxtaposition of the two demonstrating the creative and technical journey Decapitated have been on.
Finally, we get fan favourite from their latest album, Iconoclast to see the set off to a rousing finale, with its piledriver, and yet crisp guitar riffs and ferocious drum beats, it certainly packs a punch. The break sections are perfect for a circle pit and that’s exactly what we get as Eemeli Bodde rips through the air with his guttural vocals.
Carnation, Warbringer, Cryptopsy and Decapitated….. an incredible line up, who all delivered something different and fresh, and yet all delivered the same thing….. pounding hearts, aching eardrums and ear to ear grins on every face.
An amazing night.
