SUFFOCATION SLAY DTLA WITH A BRUTAL BELASCO TAKEOVER
The legendary death metal titans in Suffocation stormed through the Belasco in Los Angeles this past weekend, kicking off a gargantuan tour supporting Carnifex across a large swath of the United States. Carnifex is celebrating the 15th anniversary of their Hell Chose Me album, and opted to bring some of the heaviest bands on Earth on the road with them. Whoever suggested that Suffocation and Devourment share the stage deserves a raise, is all we’re saying.
Devourment has a long and storied career amongst brutal death and slam metal aficionados. Imagine the most insane song titles, with the chunkiest riffs, heart attack-inducing drum work, and incomprehensible vocal growls and gurgles all thrown together. The metal fiends inside the Belasco loved every minute of Devourment’s set. They mostly played old school tracks from their 1999 debut album, Molesting The Decapitated, which was the perfect segue for Suffocation’s bonkers set immediately after.
NYC’s heaviest sons, the mighty Suffocation; once again rocked the Belasco Theater in DTLA. The venue was still recovering from the Suffo lads' last performance touring alongside I Am Morbid, and yet, they returned for round 2, and the band’s rabid LA fanbase was more than eager to welcome them back. Suffocation played as close to a “greatest hits” set as death metal pioneers can do, ripping through tracks from Effigy of the Forgotten, Pierced From Within, and their killer Despise The Sun EP. Of course, the band played a few bangers from their jaw-dropping latest album, 2023’s Hymns from the Apocrypha. Their first full-length with longtime live vocalist Ricky Myers officially in the driver’s seat as frontman is just amazing. The crowd inside the Belasco, still hyped from Devourment’s set, went absolutely ballistic during “Liege of Inveracity,” Suffocation’s legendary slam metal progenitor track from 1991 that’s launched a million other death metal bands since then.
Carnifex ended the night ripping through their landmark 2010 album, Hell Chose Me. Somehow, after a whole night of blast beats and gargantuan riffs, the fans along the barricade still raged their hearts out. Just another successful metal show in LA at the Belasco.
