And now, a word from Suffocation's Frank Mullen

Suffocation/The Faceless/Through the Eyes of the Dead/Decrepit Birth/
Fleshgod Apocalypse/Suppressed Theory
Gramercy Theatre
Saturday, October 16

Better Than: Taking an actual beating.

Jesus H. Christ. There was a time (I'm not gonna say I remember it, because I was five) when the words "death metal" meant pretty much one thing: ugly, dissonant, knuckle-dragging evil. But 20 years later, even a "pure death metal bill" draws bands from such distinct movements as deathcore, tech-death, brutal death, and progressive death, all of which made an appearance at Gramercy Theatre Saturday night for the Decibel Defiance Tour. Purists might deride the subgenre-spawning phenomenon as a perversion or dilution of their core values, but I believe it's a testament to the influence that death metal has had on extreme music around the world. New York-born headliners Suffocation were present at the genre's inception, and it's safe to say that every band on the bill owed them a great debt.

Tom Gabriel Warrior, on to the next phase. Pics by Daniel, more below.

I admit I groaned upon learning that New Jersey's Immolith would open the otherwise killer lineup of Yakuza, 1349, and Triptykon at Gramercy Theatre last night. Both times I'd seen them previously, I was nonplussed by their mid-'90s black attack, and wasn't looking forward to politely headbanging through their set again. But much to my shock and enjoyment, Immolith played with a little more fire and conviction this time, sharpening their riffs and kicking the speed up a notch, elevating them from (blackened) white noise to a band worth unpolitely 'banging for.

Either those guys sacrificed a few extra goats during their pre-game ritual, or they were just flat out freakin' pumped to open for Tom G. Warrior. What kind of self-respecting metal musician wouldn't be? Tom was a crucial part of the force that pushed metal down into the darkness in the '80s, away from glitz and glam and closer to the dissonant, evil, and occult. His first two bands, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, helped create the template for the death- and black-metal to come; Triptykon, his third creation, was undoubtedly the star attraction tonight.

Summoning forth "Satan's Hammer." Pic by Daniel.

For those of us who endured the utter tease that was Destroyer 666's last-minute cancellation of their August 4th show at Club Europa, last night's make-up gig was a welcome and much-needed release of metallic fury. Everyone was clearly there to worship at the feet of the Aussie black-thrashers; the crowd was also refreshingly traditional, with wall-to-wall illegible black T-shirts, and vendors hawking merch from all manner of subterranean acts like Blood Freak and Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ. Super metal.

Guess which member of Set Aflame has the most involved hair-care regimen. Pic by Dan.

After the crushing disappointment of last week's canceled Destroyer 666 show, Tuesday night's affair at Brooklyn's Public Assembly provided some small amount of solace and relief. Though none of the bands fit the pure-metal bullet-belts-and-leather aesthetic of those sorely missed Aussie black-thrashers, each of the four acts managed to offer up some kind of musical extremity, be it brute force or mind-boggling bass wizardry.

Veil of Maya, thankfully not causing epilepsy.

Summer Slaughter
Irving Plaza
Sunday, August 1

The fourth-annual traveling circus known as Summer Slaughter rolled through town last night, offering NYC an overview of the modern extreme-metal scene. This year's lineup tilted heavily toward the 'core-influenced end of the spectrum, a mixed bag that forced more traditional death-heads to endure endless chug-your-beer-bro riffs as they salivated over the prospect of reactivated Polish headliners Decapitated. It was a long, hard, but frequently rewarding road to get there.

Midnight, and their aftermath. Pics by Daniel D. Snyder.

First, a note on the cancelled Metal Stage at Sunday's third-annual Punk Island Fest on Governor's Island: Apparently, it's "punk" to invite bands from hundreds of miles away and then fail to provide them with stage basics like a PA, a microphone, and rudimentary drums. (Attendees, meanwhile, had no maps or schedules to help them find the bands they wanted to see, out of the 130 artists occupying multiple stages spread across 172 acres.) I sat with the small crowd of metal bands while they waited and tried in vain to contact the festival's sole organizer. "This is why monarchy will never work," sighed one staff member.

Undeterred by that non-show, however, Cleveland's Motörhead-meets-Venom troupe, Midnight, went on to join forces with some of New York's elite local metal talent to destroy Brooklyn's Club Europa later in the evening.