LIVE REVIEW: Suicide Silence @ Koko, London
SUICIDE SILENCE have easily been 2017’s most divisive metal bands so far. Despite not being a bad album, their self titled release has rubbed a large number of fans the wrong way. With this being their first headline tour in the UK since the album’s release it was going to be a clear indicator of what the fallout from the album was.
Openers VENOM PRISON are absolutely ferocious tonight. Their debut album Animus was a crushing onslaught of death metal and live they crank things up another level. The venue might just be slowly filling up when they come on but VENOM PRISON pay no attention to this and just proceed to give the venue a good kicking. Larrisa Stupar is on outstanding form tonight, she might say very little between songs but she just commands the stage with ease and delivers a truly vicious performance. VENOM PRISON get the night off to a great start.
Rating: 9/10
Sadly DEEZ NUTS follow this and even without all the technical difficulties their set was plagued with, their set would have felt so flat and lifeless compared to what came before. JJ Peters stage presence is so laid back to the point where it does feel lazy and tonight his stage banter just comes across as very awkward. And as previously stated there seemed to be a constant stream of technical difficulties that really hurt the flow of the set. Whether it was guitars cutting out mid song or lengthy pauses between songs to fix gear, things just never got going for DEEZ NUTS. Perhaps with less problems they could have played a more entertaining set but tonight was anything but entertaining.
Rating: 4/10
By the time SUICIDE SILENCE arrive on stage it’s clear the Koko is far from sold out. For whatever reason the album just hasn’t connected with fans, does this bother SUICIDE SILENCE? Of course it doesn’t. Opening with Doris shows how intent on pushing the new album and in a surprising turn of events, the crowd absolutely love it. A pit is open within seconds and doesn’t stop for the entire song. Even the chorus which angered so many fans is sung by lots of people in attendance tonight. Following this with No Pity For A Coward is a brilliant move that just gets the crowd more fired up. Over the course of their set SUICIDE SILENCE really put a lot of focus on the newer album with several fan favourites thrown in to break things up and the new songs fit nicely alongside the classics. It just adds another layer to their live show when they can go from something as brutal as Disengage to something as slow and moody as Dying In A Red Room.
They also seem to be enjoying playing these new songs on stage as every member seems to be grinning and really getting into every song. Eddie Hermida has grown into an even more accomplished vocalist and frontman as well, he seems to have really put his own stamp on SUICIDE SILENCE. The only real criticism of their set tonight is it falls a little on the short side at only 12 songs long. If they’d included 2 or 3 more songs then this would have been an outstanding show. So whilst it does seem to end a little prematurely the quality on display from SUICIDE SILENCE shows they are just too good to drop off even if they lose fans after the change in direction. You Only Live Once ends the set in spectacular fashion before the band take a moment to celebrate Eddie Hermida‘s birthday and end the night in really high spirits.
Rating: 9/10
Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in London from Black Lotus Photography: