LIVE REVIEW: Cryptopsy and Atheist @ Slay, Glasgow
Tech metalheads, rejoice! Tonight, Glasgow’s Slay hosts a co-headlining event, featuring tech death metal icons, CRYPTOPSY, and progressive thrash/death metallers ATHEIST. While the former have made a dent in Glasgow on previous UK tours, this marks ATHEIST‘s debut appearance in Scotland and first UK show since 2010.
First up is American death metallers 72 LEGIONS, taking over the stage very shortly after the doors open. Formed in 2022 with just two EPs and a split bearing their name, their interpretation of the sub-genre borrows from an array of varying death metal styles. They intertwine brutal and melodic death metal, along with some more hardcore-inflected observations. The variation of tempos sustains attention live and is a fine way to kickstart proceedings tonight as the venue fills up.
Rating: 7/10
Next up is ALMOST DEAD, a thrash metal troupe hailing from the United States. Modern thrash metal spiced with hardcore veins is their preferred method of attack. There are plenty of hardcore-style breakdowns and vocalist Tony Rolandelli utilises vocals from this genre of music over conventional thrash shouts. Quite unusually, some of their tracks feature some atmospheric keyboard chords, making their music more memorable and contrasting against their heavier outbursts. The band’s stage presence is dynamic and bouncy, and they’re keen to get the audience to enjoy their set.
Rating: 7/10
This incarnation of American tech metal weirdos ATHEIST is composed of vocalist Kelly Schaefer and a new lineup from 2023. While original drummer Steve Flynn officially still slaps the skins, he is replaced by Dylan Marks in the live realm. Tonight’s show focuses on their classic trilogy of pre-break up albums Piece of Time, Unquestionable Presence and Elements. No Truth is the opening shot, a bristling heavy thrash attack paired with infinite sophistication. Schaefer‘s stage energy is uncompromising; he grooves and moves throughout the whole set – particularly impressive for a man in his mid-fifties. He’s visually enthusiastic and happy to be performing live and that energy transcends to the fans. The rest of the lineup possesses exceptional talent, capable of deftly handling such insanely technical metal.
Understandably, Unquestionable Presence is the album with the most representation tonight. Cycling through progressive, thrash and death metal via jazz makes for some of the most impressive extreme metal recorded, to this date. The audience is privileged to hear the likes of Enthralled In Essence, Your Life’s Retribution, Unquestionable Presence, Mother Man and Brains from this innovative 1991 full-length. The debut album Piece Of Time also contributes to a significant portion of the setlist, with particular highlights being: I Deny, On They Slay and Unholy War. For songs from these two albums, the punters spawn consistent mosh pits that decimate the venue while crowd surfers keep security busy. Closing song Piece Of Time is a final celebration of oddball extreme prog thrash metal that leaves behind a spectacular show.
Rating: 10/10
Canada’s tech death metal titans CRYPTOPSY will need to have the best performance of the night to top ATHEIST‘s. And indeed, they begin their performance on a lighter foot, with new song In Abeyance from last year’s As Gomorrah Burns. The lack of familiarity with this song leaves the punters reserved and far too motionless for a death metal show. However, the next song is the beloved Graves Of The Fathers, which really ignites appetites and demands pugnacious pits and headbanging. CRYPTOPSY‘s visionary of sinister technical death metal is surely among the apex of the sub-genre and it’s clear to understand why classic albums including None So Vile and Blasphemy Made Flesh solidified them into the upper echelons of tech death.
Speaking of Blasphemy Made Flesh, this year is the band’s first album’s thirty-year anniversary. While one would expect a hefty representation of the album, if not the entire tracklisting, performed tonight, vocalist Matty McGachy says that we’ll be treated to a medley of it. Considering the album clocks in just shy of forty minutes and their set tonight is an hour long, this feels like a poor decision. Naturally, condensing an album into a scant ten minutes means so many passages of the best songs are scythed away. None So Vile classics like Crown Of Horns, Slit Your Guts, and the beloved Phobophile help restore mosh pits but they’re certainly less frantic than ATHEIST‘s.
That said, the musicianship of the band is an incredulous sight to behold, furious and intricate, especially mainman Flo Mounier on the drums. McGachy does an serviceable job as a death metal vocalist these days but still struggles to fill the shoes (both vocals and stage presence) of his predecessor, Lord Worm. The closing song of the night is Orgiastic Disembowelment, another classic to end on a higher note. But ATHEIST‘s performance still surpasses them.
Rating: 7/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Glasgow from Duncan McCall here:
