LIVE REVIEW: Origin @ The Asylum, Birmingham

Kansas death metallers ORIGIN have delighted the baying hordes with their undeniable brutal assault for twenty years now and the reason behind their longevity is simple – their fusion of uncompromising brutality and wanton belligerence remains unmistakable to this day. The galactic gut-punch of 2017 conceptual tour de force Unparalleled Universe was as diverse as it was dizzying in its power and technical intricacies, and now the four-piece are back in Birmingham for date four of The Unparalleled World Tour 2018. And with RINGS OF SATURN, HIDEOUS DIVINITY and GRAVESLAVE joining them on what could be deemed as the fiercest death metal bill of the spring, all paths lead to unbridled sonic slaughter.

Tonight’s venue lives up to its morose moniker. With its bar staff decked out in doctor and nurse garbs and the half-empty, dank and uber-draughty hall sprawled out before them, it’s up to Minneapolis’ GRAVESLAVE to dish up the right aural prescription to this smattering of nonchalant onlookers. Thankfully, what these guys lack in overall numbers, they certainly make up for in sheer resonance. Drawing from influences across the extreme metal spectrum, the ‘Slave sound is dispensed at breakneck speed underpinned by relentless aggression. Delivering the bulk of guttural growls with his head lurched firmly towards the concrete, the nauseating filth of Slit Throats and Garrote encourages vocalist Don (aka Doombringer) to commence raging about the stage – at one point his tenacious fervour almost causing him to foam at the mouth like some form of rabid beast. It’s one hell of a Birmingham live debut.

Rating: 7/10  

HIDEOUS DIVINITY’s monstrous melange of throat ripping shrieks and face-melting tech-death shred offers zero respite from the seething torrent of carnage this growing crowd just bore witness to. Although when a band can boast having current/ex-members of HOUR OF PENANCE at the helm, it would be foolish to expect anything else. Illuminated by seizure-inducing green strobes and throwing his outstretched arms aloft – akin to a disciple booted out of heaven’s gates – Enrico Di Lorenzo proceeds to lead his unholy brethren through a set brimming with undulating riffs, percussive gallops and blastbeats so eviscerating that they could easily be mistaken for machine gun fire. Material from last year’s opus Adveniens highlights the Italians’ penchant for blistering solos and constantly shifting signatures; the crushing chug of Ages Die induces immediate sensory overload whilst a dynamic rendition of Passages combines meandering chord progressions with atmospheric breaks for an injection of technical darkness. Collective skins are only momentarily spared from the omnipotent roasting when the frontman declares “I am a doctor – I want my free drink” to the bar staff witnessing the ensuing chaos.

Rating: 7/10

A brief scan of the swelling Asylum reveals a sea of bodies sporting RINGS OF SATURN merch and as the extreme metal genre-benders take centre stage to the dramatic (and deafening) refrains of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the time has come to get extra-terrestrial. A casual shout of “Hey” instantly segues into a tech-death onslaught of eardrum obliterating proportion with a bludgeoning opening salvo of Margidda and The Relic – both of which are as sickeningly heavy as they are insanely catchy – but it’s Harvest’s gloriously unhinged carnival-cum-freakshow overtures that truly highlights the Bay Area quartet’s surreal and abstract brand of Aliencore. Unleashing an inhuman barrage of indecipherable screams amongst atonal guitar notes, demented riffs and propulsive drumming, Ian Bearer stomps, stalks and seethes over every inch of available space. Perhaps the most batshit moment of the set comes in the form of 90’s hit Smooth (originally penned by Latin alt-rock outfit SANTANA) being sampled and dropped into the start of Inadequate – before dirge-laden breakdowns and the effortless transitions between low-end gutturals and pig squeals kick in that is. The cosmos remains their proverbial oyster.

Rating: 8/10

Claims that ORIGIN remain one of the most intense and technical forces to be reckoned with when it comes to bands inhabiting the extreme metal spectrum are unequivocally justified – for the brute force trauma witnessed this evening is nothing short of jaw-dropping. Jason Keyser’s raw grind-meets-deathcore vocals are the jump-off for adrenaline fuelled bodies to start hurtling around the floor as everyone becomes fully immersed in the churning grooves. Dizzying bursts of oppressive noise and jackhammer riffs permeate tracks like Infinitesimal to the Infinite and Truthslayer; the latter of which illustrating the quartet’s proclivities for jarring time signatures, unencumbered shred courtesy of lead guitarist Paul Ryan and some of the most ridiculously impressive (read alien-like precision) sweep picking and bass-string slapping noted in a live capacity. Keyser‘s admission that the band are joining us on the tenth anniversary of fourth studio album Antithesis therefore he’d like to request a circle pit are, unsurprisingly, greeted by primal howls and as melodic behemoth Wrath of Vishnu ricochets through the dense air, pints fly skywards and the hammers lunge down. A lone crowd surfer emerges from the wastage during bonecrusher Lethal Manipulation but its the vein-popping belligerence of The Aftermath which pummels the masses into a frenzied submission. They may be twenty years in the making but ORIGIN showed Birmingham zero mercy tonight – with absolutely zero signs of slowing down.

Rating: 9/10 

Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in Birmingham from Serena Hill Photography here: