Suffocation is touring in Europe again, this time with a varied package of mostly established names. Hence the club was quite full, and I guess sold-out. I had missed the opening band Darkrise due to the early start and traffic.

Nordjevel was the first band I saw. This Norwegian group plays black metal. Not entirely my liking. But they have some interesting riffs and very solid playing.

God Dethroned is a another one of the major Dutch metal bands. They have been disbanded a few times but are now back again and touring. I like their first two albums by far the most. But they didn’t play anything from those unfortunately, the oldest song was Serpent King from Bloody Blasphemy. Drummer Michiel is always great to hear. Musically not always what I prefer, yet a pretty good gig.

The next band was Belphegor. A band I haven’t listened to much. This Austrian combo plays a mixture of death and black metal which I find rather dull. The stage was adorned with many homemade objects like wooden crosses, skulls and candles. Decent playing but I couldn’t really get into it.

The main event was Suffocation. A band that doesn’t have anything to adorn the stage. The set was mostly a best off set with two newer songs and the remainder from their 90s albums., in particular from Effigy of the Forgotten. Thrones of Blood opened the set, a bit of a slower song. Jesus Wept made up for that, in particular the great solo at the end. The playing was rock solid as ever. Great gig once again, albeit a bit short.