Coming from across the pond in Montreal, Canada, to play a sold-out Club Academy in Manchester are old school death metal legends Cryptopsy on their “All So Vile” tour, a play on words with their first album (which recently turned 30 years old), None So Vile. This tour is filled with new bands, all varying in styles of death metal, and the crowd knows they are in for an absolute treat tonight.
First up is Corpse Pile, Texas hardcore death metal. They’re a dirty, gritty, and super slammy death metal/hardcore genre bender, and it’s just absolute perfection. They feel like a mix of Devourment and Dying Fetus, and let’s be real, how does that not make you want to lose your mind? They walked on stage to be met with quite a big cheer from a room that wasn’t too crowded yet and immediately started strong with a banger, ‘Vengeful Hymns,’ and the crowd was immediately moving with spin kicks and arms galore. Their vocalist, Jason Landry, was moving across the stage the whole time and honestly looking like he was having the time of his life.
Their guitarist also cracked the audience up a few times, as he would randomly just shout “FUCK YOU” into his mic right before a riff, and it just felt perfect considering his insanely aggressive guitar tone. You don’t even need to see his amp to know his mids are at zero. Just before playing their song ‘Reality,’ vocalist Jason gave a shoutout: “This song’s for straight edge,” which was met with a “YEAHHH” from the one straight edge guy in the crowd.
Sadly, before we knew it, they were on their last few songs. Playing ‘Kicked In Cadaver’ second to last was absolutely incredible to hear live. Making several impassioned speeches about the uselessness of the USA, on Trans and Queer rights, and finally, after a monologue on “us vs them,” they launch into ‘Fuck Your Life,’ which is literally the slowest and meanest riff you can think of, and then they have the cheek to slow it down even more at the end. It feels so heavy that it should be illegal. This was honestly incredible to hear live after listening to it for years, and if Corpse Pile come to a city near you, you should go see them, because the energy they bring is amazing.
Next up is Tennessee melodic tech death badasses Inferi, opening with ‘Eldritch Evolution.’ They had enthusiasm as soon as they stepped on stage, and the vocalist didn’t stop moving the entire set, even going into the crowd once or twice himself. Inferi are much more technical than the rest of the lineup, but that wasn’t holding them back from standing out at all. During ‘Eyes of Boundless Black,’ calls for violence by their vocalist, Stevie, were very well met. Unfortunately, the vocals did get lost in the mix during the set, but they were still incredible.
Just before their last song, ‘Behold the Bearer of Light,’ the vocalist said, “I really wish we had more time on the stage,” with a massive smile on his face, which was very sweet. Everyone loves a smiley death metal guy! He finished the set by crowdsurfing and doing vocals at the same time, the audience only too happy to help.
Second to last is 200 Stab Wounds, hailing from Cleveland, Ohio. 200 Stab Wounds were definitely a highlight of the night, coming out playing the intro to their song ‘Dance of Eternity,’ which did a great job of upping the ante and suspense. They quickly jumped into high energy, synchronised moshing and bleghs, which was quickly met by the crowd with a massive circle pit.
This set was truly something special, highlighting one of the best death metal bands to come out in recent years. Seriously, go listen to 200 Stab Wounds and try not to have a good time; it’s practically impossible. Taking their setlist entirely from their two releases, the crowd knew these tracks off by heart. Vocalist Steve Buhl sounds positively inhuman tonight and their drummer’s kit was huge. The stereotype of big kit equals bad drummer has never been a bigger lie than tonight, because he was putting on one hell of a performance.
The crowd was going absolutely insane for them, so much so the photographers were pulled out of the pit early due to the number of crowdsurfers. Their slower, darker blend of death metal is a perfect addition to this evening’s bill, and their charisma on stage is evident. An exciting band you should keep an eye on!
And finally, the G.O.A.T.s, Cryptopsy, and to no one’s surprise, their performance was incredible. They opened with ‘Slit Your Guts,’ which just made the crowd go absolutely wild. The most notable thing during the set had to be the bass tone coming from Olivier Pinard, which was just straight up nasty.
Sadly, aside from the vocals and drums, the sound was really bad and the guitar and bass were often lost in the mix. The performance was incredible, insanely high energy and the band were clearly loving it, as well as the audience who crowdsurfed and circle pitted the entire set. But even after moving to different spots in the room, it was difficult to hear any guitar whatsoever; it just got really drowned out by the drums.
Still an incredible show, and hearing some of my favourite songs I’ve been listening to for years live was an experience I won’t forget. With the majority of the show taken up by tracks from the 30 year old album None So Vile as well as a handful from their most recent album, 2025’s An Insatiable Violence, it’s safe to say that Cryptopsy are an incredible live band, even if their sound wasn’t up to par.
Despite the sound woes, the crowd leaves this show incredibly happy. With three sets by up and coming modern death metal bands and one by a legendary band playing so many tracks from their most legendary album, this was one night the metallers of Manchester will be talking about for a while to come.
Pre-order None So Live by Cryptopsy here.
