Nile / Suffocation

With the hangover of festival season up us, metal concerts are now hitting the capital recurrently with the technical death metal showcase of Nile and Suffocation arriving in London tonight. These two high profile artists playing together is nothing short of a dream for devotees of complex aggressive metal and a midweek date will have no effect on a abundant turnout.

Vanguards of slam death metal Suffocation launch straight into their offensive. As is habitual with their tours nowadays, vocalist Frank Mullen is not present but his substitute Ricky Myers, drummer of Disgorge,commendably occupies the role with his beastly growls and austere stage presence. The New Yorkers' rhythmic death metal conjoined with technicality suffers no impediment when it comes to energising the crowd, mosh pits mandatory. Classic after classic batters The Dome with the likes of the mid-tempo bone-crushing 'Catatonia', the varied rhythms characterising 'Liege of Inveracity', the more technically ambitious title track of 'Breeding the Spawn' and the scathing guitar tone wielded in 'Pierced from Within'. The focus is on the elder material but post-reunion selections make the cut with 'As Grace Descends' and 'Abomination Reborn'.

Unlike many technical death metal acts who stray into an orgy of musical complexities, Suffocation's work maintains structured compositions that retain their memorability. Unfortunately, the guitar wizardry suffers with poor sound with the drums of Kevin Talley and Myers' vocals dominating the mix. Nonetheless after the beloved ripper 'Infecting the Crypts' has necks on stage and in the rammed venue banging at velocities new to tonight, it remains clear why Suffocation are immortalized in the crowded world of the genre they propagate. Top marks.

This year saw Nile release the comparatively stripped down yet more aggressive 'That Which Shall Not Be Unearthed' and the purveyors of Egyptian tech death metal claim the stage with the instrumental 'Ushabti Reanimator' acting as their intro tape. However new material is circumvented for now as they make their attack with the signature 'Sacrifice Unto Sebek', Egyptian-inflected melodic guitar the preamble to a technical and brutal ambush. Instantly a mosh pit arises as heads throughout the venue bang and fist punch the air.

The memorable chorus of 'Kafir!' with the imposing riffs and battery of 'Hittite Dung Incantation' are conflated into the set with new songs 'Call to Destruction' and 'In the Name of Amun'. The likes of 'The Blessed Dead', 'Ithyphallic'and 'The Howling of the Jinn' are executed flawlessly, each band member concentrating on their detailed musicianship, and remind the audience of Nile's tenacious devotion to the visceral and elaborate throughout their career. Karl Sanders' guitar oscillates between idiosyncratic melody and busy riffing, his deeper growls an effective counter balance to the more conventional style of frontman Dallas Toler-Wade. Drummer George Kollias' unpredictable technique saddles a variety of musical influences to fashion a rare sound in death metal.

The slow but sinister 'Sarcophagus' favourite closes the set and the crowd's voracious desire for more is amended with an encore beginning with the catchy 'Lashed to the Slave Stick' before being chased by the curtain-calling song of the night – of course, 'Black Seeds of Vengeance', skimming back on the melody and upping the tempo with a guitar tone redolent of old school death metal. With an elongated show of appreciation for the audience's attendance, Nile vacate the stage to leave another earth-fissuring performance that will undoubtedly seduce the attendees back on their return in the future.