Suicide Silence, Deez Nuts and Venom Prison at Koko, London - live review

With tonight’s headliners’ controversial recent steps away from deathcore, it’s amusing that they’ve brought two support bands along that perfectly sum up both death metal and hardcore in 2017. VENOM PRISON [9] are an exceptional band. They may be on stupidly early, but those who witness their unstoppable death metal are blown away. DEEZ NUTS [7] seem fairly tame by comparison. They lack the energy that characterises the best of hardcore, but have enough crunch to get all the heads nodding. SUICIDE SILENCE [9] might have lost some fans with their polarising self-titled record, but that, frankly, is those fickle fools’ loss, because, as ever, they’re a wonderful live band, and they sound massive tonight. Dying In A Red Room and Hold Me Up, Hold Me Down in particular are feral beasts in the live environment, making a mockery of any ‘sell-out’ accusations. Eddie Hermida is a force to be reckoned with, his voice able to conjure some truly deranged noises, and he celebrates his birthday by throwing his weight around, diving into the crowd and being covered in custard pies while his bandmates set fire to their gear during a closing You Only Live Once. Rumours of SuSi’s demise are greatly, wrongly exaggerated.