Madison, Wisconsin, is a university town and so music plays a bigger than usual part in the city’s cultural life. I’m certain there have been tons of strange acts that have played there over the years, but it’s pretty safe to say that November 16, 2023 brought the heaviest and most brutally loud heavy metal show that Mad Town had ever seen. With co-headliners INCANTATION and SUFFOCATION, we have two of the literal architects of the death metal movement. Their fingerprints are all over literally thousands of bands worldwide. Coming up hard on their heels are SKELETAL REMAINS and STABBING, part of the new generation of extreme metal set to take the torch from the masters. And with CASKET ROBBERY, we have a homegrown band that is really starting to make waves in the greater death metal scene.

And how would Madison respond to a show of this ferocious magnitude? Would the metal faithful turn out to support or would the college town prove to be the hipster’s delight once more, reveling in the likes of PERTURBATOR and DRAB MAJESTY but turning its back on the devil’s music?

Judging by the almost two block long line I had to stand in to get into the Annex Club, death metal is in good shape in the Mad City. If this wasn’t a sell-out it wasn’t far short. Standing outside for almost 45 minutes didn’t put me in a very good humor, but the silver lining was an excellent turnout. And for the middle of November, the weather, in the low 50’s and high 40’s, was not bad at all.

It was my first time in The Annex club, which has been part of the music scene down on Regent Street for many years. I was expecting a slightly bigger place, something on the level of The Crucible which just played host to Blades of Steel. Instead I would compare it more to Reggie’s in Chicago. The layout and look was pretty bland, but I have to admit, the sound and lighting for the bands was excellent and once the show started, it moved along efficiently with no annoying delays. 

Opening the show were local faves CASKET ROBBERY, a band we’ve covered here at Wormwood since their inception. They’ve grown steadily in stature and stand poised to make some real gains when their next record comes out. They were just about the perfect choice to start the night.

It’s kind of tough to put a finger on exactly what kind of metal CASKET ROBBERY plays, except that it was EXTREME. There was some really super-fast kind of thrashing metal to break necks, some slower more deliberately paced stuff that wasn’t quite doom, a song with a rather sizable synth component to it and another that sounded pretty “core” including breakdowns. One constant the band had were the growling vocals of the female lead vocalist, which come across as just plain mean. She looked ready to brawl with every guy in the crowd. I thought she was the pinnacle of feminine aggression...little did I know what the very next band would bring. At any rate, CASKET ROBBERY got the evening off to a brisk start and were warmly received in their home town.

Next up was a Texas act I knew little about, STABBING. These guys were a trip….did I say “guys”? That leaves out their lead singer by the name of Bridget. Women are no longer any kind of novelty in the metal world...even extreme metal. But man oh man, there are very few voices of either sex that could match the growling beast-like insanity of what this gal conjures on stage. Never judge a book by its cover...this pleasant looking young lady tore a hole through everybody in the Annex with her super low tuned, ultra-gutteral BEAST GROWLS! Not even INCANTATION and SUFFOCATION, who have been playing for 30 years, could match what Bridget puked up tonight. And she made it look so effortless, with no apparent strain! Truly a monstrous spectacle.

As for music, STABBING played a relentless form of slamming death metal not far from what their fellow Texans DEVOURMENT dish out. Music of this variety can wear out its welcome very quickly, but the band’s professionalism and Bridget’s vomitous roars helped them over the hump. Considering that two members of the band were brand new, that was quite a feat. The drummer was an android in disguise and Bridget rarely came up for air. I think STABBING would be kind of monotonous on record, but live, they were having fun and the packed crowd was WAY into them. Watch for more from these guys in the months to come.

It would be hard to follow STABBING’s set, but SKELETAL REMAINS gave it a go. I thought the last record from these cats, “The Entombment of Chaos”, was one of the best American death metal records in a long stretch. Musically, they might have been the most adept band that played tonight. Tight is not the word and the quality of their guitar solos in particular was extremely high. This is a band that are no longer really newcomers, but neither are they hardened veterans...at least, not on the same level as tonight’s headliners.

I enjoyed SKELETAL REMAINS set, but they were guilty of the same fault as the last time I saw them. Despite their undeniable professionalism, they just seem to lack personality on stage. That doesn’t mean they need to crack jokes constantly or scream violently at the crowd but they need to do something to jazz up their presence. Lead vocalist Chris Monroy seems rather laconic and his between song communication barely registers. That being said, the beauty of SKELETAL REMAINS is that they can find that sweet spot between total atomic mayhem and well structured songs. I can’t wait for their next album, it might be the one to put them over the top.

I wasn’t sure whether SUFFOCATION or INCANTATION would get the headline slot...they’ve been around about the same time and had roughly the same level of success. For tonight, it would be INCANTATION that ended the gig, leaving SUFFOCATION as the next band. The crowd was really primed for these guys and they cut loose with a pit that lasted the entire set. This was also my first time seeing new vocalist Ricky Myers in action. Still strange not seeing Frank Mullen cupping the mike anymore. Ricky looked like he was ready to shoot hoops on the street, but he did a great job tearing into a set that featured both old and new SUFFO favorites. He’s not quite as “grinding” as Frank was but his breath control was phenomenal and he showed no sign of fatigue roaring almost nonstop.

If you like blasting, technical death metal, these are the guys who helped to pioneer it. They did it with tracks like “Breeding The Spawn”, “Pierced From Within” and “Liege of Inveracity”, all of which got played tonight. Their new album “Hymns from the Apocrypha” was well represented with the title track, “Seraphim Enslavement” and “Perceptual Deception”. Discerning ears could detect a slightly slower pace on the new stuff and even some deathcore style breakdowns which managed to be more effective than most of their ilk. Stage divers finally made their appearance during SUFFOCATION’s set, demonstrating how wound up the crowd was for them. As a special treat, “Goddess of the Guttural” Bridget from STABBING came out during “Infecting the Crypts” to do a duet with Ricky. Sonny and Cher this mostly definitely wasn’t. I never thought I’d see a woman who could hold her own with a vocalist from SUFFOCATION but Bridget managed to do it.

There was a noticeable drop in crowd energy when INCANTATION finally took the stage. They can’t be blamed in any way for this, as the previous four bands all came out loaded for bear and there’s only so long you can keep up the rage. Also, the band plays a doomier and not quite so speed oriented style of death metal compared to SUFFOCATION. INCANTATION wasn’t lacking fury and energy by any means, but they can’t be called a “slam” band like SUFFO or STABBING.

The band kicked off with “Concordat” from their new album “Unholy Deification” and their set was surprisingly heavy on tracks from their more recent albums. The grey haired grand-daddy of death, John McEntee, sounded as ghoulish as ever and may have set a record for how many times he called the crowd “motherfuckers”.  I noticed that long time drummer Kyle Severn was not behind the kit tonight...I think Charlie Koryn may have taken his place, but not sure. Anyway, there is something oddly mesmerizing about INCANTATION’s cavernous, often primitive style of death metal...a style which has become predominant these days. Few can do it better than the masters. As the set wound down, the classics like “Ibex Moon” and “Impending Diabolical Conquest” made their appearance. The crowd had thinned a bit, but was still strong...especially considering this was a week night.

All in all, this was a monstrously heavy show that showed no mercy from the first to the last. I must admit the Annex had good sound and lighting, even if the venue had little personality that I could see. A decent place to see a show and I suspect I haven’t seen the last of it. Perfect tour to get some holiday cheer...if you’re a serial killer, that is!