Jannus Live has been absolutely killing it this month with hosting premier metal shows, and they added another one to the list on a chilly Tuesday night when Dying Fetus and Sanguisugabogg came into town. As if those two weren’t enough to sell you, they also brought the legendary Crowbar in tow, and sprinkled a little something extra on top with Left to Suffer and Deterioration as support.
It’s a lineup that seems too good to be true on paper, and as evidenced by the absolute sea of bodies that packed the venue on Tuesday night, absolutely no one was missing out on this one.
DETERIORATION
I showed up at the venue at doors and still managed to miss getting into the photo pit in time for Deterioration. The Minneapolis grindcore duo started early, like way early, and with little to no fanfare. They just walked on stage and unleashed hell.
A guy in the crowd turned to me after their first few songs and said, ‘For just drums and guitar, these guys make a hell of a lot of noise’, which I thought was extremely funny but also really poignant. They were an unrelenting wall of sound, with vocalist/guitarist Jim Kahmann’s shrill screams penetrating the air. They absolutely ruled.
As fast and as unceremoniously as they arrived, the duo was off with a quick thank you to the crowd.
LEFT TO SUFFER
The dudes in Left to Suffer are definitely ones to watch, because they showed up, whipped the crowd into a frenzy, and refused to let that energy die down for a single second during their set. The deathcore outfit from Atlanta was missing guitarist Jacob Gordon due to food poisoning, but that didn’t slow them down at all. Vocalist Taylor Barber commanded the crowd to throw as many bodies as possible over the rails, and the crowd complied.
The crowd surfing and circle pits during their set were really something to behold, and the energy these guys brought was insane. The riffs were heavy as hell, bodies were flying everywhere, dudes were piggybacking other dudes in the pit; it was anarchy. The band played amazingly well for a three-piece, and the aforementioned energy they brought was one of the highlights of the night. These guys will certainly be headlining their own tours of this size within the next few years, and they will absolutely deserve it.
CROWBAR
You know a lineup is stacked when a legendary band like Crowbar is third on the bill. The Louisiana legends had the venue packed with fans chanting their name as they took the stage. As advertised, these dudes just sound heavy as hell. For a bunch of old guys, they really still bring a ton of energy to their live shows.
Frontman Kirk Windstein introduced a song from their 1993 debut and asked how many in the crowd weren’t born yet, which got a thunderous roar. Even Windstein seemed perplexed with Crowbar’s resurgence with Gen Z, thanks in part to TikTok. Like, I get it, Crowbar has always ruled, but the recent fascination with the band eludes me. Regardless, it’s very heartwarming to see the band finally getting their flowers.
The band played through all of their bangers, including crowd favorite ‘Repulsive In Its Splendid Beauty’, and got huge responses at the end of all of their songs. I was honestly half expecting a decent chunk of the crowd to sneak out after Crowbar’s set, but it just seemed to get more and more packed as the night went on.
SANGUISUGABOGG
It’s been almost a year since the last time Sanguisugabogg made their way through Tampa, playing at the Orpheum to a completely packed house. The band has been on a meteoric rise over the last few years, so it was insane to see the difference in crowd sizes between those two shows. It was asses-to-elbows all night, but during their set, it was almost impossible to move around.
Sanguisugabogg always brings a carnal energy to their shows. They’re heavy as hell, brutally so, and the crowd always goes berserk during their set. After evading dozens of bodies coming over the barricades, vocalist Devin Swank took a break to introduce the fans to a fun little game called ‘Murderball’, where he throws a football into the pit, and whoever comes out holding the ball at the end of ‘A Lesson In Savagery’ (a fitting song title) would earn themselves some free merch. The scrum that ensued was insane, just a mass of bodies piling on top of each other to get to the football. Metal fans are truly built different.
The band played through all the hits: ‘Felony Abuse of A Corpse’, ‘Dragged by a Truck’, and the finale, ‘Dead as Shit’. Sanguisugabogg really leans into all the ‘dumbness’ of brutal death metal; it’s like a cheesy, 80’s horror film. That self-depracating, tongue-in-cheek mentality which permeates the band's social media presence has made them incredibly relatable to fans, and has definitely played a part in their huge appeal. But when it comes to the actual on-stage music, the band could not be more dead serious.
When it comes to music that activates the caveman brain, no one is doing it as well as Sanguisugabogg.
DYING FETUS
Ending the night were the legendary Baltimore grindcore three-piece known as Dying Fetus. Before they hit the stage, they seemed to be tasked with the impossible feat of topping everything else we saw throughout the night. This was easily answered within the opening track.
Watching them play live was mesmerizing because you forget that this level of technicality can be achieved with only three musicians, especially watching guitarist and lead vocalist John Gallagher rip a mind-bending solo while screaming. Splitting harsh vocal duties with bassist Sean Beasley allowed the band to build these layers that made them sound larger than life. Opening with the blisteringly fast and complex ‘One Shot, One Kill’ really set the pace for the rest of their set. They came out the gate swinging and didn’t let up.
The band continued with a few tracks off 2012’s Reign Supreme and ‘Unbridled Fury’ off their latest release. They mixed it up with a little bit of everything before throwing it back to the title track off of their debut EP ‘Grotesque Impalement’. The constant sea of bodies crowd surfing their way to the stage didn’t let up the entire set, and as I mentioned earlier, it was still nearly impossible to move around the venue. I’ve been to some packed out shows at Jannus Live, but this was the most uncomfortably full I’ve seen it. For a Tuesday night, the Florida crowd impressively held out and kept the energy up until the finale.
Dying Fetus is one of the classic bands from my youth which got me into extreme music, so finally seeing them perform some of those songs live was a real surreal experience. Unlike a lot of their peers from that era, I would argue Dying Fetus continues to age like fine wine and improve with age. They’re still releasing incredibly interesting and complex songs, and they really don’t have a bad album in their discography. Judging by the insane turnout, I would think most people would agree with me.
This really was a dream lineup and all of the bands absolutely crushed it. The Florida crowd showed up in droves and went so hard, I saw multiple people get carried out from the mayhem. If you’re a fan of heavy music or imposing physical violence on your fellow man, this is a tour you don’t want to miss.