DECIBEL TOUR 2026: CRYPTOPSY, NECROT, SPIRIT ADRIFT, BLOOD MONOLITH

(Our friend and contributor Ben Manzella caught the Los Angeles stop of the ongoing Decibel Magazine Tour on the night of May 12th and sent in the following thoughts about the performances, along with his own excellent photos. We’re late in posting this, through no fault of Ben’s, due to our editor’s distractions at a recent festival in Baltimore.)

As I write this review, still recovering from the welcome bangover courtesy of Northwest Terror Fest, the annual Decibel tour will be rolling into Portland this evening. While most of the lineup showcased varied interpretations of death metal, the addition of Spirit Adrift ended up being a personal highlight due to my limited familiarity with their music. Weeknight metal shows are always a gamble, and while the collective attention span at most shows seems limited, I was glad to see a good crowd show up at the Belasco this past Tuesday.

As the crowd seemed to still be trickling in like blood from a new wound, the bi-coastal unit that is Blood Monolith gripped the attention of the audience. With a set that matched the extremity and brevity of their debut album, The Calling of Fire, Blood Monolith wasted no time. Being a drummer, I was quickly impressed by the precision blasting performance by Nadia Tydings-Lynch.

Fans of old-school death metal and current death metal will easily come together for the fury offered up by Blood Monolith. Anyone who has a ticket for the remaining dates on the Decibel tour would do well to show up on time and check out their debut release through Profound Lore.

 

Shortly before the release of Infinite Illumination, which is set to be the sixth and final Spirit Adrift record, there was an announcement that the band would be ending. When the familiar announcement of visa processing issues led to Fulci being unavailable for the Decibel tour, Spirit Adrift agreed to an unexpected final tour. Band leader Nate Garrett introduced the other members of the band to the LA audience while also taking time to express his immense gratitude to them for jumping in on this tour with only six days’ notice. The powerful set they played would have never indicated the lack of time to prepare, and I feel fortunate to have been able to see them play.

Their latest record can’t be missed, and we were all treated to a few of the songs, including the powerful set-ender “Buried in the Shadow of the Cross”. While Spirit Adrift was the relatively calm band on the bill overall, they managed to have a mosh pit going, and this brought great delight to the whole band, but Nate, particularly, was smiling as he thanked the crowd for their participation. Each band seemed ready to match the intensity of whoever played before them, if not surpass it.

 

Considering I lived in Northern California when Necrot was still establishing itself, I don’t know how I missed their early shows. Thankfully, I’ve made up for it over the last decade, with Tuesday being my fourth time seeing them. As I was explaining to one of the bartenders earlier in the night, you know a great set is guaranteed when Necrot is on the lineup.

Celebrating the tenth anniversary of The Labyrinth, which was my intro to their music, Necrot had the crowd in a frenzy before the first minute of their set had passed. With the demon from the cover of their latest record, Lifeless Birth, seemingly watching from behind them, Necrot stirred up a furious mosh and crowd surfers clearing the guard rail with ease, which will be recapped in an upcoming video they filmed that night. Fifteen years in, the trio of Luca, Sonny, and Chad seems tighter than ever in their band chemistry.

 

With my mentions of the crowd participation, it seems right on theme that currently Cryptopsy is touring in support of their 2025 record An Insatiable Violence. Also, it is the thirtieth anniversary of None So Vile; with these details in mind, Cryptopsy sought out a stage setup that would be as intense as their sound. The visuals prepared for their set are stunning and best seen in person, adding a cinematic quality to the live show.

I happened to look at the lyrics to “Slit Your Guts” and noticed the name of a blade was “Tuesday”. While I’m sure this irony has occurred other times throughout the history of Cryptopsy, it feels like a random note of humor needed for this tomb-like review, with mortality and death filling each paragraph. While vocalist Matt McGachy’s stage presence is hard to match, both guitarist Christian Donaldson and bassist Olivier Pinard were feeding off the fury of the audience while performing a technically impressive set. The opportunity to witness drummer Flo Mounier live is sure to leave almost anyone slack-jawed, but especially as a drummer, his abilities never cease to amaze.

Decibel has turned the presumed bad luck of the number thirteen and made the thirteenth tour another statement on their importance to metal as a genre. Their tour consistently does a great service in championing the origins of metal while also giving new bands a platform to establish themselves live. Between my time at NWTF and my return to LA, being bookended by the Decibel tour, my hearing is begging for mercy.

You can still catch the Decibel Tour in Toronto, ON tonight, and in Montreal, QC on May 28th.