Cryptopsy, 200 Stab Wounds, Inferi, Corpse Pile – Club Academy, Manchester – Thursday 22nd January 2026

As 2026 starts to ramp up in terms of gigs, it felt good to get back to my roots at a death metal show, and what better exponent of the genre could there be than the legendary Cryptopsy. If that wasn’t tempting enough, there was a stellar undercard of up and coming death metal acts, each bringing a slightly different slant on the genre, making it unmissable and that was reflected in the sold out crowd.

CORPSE PILE

There was a queue outside the venue, patiently braving the cold, wet Manchester night before the doors opened and by the time Corpse Pile hit the stage, the room was nicely filling up. The Texans wasted no time, opening with a brutal Genesis Of Suffering getting the crowd moving with their guttural death metal. This was the band’s first time in Europe, and between songs the band spoke about things such as the virtues of the British “sidewalk” (before Where the Sidewalk Ends). They also took time to deliver a few no holds barred rants about the state of the USA and its politics, breaking up primal offerings such as Stacking Bodies and Kicked In Cadaver. This was dense, no frills, hypnotic death metal and by the time Fuck Your Life had come to a close, it’s fair to say the room had been converted to their primitive cause. 

INFERI

After a quick turnaround it was the turn of Inferi, who brought a more technical edge to proceedings without any drop in intensity. The Promethean Kings opened their short set before Eyes Of Boundless Black which saw Stevie Boiser make his way to the barrier to get up close and personal with the front rows. New track Heaven Wept brought a more symphonic edge to proceedings and the result was a glorious, epic, majestic barrage, and for me was a highlight of the set. The short set was brought to a close with Heirs Of Descent and it’s fair to say the band had impressed the sold out Manchester crowd. 

200 STAB WOUNDS

After another quick turnaround, 200 Stab Wounds hit the cramped stage and were greeted as headliners. Riding high on the crest of a wave and with an impressive reputation for their live shows, the band quickly demonstrated that this reputation is well deserved as they launched into Hands Of Eternity and Masters Of Morbidity, before Skin Milk and Tow Rope Around The Throat combined, triggering a tsunami of crowd surfers that would carry on for the rest of the night, keeping security busy and the photographers on their toes!

Perhaps a little more aggressive than the two bands that went before, and perhaps a little more accessible (relatively!), the band whipped up an energetic pit as their pulsating grooves coalesced to form a glorious, claustrophobic, hypnotic aural bombardment. The room was the busiest I have ever seen Club  Academy and as soon as the band finished there was a massive queue for the merch (as well as a couple of guys proudly comparing pit injuries!), which speaks volumes about how the band went down. 

CRYPOTOPSY

Before long, the lights went down again and For Whom the Bell Tolls played over the PA, with a loud sing along from the expectant crowd. As Hetfield & Co. faded out, Cryptopsy appeared and unleashed Slit Your Guts, leading to a massive pit and wave upon wave of crowd surfers. The band are celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the revered None So Vile opus, but rather than play that in full, they gave us six from that album and mixed them up with newer material from As Gomorrah Burns and An Insatiable Violence as well as Serial Messiah from their 1994 debut.

The songs sat well together with Matt McGachy playfully interacting with the crowd between tracks. The die-hards at the front kept the energy levels up with a swirling pit and endless stream of crowd surfers creating a good natured maelstrom. At one point, Matt was handed a phone on a FaceTime call by a surfer and proceeded to growl and roar into the camera before returning the phone the next time that surfer came over! 

This had been a triumphant celebration of None So Vile, and indeed the whole Cryptopsy legacy, but more than that, this had been a triumphant celebration of death metal, showing that the genre is not only alive and well in 2026, but that it is relevant and indeed essential to the current metal scene. 

All photography by Andy Pountney (Event Photography Awards Winner 2024 and 2025). You can check out more of his work on shot_in_the_dark_photography2 on Instagram.

Cryptopsy: Facebook

200 Stab Wounds: Website

Inferi: Bandcamp

Corpse Pile: Bandcamp

At The Barrier: Facebook / X / Instagram