Putrid Pile, Amputated, Coprocephalic Mutation, Operation Cunt Destroyer, Dissolving Entity, Rumination
Soup, Manchester
Saturday 16th May 2026

Review by Donna Craddock @clickclickbanguk

Photos by @Andreww.cr2

We’re in for a treat tonight at (literal!) underground venue Soup, with a whole bunch of brutal slamming bands ready to rend the eardrums of the enthusiastic punters!

Hartlepool’s Rumination (https://ruminationdm.bandcamp.com) are first up, bringing their brand of old school brutal death metal, with their early breakdowns getting lots of people headbanging.  Their mix of blastbeats and breakdowns are a great start to the night, with vocalist Paul Hartburn calling for “slammerhead sharks and hammers” for their new track “Guantanamo Spray” which is about being waterboarded with piss. Lovely! The sound is a bit muddy which is a shame as you can see the riffs are complex but can’t hear them very well, but they are hugely entertaining and a great opening band for this heavy-as-heck night. 

Dissolving Entity (https://dissolvingentity.bandcamp.com/album/parasite-enthroned ) from Edinburgh came on immediately blasting some bouncy riffs that got the crowd moving straight away. I had heard a lot of good things about these guys prior to the show and I can say the reports were correct, they are excellent live. Their fast paced riffs blend into super slow breakdowns, riling the crowd up and getting a pretty good sized pit going for such a small venue. “Parasite Enthroned” begins with a super slow doomy riff that has everyone headbanging, and they finish with a Defeated Sanity cover with Coprocephalic Mutation’s Kyle on guest vocals to a very happy crowd. A triumphant first Manchester show for these guys!

The delightfully-monikered Operation Cunt Destroyer (https://operationcuntdestroyer.bandcamp.com/ ) trekked all the way from Falkirk in Scotland to be here tonight, but despite the distance they are regulars on the Manchester scene and the crowd is excited to see them again.  Opening with a sample about the dangers of slam music, they immediately launch into a ridiculous amount of riffs, slams and ear-busting bass drops. They are so heavy and ridiculous that I found myself standing there with a big fat grin on my face, and I’m pretty sure the rest of the crowd felt the same way.  Almost every track opens with a stupid and/or hilarious sample and, whilst the songs may follow a certain formula, they are so daft and so heavy that you forgive them for that. To be fair, any band with song titles such as “Bathtime Bestiality” and “Poor Quality Penile Sodomy” aren’t in it for the subtlety of songwriting.  And who cares? Certainly not this crowd who are slamming, hardcore dancing and two-stepping the entire time. Brilliant. And stupid.

Manchester’s own Coprocephalic Mutation (https://coprocephalicmutationslam.bandcamp.com/ ) bring it back to a more traditional slamming brutal death metal vibe next, but still absolutely chock-full of fat riffs and heavy breakdowns. Copro get better every time I see them and are one of the best bands on the scene, they get the hometown crowd frenzied.  Still with a pinch of humour (track “Spasticated Encripplement” is introduced with the line “This song is about Brian Harvey from East17 getting run over by his own car”) their set is fast-paced without a lot of chat.  Not that we care, with tracks such as “Recantation of Faith” and “Descending Throught the Plains Of Omnipresent Rapture” providing all the communication they need.  Copro were a late addition to the bill as Iniquitous Savagery had to unfortunately pull out but you can tell no one cares, they are having a brilliant time with Copro’s slams.

Normally I’d expect Bristols very own goremongers Amputated (https://amputated.bandcamp.com/ ) to be top of the bill at a show like this, considering their status as UK brutal death metal legends, but tonight they are (rightly!) the penultimate band of the night.  Vocalist Mark Pearce is as self-deprecating as always, telling the crowd after opener “Wading Through Rancid Offal” that hes already knackered.  His little monologues are often gross, extremely offensive but very funny, hes a great frontman and an insane vocalist.  The rest of the band don’t disappoint either, blasting through tracks like “Anally Disemboweled”, “Skullfucked” and “Repugnant Genital Deformity” with gusto, and the audience is absolutely loving it.  “This song is about Warhammer, its called “Regenerate the Carnifex” you fucking nerds” absolutely cracked me up, especially knowing that Mark is absolutely obsessed with painting the little battle figures.  But no Amputated set is complete without the now-iconic sample of Alan Ford’s monologue about disposing of bodies via pigs in the film “Snatch”, which leads into their most popular track, “Slam Pig”. The crowd goes absolutely mental for this one, and its easy to understand why, its groovy, heavy and very easy to mosh to.  An absolutely successful set for Amputated and I already can’t wait to see them again!

The star of the show tonight, Putrid Pile (https://www.facebook.com/PutridPileOfficial/ ) maestro Shaun Lacanne, is greeted with huge cheers and many many hecklers declaring their love for him throughout the course of the show, it’s a regular love-in for Shaun! And for good reason; Putrid Pile are one of the granddaddies of modern day slam and brutal death metal, having formed in Wisconsin in 2000. While Putrid Pile is usually a one-man project, tonight he has an extra guitarist/vocalist in the form of Ex-Cerebral Bore guitarist Paul McGuire which helps immensely with their sound.  Unfortunately the sound guy tonight decided to mix the drum machine so high in the mix that it was almost impossible to hear the complexity of the riffs over the double-bass drum at times, as well as being so loud I’ve never been so thankful for ear protection!  But Putrid Pile are as groovy, brutal and dynamic as they always are and the audience is having an absolute blast. As is Shaun, happily lapping up all the adoration given to him by the crowd, and clearly having an absolute whale of a time.  Tracks included “Drenched in Gasoline” from their debut 2003 release “Collection of Butchery” all the way through to 2021’s “Revel in Lunacy” with “Death Waits for No One”, and the crowd is lapping them up.  Finishing off with “Food for the Maggots” from 2005’s “The Pleasure in Suffering”, the audience is a sweaty but satiated (and slightly deaf!) mess.  Another successful night for extreme music in Slamchester!