On Friday, October 23rd, 2026 Dying Fetus brought their co-headlining tour to The Ritz in Raleigh, North Carolina. This marked their 31st stop on their tour with Sanguisugabogg, Left to Suffer, and Deterioration. This stop also featured special guests for the night, Iron Reagan instead of the previously announced Crowbar.
If I weren't well versed in the logos of this band, I would imagine this show would have looked overwhelming just by the flyer. Thankfully, the true die-hard death metal fans of North Carolina knew how to decipher those hieroglyphics and came out to relentlessly throw down to all of these heavy-hitting bands.
DETERIORATION
The first band to start this throwdown was Deterioration from Bloomington, Minneapolis. This is a very unique act formed by two brothers. It is all DIY old-school grindcore. As soon as I heard Jim Kahmann's piercing high screams ringing through the venue, I knew we were in for quite a treat. The performance was only 25 minutes long, but it was intriguing! The rapid firing of songs held my attention the whole set. As expected from a grindcore band, they performed a total of 17 songs within the span of 25 minutes, which is impressive! They did an amazing job at setting the tone for this massive bill.
LEFT TO SUFFER
Next to take over the stage was Atlanta's Left to Suffer. Those who know these deathcore lads know they are not here to play around! They have a sound that just makes people want to lose their minds! In fact, they put the venue's staff to work immediately with the EXPLOSION of crowd surfers that started pouring over the barricade to the stage. Clearly, those security guards did not do their research on this band prior to clocking in that night. The crowd had them stressed out! This did not hinder Left to Suffer at all. The crowd actually had the opposite effect on the band, and they kept playing their hearts out. I have never seen so many people moving around and crowd surfing so early in a show before. This was truly an entertaining set. Left to Suffer was a perfect act to put on this bill and get people hyped up early in the night!
IRON REAGAN
The guests of the night, Iron Reagan, promptly commanded the stage with their rapid-fire thrash metal. These guys have such a fun energy, and it is always a blast seeing them perform, despite them not performing very often. Vocalist Tony Foresta has such a fiery and sassy attitude that I adore. As someone who has seen him perform a few times at The Ritz before, I knew he was going to be asking for circle pits around the poles in the room. However, he didn't even have to ask the crowd this time! As soon as the set started, the crowd knew what they had to do. Foresta made note of this later in the set, and then enticed the crowd to create two circle pits at once around both of the poles. He was loving the energy! Despite the crowd literally crawling over each other through the whole set, he referenced the insanity that occurred during Left to Suffer's set by saying, "We have only been on this tour for 9 hours, and this is the least amount of crowd-surfers we have seen so far!" The crowd put in work for Iron Reagan, but they still had more to give!
SANGUISUGABOGG
Co-headliners, Sanguisugabogg, were next to attempt to tire this relentless crowd. This slam band is known for their fun energy, and they get the crowd rowdy for sure. This night was no different. The crowd erupted once again, and the security guards were on their toes right off the bat. I mean, how could you listen to songs like "Face Ripped Off," "Skin Cushion," "Dragged By A Truck," or "Dead As Shit" and not lose every ounce of decency in your body? Animalistic instincts all kick in as soon as Sanguisugabogg takes the stage. Vocalist Devin Swank always knows how to get the crowd going, especially when he is in a venue where the notorious game of "murder ball" can be played. If you haven't witnessed such a thing as a "murder ball" before, it is very entertaining. Swank throws a football into the crowd, and whomever has the ball at the end of the set and returns it to the merch table gets free merch from the band. As one can assume, this means people go even crazier! At one point towards the end of their set, Swank split the room in two...sets of two!? Yes, reader—you read that right. This man had the crowd engage in TWO walls of death simultaneously. This is not something I have personally witnessed before, but this brutal endeavor went down exactly how one would expect it to. This was a great way to end this set and keep people fired up for Dying Fetus!
DYING FETUS
Finally, the pinnacle of the night was when Dying Fetus started performing. Now, I don't think I really have to introduce this band, as they are OG's in the brutal death metal scene. It goes without saying, they are incredible live! All three members are highly technical and talented musicians. It was great being able to see them at a venue like this, instead of at a festival like I previously had. I was also excited to see how much they were enjoying being on stage and performing!
The crowd kept up their energy for Dying Fetus, which was impressive because they had been going hard ALL night already! It was nice to see such a diverse group of people fired up for this performance. People of all ages were engaged in showing off how much fun they were having for this set! The set consisted of 11 songs, with a good representation of songs throughout their entire discography. Their performance included songs such as "One Shot, One Kill," "Unbridled Fury," and "Intentional Manslaughter." They ended the night off with "Justifiable Homicide," which the crowd went crazy for.
Unfortunately, this massive, BIG BOY tour concluded the next night in Richmond, Virginia. However, this is not the end of touring this year for Dying Fetus. In just about a week from now, on November 6th, they will begin their Latin American tour, with their first stop being in Tijuana, Mexico. This tour will include numerous stops in Mexico, Central America, and South America. The tour will conclude in Argentina on December 4th. If you are an avid death metal fan in the Latin Americas, then you will not be disappointed seeing them perform in a city near you!
