Tag: metal

LIVE REVIEW – GLORYHAMMER, TWILIGHT FORCE, AMMO

March 12th, 2024

Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix

Photos & Words: Miles Leblanc

Gloryhammer brought the fun and the heat from Europe to Toronto on Tuesday night, with outstanding touring support from Sweden’s Twilight Force and local openers Ammo.

AMMO
The perfect local opener for this show blending in unique Toronto-styled heavy metal, paying homage to all of the bands from around the world before them but with modern flare, a Toronto edge, and lots of feeling. Ammo absolutely got the crowd ramped up right from the start, continuing throughout the performance, even gaining the acknowledgement of the most staunch metalhead in the crowd with fists in the air and headbanging all around. At one point, viewing the crowd from the back of the venue and observing things, after the first three songs, Ammo absolutely had the crowd in the palm of their hands.

Alex, the vocalist, has endless vocals for days and a barrage of stage banter to match the outstanding vocals, bringing in the same level of screams as heavy metal legends who’ve been singing for decades. Brett, the guitarist with the orange guitar, much like Alex, just screams away on the guitar with endless riffs, endless grooves, and a better head of hair than anyone else in the crowd. Jeff on bass just sounded so massive on the Phoenix sound system, just thumping away the whole performance from start to finish. Matt, the other guitarist and the newest member of the band, would absolutely blow your mind with how seamless he plays in the band, all business and compliments, playing back and forth with Brett all throughout the performance. Last but certainly not least, Struan plays like an absolute timepiece, effortlessly playing the drums to the point where, multiple times throughout the performance, having the time to provide faces that would express Struan is having fun rather than work behind the kit.

Speaking of Struan, mid set it was brought to the Toronto crowd’s attention that it was Struan’s birthday. With the request from Alex, the Toronto crowd delivered all the happy feels to Struan on his special day, coming together and singing happy birthday.

Together, this five-piece local Toronto heavy metal band put on a consistent, headbanging, and just flat-out fun performance. I can’t wait for the next performance, which thankfully is later this month at the Bovine, as proclaimed by Alex mid-set, and most importantly, can’t wait to see the new music from this fully-loaded, well-polished, and standard-setting Toronto heavy metal band. Bravo! 

Setlist 
Tombstone City, Into Death, Street Metal Werewolves, Doomsayer, Mortis Rex, Empire, Too Metal For Metal

TWILIGHT FORCE
This concert is my first time even hearing this band, and it’s music live and in person. This band, full of story-telling through songs and in-between songs, was in full LARP (Live-Action Role-Playing) style costumes and caused a lot of crowd-going members to dress up as well. Each member came out one by one, to the roar and delight of the Toronto crowd, and at the end of band introductions, new vocalist Kristin absolutely burst out onto stage horns first, seemingly with the same amount of energy someone would need to run a marathon.

Within the first minute of the first song, the Toronto crowd was deafeningly loud, singing the songs word for word and creating a lot of vibrations with movement and stomping feet to the degree that the floor was vibrating, which is not an easy feat in any venue. Twilight Force cruised through the setlist, getting to the first part of addressing the crowd, to which Kristin let the uninformed know that the main vocalist, Allyon, was MIA for this tour due to family issues. To this point in the performance and to the end of the performance, I was hard-pressed to believe that this band had a missing vocalist. Seriously, that impressive. Kristin absolutely belted through the songs, singing in all the ranges from the most gentle operatic voice, so something more fitting of the horns on their head, growls from down below.

Both guitarists, Aerendir and Lynd absolutely brought a new flavour of guitar work and symphonic power metal throughout the performance. Trading off rhythms, riffs, and melodies back and forth absolutely hooked me in. Born, the bassist and no argument here, the most photogenic in the band complemented the strings throughout the performance, genuinely expressing a lot of happiness in the reception from the Toronto crowd. De’Azsh, on drums, just brought the sound of a dragon, roaring through as easily as the loudest member of the band. Last but certainly not least, Blackwald plays the keyboard backing vocals and also fills in the blanks with stories in-between songs. For someone who is standing in one spot almost the whole performance, Blackwald easily did the most work.

A highlight of this performance was ‘Dragonborn’. Kristin, and the band threw an inflatable pool dragon into the crowd, and the Toronto crowd played with it too much, causing it to deflate by the end of the performance. There was lots of joy and laughter over this from the Toronto crowd. Twilight Force definitely played its part as the supporting band for the main event, Gloryhammer. It definitely opened my eyes to wanting to check out more symphonic power metal, and I hope they come back to Toronto again. Swords, dragons, and LARP, oh my!

Setlist
Dawn Of The Dragonstar, Twilight Force, Dragonborn, Thundersword, Flight Of The Sapphire Dragon, Sunlight Knight, At The Heart Of Wintervale, The Power Of The Ancient Force, Knights Of Twilight’s Might (outro)

GLORYHAMMER
“Magical and cosmic” power metal, has a nice ring to it. The reason for this Red, White, And Hoots tour. Seemingly simple, but Hoots has somewhat of a cult following with this band and their interactions with the crowd. One of the stage hands dropped off a cut-out of Tom Jones, and on the p.a. ‘Delilah’ cranked through the speakers, a sign of the performance to come, as this crowd was laser focused and ready for this venue-sized karaoke session with Gloryhammer. High energy overtook the stage after the second intro, and the band was on a warp-speed path to deliver this set.

Right out of the gate after the first song, the comically large Gloryhammer came out with a goblin, who was easily defeated by Angus McFife on vocals, took the large hammer, and did lots of victory poses throughout the rest of the song, much to the delight of the Toronto crowd and me as a photographer selfishly. Vocally speaking, the new version of Angus McFife (the third) brought such energy, passion, and charisma, and it would be hard to say this is the new version and/or incarnation of the vocalist for Gloryhammer. Absolutely blended with the band as the newest member, and I would challenge any die-hard Gloryhammer fan to see if any errors were made.

The Hootsman on bass duties, an ominous figure on stage that absolutely commanded everyone’s attention with presence, costume, and sheer power of pounding the bass notes, I genuinely felt bad for the bass towards the end of the set for how much pounding happened! Ser Proletius on guitars, crazy how this band can sound like two guitarists are on stage, but Ser Proletius commands the guitar by themselves, playing everything to the letter and delivering the goods. Zargothrax on keyboards, evil, dark, and more evil than ever before, with five years away from the last Toronto performance, something really took over them from the last viewing; maybe it’s just the corpse paint. Last but certainly not least is Ralathor on drums, another drummer who makes it look easy; seriously, he looks as though he didn’t miss a note, didn’t have a care in the world, and just smashed through all the music.

The most surprising moment for me was the little break of hearing ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss song)’. If you are a wrestling fan, you know why, and of course I had to get a woo chant going, which worked from where I was standing in the back and traveled all the way to the front. Speaking of chants, multiple times through every song, random pockets of the crowd bellowed “HOOTS” (almost akin to random people screaming Slayer in the same vein).

Surprisingly, mosh pits happened during this performance, and while the band touched on every album in their discography, I would have lost money on no moshing at this show. The goblin also made a return by the end of the set, with a big, awesome hammer in tow, and got brained for troubling Angus. Good fun all around. This five-piece performing a near 90-minute set was the perfect set for a return to Toronto, who definitely believes in The Red, The White, And The HOOTS! 

Setlist
Delilah (Tom Jones song) (Intro #1), Incoming Transmission (Intro #2), Holy Flaming Hammer Of Unholy C, osmic Frost, Gloryhammer, The Land Of Unicorns, Fly Away, Angus McFife, Questlords of Inverness, Ride To The Galactic Fortress!, Sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss song), Wasteland Warrior Hoots Patrol, Fife Eternal, Masters Of The Galaxy, Sword Lord Of The Goblin Horde, The Siege Of Dunkeld (In Hoots We Trust), Keeper Of The Celestial Flame Of Abernethy, Universe On Fire, Hootsforce, The Unicorn Invasion Of Dundee, The National Anthem Of Unst

It may have only been a Tuesday night at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, but for the over 75% capacity crowd who no doubt enjoyed the days seasonally above average March weather temps, this line-up was bullet-proof, performed on multiple levels, and would satiate even the most ridged concert goer. Shout out to Inertia Entertainment, who recently celebrated a 28th birthday being in the business, for being one of the leaders in southern Ontario’s extreme and heavy music experiences.

Remaining dates on the Red, White, And Hoots Tour are as follows…

March
16 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
18 – Denver, CO @ The Oriental Theater
20 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
22 – Seattle, WA @ Substation
23 & 24 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
25 – Roseville, CA @ Goldfield Trading Post
26 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
27 – Mesa, AZ @ The Nile Theater
29 – Austin, TX @ Come and Take It Live
30 – Dallas, TX @ The Studio at The Factory

LIVE REVIEW – GWAR, CANCER BATS, X-COPS

March 12th, 2024

London, ON @ London Music Hall

Photos: Kimberly Baarda

Words: Jason Deaville

To say things were going to get a bit bloody on this night is an understatement. In fact, London, Ontario, Canada would become drenched in oceans of blood, just as one would expect from “The Blood Of Gods” themselves, GWAR. The band rolled into Canada as part of their Age Of Befuddlment Tour, which also featured Toronto’s Cancer Bats, and a rare appearance of the mysterious and legendary X-Cops. GWAR frontman Blöthar The Berserker had this to say about the impending trek…

“The Invasion of Canada is nigh. We will start our campaign to bring befuddlement to the masses in the cultured and forward thinking American South, and from there, we will launch a coast-to-coast attack on the Great White North, leaving a swath of destruction not seen since the War of 1812. Stopping only to get high in the Pacific Northwest, we will dive directly into the gaping hole of the donut, the American Midwest, before gracing the Dirty South and ending again on the filthy streets of Baltimore! I wonder if we can score crack in the ‘City that Reads.’ Are You Not Befuddled?”

X-COPS
Outfitted in their obligatory police uniforms, this side-project featuring members of GWAR raided the stage like the law enforcement buffoons in the slapstick TV comedy, Reno 911. Their set consisted of songs mainly from there one and only studio album, You Have the Right to Remain Silent (released on Metal Blade Records way back in ’95), as well as two brand new tracks (‘Kinderhardened’ and ‘Light Em Up’) from a rumored EP set to be released later this year.

If I were to guess, a good portion of the sizeable crowd in attendance for X-Cops‘ set likely had no idea who the band were. That being said, they managed to the win crowd over with an incredibly competent performance that was as fun to watch as it was to listen to.

Setlist
Interloper, Barbells, Zipper Pig, Cavity Search, Kinderhardened, Light Em Up, Paddy Wagon Rape, Welcome To New Jersey, You Fucked Up

CANCER BATS
Toronto hardcore punkers Cancer Bats might have been slightly out-of-place on this billing, but they didn’t show it, delivering an incredibly high-energy set of songs from their extensive catalog of recorded material. Frontman, Liam Cormier, did an admirable job of getting the audience pumped and eating out of the palm of his hands, and that energy from the packed house was directed right back at the band. There was no doubt that a sizeable portion of the crowd was there to see Cancer Bats, which speaks volumes to the success and longevity of this hard-hitting band.

Setlist
Bricks & Mortar, Trust No One, Pneumonia Hawk, Lucifer’s Rocking Chair, The Hoof, Rats, True Zero, Road Sick, Hammering On, Sorceress, Winterpeg, Sabotage (Beastie Boys cover), Hail Destroyer

GWAR
From the deepeset reaches of space, the Scumdogs Of The Universe were sent to conquer this insignificant shitball floating in a dark corner of the universe; the planet Earth. Tonight, the unsuspecting, conservative city of London, Ontario, Canada was the target. With them, the band brought gallons upon gallons of blood in an effort to mark the city as their own.

With the venue now packed to the gills, the spectacle started with Black Sabbath‘s ‘War Pigs’ playing over the house speakers. This served to amp the crowd up ten-fold. As the song faded away into obscurity, the Scumdogs, fittingly, blasted onto the stage with the song ‘Battle Lust’ (taken from their Violence Has Arrived album released in 2001). The stout, pig-faced, horned-goblin of a frontman, Blöthar the Berserker, was an imposing force, spewing out the lyrics like a demon possessed, backed-up by co-vocalist Sawborg Destructo.

GWAR wasted no time, immediately launching into ‘Hail, Genocide!’ and ‘I, Bonesnapper’ much to the delight of the audience, who were now wholly-consumed by the force from the stage. It was around this time that the band then unleashed a torrent of blood onto the all-too-eager crowd, soaking the first five rows from head to toe. Those poor photographers in the press pit came out looking like Stephen King’s Carrie. The highlight of the evening was when the band brought out Joe Biden, who, as expected, shambled out out onto the stage and rambled incoherently as the band grilled him. In the end, things didn’t turn out so great for old Biden, with Blöthar quickly decapitating Biden while the audience cheered on in approval.

This was certainly one of the most exciting and engaging metal shows in London, Ontario in a very long-time. The best part was seeing the throngs of fans making their way out of the venue at the end of the night drenched in blood yet with glowing, satisified smiles.

Setlist
War Pigs (Black Sabbath), Battle-Lust, Hail Genocide!, I Bonesnapper, Mother Fucking Liar, I’ll Be Your Monster, The Cutter, Starving Gods (Death Whistle Suite), Krosstika, Completely Fucked, Immortal Corrupter, Maggots, Let Us Slay, Sonderkommando, Crack In The Egg, Berserker Mode, Sick Of You, Fishfuck, Fuck This Place

Remaining dates on the Age Of Befuddlement Tour are as follows:

March 16 – Saskatoon, SK @ Coors Event Centre FM
March 17 – Edmonton, AB @ Midway Music Hall FM
March 18 – Calgary, AB @ The Back Alley FM
March 20 – Vancouver, BC @ The Vogue Theatre FM
March 21 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory FM
March 24 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater FM
March 26 – Davenport, IA @ The Capitol Theater FM
March 27 – Pontiac, MI @ The Crofoot FM
March 28 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall FM
March 29 – Charlotte, NC @ The Underground FM
March 30 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage FM

ALBUM REVIEW – MIDNIGHT

Midnight – Hellish Expectations

Reviewed By: Jim Harrison

Review Score: 9

Midnight is set to release onto humanity an album that is the perfect soundtrack for a fight. Hellish Expectations continues from their last highly acclaimed album, 2022’s Let There Be Witchery, with their unique brand of metal/punk/underground that is aggressive and full of testosterone.

Lone member, Althenar, who plays all instruments and vocals, has created a niche in metal that also includes speed metal plus a NWOBHM vibe that makes this so intriguing. According to Althenar, this album was written in one weekend after listening to raw tracks from the previous album which makes this even more impressive. Partnering with Metal Blade records for the first time, I predict this album will reach more perspective fans with a strong distribution helping to spread Midnight’s assault to the masses.

The album begins with a punch to the face with first track ‘Expect Total Hell’. With a killer Motörhead vibe, the track absolutely explodes as if you were detonating a bomb. Heavy, fast guitars and aggressive vocals gives a hint at how brutal this album is going to be. ‘Gash Scrape’ has a cool guitar fade-in and, again, this track just takes off. The song has a cool heavy punk sound that will smash any mosh pit. This will become a great live track.

‘Masked And Deadly’ begins with some fast guitar riffing while the performance behind the skins gives this track a killer groove. The wicked guitar solo is fantastic and another great vocal performance. ‘Slave To The Blade’ is the shortest song on the album, clocking in at 1:51. The song has an amazing beat and once again summons that Motörhead groove. This is one of my personal favourites on the album… it’s such a massive song.

‘Dungeon Lust’ keeps the assault on your senses going with its pounding drum beat. The track has a slower groove but is super heavy and has a darker direction and creates a cool whip sound. ‘Nuclear Savior’ was one of the early singles released and gave fans some insight on how brutal the album was shaping up to be. The beginning of this track has a fast early Metallica sound with a wicked guitar riff and killer solo.

‘Deliver Us To Devil’ has more of a thrash vibe mixed with punk crossover producing a heavy sound. ‘Mercyless Slaughtor’ has a cool heavy bass and guitar intro. This is another song with a heavy darker sound, aggressive vocals, and killer guitar solo. Another favourite of mine. ‘Doom Death Desire’ begins with a blood curdling scream that ignites this track in an epic fashion. Another fast, heavy song that will certainly be a cool track to catch live. The guitar solo is fantastic.

‘F.O.A.L’, the final song (the first single and video released for the album), and is an acronym that stands for ‘Fuck Off And Live’. It’s an anthem of a song that ends this album on a high. The lyrics focus on the angst that Midnight is famous for. The track covers punk, traditional metal, and thrash metal and leaves one feeling beaten and physically tired with its speed and aggression.  

What I like most about Midnight is that they are always honest and do not cater to any trends or fads. Their music is created for fans of aggressive metal, which, to this scribe, is super important. With each release the band continues to put out ground-breaking material and this album certainly solidifies that.

Hellish Expectations will delight Midnight‘s existing fanbase while also serving as a perfect gateway album for new fans. One thing is for certain: once you get into Midnight you are a violator for life. Pick this up and crank it to eleven!

Hellish Expectations drops March 8th via Metal Blade Records.

ALBUM REVIEW – DARKSPACE

Darkspace – Darkspace II

Reviewed By: Jason Deaville

Review Score: 7.5

In space, no one can hear you scream. This marketing slogan for the original Alien movie (released all the way back in ’79) may be scientifically correct. Further explained, space is a vacuum, which means it contains almost no matter. The word vacuum comes from the Latin word for empty. Sound is carried by atoms and molecules. In space, with no atoms or molecules to carry a sound wave, there’s no sound. With this in mind, how is it possible that the cosmic echoes and haunting screams of Swiss psychedelic/atmospheric/spatial black metallers, Darkspace, resonate through the deepest, darkest recesses of the cosmos? Let’s find out!

The triumvirate that is Darkspace (Wroth – guitars/vocals, Zhaaral – bass, vocals, and newest member Yhs – guitars, vocals) are gearing up for their long-awaited return to earth after almost a decade since their last transmission. They will emerge from the void on February 16th via Season Of Mist with their brand new album, Dark Space-II. With them, they bring a non-stop 47-minute voyage that drifts far beyond the earthbound realm of black metal. Fractal electronic samples slice through layers of extraterrestrial drones. Vocal transmissions, like whispers from the outer reaches, seamlessly intertwine with the chilling mix, adding a haunting dimension to this celestial configuration.

Dark Space -II​​​​ loosely deviates from the course set by Darkspace on their previous four albums, experimenting with different sonic textures. But while the mysterious trio still venture into uncharted aural territories, Dark Space -II never leaves their familiar realm of atmospheric, ambient black metal. The programmed drums are sequenced in such a way that it carries the music over light years, like a transmission emerging out of the depths of a stellar-mass black hole to be intercepted and dissected by beings of unknown origins. The guitars echo with a cold and clinical melody while the vocals fluctuate between a raspy, growled iciness and a cybernetic snarl.

Unlike previous albums, Darkspace-II strikes an equilibrium never before heard. Typically, the band either rage with a fury befitting a Type I Supernovae or they drift into a relatively calm region of the universe that inspires a more ambient, trippy, serene singularity. This duality of chaos and coherence serves the album well, not unlike a competent cosmic horror movie that leaves the active participant on the edge of their seat never knowing what lurks in the icy cold blackness.

It’s difficult to further dissect this album, as it contains only one continuous track. This works in its favour, as the seamless transmission never fluctuates too much, which, in turn, keeps the listener’s attention focused and immersed in the cosmic waves of blackened interstellar metal. This is an album to throw on when pondering the vastness of the cosmos, as it is the perfect soundtrack to the unknown and the unobservable of this universe we call home.

Darkspace -II will reach Earth on February 16th via Season Of Mist.