UNEARTH, REVOCATION, ENTHEOS, HIGH COMMAND

October 19th, 2023

Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground

Photos By: Keith Ibbitson

Words By: Jason Deaville

HIGH COMMAND

In the world of contemporary crossover thrash bands, there are only a couple of bands that can match the intensity and brilliance of Power Trip‘s 2017 masterpiece, Nightmare Logic. One of those bands just happened to be the opener of tonight’s festivities, Massachusetts’ High Command. Sharing the same label as Power Trip, Southern Lord Recordings, High Command ripped through a setlist comprised of songs from their two full-length albums, Beyond The Wall Of Desolation and Eclipse Of The Dual Moon.

They opened their set with the face-ripping shredder ‘Inexorable Darkness’, and then followed that up with two more death/thrash monsters, ‘Immortal Savagery’ and ‘Impaled Upon The Gates’. The band then tore through two new ones from last year’s album Eclipse Of The Dual Moon, ‘Siege Warfare’ and ‘Fortified By Bloodshed’. They ended their night with the barbaric ‘Beyond The Wall Of Desolation’ from the 2019 album of the same name.

High Command certainly commanded the attention of the early-arrivers. I’m almost certain the late, great Riley Gale would be smiling down upon the band’s set tonight in Toronto.

ENTHEOS

Entheos, the American progressive metal super-group formed in 2015 by ex-members of Animosity, Animals As Leaders, and The Faceless were the next band to hit the tiny stage of the Velvet Underground. Hot on the heels of their third full-length album, Time Will Take Us All, released back in March of this year, the band’s entire set consisted of songs from said album, apart from one. This is a good thing, as Time Will Take Us All is a phenomenal album that truly showcases the incredible musical pedigree of this band, and they did not disappoint on this night! And what about the lungs on the petite frontwoman, Chaney Crabb? This woman’s gutturals can move mountains!

REVOCATION

Technical death metal masters Revocation stacked half their set tonight with songs from last year’s album, Netherheaven. With eight full-lengths (and one EP) under their belts, I was rather surprised the setlist didn’t cover a wider spectrum of material. This isn’t to say that Netherheaven isn’t a great album with some truly mind-blowing songs, I just would have preferred if they had mixed it up a little more, as there is a massive pool of fantastic songs.

Tonight, they kicked their set off with a new one in the mid-paced crusher ‘Godforsaken’. As quickly as this was done, the guys jumped into ‘Of Unworldly Origin’ and ‘The Outer Ones’ from the 2018 album, Outer Ones. Both songs served to get the audience truly pumped, as a ferocious pit formed and did not let up through both songs. With barely time to breathe, the guys ripped into ‘Madness Opus’, the heaviest track from 2014’s Deathless. The second half of their set saw the band rip through three more songs from Netherheaven (‘The Intervening Abyss Of Untold Aeons’, ‘Diabolical Majesty’, ‘Lessons In Occult Theft’, respectively), and two older tracks in ‘Crumbling Imperium’ and ‘Dismantle The Dictator’.

Revocation proved tonight why they are one of the best technical death metal bands in existence. Without even trying, they harnessed both the majesty of their musicianship and the complete and utter attention of those witnessing their majesty.

UNEARTH

The grandaddies of metalcore, Unearth, took to the stage in the headlining spot. With a quarter century behind them, tonight, the guys were firing on cylinders of a band half their age. Eight full-lengths in (and one EP) I can only imagine it must have been quite the undertaking when putting together a setlist for this tour. There are just too many killer songs in their vast catalogue of recorded material.

The band started their night off with the short but scrappy ‘Dawn Of The Militant’ from their latest release, The Wretched; The Ruinous, released this past May. This was followed-up by the track ‘Incinerate’ from the 2018 album, Extinction(s). Unearth then unearthed two oldies in the songs ‘Endless’ and ‘This Lying World’ from their legendary 2004 album, The Oncoming Storm. They then jumped back to the present with the title track of their latest album, The Wretched; The Ruinous.

By this point, things were getting incredibly… sweaty. Unearth had not let up one iota, and the ravenous crowd was paying for it. The air was thick with human pheromones of the metal kind. The guys then went old-school on us again with the track ‘Giles’ from their critically-acclaimed 2006 album, Unearth III: In The Eyes Of Fire. Finally, a little bit of a breather came in the form of the instrumental song ‘Aniara’, which was immediately followed by ‘Into The Abyss’ (both songs from Unearth‘s latest album).

The band wrapped up their charged set with the tracks ‘The Great Dividers’, ‘My Will Be Done’, and ‘Black Hearts Will Now Reign’. If Unearth’s performance is to be believed, these guys have no plans to slow down anytime soon. You can stack Unearth up against any band of their ilk, and they’ll still come out on top!

ALBUM REVIEW – WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM

Wolves In The Throne Room – Crypt Of Ancestral Knowledge (EP)

Reviewed By: Jason Deaville

Review Score: 9.5

Cascadian black metallers Wolves In The Throne Room are one of only a handful of bands that are immediately recognizable when spinning their material. No one sounds like them, and that is not an easy feat. To completely distinguish themselves within a sub-genre filled with literally thousands of bands that are nearly impossible to discern from one another says something about the band’s compositional prowess.

With seven full-length albums (and three EPs) in just over twenty years, WITTR is not a band to rest on their laurels. To remain fresh and interesting after that many releases is a sign that the artistic endeavor is first and foremost. These guys do what they want, when they want. There is no crowd pleasing, there is only the strive for personal fulfillment. This keeps the band and their music honest. There are no smoke and mirrors. With each release they lay themselves naked at the altar of virtuosity.

The latest entry into their formidable catalogue, Crypt Of Ancestral Knowledge, is comprised of two songs in the realm of cinematic black metal and dark acoustic folk, as well as two atmospheric industrial tracks that take the band into darker sonic territories. Not unlike their previous three EPs, the band seem more apt to experiment within this format compared to that of their full-lengths.

The EP opens with ‘Beholden To Clan’, an old-school sounding homage to Symphonic Black Metal, which recalls the sounds of Dimmu Borgir‘s epically celestial Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. While it shares a similar spirit as the aforementioned album – an ethos that conjures images of walking through a forest on a moonlit night in the middle of winter – it differs just enough. Where Dimmu‘s approach is a bit more straight-forward, both musically and perceptibly, WITTR‘s approach to the realm of Symphonic Black Metal is much more hallucinogenic (that tranquil stroll in the wintery forest is now a mind-bending sonic voyage that leaves one contemplating their very existence in this vast universe as they stare up into that moonlit sky). It’s a wild trip.

Where the first track is a supersonic journey through the vast cosmos, the second track, ‘Twin Mouthed Spring’ pulls the listener back down to earthly realms with its deep-rooted Celtic vibe. The track features vocals and acoustic guitar performed by founding Wolves In The Throne Room drummer Cedar Serpent who has recently returned to the live stage after a long hiatus from live performance. The song is a wellspring of passion and creativity, with the ebb and flow of its second-wave of black metal aesthetic being ripped apart and remade over and over with a folkloric sensibility. Absolutely breathtaking.

The final two tracks, ‘Initiates Of The White Hart’ and ‘Crown Of Stone’ are the logical follow-ups to the previous two tracks, taking both the hallucinatory epic-ness of the first song and the folkiness of the second song into purely ambient and industrial-like realms. In fact, if I were to be perfectly honest, the last two tracks are quite reminiscent of contemporary/post-prison Burzum. Both of these songs could fit snugly alongside any of the tracks found on Varg’s Thulêan Mysteries and Ways Of Yore albums.

As mentioned at the top of this review, Wolves In The Throne Room are unlike any of their peers in the realm of contemporary black metal. That being said, they are unafraid to wear their influences on their sleeve. It’s one thing to emulate, it’s a whole other thing when that emulation strips away assimilation and gives birth to a sound wholly unique yet still familiar. Crypt Of Ancestral Knowledge is a shining example of this, and one that will most certainly make the year-end lists of many.

Crypt Of Ancestral Knowledge is available now via Relapse Records (North America) and Century Media (Europe).

CARNIVAL OF DEATH TOUR 2023 – CRYPTOPSY, ABYSMAL DAWN, VISCERAL DISGORGE, REAPING ASMODEDIA,WARFORGED

October 3, 2023

Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace

Review by: Staicha Kidd

True lovers of metal don’t wait until the weekend to mosh, especially when the legendary Cryptopsy comes to your town on a Tuesday night. A hoard of long hair, heavily patched denim vests, and camo shorts gathering outside of Lee’s Palace could only mean a solid death metal lineup on this unseasonably warm evening.

By 6pm when the doors opened, it was already a great turnout for a weeknight, and as the night went on, the dense and rowdy crowd had you completely forgetting it wasn’t a regular weekend show. After getting a beer I glanced at the merch along the walls and in true death metal fashion every band had about 5 different shirt designs (with Visceral Disgorge’s catching my eye immediately), and the array of gorey artwork and hot sauce was the first sign that you were about to see a solid lineup of brutal death metal.

WARFORGED

These brutalizers from Chicago opened the show, a band that I had never heard before, but who delivered exactly what you would expect with that name, a progressive/death metal sound with fantasy/sci fi themes. The mix of vocals was interesting, delivering both clean and melodic as well as brutal and guttural. While the crowd had not yet fully arrived by this point, they clearly had a devoted fanbase that was ready to give them energy and fist pump through their set.

REAPING ASMODEIA

Hailing from Minnesota, the band entered the stage in matching sleeveless hooded shirts, giving them a true evil aesthetic. My first thought was that this was a purely instrumental three piece band, delivering a mix of thrashy elements to their technical death metal mixed with deathcore breakdowns, but then it was revealed that their singer couldn’t make it over the border. Where most bands may have canceled, Reaping Asmodeia went on anyway and delivered a great energetic set that made you completely forget they were supposed to be a 4-piece. While I would love to see them as a full band, me and the rest of the crowd last night were certainly not let down and were treated to fast, pulverizing technical riffs with an insanely fast, tight drummer.

VISCERAL DISGORGE

Baltimore’s Visceral Disgorge are a collection of pure Brutal Death Metal individuals with everything you expect from the genre. Pulverizing blast beats, brutal mosh riffs, and a frontman with extreme guttural vocals. I have a strong bias here being a big fan of brutal death metal overall, but the riffs were the exact right amount of shred-heavy and technical while still being memorable. The crowd at this point is getting very thick and rowdy and was extremely entertained by the singer’s song intros, which almost entirely involved explaining the weird sex acts the song centered on (these started with being fucked in the ass, then being fucked in the ass by tentacles, then fucking a rotting hole filled with maggots, and finally, fucking dead babies. I cannot make this stuff up). The singer was covered in wicked horror tattoos, so it’s not hard to tell where he draws his lyrical inspiration.

ABYSMAL DAWN

The last band before Cryptopsy was Abysmal Dawn from LA who delivered an incredible, super tight set with great solos from both guitarists. The sound was very full and on point and it was clear why they had such a rowdy and devoted following up front. Their third song ‘Inanimate’ started with a super hard groove riff, and after a few reps of that riff the double bass kicked in and it was a total face-melter.

Following Visceral Disgorge they too also wanted to throw in some sodomy content, so they opened a song with “this is also about being fucked in the ass, BY A HUGE CAPITALIST COCK!” The cheers to that blew the roof off. They then announced “we’re gonna play a fast one” and started playing ‘Mundane Existence’ which was probably the fastest blasting of the night so far. They asked the crowd to give them their best black metal scream, but when the first one didn’t cut it, the request turned to “give me Dani Filth, on helium, getting kicked in the fucking nuts!” The crowd delivered. Their final song had the biggest circle pit of the night up to this point.

CRYPTOPSY

Finally we were treated to Canadian death metal royalty out of Montreal, Cryptopsy. They came out of the gate absolutely crushing to a crowd ready to mosh hard. Legendary drummer Flo Mounier is known for technical and extremely fast, tight drumming, and definitely delivered the fastest drumming of the night on a bill full of bands that all had incredible drummers.

Their set was a mix of new album tracks and old classics, featuring a lot of songs from their classic album None So Vile (which the crowd was very pleased about). This meant tons of ripping solos and tight riffs from Chris Donaldson, and him being the sole live guitar player puts his leads super up front and in your face. Vocalist Matt McGachy is absolutely unreal in his range, his piercing high screams and deep growling with classic death metal yells make for an extremely dynamic sound that you can’t believe is coming out of one person. McGachy also tells the audience that his stage is their stage and to come up and have fun with them, and the crowd was all too happy to deliver. Every few seconds someone new was on stage ready to dive into a heavily moshing crowd.

Finally it is announced that this year is the 30th anniversary of their demo and we got treated to some demo tracks. I know that many of us left that night feeling overwhelmingly lucky to realize that we have been treated to three decades of such a solid classic death metal band, especially one willing to bring us such a brutal lineup of metal on a Tuesday night.

Crytopsy‘s new album As Gomorrah Burns is available now via Nuclear Blast Records.