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!
