October 4th, 2023
Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
Photos By: Kim Baarda
Words By: Jason Deaville
HOAXED
Unfortunately, due to traffic gridlock after a three hour drive to Toronto, we missed most of the set of openers, HOAXED. We did manage to catch the last couple of songs as we rushed in. The little we heard was some very cool dark rock/proto-metal with a touch of doom. Check out their latest album, Two Shadows, out now on Relapse Records.
GAEREA
Portuguese blackened metallers Gaerea, ever the showmen, were in fine form on this unseasonably hot evening in Toronto. Dressed in their usual stretch-y black garb, the guys launched into a set of misanthropic madness that included such songs as ‘Mantle’, ‘Salve’, ‘Deluge’, ‘Urge’, ‘Mirage’ and ‘Laude’. Frontman, Guilherme Henriques, unleashed a torrent of body flailing that was all at once mesmerizing and peculiar.
Another killer set from these guys who are one busy-as hell-band. The last time they came through Toronto was not all that long ago, back in March with Rotting Christ and Uada.
BLACKBRAID
Adirondack black metallers, Blackbraid, have been on a fast rise over the last several months, becoming one of the hottest bands in the world of extreme metal. It seems everyone wants to catch these guys live, and, after tonight, there is no doubt why that is, delivering a mesmerizing set of songs pulled from their last two releases (Blackbraid I and Blackbraid II, respectively).
With the stage giving off an outdoors-y feng shui, frontman, Jon Krieger, and crew ripped right into crowd pleaser ‘The Spirit Returns’. This was immediately followed up with four serious-yet-catchy goodies in ‘The Wolf That Guides The Hunters Hand’, ‘Moss Covered Bones On The Altar Of The Moon, ‘A Song Of Death On Winds Of Dawn’ and ‘Barefoot Ghost Dance On Blood Soaked Soil’.
The energy Blackbraid exudes from the stage is palpable. The band literally entrances the whole of their audience with spastically-extreme drumming, razor-ship riffing, and an ever-so-lush dash of metallic melody. A magical performance from an equally magical band.
WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM
Cascadian black metallers Wolves In The Throne Room are an enigma within the contemporary black metal space. Since their inception back in 2002, their recorded output (seven full-lengths and three EPs) has showcased a band that not only wholly distinguishes themselves from their peers, but also endeavors to capture the true essence of atmospheric black metal in a stripped-down and completely honest manner.
The integrity of WITTR‘s music serves the band incredibly well on the live front, as there exists zero pomp and circumstance. What you see is what you get. Nothing more. Tonight, in Toronto, we got a band who, through minimal use of theatrics (candles, deer skulls, and tresses of evergreen), delivered a set of veracious, natura-infused odes to the beauty, splendor, horror, and darkness of this world and ethereal worlds.
Tonight’s setlist actually comprised of nearly all my favorite WITTR tracks, which was a very pleasant surprise. The guys took us on a vociferous and primeval hike to the sounds of ‘Mountain Magick’, ‘Spirit Of Lightning’, ‘Eostre’, ‘Angrboda’, ‘Prayer Of Transformation’, ‘Vastness And Sorrow’, and ‘I Will Lay Down My Bones Among The Rocks And Roots’.
You can always count on a WITTR performance to take you on a blackened trip of the hallucinatory kind. Tonight was one of those nights. A perfect end to a perfect night.
Wolves In The Throne Room‘s brand new EP, Crypt Of Ancestral Knowledge, is available now via Relapse Records (North America) and Century Media (Europe). You can check out our review of Crypt Of Ancestral Knowledge here.
