Local stars and 2015 Wacken Battle finalists Vesperia opened up the evening with some epic metal. Morgan Rider’s deep growls and high screams filled the Opera House, guitarists Casey Elliot and Frankie Caracci rocked out to either side of him. Vesperia was made for the big stage as they filled the venue with their presence, flaunting their long manes and/or bushy beards in the breeze caused by stage fans. With catchy epic chants and beats provided by Vesperia’s newest addition, drummer Dylan Gowan, the mood was set for an amazing night.

Moonspell took the stage next as if they were marching to war. Blasting in with “Breathe (Until We Are No More)” followed by “Extinct,” we got a taste of the new Moonspell album Extinct (2015). However, my fears of a set list based mostly on the new album were quickly put aside as they got into some good Moonspell oldies like “Awake!” and “Opium.” The Portuguese quintet played loud and hard where they could but as their songs tend to lean to more melodic structures, we got to enjoy plenty of clean vocals by Fernando Ribeiro, accompanied by symphonic arrangements by keyboard, sampler and guitar. Their set would not be complete without the appearance of Fernando’s gladiator helmet and the aboslute must have’s, “Alma Mater” and “Full Moon Madness”.

CONQUERORS OF THE WORLD III 
FESTIVAL TOUR 2015

Journalist: Kirsti Heitz
Photographer: Navneet Johal 
Published: June 18, 2015

Septicflesh 
Moonspell
Deathstars
Vesperia

Presented by: Inertia Entertainment

Click HERE to access our interview with Andreas Bergh of Deathstars. 

Straight from the gothic pits of Sweden, Deathstars came out to play not only their first Toronto show, but their first ever North American tour. With a played-up drunken swagger, vocalist Andreas Bergh (A.K.A Whiplasher Bernadotte) took to the stage in a deep voice full of command stating, “Shhh, you speak only when spoken to.” Opening up with “Night Electric, Night” and moving into fan favourites like “Tongues” and “Cyanide". The crowd got moving as they danced and nodded along to the beats. Bassist Jonas Kangur (A.K.A Skinny Disco) did most of the high pitched gutturals as backup, occasionally flipping his long dreads around and guitarist Emil Nödtveidt (A.K.A Nightmare Industries) would entice the crowd to a screaming mass or stand back with a smirk of approval.Whiplasher was very much in persona as he stumbled across the stage or fell back onto his knees in musical ecstasy. However, he always maintained in quite control of the crowd, demanding strict obedience and rewarding us with a final fantastic tune, “Blitzkrieg".  

The pit got antsy as we watched the set up of Septicflesh’s impressive new stage look. Since the release of their newest album Titan in 2014, the band has taken a step up image wise and invested in cyber-gothic looking outfits that match their stage props. After a dramatic symphonic intro to quite the crowd, the Greek metallers came slowly out on stage with grim faces and solemn stances. They ripped into the opening track of Titan (2014) entitled “War on Heaven.” From there on end, the pit opened up and though it seemed that many concert goers left after Moonspell, there was a decent enough pit to attract a grimace of approval from vocalist/bassist Seth Siro Anton. Septicflesh is one of those bands you have to see live at least once. The deep, resounding symphonics highlight the fast blast beats and allow for the guitars to go between fast noisy riffs to dark, haunting melodies. We got to hear a lot of the newer tunes like “Dogma,” “Prometheus” and “Titan” but we also got treated to some slightly older tracks like “Communion” and “The Vampire From Nazareth", but all in all, I noticed they mainly stayed with their last three albums. 

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