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Saturday November 23, 2013
The Comfort Zone 480 Spadina Ave. Toronto, ON Canada |
Photography: Navneet Johal
Review: Kirsti Heitz Published: December 31, 2013 |
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Vesperia
Morgan Rider (Vocals, Bass) Casey Elliott (Guitar) Frankie Caracci (Guitar) Cory Hofing (Drums) vesperiametal.com/ www.facebook.com/VesperiaMetal Operus Tara Mills-Vocals/Flute/Percussion Oscar Rangel-[Music/Lyrics/Production]Guitars/Vocals Brittany Dasilva-Guitars Robin Howe-Cello/Choir Wojtek Sokolowski-Bass/Choir Broderick Archer-[Production] Drums/Percussion/Vocals www.OperusOfficial.com www.facebook.com/Epic.Operus Sanguine Glacialis Mishamusha Pilu Totofski - Bass & vocals Maude Théberge - Keyboard & vocals Dominique Ducharme - Guitar Pascaleuh Rouky Munsters - Drums myspace.com/sanguineglacialis www.facebook.com/SanguineGlacialis Experiment Specimen Nick Radlovic - Guitars/Vocals John Baker - Guitars Dan Audete - Bass/Vocals Johnny Macri - Drums/Backing Vocals soundcloud.com/experimentspecimen www.facebook.com/experimentspecimen |
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I love it when a local show is a hit and this night was definitely a hit and a half. With a versatile collection of Canadian bands, Toronto metalheads had a great night of headbanging, drinking and some sporadic moshing.
Experiment Specimen opened the night the best way possible with in-your-face guturals and progressive, heavy melodies and riffs. I had more than a few people come up to me with a "holy shit these guys are amazing" face. They played a fast and heavy set, without a dull moment. Vocalist/guitarist Nick Radlovic's dry humour and "let's keep this heavy" attitude between songs simply was the icing that topped the cake. Québécois Avant-garde metalers Sanguine Glacialis shocked and enthralled fans with their blood stained attire and stage antics. Avant-garde Metal is really the only way I can think of describing their sound. Kind of like Diablo Swing Orchestra meets Angizia with a lot of growls. Though many fans were a bit skeptic at first, by the end of their set the skeptics were the ones clapping the loudest. Sanguine Glacialis entrapped their audience with eerie melodies, operatic vocals and progressive bass beats while giving a very dramatic and powerful performance. |
Operus took the stage next with many curious fans checking out the new line up. Operus started heavy and moved into more symphonic and melodic songs which really seemed to captivate their audience. Fans seemed to especially like the newest addition, cello player Robin Howe and by "especially liked" I mean people kept on telling me how "fucking amazing" the cello sounded. Saddly, even after an extensive sound check, there were a few sound issues such as vocalist/floutist Tara Mills' vocals were hardly heard. However fans didnt seem to mind and Operus gathered a line of headbangers and even a few rogue moshers.
Vesperia closed the night with an amazing performance pairing well with fans that were a few beers in. We were fortunate (or maybe unfortunate) enough to have Vesperia play their set minus the middle aged, wasted stripper groping the band that was present the night before at their Oshawa show. Either way Vesperia played to please and hit all the fan favourites as well as a cover of the Irish folk song "Home for a Rest" that really got fans moving and singing. Sporting a full front line of headbangers in addition to some moshers and even a few crazy fans dancing around (yup, I was one of those), Vesperia's closing set left fans wanting more. |
