 Kicking off the festivities were hometown favourites Warmachine. I remember seeing this band last year around the same time as this show when they opened for Marty Friedman at the Mod Club, and I instantly became a fan. They performed to a pretty receptive crowd. Their heavy, hooky tunes and potent vocal harmonies were so captivating that I could not help but smile and bob my head throughout their entire set. They're seriously made for the big stage. What was interesting was that their rhythm section: drummer Mike Harshaw and longtime bassist Alberto Campuzano were both in Annihilator for a few years. I swear, once you hear Warmachine's tunes, getting them out of your head will be such a challenge, especially if you're a fan of big heavy hooks and grooves and melodic vocals. Some of the songs they performed included "Betrayed", "Chalk Lines and Bones", "Moving On" and "Alone". Their set ended with a new song, which they said will be on their next album, and the title was rather interesting: "Mister Fister". An amazing performance once again from Warmachine. I look forward to seeing them again soon. Third band was Exalted Piledriver, who were the more theatrical band of the night with their costumes. Frontman Gordon Kirchin came out in his trademark executioner costume while Mark and Steve Macpherson had the look of having just walked away from an explosion. Later in the set, the band announced that before they hit the stage, they found out that former bassist Rob "Lobo Elf Schnort" Tollefson passed away earlier in the day after a battle with cancer, which led to a few screams of "FUCK CANCER!" from the crowd. As a result, they dedicated their performance to Rob, especially the song "Metal Inquisition". Despite grieving the loss of their fallen friend and former bandmate, the band still put on a great entertaining show, performing several classics from the Piledriver era like "Alien Rape", "Sex With Satan", "The Fire God" and "Lord Of Abominations" just to name a few. | Written by: Alex Stojanovic Photography: Navneet Johal (C) 2016 All rights reserved by www.metalmasterkingdom.com Click here to find our interview with Jeff Waters! @ The Opera House September 10, 2016 Toronto, ON Canada Presented by Inertia Entertainment On September 10, 2016, something happened in Toronto that us T.O metalheads never thought would happen, and that was an Annihilator show in Toronto. The last time Annihilator played Toronto was in 1993. I was only a year old then. I first became an Annihilator fan near the end of my freshman year in high school in 2007 and have been wanting to see them live ever since. I also did a video interview with Jeff Waters backstage before the show and in the interview, we cover a lot from why it took so long for the band to play Toronto again, their latest album Suicide Society, the future plans for Annihilator as far as shows, tours and new music, and much more, so check that out. Let's talk about the show now. Next up were our hometown party boys in Skull Fist. For this show in particular, they enlisted vocalist Brian Stephenson to fill in on vocals while Zach Slaughter recovers from vocal cord surgery, but Zach still played guitar. I have to give the award for best energy of the night to Skull Fist. Anyone that's seen Skull Fist before, knows that they unleash a great amount of energy on stage with constant headbanging and running back and forth across the stage. There was a point in the set where Zach and fellow guitarist Jonny Nesta play-fought during a solo section. Finally, after 23 years of waiting, came the moment we've all been waiting for: Annihilator! "Crystal Ann" played on the P.A before Jeff Waters and the crew entered the stage playing the intro to "My Revenge" before kicking into "Suicide Society", followed by "King Of The Kill" which the entire crowd sang along to. Jeff and company delivered an absolutely killer old-school set with so many of the great classics we love like "Set The World On Fire", "W.T.Y.D.", "Never Neverland", "Stonewall", "Second To None", "Ultraparanoia" and "Refresh The Demon" just to name a few. A couple of tunes from the recent years also made their way into the set like "Creepin' Again" and "No Way Out". Personally, I wish the band would've added "Wicked Mystic" and "Schizos (Are Never Alone) Parts I & II" into the set, but that's just me. |
During "Phantasmagoria", the band came out with masks on their heads and each one different. Jeff wore a devil mask, guitarist Aaron Homma and bassist Rich Hinks both wore zombie masks with mohawks and drummer Fabio Alessandrini wore a gas mask. The crowd roared with excitement as the opening bass lines to "Alison Hell" started, during which a fan in the crowd, which turned out to be Dan Ayers of Sludgehammer, got the thumbs up from Jeff to come up on stage and sing the song. Jeff was pretty impressed with his performance and jokingly asked him if he'd like a job as Annihilator's new lead vocalist. The band then ended their set with "Human Insecticide". It was the perfect ending to a perfect night of Canadian metal. We certainly hope that it doesn't take another 23 years for Annihilator to play Toronto again.
| WARMACHINE Joe Di Taranto - Lead vocals & guitars Johnny Salerno - Guitars & vocals Alberto Campuzano - Bass & vocals Mike Harshaw - Drums & vocals Label: Unsigned Website: www.warmachineonline.com www.facebook.com/WarmachineCAN | SKULL FIST Brian Stephenson - Vocals (temporary) Zach Slaughter - Vocals & guitars Jonny Nesta - Guitars Casey Guest - Bass JJ Tartaglia - Drums Label: NoiseArt Records Website: www.skullfist.org www.facebook.com/skullfisted |
| THE EXALTED PILEDRIVER Gordon Kirchin - Vocals Ken Gibson - Bass Mark Macpherson - Drums Steve Macphearson - Guitars Label: Unsigned Website: www.facebook.com/exaltedpiledriver | ANNIHILATOR Jeff Waters - Lead vocals & guitars Fabio Alessandrini - Drums Rich Hinks - Bass Aaron Homma - Guitars Label: UDR Records Website: www.annihilatormetal.com www.facebook.com/annihilatorband |
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