Written by Kirsti Heitz
Photographed by Rob Botten

(C) 2018 All rights reserved by www.metalmasterkingdom.com

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WINTERSUN w/ NE OBLIVISCARIS and SARAH LONGFIELD
@ Opera House
Toronto, ON, Canada
October 9, 2018


Presented by Inertia Entertainment

One of the last Toronto shows before the weather turns frigid was given my Finnish metallers Wintersun with opening acts Ne Obliviscaris and Sarah Longfield. 

​Wisconsin based guitarist, Sarah Longfield, wowed the crowd with her 8-string guitar skills and youthful looks making many metallers go through a transition of “how old is she?” followed by “why is she so young and blessed with mad guitar skills?” which ultimately culminated to a short panic attack of “what am I doing with my life??”.

Written by Ananda Pratt
Photographed by Rob Botten


(C) 2018 All rights reserved by www.metalmasterkingdom.com


PARADISE LOST w/ SOLSTAFIR and THE ATLAS MOTH
@ Opera House
Toronto, ON, Canada
October 7, 2018

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Presented by Inertia Entertainment

Attending a doom/goth metal show was on my list of must-see shows, and I’m more than thrilled that my first goth metal experience was attending the Paradise Lost show on October 7th at the Opera House in Toronto.  For this show, Paradise Lost was joined by special guests The Atlas Moth and Solstafir, and all of the bands put on an amazing show and had the audiences captivated during all of their sets.

I arrived just as The Atlas Moth started their set, and the crowd, although warming up, were definitely entranced by the band.  The band kept the audience engaged by continuously speaking to the crowd and encouraging crowd interaction.  There were still quite a few attendees arriving during their performance, however I noticed that most that arrived late went straight for the floor.

​After The Atlas Moth, Solstafir took the stage.  The crowd was extremely engaged during their entire set, and I would argue that most people were as excited to see them as they were to see Paradise Lost (upon researching them, I understood why).  The crowd interactions between Aðalbjörn and the attendees was nonstop (including getting the crowd to sing parts of the songs), and the crowd was almost mesmerized during the entire set.  I’ve never heard a crowd sound so disappointed as when Aðalbjörn told the crowd that they only had one song left.  What stuck out to me was the speech that Aðalbjörn gave about mental health and addiction.

Obviously, both of those topics are a part of today’s society, however there is a negative stigma that comes with both.  The statement “it’s okay to not be okay” has been at the forefront of a lot of artist of different genres, however this was the first time I heard an artist from a metal band speak about the topics so openly onstage.

Written and photographed by Rob Botten


(C) 2018 All rights reserved www.metalmasterkingdom.com


ZEAL & ARDOR w/ ASTRONOID
@ Lee's Palace
Toronto, ON, Canada
September 27, 2018


Presented by Lee's Palace