Sunday, September 3rd. Downtown Toronto. 04:00pm: Epica fans file outside the Opera House hours before the show, hoping to get the best stage-view at the sold out venue. With a line-up to stand the test of symphonic metal, Elantris, Insomnuim, Lacuna Coil and Epica’s tour buses line the street – leaving onlookers eager for the fourth night of The Ultimate Principle Tour to begin.
| (C)2017 All rights reserved www.metalmasterkingdom.com Photo: Navneet Johal (C)2017 All rights reserved www.metalmasterkingdom.com Photo: Navneet Johal (C)2017 All rights reserved www.metalmasterkingdom.com Photo: Navneet Johal (C)2017 All rights reserved www.metalmasterkingdom.com Photo: Navneet Johal | 6:00: Doors open. Being my first time at a sold-out Opera House concert, I stood aghast as I scanned the venue. In a sea of Epica band-shirts, fans flooded the stage-floor, balcony and bar. Glasses clinked, cans cracked open, and a wave of people headed towards the stage – impatiently waiting for the night to begin. 6:45: Elantris takes the stage. Led by the fiery Lindsay Victoria Ketchum, the symphonic metal band founded in Ohio, USA set the tone for the night. They captured the essence of the genre, hailing new fans and impressing previous supporters. Being a night of vocal expression (as is part of the crux of symphonic metal), the melodic works of Ketchum and Ullom created the black-and-white effect that is the beautiful battle between clean and scream vocals. Supporting their recently-released debut album, This Sacrifice, Elantris held their own as the first act of an incredible line-up – making them, in turn, incredible. 7:30: Time for the first mosh-pit of the night. With the Finnish epic melodic death metal band, Insomnium taking the stage, they issued a shot of adrenaline into the audience. Supporting their seventh album, Winter's Gate, the band brought their best to North America after having already toured most of the world. With the talented Markus Vanhala on guitar and an equally talented Markus Hirvonen on drums, the band did not need to coax the audience into forming a pit – because their music did it for them. Gutsy crowd-surfers rolled over the ocean of fans, fading into the dry-ice at the stage. With horns up and hair down, we chanted along with Insomnium into the next act, Lacuna Coil. 8:35: “Ultima Ratio”, the first song on Lacuna Coil’s set list for the night springs screams and shouts through the hall. Painted faces, blood-smeared mad-scientist costumes and magnificent musicianship were only the outlines of their colourfully painted performance. By the time Lacuna Coil played “Heaven’s A Lie”, I was in full groupie mode, chanting, moshing and head-banging to the Italian-hailed gothic metal band. Supporting Delirium, their latest – and heaviest – album to date, they played several songs from the record, including “Blood, Tears, Dust”, “Ghost In The Mist” and their closing number “House Of Shame” – and fans remained to bleed support till the last note of that final closing number. 10:00: It’s time. It’s time for Epica. The renowned, headlining Dutch symphonic metal titans bring their tour, The Ultimate Principle, to the Toronto stage. By this time, even the stairwells bud with fans, leaving sparring room for movement. Heat accumulates, sweat drips, hair whips, and cans fold onto the ground. As though Simone Simons impeccable vocals and Isaac Delahye’s incomparable shredding weren’t enough, Coen Janssen surfed the crowd – keyboard in hand – and solo-ed till the fans flipped him back onto the stage. Epica’s prepared a performance for the stage as impressive as the arrangements they composed for their latest album, The Holographic Principle. Opening with “The Edge Of A Blade”, playing “Dancing In A Hurricane”, and adding “Beyond The Matrix” to their encore, Epica brought their album to life. 11:30: Epica was epic. |
| Elantris Thomas Ullom – Vocals Lindsay Victoria Ketchum – Vocals Erik Liber – Drums John Dobosh – Bass Mark Liber – Keys Garrett Chetock – Guitar Record Label: indie | Insomnium Niilo Sevänen – Vocals/Bass Ville Friman – Guitars/Vocals Markus Vanhala – Guitars Markus Hirvonen – Drums Record Label: Century Media Records |
| Lacuna Coil Andrea Ferro — Male Vocals Marco Coti Zelati — Bass Cristina Scabbia — Female Vocals Ryan Blake Folden — Drums Diego Cavallotti — Guitar Record Label: Century Media Records | EPICA Simone Simons – Lead Vocals Mark Jansen – Guitar/Vocals Isaac Delahaye – Guitar Rob van der Loo - Bass Coen Janssen – Synth/Piano Ariën van Weesenbeek – Drums/Vocals Record Label: Nuclear Blast Records |
RSS Feed
