HEDONIST

O Canada! Hailing from Victoria, BC, Hedonist stormed the stage to set the tone for the night. Having just visited Toronto ten days ago but making stops in Canada and the U.S.A. before coming back to open up this night, the crowd was super receptive to this four-piece performing some of the best brutal old-school death metal that pays homage to bands that established the genre. A blistering and banterless twenty-eight-minute set opened my eyes to this band for the first time and had me headbanging halfway through the first song while taking photos of the band. It was equally impressive to see the band punch out the music from the 2025 debut album, Scapulimancy, while also headbanging in unison.

A special nod to vocalist/bassist AJ, as the vocal chops are top-tier guttural notes and banshee screams throughout the set while playing some of the heaviest bass notes while not missing a beat. It didn’t take long before the incoming crowd for the night joined in with slow amounts of movement before bursting into a circle pit midway through the set, without the band even asking. A very impressive and powerful set. Even though I missed the headlining performance earlier in the month, they are a band I won’t be missing moving forward when and if they return to Toronto.

SETLIST
‘Intrepid Repulsion’, ‘Bottomless Sun’, ‘Cephalic Rot’, ‘Barbarian’, ‘Fatidic Dread’, ‘Parasitic Realm’, ‘Execution Wheel’, ‘Heresy’

NECROT

Missing it the last time. Necrot was in Toronto, but catching them perform on the Death Angel Xmas livestream in 2024, I was very much looking forward to seeing this performance in person. The band hit the stage earlier than the posted set time but to a fuller venue. The trio from Oakland absolutely pounded out songs from not only the newest release, Lifeless Birth, but also songs from the two other full-length albums, Blood Offerings and Mortal. All of the members of the band have been featured on all of the recordings to date, and this translates really well live; the performance was non-stop, even with minimal banter from vocalist Luca, who absolutely commanded the crowd whenever he spoke. An impressive exhibit of death metal that got a great amount of movement from the crowd throughout the short and sweet thirty-minute set.

SETLIST
‘Cut The Cord’, ‘Lifeless Birth’, ‘Superior’, ‘Stench Of Decay’, ‘The Blade’, ‘Your Hell’, ‘Drill The Skull’, ‘Sinister Will’, ‘Heresy’

BRUJERIA

There was a roar from the crowd even before Brujería hit the stage; a multitude of words were spoken in Spanish by the audience, a single voice shouting something from one area of the floor, gaining momentum until the united chant grew in volume before the band had even finished tuning their instruments. The four-piece band hit the stage early, with a ferocity and intensity in volume and depth that even I wasn’t expecting, even from seeing them in 2018, the only other time the band had been to Toronto. Singing in Spanish exclusively, a lot of the lyrics and songs are missed on casual fans and people who don’t speak that language, but some of the most obscene stuff and topics possible, the notes that are the band’s sound, were the universal things we understood. The band played this blend of genre-bending music so well that I was convinced the stage was going to collapse from the intensity of the music. The guitar, bass, and the drummer’s forceful hits on the kit created a deafening sound.

The dress code required uniform bandanas covering the majority of the face, with eyes and mouth left unobstructed. One of the stage antics was the vocalist, El Sangrón, bringing out one of the biggest machetes you’ve ever seen and stabbing the air during one of the songs being played. This strong performance was met with minimal English banter between songs, even after the vocalist explained to the crowd that he wasn’t allowed to smoke on stage, to his disappointment. The band had an amazing outro for a metal version of the one-hit wonder ‘The Macarena’ by Los Del Río, but parodied as ‘Marijuana,’ in which the vocalist was haphazardly singing the song while embracing the crowd from the stage with handshakes, fist bumps, and high fives. This last song was a super heavy take on the cover and a fun way to cap off this set. A performance in another language is something magical; for those who understand it, it means even more, but it serves as a reminder to us all that music is the ultimate universal language.

SETLIST
‘Brujerizmo’, ‘El Desmadre’, ‘Hechando Chingasos (Greñudos Locos II)’, ‘Vayan Sin Miedo’, ‘La Migra (Cruza La Frontera II)’, ‘Chingo De Mecos’, ‘Christo De La Roca’, ‘Desperado’, ‘Colas De Rata’, ‘Revolución’, ‘Consejos Narcos’, ‘Raza Odiada (Pito Wilson)’, ‘Matando Güeros’, ‘Marijuana (Outro)’

CARCASS

For the second time this year, I get to see, photograph, and review the British legends in Carcass, something I don’t take for granted. This will forever be a band I never thought I would see because I did not get to see them before 2022. Performing ahead of schedule from the set times posted, Carcass slowly took the stage to a nearly packed venue that was absolutely warmed up and ready to go at this point in the night. Would be remiss not to bring up that at all of the performances on this night, the venue did not have a barricade for crowd surfers and members of the media. A rare moment for everyone in attendance, which led to very intimate performances with all of the bands, but with Carcass, crowd surfing happened, which was emphatically approved by Jeff Walker, once the first one made it to the stage.

Jeff was handing out bass picks, multiple per song from either the microphone stand or back pocket, all night long to the delight of crowd wanting to go home with an additional memory of the night, all this done without missing a beat playing. For the second time this week, Toronto was commanded by a vocalist, “SCREAM FOR ME TORONTO,” which was met with a ruckus amount of noise. Seeing this band later in my life and theirs collectively, I’m always left in awe of the performance because they just get better and better. Jeff provided minimal banter until the end but, right at the beginning, expressed his happiness to be “back in the commonwealth.” Not only did we get this beyond-special Canadian appearance, but we also had the song ‘Embodiment,’ which online says hasn’t been played since 2010 and other songs that were not done on other dates for this tour.

I’m not sure how I missed this with previous shows, but drummer Daniel also assists with backing vocals while absolutely destroying the drums throughout the night. Daniel also got a drum solo, which prompted Jeff to applaud him for getting that space and time and then jokingly ask if the guitarists wanted one as well, all in good fun. The over sixty minute performance was met with huge approval from the audience, a lot of movement in the pit, headbanging, and a crowd that stuck around throughout the performance. For fans of death metal and especially Carcass, this was the perfect ending to a night full of extreme music. Carcass continues to prove that they are one of the leaders of this genre that is aging very well, can’t wait to see them in the future again and again.

SETLIST
‘Unfit For Human Consumption’, ‘Buried Dreams’, ‘Incarnated Solvent Abuse’, ‘No Love Lost’, ‘Tomorrow Belongs To Nobody’, ‘Death Certificate’, ‘Dance Of Ixtab (Psychopomp & Circumstance March No. 1 In B)’, ‘Black Star / Keep On Rotting In The Free World’, ‘Genital Grinder / Pyosisified (Rotten To The Gore)’, ‘Embodiment (First Time Since 2010)’, ‘Tools Of The Trade’, ‘316L Grade Surgical Steel’, ‘This Mortal Coil’, ‘Corporal Jigsore Quandary’, ‘Drum Solo’, ‘Ruptured In Purulence / Heartwork’, ‘Die In Pain’

September 20th 2025 @ Phoenix Concert Theatre (Toronto, Ontario)
Images & Words By: Miles George