PSYCROPTIC

The first band of the night, Psycroptic from Australia, opened early in the evening to compensate for the longer-than-normal acts that followed. Not much was said except for a joke about “loss of accent,” but this tour featured Jason Keyser of Origin on guest vocals, as in 2023, but not in 2022, as I was able to see both previous Toronto visits. No stranger to the stage or handling the crowd, Jason was absolutely in a groove with his between-song banter, provoking the crowd into certain moshing styles before each song, ultimately rewarding them with “do whatever you want” before the last song. The guys graced the eager crowd with eight tracks, including a brand new song, ‘Architects Of Extinction,’ from an upcoming untitled release. As a band with so much music over decades, I’m sure it was a nightmare to dial in this setlist. Although the time on stage was short-lived, this technical, nonstop performance left the incoming Toronto crowd and me wanting more, leaving a lasting impression and getting the bodies warmed up for the marathon of music to come. A special approving nod to the last song, and my favourite song from this band, ‘Enslavement,’ from the most recent album, Divine Council, released in 2022. It was the perfect way to end the set. There is something oddly hypnotic about this song; the riffs are even better to experience live.

SETLIST
‘We Were The Keepers,’ ‘Frozen Gaze,’ ‘Architects Of Extinction,’ ‘Cold,’ ‘Ob(Servant),’ ‘Carriers Of The Plague,’ ‘The Watcher Of All,’ ‘Enslavement’

RIVERS OF NIHIL

There is something special about Rivers Of Nihil. There has always been. They continue to deliver reinvention with every release to date. Celebrating the most recent self-titled album, Rivers Of Nihil, released earlier this year, the guys visited Toronto for the second time this year. This time, instead of a blended set of songs from multiple albums, as they did this past June, the band chose to play the recent album from start to finish. The stage setup was absolutely flooded with custom lighting to add to the dramatic effect of this American progressive death metal band. The band, while absolutely delivering this album with note-for-note perfection, took it to another level by bringing in a live saxophone player for these performances rather than having it played from tape over the speakers. This was an overwhelmingly positive enhancement, considering the saxophone isn’t on every single song. The crowd absolutely responded to this new album and the performance with a lot of movement, almost as consistently as the over fifty-minute performance.

SETLIST
‘The Sub-Orbital Blues,’ ‘Dustman,’ ‘Criminals,’ ‘Despair Church,’ ‘Water & Time,’ ‘House Of Light,’ ‘Evidence,’ ‘American Death,’ ‘The Logical End,’ ‘Rivers Of Nihil’

NE OBLIVISCARIS

For the second time in 2025, Ne Obliviscaris blessed Toronto, this time as a headliner and playing two albums back-to-back: Citadel (2014) and Exul (2023. Being from Australia, it seems impossible that they would visit North America so often, but they already made two visits here about a decade ago, which makes the band even more impressive and well-travelled. Some piano notes slowly filled the venue, ominous and methodical. Tim Charles, the only original and founding member, came on stage complete with a screaming and haunting violin intro that seemed to last almost forever to start this epic two-hour performance, with the rest of the band slowly following his lead onto the stage.

After a short hello from Tim, the madness and energy began on stage, slowly infecting the crowd into a frenzy of movement. After the three parts of ‘Painters Of The Tempest,’ it was joked that the band was twenty-three minutes and one song into the setlist, which prompted the crowd to erupt in laughter. The band marched through the music of the first album, offering equal parts impressive displays of musicianship; the haunting violin notes closed out the album. A special nod to Martino, the bassist, and James, who were not on this album and not with the band for the recording of this album; it would be next to impossible for anyone to find a missing note or a blemish of any kind, a true testament to the band going through with this double album play-through.

A quick intermission in between albums, complete with a backdrop change and Tim addressing the crowd for a few minutes, and it was onto the newest album, Exul—the vocal trade-offs between clean and rough vocals during ‘Equus’ absolutely induced goosebumps. The rabid Toronto crowd couldn’t keep still throughout the performance. When moments called for a break in the action, the pit got on the floor of the venue and started rowing to the music’s cadence and tempo. The second album play-through felt incredibly emotional, above and beyond the rest of the performance, which was unmistakably extremely tight. Again, it would be impossible to find a mistake in this second leg of the set—an absolute masterclass in showcasing the genre.

In no time at all, the final track for the main setlist, ‘Anhedonia,’ brought back the haunting piano notes with the best clean vocal performance of the night. The band wasn’t done after back-to-back album plays; the perfect encore featured my favourite song from them, ‘And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope,’ bringing us back to the band’s debut album, Portal Of I. Time is a funny thing, as almost no one is doing a two-hour concert performance these days, and especially not with this many notes absolutely packed in; at times it lasted forever, and at other times it went too quickly for one of the best extreme metal nights of the year that was absolutely worth attending.

SETLIST
‘Painters Of The Tempest (Part I): Wyrmholes,’ ‘Painters Of The Tempest (Part II): Triptych Lux,’ ‘Painters Of The Tempest (Part III): Reveries From The Stained Glass Womb,’ ‘Pyrrhic,’ ‘Devour Me, Colossus (Part I): Blackholes,’ ‘Devour Me, Colossus (Part II): Contortions’, ‘Equus,’ ‘Misericorde I – As The Flesh Falls,’ ‘Misericorde II – Anatomy Of Quiescence,’ ‘Suspyre,’ ‘Graal,’ ‘Anhedonia’