SPITE | EMMURE | PSYCHO-FRAME | REV3RENT

THE SETUP…

With a cult-like status the band is extremely open about, the Bay Area’s own Spite returned to Toronto for a headlining tour, filling venues across North America for the first time. Despite being from an area known for thrash metal, the band, cementing itself in the deathcore subgenre, brought three other bands with them to not only round out but also compliment the New World Killer tour. Brought to us by Inertia Entertainment, this tour came to one of the larger venues in the city for an intense night of heavy music.

REV3RENT

This was one of two bands I hadn’t heard of before tonight, as they have not toured Toronto or Canada to date. Much to my surprise, this deathcore six-piece from California was complete with three guitarists. It didn’t take long for them to establish an aggressive tone with extreme, heavy breakdowns that carried through the entire evening. All six members—yes, including the drummer—were headbanging in unison. To be completely fair, everyone but the vocalist picked a spot on stage and stayed there for the duration of the set

This performance was short-lived. There was a moment when I thought they had tech issues, but one of the guitarists made a beeping sound, like a fire alarm, that completely grabbed my attention. Being the opening band for this night didn’t give the band a full, normal thirty minutes, but only about twenty-two minutes from the first note to the last. With an incoming crowd, the venue floor filled up just as quickly as this set. This recently formed band from 2024 showed the stage presence of a group with a decade under its belt. Making it to Canada this early in their musical journey was one of the most impressive milestones for the up-and-coming act.

SETLIST
‘Been There, Mutilated That’, ‘…Of Blood And Brutality’, ‘Last One Here’, ‘Shattered Skulls & Blood Splattered Maces’, ‘As He Splits The Earth’, ‘My Hand, Your Demise’

PSYCHO-FRAME

Psycho-Frame was the second of the two bands I wasn’t aware of before tonight, and, like the openers, they made it clear they had never toured Toronto or Canada before. In fact, those were the very first words out of their mouths before a single note was even played. But this band was different—I had already been given a heads-up from someone who told me, ‘You can’t miss them.’

If the previous band had uniformity and band energy, this band and its members were all doing different movements, but with an insane amount of energy on display. The tag team of vocalists took turns in singing and running from one side of the stage to the other. They are a fairly new band as well, one that was quick to establish a sound and present itself with the presence of a long-standing band with a lot of tenure. The guitarist had a few moments of noodling that weren’t typical of any version of the “core” subgenres, and the drummer was much like machine-gun fire from the start of the performance until the end. It was an enjoyable performance that the Toronto crowd absolutely got warmed up to.

SETLIST
‘Still Water Salvation’, ‘The Plot To Nuke The Midwest’, ‘I Won’t Be There To Watch You Go’, ‘Blueprints For Idol Genocide’, ‘The Portal’, ‘A Further Showing Of Violence’, ’24 Hours Left’, ‘No Revives’

EMMURE

It’s been just over a decade since the last time I saw Emmure—the only time in my concert-going history—where almost everything about the band has changed except for one constant: Frankie Palmeri, vocalist and founding member of the band. I didn’t remember much about the previous performance until Frankie hit the stage, and then the memories came flooding back. The rest of the band members, being completely new to the music they are playing, were very quick to add a fresh and revitalized edge to an already intense depth of deathcore. Frankie established very quickly in the set, ‘If you know who we are, then you know why we’re here. We are here to move you; you stand next to someone, and you move them!’ This provoked yet another surge of energy among diehards of the band and enthusiasts of the music, with both enjoying physical activity in the pit.

Again, having been removed from this band for so long, it was fascinating to see much of the crowd singing along to the music when Frankie wasn’t. This gave the audience time to shine, but the volume of the masses was near deafening. This was especially true during the last song, ‘When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong’, with, again, Frankie giving it to the crowd: ‘Who knows the words?’ The rabid crowd responded, ‘Won’t you be my bride?’ over and over and over again until the only noise coming out of the speakers was the guitar droning feedback to close out this set.

SETLIST
‘Solar Flare Homicide’, ‘Shinjuku Masterlord’, ‘Smokey’, ‘Flag Of The Beast’, ‘Dogs Get Put Down’, ‘Mdma’, ‘(F)inally (U)nderstanding (N)othing’, ‘Pig’s Ear’, ‘Russian Hotel Aftermath’, ‘Natural Born Killer’, ’10 Signs You Should Leave’, ‘When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong’

SPITE

Starting right out of the gate with a taped intro from a mid-1900s horror film, the Bay Area, California, band Spite quickly took the stage, and their presence and intensity were almost immediate. ‘Everybody moves, everybody moves, let’s fucking go’ was the immediate command from Darius the first moment in between songs, and of course, the rabid Toronto crowd was very quick to comply.

Touring on New World Killer, the brand-new album from late 2025, the setlist was heavily dominated by these new songs. Although the band toured closer to the album’s initial release date—a show I unfortunately missed—having them back as a headliner meant they had much more flexibility to play a longer setlist for this visit. In my concert-going history, this was not my first time seeing Spite, or even reviewing them, so I thought I knew exactly what to expect from the performance. This round, however, the band was even more increasingly dialed in.

The tracks from the newest album played really well alongside a balanced selection of songs from across their discography. It is also worth noting that the band’s additional lighting setup added another layer of depth to the performance, perfectly complementing the hard-hitting deathcore notes and melodies. Furthermore, while some of the riffs and melodies were borrowed from other metal bands, they were performed with such excellence that—if you didn’t know any better—the band possesses more than enough distinct styling to make them completely their own.

The banter from Darius throughout the performance was top-notch; however, certain moments didn’t come through clearly due to what seemed like venue audio issues with the taped music and the vocal instructions between songs. This was called out as, ‘Hey, are you guys even listening to me?’ This question came through crystal clear with both a physical response and a vocal reaction from the venue floor. Even though some things didn’t come through properly, Darius was gracious enough to give props and love to each and every band on the bill.

Musically, when all the instruments were combined, the sound reverberated so powerfully through the speakers that the harder-hitting notes made the entire venue vibrate. Because the Phoenix Concert Theatre sits in the middle of a multi-story building with a basement, you could feel the floor and balcony shake, with the floor moving up and down from the intense activity in and around the pit. Their intense sixteen-song set translated to a roughly fifty-five-minute performance. By the end, the air inside grew thick with humidity from the sweat of the crowd. It all played out incredibly well for the band and its loyal, cult-like following, proving that they will absolutely be welcomed back for a return visit.

SETLIST
‘New World Killer’, ‘Gavel’, ‘Ied’, ‘Snap’, ‘Lights Out’, ‘Made To Please’, ‘Psychopath’, ‘Shallow’, ‘Shedding Skin’, ‘Pledge’, ‘Hand Of The Reaper’, ‘Kingdom Of Guts’, ‘Hangman’, ‘Dedication To Flesh’, ‘Caved In’, ‘Kill Or Be Killed’