DYING FETUS | SANGUISUGABOGG | CROWBAR | LEFT TO DIE | SCORCHING TOMB

THE SETUP…

One of Toronto’s most historic and long-standing venues, the century-plus-old Danforth Music Hall, had a five-bill offering of some of the most extreme metal right in the middle of the week, typically a lineup for another venue or even a larger venue in Toronto. This exclusively sold-out night featured co-headliners Dying Fetus & Sanguisugabogg. They also brought sludge metal masters Crowbar, who finally returned to the city after a multi-year absence; the seemingly always-touring Left To Suffer for the second time this year; and, for the two Canadian dates, Montréal’s very own Scorching Tomb to set the tone for the night.

SCORCHING TOMB

It was not very well broadcast at all, and even to the point that, on the day of, Montréal’s own Scorching Tomb was the exclusive opener for the Canadian stops of this co-headlining tour. Much to my surprise, not a band I’ve seen before, or seemingly through research, this was the Toronto debut for the death metallers. This four-piece came out both angry and swinging, with a vocalist who, over the course of the performance, was just asking for more crowd activity: “fuck up this place,” and multiple requests for “two-step, motherfuckers.” This incoming and very sold-out crowd acquiesced to the demand. No reinvention with this band and the decades of death metal before it, but with the grinding distortion of the guitar riffs, paired with the heaviness of the bass guitar, and last but certainly not least, the smashing drums, this band did more than enough to get the crowd warmed up for the continued heavy night of music.

SETLIST
‘Stalagmite Impalement’, ‘Diminished To Ashes’, ‘Bloodlust Sacrifice’, ‘Feel The Blade’, ‘Skullcrush’, ‘Sanctum Of Bones (Ossuary)’

LEFT TO SUFFER

No strangers to me at all, even to the point of having seen them much earlier this year, Atlanta’s deathcore masters graced Toronto once again. The band, which is about to release new music in the coming weeks at the time of writing this, started the set off extremely heavy with two unreleased songs from that upcoming album. The droning twin-guitar riffs, getting heavier and slower in a repeating pattern, were absolutely ominous—a fantastic, threatening intro for the band. Deathcore being one of the most popular genres, Left To Suffer was such an intensity and consistently a force not to be messed with; this short but impactful performance felt like five minutes, although with all of the movement on the floor, I’m sure others felt it was a perfect amount of time to release some aggression as requested towards the end of the set in the song ‘Loathe’. Taylor demanded, “Everyone moves,” and the packed floor physically answered the call.

SETLIST
‘Track One (Unreleased)’, ‘Therapy (Unreleased)’, ‘Gun In The Duffel Bag’, ‘Crash Out’, ‘Set The World On Fire’, ‘Just For Now’, ‘Anger’, ‘Loathe’

CROWBAR

It feels like a lifetime ago; however, the last two times Crowbar came to Toronto, in 2015 & 2019, I was at both of the shows in person, and me seeing them live didn’t happen, and that was on me, being that this was the only band on the bill I’ve not seen for that “double miss” reason. I was absolutely stoked to finally cross them off that list. Easily the oddest band genre-wise for this extreme music lineup, and in the middle of the night, too. An enthusiastic response and deafening roar from the crowd came without a single note from the band, but from Kirk walking onto the stage to tune his guitar and fiddle with his amp. With his back to the crowd, not in a disrespectful fashion, the sold-out crowd, no doubt at peak attendance at this point, continued to roar. With added applause, the volume just got louder, to the point where Kirk had no choice but to acknowledge it by throwing a fist in the air for the crowd.

Not knowing what to expect, except for always being told this band is equal parts slow and heavy, even with Kirk on vocals, with that indistinguishable Southern drawl adding emphasis while saying the band is from New Orleans. The narrative was exactly that: something meticulous about the band’s playing. Yes, at a slower tempo, but the bass brought a heaviness more bands could only dream of. Bonus points because this bassist commanded every inch of the stage. Seeing these progenitors and one of the originators of the sludge genre is something I’m still pinching myself over days later, even if the band isn’t keen on the genre label. Over the course of the performance, the crowd became absolutely electric on the floor, with a cacophony of crowd surfers, to the point where additional security had to be brought in to handle the overflowing audience participation. In person, Crowbar absolutely delivered something way more melodic than I expected; even with the riffs oozing out, seven songs went way too quickly. It was very enjoyable, and most importantly for me, I finally got to see this band.

SETLIST
‘…And Suffer As One’, ‘Planets Collide’, ‘I Feel The Burning Sun’, ‘All I Had (I Gave)’, ‘To Build A Mountain’, ‘Repulsive In Its Splendid Beauty’, ‘The Cemetery Angels’

SANGUISUGABOGG

There is something wonderful about band names and even logos to some degree, with a near-unpronounceable name and an even harder band logo to read. Sanguisugabogg from Columbus, you almost have to hear someone else say the name first. Being arguably the hottest slam metal band at the moment and for a while now, the band took the stage, and right out of the gate, the vocalist was incredibly direct with demands: “Everybody moves.” It would not be the last time we heard this over the course of the performance, but after the last performance, “We need everybody crowd surfing” was a bit concerning. Still, the security at the barricade was ready for anything this crowd could dish out. Since this was a co-headlining tour and the first band of the two, it ended up being one of the longest sets this band has done in our city to date. Giving love to all of the bands, including the opener for Canada, the vocalist made a special shoutout to someone in the crowd cosplaying as Shrek and then also got into a concert game called “murderball” during the song ‘A Lesson In Savagery’. If you hold onto the ball by the end of the song, you get sweet merch—literally a constant with this band every single time I see them, and it’s super unique.

For close to an hour, the band absolutely established why they are the best slam band going: knuckle-dragging riffs, borrowing death metal riffs, floor-stomping basslines, and some of the finest blast beats. Almost every song had an explanation, almost to the point of being tongue-in-cheek: “This is a song about turning people into furniture; this song is called ‘Skin Cushion’.” The equally intense music brought out a relentless, super-active crowd on the floor of the sold-out venue. They absolutely couldn’t get enough of this band and erupted into a deafening cheer when the vocalist told the crowd, “Toronto was the first date on the tour to sell out.” Even though this was a Wednesday show, that comment was proof enough that a strong lineup or even a diverse enough lineup, will pack a venue. Later in the set, the crowd was thanked again for four years of the band coming to Toronto and continuing to sell out venues for Sanguisugabogg, and, last but certainly not least, it was demanded that the last song be the wall of death. With the venue as sold out as it was, it was absolutely terrifying to see so much floor space made, with everyone compressed to accommodate it. A fitting end to the band’s performance: “We Love You,” the last words to finish this brutally intense set.

SETLIST
‘Face Ripped Off’, ‘Feening For Bloodshed’, ‘Skin Cushion’, ‘A Lesson In Savagery’, ‘Rotted Entanglement’, ‘Repulsive Demise’, ‘Felony Abuse Of A Corpse’, ‘Ritual Autophagia’, ‘Abhorrent Contraception’, ‘Narcissistic Incisions’, ‘Dragged By A Truck’, ‘Dead As Shit’

DYING FETUS

Not many bands have a consistent track record like Dying Fetus when it comes to visiting Toronto, with an almost annual run, and sometimes, in select years, twice in one calendar year. The band triumphantly returned on this night. I can say this because I’ve seen the band for almost a decade and, yes, even multiple times in the same year. Offering an American version of a mix of death metal, brutal death metal, and grindcore, Baltimore’s Dying Fetus, the three-decade-plus band with a stable lineup since the mid-2000s, arrived on stage to an insanely loud response from the seemingly can’t-get-enough sold-out crowd. A band’s energy translates to the crowd. Still, Dying Fetus drew such a response that the barrier on the floor physically rocked back and forth into the ground as the masses headbanged against the protective wall—absolutely peak energy. The second co-headliner, Dying Fetus, after a short intro clip from something out of a horror film, opened with ‘One Shot, One Kill’, setting a cadence that set the tone for the night. However, they were asked to “start that circle pit,” which began even before the request. With galloping guitar and bass riffs, duelling vocals, blast-beat drumming, and an insanely blinding light show, the performance overwhelmed all the senses, and the crowd ate it up.

“It’s a pleasure to be here,” remarked founding and only original member John Gallagher, right at the first opportunity to tell this to the crowd, but it was also repeated later on in the night. Still touring on the 2023 release from Relapse Records, Make Them Beg For Death, years later, this set was a beautiful mix of the band’s discography, almost a best-of set, with the band touching every single full-length album across the band’s history, missing only one of the releases. Touring as hard as the band does, it is incredible to witness the band get better and better each time I see them, the sheer power and precision each member has, even with over a decade together. For this almost an hour-long closing set, it was an absolute masterclass of extreme metal that the metal community showed. It sold out a packed venue that typically doesn’t offer this kind of music these days, no less in the middle of the week.

SETLIST
‘One Shot, One Kill’, ‘From Womb To Waste’, ‘Unbridled Fury’, ‘Raped On The Altar’, ‘Into The Cesspool’, ‘Intentional Manslaughter’, ‘In The Trenches’, ‘Your Treachery Will Die With You’, ‘Wrong One To Fuck With’, ‘Grotesque Impalement’, ‘Justifiable Homicide’