A fall Tuesday in Toronto, at one of the city’s most legendary and long-standing venues, we were treated to the second leg of the Necromanteum Tour. Carnifex brought four other bands with them for what I’m personally calling five sub genres of death metal music (deathcore/slam & brutal death metal/deathcore/brutal & technical death metal/deathcore). Opera House had some physical changes since my last visit. Getting to the main floor of the venue, they removed both bars, leaving ample room to move around and participate in musical activities such as headbanging, crowd surfing, walls of death, and circle pits. Oh my!
HEAVY//HITTER
As awesome as it was for five bands to come to Toronto for any night of the week, 6pm is a hell of a start for the first band. Opening this show to the floor barely having any people in attendance, Heavy//Hitter spent all of the energy they had over the 30-minute performance and left nothing left behind. Being labeled as “catchy deathcore,” this four piece from Florida, just starting in 2017, finally made it to Toronto for the first time and was very vocal about it during the performance. Dane Loeprich was the standpoint band member for this set, wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs NHL jersey and demanding the crowd not let him down because he was home. The band’s constant requests for “two-stepping” created plenty of movement on the floor throughout the performance, even with the sparse crowd filling in from the early start.
ORGANECTOMY
The furthest distance by a band to join this tour, from New Zealand! This band started off hot from the get, with absolutely punching music with lyrics about everything gore-related. It will always fascinate me that a vocalist could have such an accent when speaking, but when it comes time to sing or scream, you can’t hear it at all. The Toronto crowd that was slowly coming into the venue was very warm and receptive to Organectomy—not the first time they have visited Toronto, but from the response, many in attendance will hope for a return real soon. Lots of muscle flexing and headbanging by the vocalist, who made an effort to give all of the bands a shout out, and also dedicated ‘Tracheal Hanging’ to anyone who is struggling with life and professed love towards anyone who is still here and for those who have passed on. A huge amount of thanks and respect to Alex Paul for doing this, and the crowd roared in response to the dedication.
Setlist
‘Concrete’, ‘The Third Mutation’, ‘Corpsethrone’, ‘Plague Mouth’, ‘Tracheal Hanging (dedicated to those who are struggling with life)’, ‘Terror Form’, ‘Entropic Decay’
MENTAL CRUELTY
This band from Germany made a second appearance in Toronto for 2024, a lot bigger than a performance from earlier this year. A little bit of a longer set than the two bands previous, Mental Cruelty just exuded happiness in between the songs, absolutely stoked to be in Toronto and enthusiastically said as much. 35-ish minutes with this band, the end combo songs of ‘Zwielicht’/’Symphony Of A Dying Star’ was a great way to finish the set. With the floor almost as full as it was going to be for the night, the band ended on a heavy crescendo of notes. I don’t know if this would be warranted, as I have not listened to them outside of both concerts this year. I think a full-time keyboardist would bring this band to another level live, even though that might not be financially sound for the moment. Local banger legend Bradley Zorgdrager got a shout out from the band midset for being the best band manager ever, which is an understatement for how hard Brad works behind the scenes with all of the bands he’s managed and just genuinely makes the music community better and stronger, well deserved, and the Opera House crowd agreed, showering Brad with a loud cheer and applause.
Setlist
‘Midtvinter’, ‘Obsessis A Daemonio’, ‘King Of Fire’, ‘Forgotten Kings’, ‘Nordlys’, ‘Zwielicht’, ‘Symphony Of A Dying Star’
CRYPTOPSY
Canadian Death Metal Legends Cryptopsy, visiting Toronto for the third time this year, is a shorter set than earlier this year when they opened for Death To All. This set was equal parts death metal mastery and hilarity. Matt recanted a story, specifically for the opera house, talking about singing for the band before he was in the band a moment with previous band member Lord Worm in the bowels of the Opera House. A few tech issues caused the bass to not come through the speakers for about a minute for one of the songs; aside from this, a flawless set from the only metal band to play Saudi Arabia (Dec 1st, 2023) Matt was also dramatically controlling his voice with one of his hands, like he was his own vocal conductor, which was very entertaining to see in person. I wish I could reference the song when Matt did this; however, there was a moment in the set where Matt was screaming for what seemed like “forever” well over a minute, very impressive stuff to see live.
Matt also shared a funny story just for Toronto, about a story involving the previous singer, Lord Worm, and Matt singing for the band before being in the band and then hanging with Lord Worm after the set, funny stuff in between the brutal music that had the crowd laughing. Not only was it a great set by the band Cryptopsy, but they had a really rad variety of merchandise/shirts to cater to any and all types of metal head. And finally, with sitting in the upstairs section of the Opera House for a majority of all of the performances, Cryptopsy was the loudest of all 5 bands via the venue’s decibel reader, which peaked at a ROARING 107 db. Not that I was looking at the reader all night, just very noticeable that Cryptopsy was louder than every other band on this night.
Setlist
‘Slit Your Guts’, ‘Lascivious Undivine’, ‘Graves Of The Fathers’, ‘Open Face Surgery’, ‘Sire Of Sin’, ‘Flayed The Swine’, ‘Phobophile’
CARNIFEX
Touring for the latest album Necromanteum, Carnifex brought the opera house to a fevered pitch after all of the previous bands warmed things up. Strangely enough, not the first time I’m seeing this band; however, the first time seeing them with Neal on guitars, and his sound for this performance was noticeable over everyone else performing. Neal is in good hands with the rest of the band, and they are definitely benefiting from Neal offering a fresh but familiar sound to the band’s back catalog. ‘Crowned In Everblack’ in the middle of the set was dedicated to Trevor Strnad, vocalist of The Black Dahlia Murder, who tragically passed away in 2022. I can’t speak for others in the audience, but the way it was spoken and how this dedication came to be absolutely made me sad, and I think about those who also have passed recently in my social circle. With the night starting early, this show was done by 10:30, which I’m sure a lot of early-working metal heads appreciated, and also a strong showing of merchandise from Carnifex as well.
Setlist
‘Torn In Two’, ‘Graveside Confessions’, ‘Dark Days’, ‘Necromanteum’, ‘Slit Wrist Savior’, ‘Crowned In Everblack’, ‘Lie To My Face’, ‘Hell Chose Me’, ‘Heaven And Hell All At Once’, ‘Dark Heart Ceremony’, ‘Hatred And Slaughter’, ‘Drown Me In Blood’, ‘
CONCLUSION
Five rounds of metal later, and the Opera House still stood. We are fortunate to get tours in Toronto, even though the first leg missed us. For those who came to this show, we left satisfied and hope all five bands come back sooner than later. Opera House looks to be improving the venue for a better concert-going experience, and hopefully that includes more facets so the venue can be enjoyed for generations to come.
October 22nd, 2024 @ The Opera House(Toronto, ON)
Images By: Miles George
Words By: Miles George