The Vortex of Violence tour was announced in mid-January and began on March 18th in San Diego, California. The tour tears through 24 cities across the United States and Canada, with Montreal and Toronto being the only two Canadian stops. Being a huge fan of Warbringer and Skeletal Remains meant this show would hit home for my love of both thrash and death metal. The crowd was small, but given this was a Monday night, I wasn’t surprised. However, for those attending, the show was a rip-roaring good time.

SUMMONING THE LICH
The VOV tour got underway with a short thirty-minute set of mostly aggro-driven melo-deathcore courtesy of St. Louis, Missouri’s Summoning The Lich. To be honest, I didn’t know much about them beforehand, but was treated to seven heavy songs of mayhem. I’m not a huge fan of deathcore, but this newly formed act did their best to instill the violence early from the small crowd of fist-pumping maniacs.

Setlist
‘My Horrors Unending’, ‘Descend’, ‘Demon Of The Snow’, ‘The Nightmare Begins’, ‘Return To The Soil’, ‘Reviled Crystal Wielders’, ‘The Forest Feast’

SKELETAL REMAINS
It was a big surprise when only three members of the band took to the stage. Guitarist/Vocalist Chris Monroy was absent, and I believe they announced why, but I didn’t catch the full explanation. Regardless, the band soldiered on and performed an instrumental set of favourites from their back catalogue. They opened with ‘Void Of Despair’ from the latest 2024 release, Fragments Of The Ageless, and it was kick-ass from start to finish. Even without vocals, the song was a ripper, and I give the band major props for the improvisation throughout the set. They continued with ‘Relentless Appetite’, ‘To Conquer The Devout’, ‘Evocation’ and ‘Unmerciful’ – all cuts from Ageless. I loved hearing the new material, so I had no argument with that. In fact, the entire set was solid from top to bottom.

ALLEGAEON
Next up were the head co-headliners of the night, a band whose music I wasn’t familiar. I know the name of the band, but I wasn’t sure what to expect on this night of metallic mayhem. I later discovered that this tour marked the return of vocalist Ezra Haynes, who had left the band in 2015 but rejoined the lineup in 2023. I considered him to be a high-energy guy who did his best to whip up the crowd into a frenzy throughout the hour-long set. They played twelve songs of technically influenced death metal and surprisingly only performed two tracks from their latest offering, The Ossuary Lens. The new album was actually due out a week later, but the band was kind enough to have vinyl and CD copies available for purchase during the show. The music was built around the duel shredding talents of guitarists Greg Burgess and Michael Stancel, who both mixed in proggy elements into their playing styles. Again, as melodic as they were, the music was heavily driven as a set of relentless bangers, aided solely by a frenzied, induced moshpit. With seven albums in their catalogue, Allegaeon has proven they can hang with the best of them.

Setlist
‘All Hail Science’, ‘The God Particle’, ‘To Carry My Grief Through Torpor And Silence’, ‘The Swarm’, ‘Terrathaw And The Quake’, ‘Driftwood’, ‘Dyson Sphere’, ‘Of Beasts And Worms’, ‘Proponent For Sentience III – The Extermination’, ‘Parthenogenesis’, ‘1.618’, ‘Behold (God I Am)’

WARBRINGER
The guys stormed the stage soon after Allegaeon and went with a take-no-prisoners attitude. If you love thrash metal as much as I do, then Warbringer will satiate that fist-pumping action all thrashers crave at live shows. With this being their seventh album, the band are seasoned thrash vets at this stage and they know how to deliver the goods. The major highlight of the night was vocalist John Kevill; who is a commanding presence on stage. He can belt out those words, dripping venom off his tongue at the same time. He whipped up the crowd and initiated the mosh pit at the drop of a hat, as well as led the charge by stage diving into the pit. The guy definitely wears his thrash badge with pride, and it’s what I love the most about this band.

They opened their set with ‘Severed Reality’ from 2009’s Waking Into Nightmare and then went into the new single ‘A Better World’ from 2025’s Wrath And Ruin. This was a true toe-tapper that got everyone primed and percolating into a sea of pumping fists and headbanging. What really got me going was the song ‘Woe To The Vanquished’ from 2017’s killer album of the same name. God, I love that song because it fills you with so much adrenaline to jump straight into that mosh pit! Among the new material, we also were hit with ‘The Sword And The Cross’ and ‘Through A Glass Darkly’. Both are wicked numbers, and I liked how John brandished a sword on stage to introduce a bit of theatricality into the set. They went back into their catalogue for ‘Hunter Seeker’ from IV: Empires Collapse and then unleashed ‘Remain Violent’ from Woe To The Vanquished. These two tracks are excellent thrashers through and through, and just made the show even better for me.

The final song was actually put to a vote. John asked the crowd if they would rather hear ‘Living Weapon’ or ‘Total War’, and thankfully, the latter was chosen. That made me very happy, as the song is a thrash masterpiece from their debut album, War Without End, which I consider to be their best album hands down. What a way to cap off the night with a song that blitzed me out big time!

Setlist
‘Severed Reality’, ‘A Better World’, ‘The Black Hand Reaches Out’, ‘Woe To The Vanquished’, ‘Crushed Beneath the Tracks’, ‘Firepower Kills’, ‘The Sword And The Cross’, ‘Through A Glass, Darkly’, ‘Hunter-Seeker’, ‘Remain Violent’, Encore: ‘Total War’

CONCLUSION
Vortex Of Violence is a heck of a tour. My only complaint is that we got one thrash band and three death metal acts. It would have been cool if another thrash band had been added to the bill to balance out the lineup. Regardless, the show was stellar and there was enough death and thrash metal to keep everyone fortified until the next show!