CONCERT REVIEW/PHOTOS - DEATH TO ALL/CRYPTOPSY

April showers bring May flowers and for Toronto death metal fans, two nights of death metal glory courtesy of genre legends Cryptopsy and Death to All.

Those who bought tickets for both nights of shows (presented by Inertia Entertainment) were treated to different setlists, as Death to All decided to go with the ongoing trend of playing albums in their entirety. Night One featured Scream Bloody Gore and the second The Sound of Perseverance, both performances being filled out with some old school death tracks. Not wanting to be outdone, Cryptopsy also ripped through unique setlists for each night. Due to this annoying thing called my day job, I sadly missed out on Night one but was there ready and sweaty in the packed Phoenix Concert Theatre for night two.

Crytopsy are having a fucking fantastic year. They recently won the Juno (Canadian Grammy for those who aren’t from the land of maple syrup) for “Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year” for their banger As Gomoorah Burns, which was a well deserved win.

This was my first time seeing Crytopsy live and I surely hope it won’t be the last as these guys are phenomenal at what they do. I was snapping pics in the photo pit and had to pause every so often just to appreciate the performance. Flo Mournier (shoutout to Flo for the photo pass!) is an absolute beast behind the drums, I was getting tired just watching him deliver all those blast beats. And holy shit, Matt McGachy is an insane vocalist, the sounds coming out of his mouth and the facial expressions he makes to pull them off is just unreal.

Their setlist was deadly, with tracks covering their entire career which started in 1994! If you have not checked out these guys before do yourself a solid favour and get on it NOW.

SETLIST

PHOBOPHILE

LASCIVIOUS UNDIVINE

IN ABEYANCE

GRACES OF THE FATHERS

DETRITUS (THE ONE THEY KEPT)

GRAVAGED (A CRYPTOPSY)

SIRE OF SIN

FLAYED THE SWINE

ORGIASTIC DISEMBOWELMENT

Death to All is an interesting project as they are technically a tribute to death metal pioneers Death, as the original band dissolved in 2001 after the passing of the founder and frontman Chuck Schuldiner. Not usually a fan of tribute bands but in this case it’s more than alright as Death to All features musicians who were a part of Death throughout their career: Gene Hogan (drums), Steve DiGiorgio (bass), and Bobby Koelble (guitar) with Max Phelps taking over for vocals. As a fan of Death I was fucking stoked to have a chance to see them live on this special tribute tour.

This was one hell of a set to shoot with these incredibly well established musicians on a relatively small stage! An extremely tight performance, everyone playing flawlessly and obviously having a blast, especially Gene Hogan, who flashed his pearly whites at me every time he sensed the camera was pointing at him. A small gesture that I absolutely loved.

Death played an impressive 14 song setlist covering old classics and the entirety of the 1998 album The Sound of Perserverance and a cover of Judas Priest’s “Painkiller” which may be one of the best Judas Priest covers I’ve ever seen live. I missed the last couple songs in order to thank Flo in person for hooking me up with a pass, but the roaring applause flooded the merch area with the conclusion of the last song of the night “Crystal Mountain” followed by a lot of happy metalheads.

SETLIST

THE PHILOSOPHER

SUICIDE MACHINE

OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION

SYMBOLIC

—

SCAVENGER OF HUMAN SORROW

BITE THE PAIN

STORY TO TELL

FLESH AND THE POWER IT HOLDS

TO FORGIVE IS TO SUFFER

A MOMENT OF CLARITY

PAINKILLER

—

SPIRIT CRUSHER

LACK OF COMPREHENSION

CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN

This show was awesome. I never thought I’d get the chance to see Death at all in any formation, so their performance was a real treat and a proper tribute to a groundbreaking band in the genre. And Cryptopsy has gained themselves a solid new fan with this performance, planning to catch them on their next tour this fall!