I shown up for 9:30, just like Facebook and the event poster said, but North Bay extreme metal trio Thekillingfield were still doing their sound check, and nothing would start for another hour. No worries, I chatted with some friends and hung around until the show kicked off! Thekillingfield were the first band, and they were the only group of the three that performed last night that I'd seen before, as the first band at last March's Cattle Decapitation show at The Oddfellows Hall. Since then, I think I'd forgotten how brutal they are! Frontman Jay Stone has one hell of a hardcore scream going for him, and his dreadlocks were flying throughout their brutally heavy set! Honestly, his vocals were overshadowed by the band's unqiue experimental music, which resembled organized chaos at the best of times, no doubt helped on the low end by bassist Jonesy Y. Knoxville! Drummer STDean Kennedy was sure banging away at the drums all night long too, he had some wickedly fast moments on the pedals! One cool part about Thekillingfield's set for me was that Isosceles Project bassist Scott Tessier (who's a VERY nice guy) gave me the reigns of the professional camera he was using to film Thekillingfield's set for the last few songs! That was really cool, and it sure added to one awesomely fast and heavy set! Not typical of most hardcore extreme bands, but if you like your metal to deviate from the norm, Thekillingfield brought it!
One unique aspect about Thekillingfield's set was the inclusion of multiple instrumental songs, which helped to make their music speak for itself. The Isosceles Project kept that trend up even more so when they took the stage next for a completely instrumental set! Their sound is basically hard hitting progressive metal with lots of unique time signatures, riffing, and an overall exciting sound! Who needs vocals anyway? Scott Tessier and guitarist Eric Euler were all over the place on the stage, clearly getting into each song, with drummer Brandon Smith keeping up capably throughout! I should add that The Isosceles Project's songs are VERY long in general, so much so that their set comprised of just THREE songs! And when their shortest clocked in at a little under 8 minutes long, you know that they pack a lot of music into their material! Their set was full of moments where, just when you think the song's about to end, you get hit with a different riff or line or solo! It was one surprise after another, and the crowd responded well! I thought that some people might have an aversion to an all instrumental band, but not with guys this talented! But with just three songs, as long as they were, I did leave their sot longing for more, and hopefully, they'll be back one day with a longer set, maybe with four or five songs!
Skull Fist were your headliners last night, and honestly, I wasn't sure how the crowd would react to them. After two bands with an extreme progressive bent, how would they respond to a classic 1980s styled group? Pretty damn well, and rightfully so! They immediately made an impression with their 1980s-styled metal gear and their stage setup, including impaled skeletons on the microphone stands (they reminded me of Geoff Peterson from The Late Late Show) and skull shaped smoke machines that absolutely flooded The Canadian with smoke! On a ratio of smoke to venue, this holds the record, especially by the end of their set, when it was FOGGY inside The Canadian! I needed a knife to cut through all that! Though there was scattered moshing and horn waving for the first two bands, Skull Fist easily got the small but devoted crowd going with their classic heavy metal sound which was balls to the wall, high energy, and in your face! Jackie Slaughter has a great vocal range and tone that easily shook the crowd, while Sir Shred had some blistering guitar solos and lots of catchy riffs for us to rock along with! Props as well to Johnny Exciter on bass and Allison Thunderland on drums, I can't complain about their playing at all, especially with the fun heavy rocking that was going on! From Jackie jumping into the crowd to getting on Sir Shred's shoulders, they gave their all last night, as I'm sure is typical for Skull Fist! Some people I knew figured they'd sound like some hair metal band. Hell no, Skull Fist were just heavy metal, and awesome heavy metal at that! Great capper to a diverse night of heavy metal!Overall, this is one of the most fun multi-band out of town packages that I've seen in quite some time! This show, thought seemingly a better fit for an all ages concert, worked very well at The Canadian, and the fans responded well to all three bands, who gave their all for us last night! This is one of the first times I can think of in a while where I bought something from each band at a show like this (Skull Fist t-shirt, Isosceles Project DVD, and a Thekillingfield poster), so that says a lot! Awesome show, I sincerely hope that all three bands come back soon! And for the record, I can still hear! Two straight nights of metal didn't cripple my ears, thankfully! Yes, I got photos, as you can tell above, check them all out at this location or at The Sault Metal Scene's Facebook page! And of course, I got videos of each band, so here's Thekillingfield playing "To Be Joedy", The Isosceles Project playing "Whispers In The Factory", and Skull Fist playing "Sign Of The Warrior"!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for previews of this weekend's concerts tonight, hopefully around midnight! And then tomorrow, the second installment of our Kiss Concert Video Showcase goes up, along with a long awaited news and updates post! Thanks everyone!
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