The opening band was local hardcore quintet As It Stands, and you could tell it was hot when two band members went shirtless for the set AND sat down on the edge of the stage for one song! Luckily, the heat didn't sap their energy too much, and their music was full throttle yesterday afternoon! If you just heard the songs without the banter in between, you'd assume the status quo, and luckily, they've consistently impressed since their return last summer! Their set, though shorter than usual, did include popular originals like "Everything Terrible", "One Less Than Wayne Gretzky", and "Rise Above", along with their "Stay Together For The Kids" cover and an untitled new original that shows some promise! I can't complain too much about the band's individual performance (aside from my hopes they'll include guitar solos at some point), but I will say that Justin Pregent's rapport with the crowd is definitely getting a lot better and funnier, and the band as a whole continues to deliver very heavy and catchy metalcore that deserves the fanbase they've attained!The next band was supposed to be Desbarats death metal quintet For All That Is Lost, but they did not show up to the show yesterday. As such, the other bands all got slightly extended sets. I haven't heard why they didn't make the trip to The Rosie yesterday, and at last word, neither did promoters, judging by the most recent post on the band's Facebook page. I won't pass judgement yet on their absence, as I haven't officially heard why they couldn't make it yet, but I will say it isn't right to no-show without any advance word, which promoters did not appear to have.
So instead, The Bear Hunters were next, and if you were in the mood for death metal, they had more than enough for you guys! Unleashing a set full of originals like "Dominate", "Karma", and fittingly (given the temperature) "Collapse The Sun", The Bear Hunters also delivered a brutal set that was improved from their last set with the current lineup that I saw! Josh Stephney's now ingrained himself as a full fledged Bear Hunter with the talent to boot, and the rest of the band was on form, though I have to ask why Johnny Belanger had beer bottle labels stuck to his face? Covers also returned to their main set, including Amon Amarth's "Guardians of Asgaard" and "Master of Puppets" with Dismembertainment's Rich Moreland guesting on vocals again, both of which pleased the crowd! I think Nik Deubel's microphone was a bit low, but that's my only real issue with their set, which packed a concise amount of death metal in with few issues, and we moshed and rocked out easily! Can't wait to see them again!
Then we came to the out of town headlining bands, and first, we had Ottawa blackened death metal quintet Immersed! They didn't really look like a death metal band, but they sure sounded like it, and they proceeded to melt all of our faces! Mark Phillips surprised me with his ability to flip a vocal switch from black metal shrieks to death metal growls throughout their set, and his energy level was really high as well, even singing WHILE headbanging at parts! Aaron Homma and Steph Meloche's guitar work was shredtastic, very heavy, and thanks to Aaron's various facial expressions, had the necessary intensity level! Matt Milford's bass work was impressive too, though he was kinda hidden on the side, and Stef Kushneriuk? Wow, he was fast on the drums, they should give him some drum solo time! Their set felt short, but mark my words: They may have stolen the show from Fatality with their brutal and extreme set of black/death metal originals, and I'm sure fans left the show last night ready to hear much more from Immersed!
And of course, headlining was Toronto thrash quartet Fatality, for what was sure to be a thrashtastic ending to this brutal (yet hot) metal show! They delivered on that promise with lots of fast, intense, and well played original songs that were sure to excite any thrash metal fan in attendance, myself included! I admitted not being high on Spencer LeVon's vocals going in, but that was based on the studio songs. Live, his voice was rawer and had more of an edge, so I actually preferred his singing live, and he sounded a bit like if Bon Scott fronted a thrash band! He and Eytan Gordan also kept things very heavy on the guitar, with bassist Adam Zlotnik and drummer Andrew Suarez keeping up exceptionally on each song! It was an old school thrash assault, fueled with alcohol, and it produced some big pits and lots of great speed metal goodness! I really enjoyed how they got the whole crowd chanting on "T.F.E.S.", good sign! Awesome conclusion to the night, and it's proof that we need more thrash locally, cause Fatality brought it and brought it hard and fast! If you weren't there, you missed out!Great concert, though the heat kinda sapped my energy, and the crowd could have been bigger. Hopefully it will be next time out, cause Rich Moreland is doing awesome work booking all these metal shows! Still sucks that F.A.T.I.L. couldn't make it, hopefully they'll be back up here in some form sooner or later! I did get lots of photos (100, to be exact), and you can check them out at this location or our Facebook page! And yes, I got videos of each band, so here's As It Stands' cover of Blink-182's "Stay Together For The Kids", The Bear Hunters' original "Render This Void", Immersed's song "Transparent Monstrosities", and Fatality thrashing us with their song "Uncivilization"!
That's all for now, but our next post will have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for an Oddfellows Hall show and the complete Hempefest schedule, including some band changes, and maybe more! Stay tuned!
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