KREATOR, of course, positively destroyed The Opera House. “Hordes of Chaos” raised the energy level in the room to near-riot level early on, and “Enemy of God” and “Extreme Aggression” kept it there. Whatever chilliness I’d initially felt evaporated almost immediately, and there was rarely a moment when my fist wasn’t in the air and my neck muscles weren’t burning.

Natalie Zed reviews the recent Toronto stop of the Kreator, Voivod, Nachtmystium tour, which happened Tuesday night at the Opera House.

If there was a concert to bring out the old school headbangers in full force, some with their kids in tow, it was this one. Not only was Megadeth bringing along fellow Bay Area thrash legends Testament and Exodus along for their spring tour of North America, but Dave Mustaine and crew were set to perform the classic Rust in Peace album in celebration of its 20th anniversary, while Testament had promised to play their great 1987 debut The Legacy in its entirety.

Adrien Begrand reviews the recent Saskatoon stop of the current Megadeth, Testament and Exodus tour.

Live review by Ola Mazzuca; Photos by Adam Wills
There is a certain magic quality about metal shows; magic in which no matter what age you are or how you dress, you can still be a part of something larger than life, like the people in Dissection shirts who thrashed out to Exodus or that girl in front of me with that gorgeous Michael Kors handbag. It doesn’t really matter. There is no difference as to who you are or where you’re from; it’s a metal show and everyone is there …

It’s a given D.R.I. will draw a crowd in their adopted city. Add that this was D.R.I’s first show here in six years since guitarist Spike Cassidy was diagnosed and then beat colon cancer and you have a sold out crowd where getting to the bathroom was a 15-minute undertaking. The band’s performance was far from a history lesson; it was a bunch of grizzled veterans showing the kids how to take care of business.

Justin M. Norton recaps D.R.I.’s recent return to Slim’s in San Francisco, CA.

There’s never much to a Cannibal Corpse show, just five guys who never leave their marks, long, sweaty hair obscuring their faces, churning out that distinct death metal sound they’ve been doing for more than two decades. No frills whatsoever, just pure brutality, and it never fails to floor audiences.

Adrien Begrand recaps the recent Saskatoon stop of the current Hatebreed/Cannibal Corpse co-headline tour that is underway now in North America.

Lacuna Coil live photo courtesy of wikipedia, copyright creative commons

By Melissa Andrews

 
Lacuna Coil, previously already in Toronto this year on tour with All That Remains, was back for a special show that was added last minute as an end to their current North American tour. The Good: it was a Friday; it was only $10. The Bad: it was an early show which meant everybody needed to be out by 10pm, so the set was not going to be that long. Waiting in line to get in we were all …

By Melissa Andrews
In the twenty plus years that Skinny Puppy have been around, their Friday the thirteenth show at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre was the first time I made it out to see them. Something always seemed to come up to prevent me from going. Even this time it was scheduled on the same date as the now indefinitely postponed Slayer tour. The show was sold out with scalpers milling about the sidewalk asking if people were selling tickets.
The tour is called the In Solvent See Tour. I can only …

Trivium has talent up the wazoo. That’s never been in doubt. The problem with the Florida band is that Matt Heafy and his mates often try far too hard to impress, the perfect example being the bloated 2008 album Shogun, which threw everything at the wall, from thrash riffs, to hooky choruses, to tempo changes, to epic song structures, with very little sticking in the end. With this fall tour being one last go-round before the band takes a break to write and record their fifth album next year, it was interesting to see Trivium downplay the Shogun record as well as 2006’s The Crusade, instead focusing primarily on the breakthrough Ascendancy, as if they were openly conceding that it’s the best album.