Tag Archives: dominant species

Concert Review – Skeletal Remains & Bewitcher (The Rockpile, Toronto, ON, 10/10/2024)

Posted on by
Reply

Two of the most demonic bands of the current American scene fragmented the city of Toronto to a small but very active crowd.

***Review and photos by Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi***

OPENING ACT: Dominant Species, Phobophilic and Witch Vomit

Unfortunately, due to the show by Nervosa at the exact same day and time at Hard Luck Bar, I had to miss DOMINANT SPECIES, PHOBOPHILIC, WITCH VOMIT, SKELETAL REMAINS and BEWITCHER during their Toronto stop of their Fragmenting North America 2024 Tour at The Rockpile, but my friend Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi was there to cover the show and take some amazing shots of all bands involved. It’s frustrating when you go from a period of almost zero shows like July and August to an avalanche of concerts happening all at once like this September and October in the city, which in my opinion is nastily hurting the attendance of all shows, in special the underground ones, because it’s just humanly impossible to go see all bands under those circumstances.

The first band of the night, DOMINANT SPECIES, is a Toronto based Heavy Metal and Hardcore band that’s part of Reel Wolf Productions. This band is quite new in the scene but it is gaining some traction here in Toronto. As a matter of fact, their singer is actually the owner of Reel Wolf Productions, a small video production company used for rap and metal bands, so if you’re curious to know more about the band and the company you can visit their official website. They say they play “grimy brutal riffs with hip hop fusion”, and according to Keith that’s exactly what they delivered at The Rockpile.

Then hailing from North Dakota, PHOBOPHILIC are a Death Metal band with two demos, an EP, a split and a 2022 full-length album titled Enveloping Absurdity already under their belts. Although vocalist and guitarist Aaron Dudgeon is no longer with them, that didn’t stop the band from moving forward as a three-headed beast formed of Christian Alm on bass, Vincent Tweten on drums, and Josh Poer on vocals and guitars, plus lead guitarist Miles McIntosh during their live concerts, and they surely put on an energetic show with their no shenanigans Death Metal. And after that it was time for the third opener of the night, Portland, Oregon-based Death Metal act WITCH VOMIT, formed in 2012 by vocalist and guitarist Temper and drummer Filth. Witch Vomit play dark Death Metal in the American tradition with elements of Scandinavian evil and ancient Doom Metal, and that combination of styles created a truly demonic vibe when they hit the stage at The Rockpile for the delight of all fans present at the venue.

SKELETAL REMAINS

Founded in 2011 under the name Anthropophagy, Whittier, California’s own Death Metal squad SKELETAL REMAINS was one of the headliners of the night, kicking some ass with their share of brutality and speed. The band led by founding members Chris Monroy (guitars and vocals) and Mike De La O (guitars) was phenomenal on stage, and despite the smaller than expected crowd their whole performance was insane. Their new album Fragments of the Ageless, released in the beginning of 2024, is an amazing piece of Death Metal that’s definitely worth a listen if you haven’t done so already, and the songs from that album sounded even more fun live, like for example Void of Despair and Relentless Appetite. I’m sure they’ll soon return to Toronto and to a much bigger crowd if all logistics and promotion are done properly next time.

BEWITCHER

The second headliner of the night, Portland, Oregon-based Black/Speed Metal horde BEWITCHER, also has a new album out, Spell Shock, released only a couple of weeks ago. Formed of A. Magus on bass and backing vocals, M. Von Bewitcher on vocals and guitars, and A. Hunter on drums, the band kicked ass at The Rockpile for a crowd of less than 100 people, and just like Skeletal Remains they didn’t care about that small attendance at all, keeping the fires of the underground burning nonstop during their pulverizing set. Their new songs Starfire Maelstrom and Spell Shock worked really well with their classics Satanic Magick Attack and Bewitcher, and again, just like what was said about Skeletal Remains, I’m sure next time they visit Toronto they’ll play to a much bigger audience.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Concert Review – Walter Froebrich Memorial Show (The Rockpile, Toronto, ON, 01/07/2023)

Posted on by
Reply

A beautiful tribute to the life of the Metal Mayor of Toronto and his undisputed passion for heavy music. 

INTRODUCTION: AM HERE…

If you have no idea who Walter Froebrich was, let’s say he was the Metal Mayor of Toronto, as I’ve seen many people referring to him as. He was in pretty much every metal concert we all attended i the city in the past 20 years, from Heavy Metal to Death and Black Metal, from Thrash Metal to Deathcore and Viking Metal, and so on, always holding a few beers, always raising the horns, always surrounded by friends, and always supporting metal music no matter what. He even had his own motto, “AM HERE.” Sadly, in November 2022 due to lack of proper healthcare by the Toronto authorities Walter passed away at home after several visits to the hospital, and that brought a lot of grief to all metal fans in the city. If he had received a proper service, if he had been through the required scans and so on, he would still be around us. He will be extremely missed by the metal community in all upcoming concerts in Toronto, no doubt about that. I was going to use the common expression “may his soul rest in piece”, but I’m sure Walter himself would prefer a slight adaptation of it, “may his soul rest in metal”.

WALTER FROEBRICH MEMORIAL SHOW

That’s why on January 7 the Toronto scene came together to celebrate Walter’s life and his passion for heavy music at The Rockpile with the Walter Froebrich Memorial Show, an event organized by Steve Hoeg, Drew Masters, Junior Jr LeClerc and Jake Disman, among others, with no more, no less than TWENTY SEVEN bands playing from 1pm until midnight to a sold out venue, while money for Walter’s family was raised through a silent auction and a 50/50 draw. Unfortunately due to personal reasons I could not attend the celebration, but my friend and photographer Keith Ibbitson of Lower Eastside Photography was there to capture some amazing shots of the entire show, and to provide us with a sense of how awesome everything was and how happy Walter must be whenever he is right now with his homage.

In Keith’s own words, “we raised over 17,000 dollars for Walter’s family. It was a sold out show. All the bands were absolutely amazing! Drew Masters was the MC for the evening. The friends Walter made over his concerts outings just blew my mind! Each one is family, the metal community is one big family, they come together for each other like no other.” And as you can see from the photo gallery below, it was indeed a night to remember, a celebration of life and metal, exactly how Walter would have liked it to be. Here are all the fantastic bands that were on the bill, and as many people have said Walter would have certainly taken a selfie with each one of them…

The House of Haunt
Snake River Redemption
Dominant Species
Madam
Anger by Design
GFU
Dawn Vally
Cowboys from Hell (Pantera tribute)
Disciple (Slayer tribute)
King Moonracer
Byrdy
Fury 44
Sons Of Sabbath
Freeloader
Spades GT
MLC
Omnivert
Devil Witch
The Dominion
The Android Meme
Burdizzo
Crème Flesh
Pillars of Eternity (Down tribute)
Red Lowe (circus performer)
Phear
Chainfall
Gen-X (90’s rock cover band)

In the Facebook page to the event you can find a lot more details about the whole thing, see other photos taken by different attendees, other posts and discussions around Walter and the metal community in Toronto, and so on, as well as a very nice summary of the night on the video below. RIP WALTER! AM HERE!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.