Five excellent bands of the current Thrash and Death Metal scene led by the all-female beast Nervosa brought the Great American Jailbreak to Toronto on a night of pure underground madness.
OPENING ACTS: Prospects, Duskwalker, Hatriot and Lich King
Just one day after the incredible Sepultura concert in Toronto, it was time to head back into the battlefield (aka circle pit) for THE GREAT AMERICAN JAILBREAK TOUR 2024 with NERVOSA, LICH KING, HATRIOT, DUSKWALKER and PROSPECTS, who despite having the fierce “competition” of Skeletal Remains and Bewitcher at the exact same date and time at The Rockpile, put on an amazing show to a small but unstoppable crowd at Hard Luck Bar. In addition, all those shows happening at the same time in the city forced Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi and I to divide and conquer, but while he was covering the show at The Rockpile I fortunately had the support of the amazing metal photographer Afrida Nawar, which is why you’re seeing some classy photos of the night instead of my terrible mobile ones. Once again due to work commitments I missed the show by Toronto’s own Progressive Metal band PROSPECTS, and again I have no idea which songs they played, but if you’re curious about their music you can find them on Spotify and on BandCamp. Spoiler alert, they’re awesome.
Band members
Robert Medeiros – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Jerry Zhang – guitar
Matthew Lothian – bass
Anthony Zicari – drums
As mentioned, the venue wasn’t even half full when Niagara Falls-based Thrash/Death Metal act DUSKWALKER kicked off their frantic, heavy-as-hell and devilish show, with their frontman Joey Scaringi roaring nonstop and with a lot of passion as if he was playing in front of a sold out arena with 20,000 fans watching him. Well, those guys simply love the underground from the bottom of their hearts, which is more than explicit in their new album Underground Forever (available in full on Spotify), and that energy translated into a small but most excellent mosh pit during their entire set. The title-track for their new album, Underground Forever, sounded amazing live, with the band demanding us all to raise our fists and horns in the name of our beloved underground scene. Duskwalker are a killer crew, and I can’t wait to see what they can do in front of a bigger audience, opening for a band like Exodus or Death Angel, for example.
Setlist
Crippled at the Core
Shadowcreeper
The Loss
You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
Vanquisher
Underground Forever
The Crawling Tongue
Band members
Joey Scaringi – vocals
John Robinson – guitars
John Neadow – bass
Cale Costello – drums
Speaking of Exodus, the third band of the night was formed of brothers Cody and Nick Souza, sons of the legendary Exodus frontman Steve “Zetro” Souza, plus Kosta V. and Miguel Esparza on the guitars, collectively known as California’s Melodic Death/Thrash Metal beast HATRIOT, and holy shit, what an amazing performance by one of the most hardworking bands of the current American scene. Playing basically songs form their 2022 album The Vale of Shadows (available on Spotify), with Horns & Halos, Clemency Denied and Hymn for the Wicked sounding absolutely demented, plus the excellent new song Forest of Illusion, the entire band sounded ruthless on stage, with Cody not only blasting inhumane screams (like an even more demonic version of his amazing father), but also showing how much the entire band loves the underground, just like Duskwalker, thanking us all for another unforgettable night in Canada for them. Those boys are an incredible live act, and if you have a chance to see them live don’t think twice and simply go for it, getting ready for an intense night of mosh pits, blast beats and crazy screams.
Setlist
Horns & Halos
Delete
Forest of Illusion
Clemency Denied
Ethereal Nightmare
Hymn for the Wicked
Band members
Cody Souza – vocals, bass
Kosta V. – guitars
Miguel Esparza – guitars
Nick Souza – drums
Another quick break and it was time for Amherst, Massachusetts-based Thrash Metal/Crossover brigade LICH KING to show us all why they’re considered one of the precious gems of the underground scene, a cult band that always delivers an endless amount of adrenaline on stage for the lovers of our gold old Thrash Metal. In 2015, original vocalist Tom Martin stopped performing with the band, remaining a “shadowy puppetmaster”, writing the band’s material and running things; in addition, their last official release dates way back to 2017, the excellent The Omniclasm (available on both Spotify and BandCamp), which means there’s nothing new from those guys since then. Do you think that means their show was weak or lame? Quite the contrary, it was total anarchy led by their unstoppable frontman Zach Smith, and the band also had the support of Cody Souza of Hatriot on bass as their bassist Mike Dreher could not join the band here in Toronto. Everyone at the pub simply loved each and every second of their show, leaving us all eager for more Lich King in the near future, and more than pumped for the main attraction of the night.
Setlist
All Hail
Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast
In the End, Devastation
Lich King V: Stalemate
Crossover Songs Are Too Damn Short
Waste
Combat Mosh
We Came to Conquer
Band members
Zach Smith – vocals
Nick Timney – lead guitars
Joe Nickerson – rhythm guitars
Cody Souza – bass
Brian Westbrook – drums
A lot has changed for the beyond talented and hardworking Prika Amaral and her Thrash/Death Metal creature NERVOSA since the last time they played in Toronto opening for Destruction in 2022. Now with a completely different lineup, including Prika being now responsible not only for the guitars, but also for the vocal duties, the now half-Brazilian, half-Greek band formed of Prika alongside Helena Kotina on the guitars, Hel Pyre on bass and Gabriela Abud on drums sounds even more infuriate than before, which can easily be seen in their 2023 album Jailbreak, available on Spotify and on BandCamp. As a matter of fact, due to personal reasons, Hel Pyre could not join the band on this North American tour, being replaced (at least in Toronto) by the beautiful Natalie Nova, vocalist for Los Angeles, California-based Heavy/Groove Metal band Beyond the Roots, who by the way spent pretty much the entire time the opening bands were playing together with fans at the floor section, dancing, headbanging and enjoying some good underground heavy music nonstop.
And Prika, Helena, Natalie and Gabriela simply destroyed on stage, sounding amazing from the first notes of Seed of Death until the very last seconds of Endless Ambition. There were mosh pits, horns being raised everywhere, fans screaming the lyrics together with the band, and so on, with things getting even more serious during true bangers like Death!, Kill the Silence, Kill or Die, and my two favorite songs of the night, Jailbreak and Guided by Evil. Prika promised the band will return to Toronto sooner than later, and I really hope next time they get a much bigger crowd because they definitely deserve it. After their electrifying show was over, I had the pleasure of briefly chatting with Prika, who was very humble and thanked me (an everyone else) for attending the show and supporting Nervosa. To be fair, I was the one who wanted to thank her and the girls for such an awesome night, and despite being tired for back to back shows with amazing bands the likes of Obituary and Sepultura on one night and Nervosa on the next, a good dosage of Death and Thrash Metal like what the girls provided us with this Thursday night is exactly what we all needed to regain our strength and keep headbanging nonstop in the name of live music.
Setlist
Seed of Death
Behind the Wall
Death!
Nail the Coffin
Kill the Silence
Perpetual Chaos
Venomous
Ungrateful
Masked Betrayer
Under Ruins
Kill or Die
Jailbreak
Guided by Evil
Endless Ambition
Band members
Prika Amaral – vocals, guitars
Helena Kotina – guitars
Natalie Nova – bass
Gabriela Abud – drums
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 