Tag Archives: jeramie kling

Concert Review – King Diamond (Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto, Mississauga, ON, 11/03/2024)

Posted on by
Reply

The city of Mississauga became a huge hospital full of metal freaks as the iconic King Diamond delivered a memorable performance full of melody, darkness and insanity.

OPENING ACTS: Night Demon and Overkill

If you live in the GTA and love Heavy Metal form the bottom of your blackened heart, I believe you were at the amazing Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto this Sunday for a night of pure heaviness thanks to NIGHT DEMON, OVERKILL and KING DIAMOND during their Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920 Tour 2024. Unfortunately this time we don’t have the awesome photos by Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi, only my crappy mobile ones, but that won’t stop me from reviewing such a memorable concert. However, before talking about the music, let me tell you how incredible the venue is. It was my first time ever at the resort and casino, and not only the place is absolutely stunning, clean and neat, but you also get free parking there, plus tons of excellent food and drink options. The theatre itself, where the show happened, is also perfect for theatrical performances like the one by King Diamond, and I would simply love if almost all metal concerts I go to happened there instead of any other venue in Toronto.

After filling my tank up with a nice combo at Mary Brown’s Chicken (while other fans were trying their luck in the casino), it was time for the openers,  Ventura, California’s own Heavy Metal brigade NIGHT DEMON, to deliver one of the most electrifying performances I’ve ever seen in my life for an opening band. Jarvis Leatherby, Armand John Anthony and Brian Wilson sounded even heavier and more thrilling than when they opened for Blind Guardian in the city a few months ago, blasting sheer awesomeness in the form of songs like Outsider, The Howling Man and Night Demon, with a fun circle pit moving fast in the middle of the floor section during their entire show. Jarvis even left the stage to play his bass right in the middle of the crowd, more specifically right in front of me (and I don’t have a photo of that for obvious reason), being the perfect depiction of true Rock N’  Roll. I’m becoming a huge fan of those guys, and hopefully soon Toronto will get a headlining concert by one of the coolest bands hailing from the current Californian scene.

Setlist
Night of the Demon (Demon song)
Prelude
Outsider
Screams in the Night
Obsidian
The Howling Man
Ritual
The Chalice
Night Demon
Lookin’ Out for No. 1 (UFO song)

Band members
Jarvis Leatherby – vocals, bass
Armand John Anthony – guitars
Brian Wilson – drums

All fans at the venue needed a lot of cardio this Sunday night as right after the devastating performance by Night Demon, we had the utmost pleasure of enjoying a slab of pure and violent Thrash Metal made in New York by the iconic OVERKILL, a breathtaking concert not recommended for the lighthearted. The unstoppable frontman Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth alongside guitarists Dave Linsk and Derek Tailer, plus guest bassist Christian Olde Wolbers (as the awesome D.D. Verni had shoulder surgery earlier this year and unfortunately was forced to sit out of the current tour) and their new live drummer Jeramie Kling (a beast known for his work with bands like Inhuman Condition and Ribspreader), were ruthless during their entire performance, way shorter than I wanted it to be but as incendiary and brutal as any of their full concerts, melting our faces with new songs like Scorched and The Surgeon (from their beautiful 2023 album Scorched) and classic including Bring Me the Night and Ironbound. The show ended with the fun Fuck You, originally recorded by The Subhumans, with Bobby even joking about the Habs to the Toronto crowd, leaving us all eager for more of the thrashing anthems by the green, mean machine in the city in a not-so-distant future.

Setlist
Scorched
Rotten to the Core
Bring Me the Night
Hello From the Gutter
The Surgeon
Ironbound
Elimination
Fuck You (The Subhumans cover)

Band members
Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth – vocals
Dave Linsk – lead guitars
Derek Tailer – rhythm guitars
Christian Olde Wolbers – bass
Jeramie Kling – drums

KING DIAMOND

As the night was getting colder and darker (but only outdoors, because the inside of the casino was amazing), Denmark’s own Heavy Metal entity KING DIAMOND kicked off his fully theatrical and mesmerizing mass for the delight of all admirers of his sensational career. It was only my second time seeing him live, the first being almost 30 years ago, and it’s impressive how he still sounds so heavy, evil and sharp after so many decades. His vocals in the first three songs Arrival, A Mansion in Darkness and Halloween (my favorite of the night, by the way) were insane, sending shivers down our spines in the name of our good old Heavy Metal. Add to that the flawless riffs and solos by Andy LaRocque, and there you have the perfect recipe for a true Halloween party even after Halloween was over.

In addition, the support of the multi-talented, gorgeous MYRKVR (aka Amalie Bruun) on vocals, plus the superb performance by the breathtaking JODI CACHIA who was spot-on with her dance moves and wicked expressions, only made the whole night even more exciting. She definitely deserves our full recognition for bringing so much energy to King Diamond’s already killer performance (and check the WHO section on her website to see what shirt she’s wearing, just to prove how badass she is). She was incredible every time she appeared on stage, period. And what to say about the energy flowing from Sleepless Nights, The Invisible Guests, or the closing song Abigail? King Diamond and his far-reaching falsetto screams are a thing of beauty, something that makes his shows truly unique, and if you’ve never seen him live don’t miss the chance if he ever visits your hometown. After the band’s stellar show some fans even got back to the casino for some post-concert fun, and I gotta say if I didn’t have to wake up so early the next morning I would have joined them for sure. Or maybe I should say I would have joined “Them”.

Setlist
Funeral
Arrival
A Mansion in Darkness
Halloween
Voodoo
“Them”
Spider Lilly
Two Little Girls
Sleepless Nights
Out From the Asylum
Welcome Home
The Invisible Guests
The Candle
Masquerade of Madness
Eye of the Witch
Burn
Electro Therapy

Encore:
Abigail
Insanity

Band members
King Diamond – vocals
Andy LaRocque – guitars
Mike Wead – guitars
Pontus Egberg – bass
Matt Thompson – drums
Myrkur – additional vocals, organ

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Concert Review – Vader (Lee’s Palace, Toronto, ON, 02/11/2024)

Posted on by
2

A wild night of pulverizing Death and Thrash Metal in Toronto, spearheaded by the most iconic metal band to ever arise from the Polish scene.

OPENING ACTS: Inhuman Condition and Origin

The best thing about a show being scheduled on the same night as Super Bowl is that traffic is pretty much nonexistent, turning the lives of all metalheads who don’t really care about American football a lot easier when it comes to getting to the venue in time to see all bands playing. That’s exactly what happened last night in Toronto at the always cozy Lee’s Palace, when the fantastic bands INHUMAN CONDITION, ORIGIN and VADER brought to the city a true celebration of extreme music during their 40 Years of the Apocalypse Anniversary Tour 2024, another incredible event organized by the unstoppable Noel Peters of Inertia Entertainment. As usual, my friend  Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi (as well as other photographers) were there to register some wild moments of all three bands, but honestly I don’t know how they managed to stay alive and keep their cameras intact during the sick circle pits going on the entire night.

The first band to hit the stage was Tampa, Florida’s own Death/Thrash Metal beasts INHUMAN CONDITION, who were by far one of the best and most electrifying opening acts I’ve seen at any concert in the city in the past few years. Spearheaded by the incendiary frontman Jeramie Kling, the band put on a beyond entertaining show, playing songs from all of their albums including their 2022 release Fearsick and their 2023 EP Panic Prayer, with songs like Panic Prayer, Euphoriphobia and I’m Now the Monster inspiring all concert goers to slam into the pit like there’s no tomorrow. As expected, the two songs that generated the wildest mosh pits were Godzilla and Tyrantula, with everyone at the venue, including the band, acting like wild beasts on stage and in the floor section. Jeramie also had some words of wisdom to share with everyone last night; first of all, he said that a true metal concert needs three things, those being the headbangers, the circle pits, and the crowd surfers, and of course bodies started flying around as soon as he mentioned that. Also, that everything we’ve ever heard about Florida, all rumors and so on, are all true, which was quite funny as it’s usually people outside of Florida who make fun of the state. Well, one thing I know for sure, and that’s that heavy music in Florida is phenomenal, with bands like Inhuman Condition showing everything they got on stage anywhere they go, and if you know nothing about those guys, go check their music on BandCamp and on Spotify, as I’m sure you’ll love to get caught in their mosh.

Setlist
Recycled Hate
Panic Prayer
Euphoriphobia
The Neck Step
I’m Now the Monster
Killing Pace
Civilized Holocaust
Godzilla (Blue Öyster Cult cover)
Tyrantula

Band members
Jeramie Kling – vocals
Taylor Nordberg – guitars
Terry Butler – bass
Colton Zietler – drums

After a quick break, it was time for Kansas City-based Technical/Brutal Death Metal veterans ORIGIN to keep the circle pits moving frantically to the sound of their vicious, intricate and demolishing creations. Having released the album Chaosmos back in 2022, the band formed of vocalist Jason Keyser (and by the way, if you haven’t listened to it yet, go check the album Inferno by his brand new project Arborescence of Wrath as it’s a killer album), guitarist Paul Ryan, bassist Mike Flores (one of the best bass players I’ve seen in a while), and drummer John Longstreth showed absolutely no mercy for our necks and souls during their demented performance, blending Technical and Brutal Death Metal with nuances of Grindcore just to make things even more infuriated. The band was ruthless, savage and beyond technical, sounding absolutely insane with songs like Chaosmos, Panoptical and The Aftermath driving everyone at the venue simply insane inside the pit. Jason also had some words to say to the crowd before playing the song Decolonizer, where he showed his pure old school vein by demanding everyone to not take any pictures or record any videos of the song, but simply to go nuts inside the circle pit and collect bruises and black eyes as the memories of that moment (although they kept checking their phones due to Kansas City Chiefs being one of the teams playing the Super Bowl). Needless to say, it was intense, as well as the wall of death he organized before even playing one of the songs, trying to make their show as 90’s-inspired as possible. Origin are one of the coolest bands of the underground scene, and in case you still don’t know them go check their infernal music on Spotify, and don’t miss their live concerts whenever they take your depraved city by storm.

Setlist
Expulsion of Fury
Chaosmos
Accident and Error
Panoptical
Saligia
Decolonizer
Portal
The Aftermath
Unattainable Zero

Band members
Jason Keyser – vocals
Paul Ryan – guitars, backing vocals
Mike Flores – bass, backing vocals
John Longstreth – drums

VADER

It was getting late (and cold) in Toronto, but nothing that could stop Poland’s own Death/Thrash Metal institution VADER to crush everything and everyone that dared to cross their path at Lee’s Palace last night. The band formed of the iconic Peter on vocals and guitars, Spider also on the guitars, Hal on bass, and Michał Andrzejczyk on drums was flawless throughout their entire set, celebrating 40 years of existence for the delight of all lovers of extreme music in Toronto. Their setlist was a thing of beauty, including songs from their 1992 cult album The Ultimate Incantation, like Vicious Circle, Dark Age and The Crucified Ones, plus several other classics like Black to the Blind, while closing their setlist with a newer song, Shock and Awe, from their latest opus Solitude in Madness, released in 2020, and the response from the fans in Toronto was brilliant, with the circle pits moving majestically until the very last second of their performance.

It’s impressive how they can still sound to tight, vicious and heavy after so many decades on the road, showing their utmost passion for Death and Thrash Metal, and of course as we all know how much they love to play for us, that inspired us to send our love back to them by headbanging nonstop, raising our horns, and getting wild in the pit. The only “issue” was that their official photographer doesn’t seem to be a big fan of crowd surfing, but that was fine as all crowd surfers quickly learned that show was not the best place to practice such metallic art. Anyway, apart from that, and from the same two guys that almost got into a fight with each other countless time (please, be adults and behave next time, alright?), everyone had an amazing time together with those Polish metallers, and hopefully we’ll also have the pleasure of hosting in Toronto the celebration of their 45th, 50th, 55th and so on anniversaries, keeping the fires of Death and Thrash Metal burning forever in the city.

Setlist
Macbeth (Laibach song)
Decapitated Saints
The Wrath
Chaos
Vicious Circle
Dark Age
The Crucified Ones
Silent Empire
Sothis
Black to the Blind
Carnal
Wings
Cold Demons
Epitaph
Dark Transmission
Para Bellum
This Is the War
Helleluyah!!! (God Is Dead)
Never Say My Name
Come and See My Sacrifice
Triumph of Death
Shock and Awe
The Imperial March (John Williams song)

Band members
Peter – vocals, guitars
Spider – guitars
Hal – bass
Michał Andrzejczyk – drums

This slideshow requires JavaScript.