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Concert Review – Revocation (Lee’s Palace, Toronto, ON, 09/12/2026)

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A feast of absolute raging Death Metal turned up the heat even more on an already hot night in the city of Toronto.

OPENING ACTS: Weeping, Fuming Mouth and Defeated Sanity

We’re lucky the weather is still quite warm in Toronto now that the summer is “unofficially” over (when kids get back to school, parents consider the summer as over, and will sport sweaters and jackets even when the temperature is above +25oC and sunny), and even luckier to host the awesome 20 Years of Torment 2026 Tour with WEEPING, FUMING MOUTH, DEFEATED SANITY, and the guys celebrating those 20 years of pure metal magic, REVOCATION, another great event brought to the city by Noel Peters of Inertia Entertainment. The cozy Lee’s Palace was the place chosen for such a nice gathering, and I was actually surprised it wasn’t too hot inside the venue during the entire night. Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi is still recovering from his injury and surgery, which means our friend Blair Burch once again helped us with his sharp photography skills to make this review of the concert as incendiary as the bands onstage. Also, traffic to get to Toronto has become a true nightmare no matter what time or day of the week, but fortunately as the first band was only scheduled to play after 7:30pm there was plenty of time to get to the venue before the celebrations started.

It was around 7:40pm when New Jersey’s own Death Metal/Hardcore/Powerviolence quartet WEEPING kicked off their insane performance, melting our faces mercilessly with their scorching heaviness and undisputed technique. Having released the album Spiritual Barbarism back in 2024, plus a new single titled When You Beg now in 2026, all available on BandCamp and on Spotify, the band formed of Theo Vlahos on vocals and guitars, Thomas Deabreu also on the guitars, Anthony Izworski on bass (who’s also the bassist for Fuming Mouth, by the way), and Jon Lievano on drums crushed our damned souls with a no shenanigans concert, kicking some serious ass onstage and, therefore, inspiring everyone on the floor section to already go mental inside the circle pit. Those guys are simply insane, and if you know nothing about them, go check their music asap and keep an eye on their tour dates, because if they ever take your city by storm, you know what to do.

Band members
Theo Vlahos – vocals, guitars
Thomas Deabreu – guitars
Anthony Izworski – bass, backing vocals
Jon Lievano – drums

Perhaps the most anticipated attraction of the night, besides obviously Revocation, was Milford, Massachusetts-based Death Metal/Metalcore/Hardcore outfit FUMING MOUTH, who are becoming a fan-favorite in Toronto when it comes to violence and heaviness. Mark Whelan, Patrick Merson, Anthony Izworski and Jay Weinberg made sure no one was left alive with an overdose of venomous roars, crushing riffs, thunderous bass lines, and demented beats and fills. Of course, the fact that their 2026 album The Ringing Bell (available on both BandCamp and on Spotify) is insane made their task a lot easier, as the crowd was eager to witness some of those new songs live, like Cheat Death, Self‐Exhumed, and Finally Fearless. It was really nice to see Mark explaining what Fuming Mouth means, this evil entity that will kill everyone, saying to several people in the crowd “You will die! You will die! You will die!” and, therefore, creating this fun connection between the band and the fans. We will all die eventually, and if we have the live music by Fuming Mouth to entertain us during our last moments, we’ll surely die happy metalheads.

Setlist
Cheat Death
A Blaze of Nihilism
Hidden in the Moor
Self‐Exhumed
I’ll Find You
Respect Mortality
Visions of Purgatory
Finally Fearless

Band members
Mark Whelan – vocals, guitars
Patrick Merson – guitars
Anthony Izworski – bass
Jay Weinberg – drums

After a short break, German-American squad DEFEATED SANITY kicked off their onrush of demonic, visceral and grim fusion of Technical and Brutal Death Metal, making the foundations of Lee’s Palace tremble so heavy they sounded. Having released the album Chronicles of Lunacy in 2024, available on BandCamp and on Spotify, frontman Josh Welshman alongside the extremely talented guitarist Vaughn Stoffey, the incredible bassist Jacob Schmidt, and the ruthless drummer Lille Gruber were insane onstage, with the circle pit getting out of control due to the extreme violence blasted by all band members. I honestly do not remember a kitchen so technical yet demolishing like the one crafted by Jacob and Lille, and if you enjoy extreme music with a strong technical vibe, go check the music by Defeated Sanity because those guys are amazing both in the studio and live.

Setlist
Introitus
Consumed by Repugnance
Verblendung
Liquifying Cerebral Hemispheres
Accelerating the Rot
Martyrium
The Bell
Dislimbing the Ostracized

Band members
Josh Welshman – vocals
Vaughn Stoffey – guitars
Jacob Schmidt – bass
Lille Gruber – drums

REVOCATION

After three opening bands that were all 10 out of 10, the crowd was more than warmed up for the lecture in Technical Death and Thrash Metal by Boston, Massachusetts-based crew REVOCATION, who might be celebrating 20 years of existence, but the ones receiving all the presents were us fans with each and every song played by those first-class musicians. It doesn’t matter if it was a late start, already close to 10:30pm, because the entire venue was burning with the blend of classics and new songs from their 2025 album New Gods, New Masters, which you can listen in full on Spotify. David Davidson, Harry Lannon, Ash Pearson and Alex Weber proved why they’ve become one of the most important bands of the current tech death scene with an impeccable performance, kicking our asses hard until the very end.

Songs like Nihilistic Violence, Chaos of Forms, Dismantle the Dictator, Summon the Spawn, and Bound by Desire were all played to perfection by those four extremely talented musicians, and the result was of course an intense circle pit that was dragging everyone into it in celebration of our good old Death Metal. There’s this very small Asian girl that’s rockin’ in every single show in Toronto, and of course she was there Saturday night. No idea how she can handle so much alcohol and how she can venture inside those demented circle pits due to her tiny stature and very low weight, but one thing I can say is that she knows how to party, and that’s exactly what Revocation wanted us all to do. They simply asked Toronto to party with them after 20 years kicking ass with their unique heavy music, and we partied hard. Needless to say, I don’t think it will take long for us to see such a phenomenal band in the city again, and we’ll all be there yet again to raise our fists and horns while they melt our faces with their killer tunes.

Setlist
Nihilistic Violence
Scorched Earth Policy
Fracked
Confines of Infinity
The All Seeing
Data Corpse
Chaos of Forms
Of Unworldly Origin
Dismantle the Dictator
Summon the Spawn
Only the Spineless Survive
Bound by Desire

Band members
David Davidson – vocals, guitars
Harry Lannon – guitars
Ash Pearson – drums
Alex Weber – bass

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Album Review – Intercepting Pattern / The Encounter (2020)

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A free-flowing 30-minute long composition ebbing and flowing between heavy syncopated grooves, Jazz fusion flourishes, ethereal synth-layered passages and cybernetic Death Metal.

Formed in 2016 in the city of Berlin, Germany, a distinguished Progressive Metal unity known as Intercepting Pattern is comprised of vocalist Daniel Sander, guitarist and keyboardist Marte Auer, bassist Clemens Engert and drummer Lille Gruber, all seasoned musicians known for their time in projects such as Defeated Sanity, Infecting the Swarm and Cerebric Turmoil. Produced, mixed & mastered by Tom ‘Fountainhead’ Geldschläger at FountainheadHQ and featuring a stunning artwork by Niklas Sundin (Mitochondrial Sun, Dark Tranquillity), Intercepting Pattern’s debut effort, entitled The Encounter, was created and designed as one free-flowing 30-minute long genre-bending composition, ebbing and flowing between heavy syncopated grooves, Jazz fusion flourishes, ethereal synth-layered passages and cybernetic Death Metal with seamless ease, appealing to fans of groups such as Meshuggah, Cynic and Panzerballett, among others. For release purposes, The Encounter is split into 10 “song” sections, although it is strongly suggested to listen to it in one session as it was intended when being created.

Clearly inspired by classic TV shows and movies that dealt with alien forms of life, the opening track Extragalactic Radio presents Lille and Clemens bringing endless groove and intricacy to the music with their beats and bass punches while Marte adds a touch of finesse to the overall result with his riffs and solos, flowing into the Progressive Death Metal feast titled Signal-to-Noise, where Daniel fires anguished, raspy roars accompanied by the always blazing guitars by Marte, resulting in an excellent option for breaking your neck headbanging. And their mysterious, otherworldly story goes on in Interlude I, an atmospheric and futuristic creation by Intercepting Pattern that will certainly send shivers down your spine before Eigenlicht offers us all Jazz and Blues united with the band’s hybrid of Progressive and Groove Metal, or in other words, a complex and extremely enjoyable tune where Marte and Lille are in absolute sync with their incendiary riffs and beats, whereas Hypnagogia is another wicked instrumental creation by the quartet with Clemens’ bass jabs making your head tremble in awe, all spiced up by background voices and ethereal keys, and running smoothly until its whimsical conclusion.

Interlude II is a cinematic bridge created to keep the listener hypnotized and eager for what’s next, as Daniel returns in full force with his rabid growls in Rebiogenesis, with the band’s razor-edged guitars and rumbling bass together with the sick drums by Lille generating a multi-layered wall of sounds for our total delectation. Then featuring guest Jimmy Pitts (Eternity’s End, Eynomia, NorthTale, NYN, The Fractured Dimension) on keyboards we have Fuga Finalis, an explosion of Progressive Groove Metal infused with Jazz and other idiosyncratic sounds and tones. Not only that, can you feel the anger bursting from Daniel’s roars? It’s sick and amazing at the same time, of course. And the music makes an instant bridge with the also demented and progressive Asmodeus, sounding as bold and weird as possible while led by the jamming beats by Lille, being therefore highly recommended for musicians who love the fusion of metal and Jazz, before the outro Epilogue ends the album in a cryptic and again atmospheric manner, with its instrumental pieces exhaling melancholy and heaviness until all is said and done.

“Having played in various metal bands before, we were kind of drawn to modern jazz and fusion records at the time and wanted to challenge ourselves with a more complex and improvisational approach to music. Of course, being the metal kids that we are, we couldn’t totally hide from our roots, but overall we tried to emphasize extended harmonic concepts and recurring rhythmic motives common to a Jazz/Fusion context”, commented the band about their newborn spawn, and after listening to the album in its entirety it’s easy to understand exactly what they wanted to accomplish in The Encounter. Needless to say, they more than succeeded in their quest, and if you want to give Intercepting Pattern a try you can grab your copy of The Encounter from the Rising Nemesis Records’ BandCamp page, and soon also from the Rising Nemesis Records’ Big Cartel and from IndieMerchstore. You can also get to know more about the band by following them on Facebook, showing your appreciation for their wicked hybrid of Heavy Metal and Jazz, and inspiring them to keep exploring the outer space and alien life with their refined music for many years to come.

Best moments of the album: Signal-to-Noise, Rebiogenesis and Fuga Finalis.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2020 Rising Nemesis Records

Track listing
1. Extragalactic Radio 3:26
2. Signal-to-Noise 1:56
3. Interlude I 1:38
4. Eigenlicht 3:07
5. Hypnagogia 3:56
6. Interlude II 1:46
7. Rebiogenesis 4:48
8. Fuga Finalis 2:34
9. Asmodeus 4:35
10. Epilogue 2:15

Band members
Daniel Sander – vocals
Marte Auer – guitars, synths
Clemens Engert – bass
Lille Gruber – drums

Guest musician
Jimmy Pitts – guest keyboards solo on “Fuga Finalis”