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Concert Review – 1349 (Lee’s Palace, Toronto, ON, 05/20/2024)

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A night of undisputed Black Metal with four incredible bands in Toronto, spearheaded by one of the most devilish and professional hordes hailing from Norway.

OPENING ACTS: Spirit Possession, Antichrist Siege Machine and Spectral Wound

What a night of pure “friendship” and “tree hugging” in Toronto, my friends! Let’s say that in order to properly celebrate Victoria Day in Canada this Monday, Noel Peters of Inertia Entertainment organized a night of undisputed Black Metal at Lee’s Palace with SPIRIT POSSESSION, ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE, SPECTRAL WOUND, and of course, the main attraction of the night, the devilish 1349. Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi and I were there to enjoy such an amazing feast of obscurity and evil at an almost sold out venue, driving the heat up inside it considerably, but fortunately they’ve recently installed new air conditioning machines in strategic points of the venue to cool things down a bit for us, avid metalheads.

It didn’t take long after the doors opened at 7pm for the first band of the night to start distilling their demonic creations. I’m talking about Portland, Oregon-based Black Metal duo SPIRIT POSSESSION, who put on an infernal show to properly warm us all up for the upcoming attractions, and let me tell you that their drummer, simply called “A.”, definitely knowns how to hammer her drums mercilessly, while vocalist and guitarist “S.” is phenomenal armed with his stringed axe, playing it like if he was playing bass (an instrument that’s not part of their music, by the way), extracting sheer evil and insanity from each riff played. Everyone who was already at Lee’s Palace loved every second of their sick concert, despite the annoying dim red light, and if you want to enjoy some of their creations you can find all of their albums, like their 2023 opus Of the Sign…, on BandCamp and on Spotify.

Setlist
Orthodox Weapons
Deity of Knives and Pointed Apparitions
Enter the Golden Sign
Swallowing Throne
Second Possession
Spirit Possession

Band members
S. – vocals, guitars
A. – drums

After a quick break, it was time for one of the most pulverizing duos of the current extreme music scene to crush our damned souls with their infuriated music. They go by the charming name of ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE, and if you know nothing about this Blackened Death Metal duo from Richmond, Virginia formed of SB on vocals and drums, and RZ on the guitars and backing vocals (and yes, it was the second band of the night without a bassist), I highly recommend you go after their music on BandCamp and on Spotify, including their chaotic, infernal new album Vengeance of Eternal Fire. Their set in Toronto was beyond brutal, igniting some intense mosh pits during their whole performance, and leaving all of us eager for another visit of those two demented beats to the city in the near future. Seriously, their music is awesome.

Setlist
Son of Man
Piled Swine
Purifying Blade
Led by Fire
Unleashed Hostility
Prey Upon Them
Vanquishing Spirit
Sisera
Chaos Insignia
Vacant Cross

Band members
SB – vocals, drums
RZ – guitars, backing vocals

Although 1349 were the main band of the night, a lot of people went to Lee’s Palace on Monday to witness the black mass conducted by Montreal, Quebec’s own Black Metal horde SPECTRAL WOUND, by far one of the most important names of the current Métal Noir Québécois scene. Having released the excellent album A Diabolic Thirst back in 2021 (which can be found on BandCamp and on Spotify, by the way), the band spearheaded by the iconic Jonah crushed us like insects with their venomous Black Metal, again inspiring all concert goers for some demented circle pits until the very last second. The light was way too dim and it was also a bit foggy, which sucks, but nothing that would make their concert less entertaining, of course.

Setlist
Black Satanic Glamour
Soul Destroying Black Debauchery
Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal
Frigid and Spellbound
Fevers & Suffering
Imperial Thanatosis
Imperial Saison Noire

Band members
Jonah – vocals
Patrick – guitars
A.A. – guitars
Sam – bass, backing vocals
Illusory – drums 

1349

A lot of people, including myself, went outside to get some fresh air (as it was a relatively warm night in Toronto) and almost missed the beginning of the hellish performance by Oslo, Norway-based Black Metal entity 1349 (just as an extra detail to you, 1349 was the year the Black Death came to Norway, wiping out 2/3 of the population and ending the Golden Age of Norway), a true celebration of old school, classic Black Metal for an avid crowd in the city. Playing songs from all albums of their vast career, including some excellent hymns from their 2019 album The Infernal Pathway like the closing ones Dødskamp and Abyssos Antithesis, plus their amazing new single Ash of Ages from their upcoming 2024 album, the band comprised of Ravn on lead vocals, Archaon on the guitars, Seidemann on bass, and Dominator on drums was absolutely on fire during their demonic (but maybe a little bit too short) set, driving their fans wild inside the unstoppable circle pits.

Also, I need to say a few words about this short, weird, middle-aged Indian dude that looked completely out of this dimension, as it didn’t matter what the hell he was doing, he looked nuts. The guy was so insane to the point that when 1349 finished playing their very FIRST song, he said with a sinister smile “two more, two more…”, when the band was clearly going to play at least ten more songs. What the hell was he seeing on stage, right? Not to mention he was always hiding behind someone, making the sign of the cross before having his beer, pointing to the band’s guitarist with a maniacal grim like as if he was saying “I know what you’re doing” as if the guitarist was there looking at him, and so on. Some guys behind me were also distracted by the Indian dude. What a unique metalhead!

After all was said and done, all fans of Black Metal in Toronto were more than happy with the high quality of the music presented by all four bands, making it a very successful event in the city and, consequently, leaving us all more than eager for another 1349 concert in Toronto, supported by another batch of very talented underground bands, sooner than you can say “Black Metal”. Hopefully they’ll return soon, and everyone who was at Lee’s Palace, including our beloved, crazy Indian guy, will be there to raise their horns up high and scream in full force together with one of the most professional bands hailing form Norway without a shadow of a doubt, and even better if it’s with proper lighting so not only their fans can enjoy the visual part of show as well, but also the photographers like Keith. Hail Satan, my friends!

Setlist
Sculptor of Flesh
Slaves
Through Eyes of Stone
Chasing Dragons
Ash of Ages
I Am Abomination
Striding the Chasm
Golem
Atomic Chapel
Dødskamp
Abyssos Antithesis

Band members
Ravn – lead vocals
Archaon – guitars, backing vocals
Seidemann – bass, backing vocals
Dominator – drums

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The Walking Dead Review – Episode 402: Infected

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The pigs might be gone, but at least our tough sheriff is back.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Infected yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

I cannot believe I didn’t see what was actually happening to Greg Patrick last espisode! I thought he had some previous disease and died of natural causes, just as many other people, but it was in fact a new deadly virus like Ebola or the swine flu, a brand new threat to the whole group because it doesn’t matter how you die, you become a walker. I’m sad Greg Patrick won’t be in the show anymore, but happy to know that because of what happened to him there will be even more drama and danger in every episode to the survivors.

twd402_01Last night’s episode, Infected, had a lot of questions without answers, action, tough decisions and intestines (a scene inspired by the movie Day of the Dead, from the zombie master George A. Romero, according to Greg Nicotero), a perfect combination for all TWD fans. There were so many questions left that I can’t wait for next week’s episode to answer some of them: is there really a traitor in the group, the person that was feeding rats to zombies? Or were just those two stupid girls feeding their friend “Nick” in a very innocent (and idiot) way? How long will the prison fence stand still and strong against the increasing number of walkers looking for human flesh (I saw Nicotero saying there will be over 7,500 zombies in the next episode)? Who’s infected by the deadly virus, and who’s not? Is there a cure? How will everybody be able to sleep, knowing anyone can die at any minute and become a zombie inside the prison? Who burned the bodies of the two people that were already infected? How will Tyreese react to the death of his love, and to the presumable death of his sister Sasha, who is also infected by the virus? As I sad, too many questions to be answered.

Then there were the tough decisions, most of them taken by Rick. It was sad seeing Rick throwing those poor little pigs to the zombies to protect the fence from falling down, but at least we got our good old sheriff back. No more farming, no more cropping, it’s time for some action! In my opinion, giving Carl’s gun back to the boy was the best decision he could make, especially because Carl is really good at shooting and can help saving many people. Moreover, how many lives has he already saved since he got his gun? As far as I can remember, he saved Rick, Michonne (a couple of times), his sister Judith, Maggie, among others. A boy with a gun will have serious consequences to the whole story, of course, probably most of them for good. And I’m pretty sure Carl will put on his sheriff hat back now, that little badass.

twd402_02The most touching scene in this episode was seeing Michonne crying when holding Judith in her arms. Why was she crying? Did she have a baby a couple of years ago? Did she lost a baby? Did walkers eat her baby? Another important question to be answered soon, I hope. Michonne is becoming more and more human, and less that tough super-woman from the previous season, but I don’t know how this can be good for the group. Well, I personally prefer her chopping zombie heads with her sword than carrying a baby, but the producers know what they are doing. And before I forget, it was nice seeing Beth singing I Don’t Want to Grow Up to Judith. I’m not a fan of Tom Waits, but I love The Ramones version. Lucky baby, anyway!

Stupid humans, thousands of walkers, a deadly virus, a decaying prison… What else can make their lives even more miserable and the show more interesting to us? Will there be any more surprises this season? And again, where the hell is the Governor? I guess when he returns he will kick some serious ass. It’s going to be totally brutal, and awesome.

Infected (FULL EPISODE)

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 401: 30 Days Without an Accident

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It’s raining zombies! Hallelujah!

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen 30 Days Without an Accident yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd_s04e01_rickFinally, AMC’s The Walking Dead is back! And it was worth waiting for season 4 premiere this Sunday after all those months watching movies and TV series where we had to see people dying but not coming back as zombies… so boring!

Similarly to what happened in previous seasons, the first episode of season 4 didn’t start exactly at the same time where season 3 ended. Moreover, it also summarized what Rick’s group has been doing since they rescued all those people from Woodbury: cropping some food for everybody, reading for children, going hunting, and of course, trying to keep all the flesh-eating zombies away from the prison. We are introduced to some new faces, some not so new as Greg (from Everybody Hates Chris) Patrick, Daryl is now the “official” badass of the group, and we see a more sociable Michonne. And the zombies are getting better and better, as the one Rick stares at TWICE due to his bloody eyes, which by the way was an amazing job done by Greg Nicotero’s team.

Then there were many specific elements that made this season 4 premiere so interesting! Let’s start with that crazy woman that looked like the mother of that girl from the movie The Ring. She was a total lunatic, surviving somehow in the woods close to the prison, and feeding what once was her husband with anything she managed to find, including people. At first I thought they were going to introduce some cannibals to the show, which is something that happens in the comics, but that woman was just plain crazy. Well, at least there was a reason for that: Rick was able to see himself in her, when he was getting insane after Lori’s death, and that freaked him out so much that we won’t probably see the “crazy” Rick again in the show.

The second item that deserves our attention is the way the children are growing inside the prison: they’re becoming cold-hearted kids, without any fear of the zombies or death, and we see that in many different ways, like when the smaller kids are giving names to the zombies at the fence, when Carol starts teaching some kids how to use a knife to kill zombies and/or people, or when Beth simply ignores the fact that her boyfriend (what happened to her relationship with Carl?) became an afternoon snack while on a mission. The only thing Beth does about that is changing a Days Without Accident/Injury sign (where did she find that?) from 30 to zero. If this is not having a heart of stone, I really don’t know what is.

twd_s04e01_zombies_humansThird, that spectacular scene with the “zombie rain” is what every TWD fan wants to see in the show. In my opinion, it was the BEST “zombies vs. humans” fight of the entire series. Not even the zombie invasion when they were at the barn was so cool! The zombies falling from the rotten roof, hitting the floor so hard some were even losing parts of their bodies, but still seeking for human flesh, was one of those things that reminds us why this show is the best on TV today. What about that zombie that was hung by his entrails? I hope they add more gory scenes like that to future episodes. I just don’t know how they can be more creative than this Sunday, though. It was literally raining zombies! Hallelujah!

And last but not least, more important than anything else is what happens to Greg Patrick at the end of the episode, showing us that the biggest threat now resides inside the prison. I’m not going to say anything else about it, in case you haven’t seen the scene, but while watching it I couldn’t stop thinking about two things: first the movie Fido, an excellent zombie movie (shot in Canada, by the way) that has the exact same issue as the start of all its action; and second, I know TWD is a horror/action TV series, but it would have been totally awesome if the last scene (the last 5 seconds of it) had in the background the same audio that played at the end of every single episode from Chris Rock’s amazing TV series: Everybody haaaaaaates Chriiiis…

And where the hell is the Governor?

30 Days Without an Accident (FULL EPISODE)