Toronto is full of concert venues, from the small Annex Wreckroom all the way up to the well known venues like the Rogers Center and the Air Canada Center. June 28th, 2014 Conquerors of the World lead by Symphonic Death Metal band SEPTICFLESH invaded Toronto with support from FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, NECRONOMICON, and BLACK CROWN INITIATE. The venue, The Opera House which has been played by plenty of bands including CARCASS, HELLYEAH and DYING FETUS and was also the location that CANNIBAL CORPSE recorded their concert for "Centuries of Torment."

When we arrived at the venue we were greeted by a line of Metalheads here to check out an amazing Symphonic Death Metal show. Around 7:30pm BLACK CROWN INITIATE hit the stage, and they hit fast and hard. With hard hitting dominant bass, raspy vocals, and thrashing drums this got the crowd ready for what's to come. Unfortunately I missed about half of their set but all I could get from my buddy who went with me was that they were insane live, and their bassist was awesome to watch.

Setlist:
1. New Song (didn't catch the name)
2. Stench of the Iron Age
3. The Mountain Top
4. Song of the Crippling Bull
 

At about 8:30 the show really started to kick into high gear when NECRONOMICON hit the stage, sporting corpse paint and shirts that looked like chain mail. This Canadian trio got the crowd moving and the pits open, although the venue hadn't quite filled up yet NECRONOMICON did everything they could to get the crowd going. Although with slight issues when the cable for the guitar started screwing up and vocalist/guitarist Rob Tremblay got aggravated with back stage not getting him a new one, he still remained keeping it a joke with the crowd. After yelling into the mic between songs "get me a fucking cable!" and he finally received his new cable, NECRONOMICON's set went off without a hitch from that point and the band slayed the audience getting them prepared for the pits to come.

Setlist:
1. Through the Door of Time
2. Into the Fire
3. The Time Is Now
4. Rise of the Elder Ones
5. From Beyond
6. The End of Times
 

Here we go, the main attraction. After a full sound check of 4 mics, two guitars, a bass, the drum set and a piano FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE reached the stage in their bloodied suits and bow ties. At this point the venue had filled completely; the audience was calling for the band and after some symphonic introduction out came the band one by one. Between songs Tommaso Riccardi, would say a small speech, a couple lines as an introduction into each song including walking back stage and saying a small prayer from his little book before going into "The Violation." Although the entire band killed, including their female opera singer who stuck to the back corner, I found myself watching the pianist quite often. Playing with such grace even though they are a Death Metal band. With slight technical problems causing them to stop half way through "Pathfinder" Tommaso kept the crowd busy while the issue was fixed and the band jumped right back into the song again. Being the obvious band a majority of the crowd came for, the pits were absolutely filled and FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE absolutely ruled the night.
 

Setlist:
1. Temptation (Intro)
2. The Hypocrisy
3. Minotaur (The Wrath of Poseidon)
4. The Deceit
5. The Violation
6. Requiem In Si Minore
7. Pathfinder
8. Kingdom
9. The Egoism
10. Elegy
11. The Forsaking
 

SEPTICFLESH here we go, about 10:15 the headliners got on the stage. Playing songs from every album they've released and keeping pace with the symphony they had playing through the speakers for each song the crowd, although slightly thinned out, kept the crowd right in the fun. With each song Seth Siro Anton the vocalist would call out "one, two three" before the heaviest riffs of most songs and looking over, watching a wave of hair from back to front of people headbanging. SEPTICFLESH dominated the night, and although the crowd thinned out a little, they still gave it there all and destroyed Toronto.

Setlist:
1. The Vampire From Nazareth
2. Communion
3. A Great Mass Of Death
4. Order of Dracul
5. Pyramid God
6. Unbeliever
7. Prototype
8. Lovecraft's Death
9. Burn
10. Persepolis
11. Anubis
12. Five-Pointed Star

I'd like to say thank you again to Kelly Walsh from Prosthetic Records for getting this all set up, and François the tour manager for SEPTICFLESH and FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE for helping out as well.

 

During BLACK CROWN INITIATE's set I got a chance to talk to SEPTICFLESH guitarist Christos Antoniou for a few minutes.

Good evening, Christos how are you?

Very well thank you. Yourself?

Im doing great thanks, this is your second tour with Fleshgod this year, was that planned or how did that come to be?

Third actually, we also toured Australia together. The tours though were planned by our tour manager because Fleshgod and ourselves do share a tour manager.

How much has your set changed over the past couple tours?

Very little, besides a couple tracks from "Titan," we try to play stuff from all of out albums because people have never had the experience of Septicflesh before and people and to hear different things. We try to please everyone.

Congratulations on "Titan" by the way, it's a great album. What would be your favourite tracks from the album?

Thank you very much. I don't have a favourite song though because they all have some of my favourite parts. "Prototype" has some of my favourite parts but so do "Prometheus" and the rest of the album, so I can not have a favourite song.

Last time you were in Toronto you played the Annex Wreckroom, do you remember much from that show?

Of course, it was the first show out that tour.

Do you remember anyone running into the pole right in the middle of the floor?

[laughs] yeah that wasn't really the best place for it, was it?

How do you feel about Hour of Penance being unable to play this tour?

It sucks a lot, especially since they are label mates of ours on Prosthetic. It seems like there are a lot of bands having VISA issues lately, but Black Crown Initiate bring there best each night and they absolutely kill the crowd so at least everything worked out that way.

Of course, Necronomicon being Canadian, do you pick on the guys much?

Of course not! We aren't gonna be mean about it just because they're Canadian [laughs]

What kind of trouble do you guys get into after the shows?

We do a good amount of partying depending on the day. Sometimes we need to be up to drive though so we sleep shortly after cleaning up each night. We like to sleep.

With having the same length set, do you feel like it's sort of a battle between Septicflesh and Fleshgod?

It makes us want to bring our all for sure and we hope it makes them bring their all as well. We all do our best to try to outdo each other and hold the crowd each night, but it is never a battle.

Have you guys thought about putting any covers into your longer headlining sets?

Early on we did do a cover of Death's" Lack of Comprehension" although now we don't play it much. Covers don't fit our style very well although some bands do a very good job at making a cover their own its not as simply don't with the whole symphonic section the Septicflesh have.

Last one, alive or dead who would you like to tour with?

Chuck Schuldiner from Death. He has always been my inspiration for doing what I do and it would have been amazing to tour with him for before he unfortunately passed away. Obviously, you can take the Black Metal bands they're definitely up there as well like Immortal and Mayhem but they don't compare to Death.

Well thank you very much Christos, it was incredible and quite surreal to get to talk to you. I can't wait to finally see you all live so I'll leave you to prepare and get back inside to the mayhem that's happening in there.

Thank you man, I hope you have a good time, it was great talking to you. See you in the pit!