I spoke with Sam from the Band Astaroth. He is the demon of many voices who organized a very special show for the people of Toronto who like to look at villains.

Toronto is filled with talented bands that should be playing on larger stages. Sam understands this and asked his friends who should be on bigger stages to get together and really prove it.

Sam agreed with me that the underground scene has become stagnant and needs events like this one to shake things up and get music lovers excited to see local heroes grow and play to better crowds.

The bands have been playing places where their vision cannot be fully represented. If they don’t grow creatively, they eventually wither away and die.

Sam wants to create a way out of that, so he went and booked the TD Music Hall. They have a large stage a capacity of 500 people and a huge screen that you can project images onto.

Sam invited 3 other bands that have a theatrical energy that could translate well on that stage.

The audience he envisioned goes beyond just people that love Heavy Metal. He wants to build an audience that comes from various creative communities around the city. This concert is for people who love Theatre, Goth, Rap, Hard Funk, Sleaze Pop and DJ music. It doesn’t matter if you are queer, straight, Trans, old, or young. This is going to be an all-age’s shows that welcome everybody. I was there and you could check off all of the above. I was really surprised seeing parents bringing in their children to enjoy this show. The kids were having a great time seeing these fun and crazy acts. We need more of this in our city, so give a round of applause to Sam who is doing something to mix it up in a city where the same old can really exist.

The Android Meme

The techo-monster known as The Android Meme walked on stage like the BORG. They are Machine people here to take over your existence. I have seen them before and wondered what they would look like on a bigger stage, here is my chance. They upgraded their make-up and now look like Android Meme 2.0. Their attitude was more calculated and vicious. They were performing their material as if holding a scalpel to your imagination.

The large screen behind them really added that intense visceral performance that could assimilate new audience members into their state of alien control.

I loved that moment they chose to do a Faith No More cover song and it wasn’t from the Mike Patton era. It came from the first album, “We care a lot”.

They finished their set with a new song called, “Stranger”. It truly felt as if this band was singing about a dystopian future, but the future felt a little too close.

This band looked comfortable on a larger stage.

Phantom High

The first thing you notice when Phantom high walks on stage is the lead singer, Peril Erinyes. If Harley Quinn and the Joker had a baby, they would have created Peril.

With a dead face mask and the attitude of an anarchist, Peril Erinyes stomps around and screams like a spoiled brat that has been abused by terrible parents who force fed her rotten Gerber’s baby food for years.

This band molted its dead skin and is picking up the mantle of a nihilist and seeking out its own personal guiding light. This may be a bit of an oxymoron, but when you are this far-gone, reality can do funny things to your mission.

They have a song called “Follows”, it is a dark look at spirituality. It is as if the band is caressing your face to look upwards towards the sky as acid rain is there to replace your lost tears. It is pretty creepy stuff, just like the band. I would like to see a couple of well-placed props to help organize and fill out the show a little more.

They did finish big with a powerful song called “Suicide”. This is a song with a ton of resilience. In your life you may feel controlled by everything around you, and you don’t know how to take it back. Well, this song lets you give the middle finger to these dark circumstances and overcome you ever growing pit of despair.

I look forward to seeing this band play on a stage like this one again.

A Primitive Evolution

The band started with a low rumbling bass sound that it rhythmically charged your heart to beat a certain way and left your knees shaking. Now, that’s an opening.

A Primitive Evolution or A.P.E. if you like is a great play on words that focuses on the decline of our spiritual progression.

The lead singer, Brent Carruthers came on stage like a mad butcher ready to rack up some fresh meat. His initial style was slow and plodding as the band was seeping inside your head looking for some kind of submission.

Again, the large screen really helped ramp up the experience of this band. Moments of old horror movies, random acts of violence and their names larger than life flashed itself telling you this band wants to be here!!

The band played hard, sweated it out and connected with an audience that was open to this new version. They have been at this for a few years and to see them work to own that stage was refreshing. To see the reaction of the audience you know they picked up new fans along the way.

Astaroth

Here is the man with the plan. Sam is the guy who put together this new and exciting event. He is the multi-talented artist that wants to shake your world and swallow you up in his Demon core sound!

He walked on like a primitive indigenous god-like entity and began plowing us down one by one with his viscous vocals.

This is an artist you cannot pinpoint to a certain genre. His vocal range can go from, death growls, to a new form of throat singing to wails and shrieks. I had to ask him if was inspired by one of the greatest metal vocalists of all time, King Diamond. He got very excited by that notion because the answer was a resounding yes, except, Sam takes it to a brand-new place. His sounds feel like dark spirits that come from a ghost village and has a pitch-black agenda against us earth dwellers. It feels like a warning from a different reality.

The first half of his show, he used a DJ to provide the varying sounds of Dubstep, to rap, to hard core metal with a tapestry of industrial music. That the best I have right now. It may take me a few shows to fully immerse myself in this new and exciting sound. Speaking of exciting, Sam’s presence is all encompassing as he worked his stage like an untamed spirit.

He did recreate Lady Gag’s song, “Abracadabra”, and brought on two dancers that danced out the plot of the song. They really captured the spirit of the song and complimented Astaroth for his interpretation of it.

The second half of the show they brought on live musicians to add another complicated element to this wild performance. We had Nathan, Vlad, Ren and Dropus working like a machine to keep the show hard core. When they introduced Snow Maiden, the show took yet another turn and it became an operatic production. They blended so many genres together at this point a new genre had to be born from that.

They gave us sex and money for those of us who like it dirty.

This group was going for some serious doom and gloom and pushing it into those with PTSD. What a way to lose your mind.

This was the first attempt from Sam to bring our best metal bands and give them a shot at more glory. It was a real success. Everybody walked away satisfied, and I look forward seeing what this truly innovative artist will do next. This is a message to all you artists out there working yourself ragged. Take a chance to find a way to play to a bigger audience. Unless you have a big company backing you, you must take the initiative to create the band you envision. Make sure you call Blast Toronto when you do that. I want to let everyone know there is something special happening in our city.

Here are some links, so you can go and discover your music

www.instagram.com/theandroidmeme_official/

www.instagram.com/phantomhigh666/

www.instagram.com/apedestroys/

www.instagram.com/samastaroth666/

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