Devil Master @ Cabaret Foufounes
W/ Fuming Mouth, Final Gasp, Skumstrike
November 3rd, 2023
Extensive Enterprise
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Devil Master are one of the few bands who I will go out of my way to see every single time they come to Montreal. I saw them pre-pandemic twice, once with Obituary and Abbath, and another time with Power Trip. Both times they absolutely ripped it. I loved their stage decorations and the fact that there were six people up on that stage, all dressed like unearthed corpses delivering deliciously psychedelic blackened metalpunk to the masses. The third time was when my own band Mistwalker opened for them at Bar Le Ritz alongside The Lousy and Puffer, though by this time they had gone through a lineup change. This show at Cabaret Foufounes was the first time they had been back to the city since, and of course myself and my partner had to go see them.
The first band on the docket was Skumstrike, some buds of mine who are also one of my favourite bands in the city. Their brand of ultra-fast, ripping, blackened speed metal is unrivaled by any other band in Montreal. They are unbelievably fast and extraordinarily cavernous in their sound. If you’ve not yet listened to their album Deadly Intrusions, do yourself a favour and check that shit out right now. Despite their insistence after the set that the sound was not great for them, for us in the audience the opposite was true. They sounded huge, and massive, and was perhaps one of the best performances I’ve seen from them yet.
Following Skumstrike was the first of the touring bands: Final Gasp. I had only heard of this band recently, specifically since they announced this tour alongside Devil Master and Fuming Mouth. I checked out their album Mourning Moon, and found their brand of metal-infused deathrock to be compelling. Something about it didn’t quite click for me, but I still found them to be solid enough to compare to other rising stars in the gothic metal subgenre like Unto Others. While that’s how I felt about their album (review pending), their live performance was a whole other story. Holy shit do these guys rip live. Their performance was outstanding. They ripped through about ten songs, and each one they gave their all. Their energy was palpable, and you could tell they were there to enthrall the audience and get themselves some new fans. They sure as hell won me over, because even if their album didn’t stick with me, this performance absolutely will.
Following Final Gasp it was time for Fuming Mouth. I’ve reviewed their stuff on this blog before, though I have yet to get to their newest record, Last Day of Sun, and I find them to be a solid new voice in the world of hardcore-infused death metal or the New Wave of Old School Death Metal. I enjoyed their performance quite a bit, especially when they played some of the tracks off of their album The Grand Descent, which I’m much more familiar with. However, I felt like their set went on for way too long. It must’ve been about 45 minutes in total, which felt dragged out in comparison to the speed with which Skumstrike, Final Gasp, and Devil Master finished their sets. There also must’ve been more sound issues on stage for these guys because when they busted out the clean vocals they sounded off to me. I didn’t stay to watch the end of their set, and sat at the bar until it was time for Devil Master to hit the stage.
Finally it was time for the main act, and unfortunately for them, their set started off immediately with a tech issue as Darkest Prince’s guitar pedals weren’t functioning properly. Thankfully it only took him and the sound tech a minute or so to fix the problem and it was back to business as usual. The band ripped through a series of tracks from their most recent record, Ecstasies of Never Ending Night, as well as their first album, Satan Spits on Children of Light. The rest of their set went off without a hitch save for the fact that Infernal Moonlight Apparition’s guitar was not nearly as loud as it should have been for their set. Whatever sound issues might have marred Skumstrike and Fuming Mouth, they were unfortunately most noticeable for Devil Master. Still they soldiered on and played a ripping set full of songs that will no doubt become classic staples of the band’s catalogue years from now when they have rightfully ascended to a point of heavy metal apotheosis. I do miss the cobweb-laden stage set-up that they used to have when I first saw them in Montreal, but I’m still happy to go see these guys rip through their brand of psychedelic-infused surfy blackened punk any day of the week.
I’m always happy to catch the Devil Master crew whenever they come to Montreal, and it was a pleasure to finally get to see Fuming Mouth as well, in spite of my complaints. Final Gasp won me over with their stage presence and have officially secured me as a new fan. As for Skumstrike, well, I’m sure I’ll get to see them live again before too long. As one of Montreal’s greatest blackened offerings, I’m always game for one of their shows. Despite the sound complaints I had about this show, the biggest problem I had was that the crowd was lame and barely moving. It’s always a shame when touring bands come here and play to a dead audience, but I digress. I’ll leave you with this: if you get a chance to Final Gasp live, do it. You won’t regret it.
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 