On the night of December 19th, you could feel Winnipeg’s annual holiday cold snap beginning outdoors, and I had the satisfaction of staying warm to take in The Madness Tour at The Garrick. The night’s bill included the two touring acts, All That Remains and Throw The Fight, and locals, Tyrants Demise. All That Remains is currently wrapping up their current tour with Throw The Fight through Canada and a few United States cities for their recent album release, Madness. The first band to hit the stage was the local death metal band, Tyrants Demise. The band has been on the Canadian death metal scene now -I believe approximately ten years. Tyrants Demise has opened up for a plethora of acts such as DevilDriver, The Faceless, Three Inches of Blood, and Dying Fetus, to name a few. They can now add All That Remains and Throw The Fight to the list.
I can’t speak for everyone in attendance, but Tyrants Demise’s set seemed well received by the Winnipeg audience. Plenty of people in the crowd were headbanging, moshing, and I even witnessed some singing along with the band. The band has six releases under their belt, three demos, and three EPs. Hopefully, soon Tyrants Demise will be releasing their debut album. Taking the stage after Tyrants Demise was the alternative metal band, Throw The Fight. Throw The Fight was conceived fourteen years ago and hail out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band is currently touring their third album, Transmissions, which was released back in 2016. This tour marked Throw The Fight’s second time in Winnipeg, the first four years ago on the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour with Bullet For My Valentine, Black Veil Brides, and Stars in Stereo in the fall of 2013.
Photos by Samuel Stevens Photography.
The most notable song that Throw The Fight performed during the night was their song, "Gallows." It's one of the heavier songs Throw The Fight performed during their set that the audience was able to mosh to. Another notable track performed was their cover of "(I Just) Died In Your Arms," the massive 1986 hit single by the British rock band, Cutting Crew. Vocalist James Clark introduced their cover of "(I Just) Died In Your Arms" by telling everyone in attendance that there was no way they didn’t at least know the chorus of this massively popular song. After performing this cover, it was more than safe to say the band was well received by the room. To close the night off was who everyone came to see, All That Remains. All That Remains are a metal band that has dabbled with various subgenres over the years, such as metalcore, heavy metal, and in the early years, melodic death metal. The band resides from Springfield, Massachusetts, and is currently on tour for their eighth studio album, Madness. Marking twenty years as a band in 2018, All That Remains are no strangers to Winnipeg. Over the years, they’ve toured through Winnipeg, if I counted correctly, five times. Every time the band has been to Winnipeg, they’ve always played The Garrick. Either as an opener for such acts as Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, and In Flames or headlining, now two tours at The Garrick, one of which featured Italian alternative metal band, Lacuna Coil. The crowd was visibly energetic during the All That Remains performance by singing along, moshing, and headbanging to every song. What I loved most out of the set was how the band tried to perform at least one track from each of their previous albums. The audience also seemed to enjoy this as they loved it when vocalist, Phil Labonte screamed, "Do you guys want something old... Something off The Fall of Ideals?" then proceeded to perform, "The Air That I Breathe," which brought the whole room into a loud frenzy. Mid-set, All That Remains played a beautiful version of Garth Brooks' "The Thunder Rolls." It was not a shocker that the audience was waiting for the band to perform fan favourites "This Calling" and the set-closing, "Two Weeks" to set the mosh pit into an even bigger craze. Each performance by Tyrants Demise, Throw The Fight, and All That Remains flew by as quickly as a drum stick hits a snare. I’m not crazy into death metal these days, but Tyrants Demise is quite the local act that I’ve seen a few times before, and I’m sure I will see them live again soon. Between the band's performance and while talking with members after the show, Throw The Fight made a new fan out of me. Even on the way out, I purchased their CD, Transmission, for ten bucks, came home, and put it on immediately. The songs “Bury Me Alive” and “Scream Out Your Name,” have been stuck in my head since. Lastly, All That Remains never fail to entertain when they're in town, or anywhere for that matter. I hope it's not long before they make their way through the Canadian prairies to play The Garrick again and again.