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The 2023 edition of the Decibel Magazine Tour brought another awesome set of bands to the sold-out Club Soda. Dark Funeral was back in Montreal and they had Cattle Decapitation, 200 Stab Wounds and Blackbraid as opening acts.

The place was pretty packed when Blackbraid got on stage to play their atmospheric black metal and fans started pushing each other almost instantly. Sgah’gahsowáh is joined on stage by touring musicians that includes Y. E. and another guy on guitars, Johnny Violence on drums and a bass player. Their black metal included traditional indigenous music like the Native American flute at moments. Their short set was composed of songs from their first album (Blackbraid I) as well as from their upcoming album called Blackbraid II. Fans had a blast during their set and more people got into them as songs were played.

After a short break, 200 Stab Wounds got on stage to offer fans their pulverizing death metal riffs. It did not take long for them to push each other violently in the mosh pit. Songs succeeded each other but the band gave a few breathers to the crowd as signer Steve Buhl thanked the crowd for being so supportive. The musicians did not move a lot on stage but their music was very intense and the stage lights complemented perfectly their riffs. During their short set of thirty minutes, the band played songs from all of their albums, including “Fatal Reality” and “Masters Of Morbidity” from their most recent EP of the same name.

It was now time for Cattle Decapitation to come on stage and steamroll the fans with their brutally fast music. The band took this opportunity to play a few songs from their newest album and fans went crazy during “We Eat Our Young”, “Scourge Of The Offspring” and “A Photic Doom”. Songs from the albums Monolith Of Inhumanity and Death Atlas were also played and at one point the floor was an immense sea of fans that were pushing each other furiously. Their set ended with the blast beats of “Kingdom Of Tyrants”.

It was now time for Dark Funeral to get on stage as the headliners of the night. Fans were ready for Dark Funeral and were very happy to see them finally get on stage to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Things got underway with the song “Nosferatu” and the crowd went nuts. They followed with fan favourites “Hail Murder” and “My Funeral”. As usual, their set is dark and includes a lot of smoke, maybe a little too much smoke as it would be fun to see more of the band instead of the smoke. Their song selection went deeper than usual and included “The Dawn No More Rises”, “Vobiscum Satanas” and “Goddess Of Sodomy”. 

Surprisingly, Heljarmadr got in the security pit a few times to get closer to the fans. Still promoting their most recent album, the band opted to play the song “Unchain My Soul”, “Temple Of Ahriman”, “Nail Them To The Cross”, and “Where Shadows Forever Reign” at the end of their set. At this point, fans were either singing loudly with Heljarmadr’s or pushing each other vigorously to the rhythm of the music. 

Talk about a great night, hail Satan!