I’m going to imagine that when the members of Blood Incantation were knee-high to various grasshoppers, back when they were discovering and devouring the sounds and stories of Norwegian black metal, listening to In the Nightside Eclipse and Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, getting Emperor tattoos and asking “What if…?”, that particular “What if…?” didn’t realistically include ever getting to tour North America with their early heroes. And if that “What if…?” did, then no one really believed it would even really come to pass. Well, truth, as truth has so often demonstrated, is stranger than fiction. And here we are: the opening night of one of the most anticipated and salivated-over tours of the the first quarter of 2026, simply for the fact that one of metal’s most talked about bands — a band people are packing houses to see — is manning the lone support slot for one of metal’s most beloved veterans — a band packing houses because of their importance, legacy and how rare sightings are on these shores — to pack this particular house.
Behind the scenes information informs that the size of the venue is not reflective to the size of the stage at the Concert Hall. My way of pointing out that spatial restrictions forced a drastic paring down of the production aspect of the show: no backdrop, no obelisks, a noticeable absence of laser light shows. This, in turn, made it all about the music and Blood Incantation demonstrating their ability to persevere and triumph under roadblock conditions. That, ultimately, you can subtract the bells and whistles and BI still deliver superior sounds. The peaks, valleys, genre defying and boundary smearing acumen of the two tracks comprising Absolute Elsewhere kept all locked in and engaged, everyone from those experiencing the band live for the first time to those of us who have witnessed its ambient/space/prog/death metal majesty on upwards of 50 occasions. Swirling light cadences, personable rabble rousing, communal crowd exhortation and the deeper integration of keyboardist John Gamiño into the lineup make this more than a band putting their heads down in the name of soulless reproduction. Further to that point: their swinging for the fence by airing Starspawn centrepiece “Vitrifcation of Blood” complete with integrated keys providing shimmery psychedelia and an undercurrent of menace. It’s a rare band that can have an hour-long set comprised of three songs and be fielding calls for one more.
Some dude took to the centre stage spotlight to introduce Emperor, asking if the assembled throng was “ready to be transported back to 1990’s Telemark?!” Now, I’ve never been to Telemark, but I don’t think it’d be going out on a limb to say that the drum set Trym Torson was plunked behind could probably put Telemark on any map being drawn from space and his collection of cymbals might actually reflect any and all sunshine from the southern Norwegian county. But I digress..My favourite aspect of Emperor has always been how they exemplify black metal without being a cliched example of black metal. And how witnessing them live has consistently, in my mind anyway, been a much more intense and interesting experience. Ihsahn conducts the sway and mood of the crowd with fireside chat introductions while continuing to look like the world’s most thoughtful humanities professor. Samoth broods with instrumental precision and expressive lack. Keyboardist Jørgen Munkeby acts, looks and sounds somewhere between demonic executioner and Julliard graduate. Again, without the crutch of production elaboration, Emperor were left to their devices and bare-boned it through an immaculate career-spanning greatest hits set that went all the way back to their demo/self-titled EP with “Wrath of the Tyrant” and was inclusive of “In the Wordless Chamber” from the criminally unheralded Prometheus record. Big fans bigly loved “Thus Spake the Nightspirit,” “Curse You All Men!,” “Inno a Satana” and “Ye Entrancemperium” as a couple thousand people ticked one more box off their black metal bucket lists.
Photos by: Rae Chatten @raerocknroam
The post Live Review: Emperor + Blood Incantation @ The Concert Hall, Toronto – 3/27/26 appeared first on Decibel Magazine.