TORONTO (ON), Lee's Palace - 09/12/2026
Lee’s Palace has long been one of Toronto’s most reliable venues. When a show lands here, chances are you’re in for something worth seeing—and tonight’s line-up is no exception. Revocation are celebrating two decades of existence with a North American tour featuring some of the most respected names in contemporary extreme metal: German death metal juggernauts Defeated Sanity, Massachusetts death metal bruisers Fuming Mouth, fresh off the release of The Ringing Bell in July, and New Jersey’s Weeping.
From the very first note, the bill promises a punishing combination of technical precision and sheer brutality, with the intensity steadily escalating throughout the night. The atmosphere inside the venue is already electric, and Toronto’s underground metal crowd is clearly ready for a September night of absolute devastation.
WEEPING
The doors open at 7 p.m., and a sizable line has already formed outside Lee’s Palace. Forty minutes later—ten minutes earlier than originally scheduled—Weeping hit the stage. As the newest band on the bill, they may have had the most to prove. Still, there is plenty of curiosity surrounding their appearance, particularly because Anthony Izworski also plays with Fuming Mouth. That connection naturally invites comparisons, but Weeping wastes no time establishing their own identity. Their opening salvo is immediate and explosive. The New Jersey outfit comes out swinging, delivering a compact twenty-minute set with absolutely no wasted motion. They know exactly what they want to do and get straight to it, providing the evening with a violent jolt of energy right from the start. Short, sharp and effective, their performance serves as the perfect opening statement for what is about to unfold.
WEEPING SETLIST:
Each Breath Worthless
Apathy
IWYC
Disposal of the Previous Incarnation
Heaven
Spiritual Barbarism
Eradicating Divinity Through Suicide
Cellophane Sarcophagus
FUMING MOUTH
The anticipation surrounding Fuming Mouth is considerably higher, and for good reason. The Massachusetts outfit has released three albums so far—the first in 2019, the second in 2023, and the latest one in 2026—and The Ringing Bell stands among the summer’s most compelling death metal releases, showcasing just how far the band has evolved since their early days. That growth translates remarkably well to the live setting. Mark Whelan is in commanding form, with Patrick Merson and Anthony Izworski providing equally solid support as the band tear through material spanning all three records. Their set may occupy the middle ground in terms of length, but there is nothing restrained about its intensity. Every song hits with purpose, and the performance moves at such a relentless pace that the end arrives almost before the audience has had time to catch its breath. The response from the crowd says it all: plenty of cheers, plenty of applause and, most importantly, the unmistakable feeling that Fuming Mouth have delivered exactly what was expected of them.
FUMING MOUTH SETLIST:
Cheat Death
A Blaze of Nihilism
Hidden in the Moor
Self-Exhumed
I’ll Find You
Respect Mortality
Visions of Purgatory
Fatalism
Finally Fearless
DEFEATED SANITY
Then comes the most brutal act of the night. Defeated Sanity have become one of Germany’s most prominent extreme metal exports, even though their current line-up is now split between German and American musicians. Vocalist Josh Welshman joined the band in 2016, shortly after the release of Disposal of the Dead//Dharmata, while guitarist Vaughn Stoffey joined the line-up in 2024, around the release of Chronicles of Lunacy. Alongside them stand two of the band’s defining figures, Lille Gruber and Jacob Schmidt, whose playing remains fundamental to the unmistakable Defeated Sanity sound. And live, that sound is every bit as devastating as expected. The combination of Gruber’s suffocating, hyper-technical drumming and Schmidt’s immaculate bass work is nothing short of monstrous. There is an almost physical quality to the rhythmic attack, with the two musicians locking into a groove that feels impossibly precise while remaining brutally heavy. The set draws heavily from across the band’s catalog, including staples such as Consumed by Repugnance and Verblendung, with Passages into Deformity receiving particular attention. Every transition is executed with surgical precision, demonstrating that the complexity of their material never comes at the expense of live performance. Welshman also proves more than capable of taking on material originally performed by Konstantin Lühring. His vocal approach is undeniably different, but he manages to make those songs his own without disrupting the band’s overall sonic identity. By the time they leave the stage, the verdict is unanimous: this is the strongest performance of the night so far, and the crowd knows it.
DEFEATED SANITY SETLIST:
Introitus
Consumed by Repugnance
Verblendung
Liquifying Cerebral Hemispheres
Accelerating the Rot
Martyrium
The Bell
Dislimbing the Ostracized
REVOCATION
Finally, it’s time for the headliners. Twenty years after their formation, Revocation have every reason to celebrate. Since emerging in 2006, the Boston outfit have established themselves as one of the most technically gifted and consistently creative forces in extreme metal, developing a distinctive formula that combines death metal aggression with progressive structures, jazz-inflected ideas and an almost obsessive attention to musicianship. At the center of it all is mastermind Dave Davidson, whose vision has pushed the band further and further since Chaos of Forms and its successor, Deathless. Over the years, that technical and progressive edge has become an increasingly integral part of the band’s songwriting, culminating in the band’s latest chapter, New Gods, New Masters, which receives a substantial showcase tonight. But Revocation are ultimately a band that needs to be experienced live. Their music demands an exceptional level of precision, and the current line-up delivers exactly that. Alex Weber and Harry Lannon lock in perfectly alongside Davidson, while Ash Pearson provides the rhythmic backbone with absolute authority. There is no room for hesitation, and there are no obvious cracks in the performance. The highlight comes in the devastating three-song run of Dismantle the Dictator, Chaos of Forms and Summon the Spawn. It’s a masterclass in controlled chaos, with all four musicians firing on every cylinder and turning the technical complexity of the material into something genuinely visceral. The final stretch brings out two more fan favorites, Only the Spineless Survive and Bound by Desire, bringing the set—and an already punishing evening—to its conclusion. By now, the crowd is completely spent from the pit, but that does nothing to diminish the response. Lee’s Palace erupts in cheers as Revocation take their final bows, closing out a night that delivered exactly what this line-up promised: technical brilliance, uncompromising heaviness and enough brutality to leave Toronto’s underground crowd thoroughly battered—and thoroughly satisfied.
REVOCATION SETLIST:
Nihilistic Violence
Scorched Earth Policy
Fracked
Confines of Infinity
The All Seeing
Data Corpse
Of Unworldly Origin
Dismantle the Dictator
Chaos of Forms
Summon the Spawn
Only the Spineless Survive
Bound by Desire
