Vancouver orchestral death doom masters Tribunal are a band I absolutely love, having traveled to Vancouver from Seattle multiple times in 2025 to see them perform, including what ended up being my last show of 2025 in mid December. They just played a handful of shows in the Pacific Northwest, though not Seattle, and the final date of the mini tour provided the opportunity to headline Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver. Rickshaw Theatre was selected as part of the Canadian Live Music Association’s Setting The Stage program, and the venue chose Tribunal to be the headliner for this event. The venue could not have chosen better, and it was a no brainer to make the trip to come see Tribunal.

It was a night full of varying flavors of doom. Seattle-based Year of the Cobra was the main support, along with two BC bands, Pure Love Eternal Peace and Mortuary Cave. As much as I know and love Tribunal, I was going in completely blind for the other three bands.

The first doom flavor of the night was local trio Mortuary Cave. I believe they are relatively new, with their first show taking place late 2025. Dueling vocals featuring deathly growls from the bassist and blackened shrieks from the guitarist swept over slow-paced, stoner drone oozing sludge. It was thick and heavy and set the doom atmosphere right from the start!

Mortuary Cave played four songs, but I don’t have a setlist, and they haven’t officially released anything yet, so I don’t know the titles. The video below is of their second song.

The next flavor was atmospheric sludgey droney doom from Winlaw, BC, courtesy of trio Pure Love Eternal Peace. The show was quite mesmerizing, driven by lead vocalist Rusty Tones. She has incredible charisma on stage, her entire body moving with the music whether she is singing or not, bringing incredible energy to the set. She sang, growled, and screamed, all with great passion.  The drums and guitar added plenty of heft and atmosphere, navigating dynamics well through both softer and wall of sound segments. 

The band played 3 songs, with each over 9 minutes. I didn’t have a setlist, but they released their debut last year, and the first two songs seem to be from that album. I couldn’t figure out what the third song was, so I am wondering if it was perhaps a brand new song? The setlist was:

1. Vena Cava
2. Non Pareil
3. [Unknown, maybe a new song?]

The third flavor of the night left the sludge and drone behind, opting instead for a full course of psychedelic stoner doom from Seattle-based husband/wife duo Year of the Cobra. Johanes was impressive behind the set, a driving thunderous force that picked the pace up from the previous two bands. Amy played bass, yet she alternated between playing it like a traditional bass and a rhythm guitar. This gave the riffing a thicker feel than normal and made it sound as if both bass and guitar were playing together.  She also sang, all cleans, adding to the stoner rock vibe amidst the doomy backdrop. For a duo, they sounded big and full and were quite impressive. 

Setlist

Year of the Cobra played six songs, with 3 from their latest album and 3 from their previous 2. The setlist was:

1. Intro / Full Sails
2. War Drop
3. White Wizard
4. Alone
5. The Divine
6. Into the Fray

Now it was time for the main event, orchestral gothic death doom the flavor for the rest of the evening. I saw Tribunal four times in 2025, and I have always been impressed with how good they are on stage. I even remember telling the band how great their last show was, and I have enjoyed seeing them perfect their craft and get better and better live. This show upped the ante even more, likely helped by the larger stage and ability to move around more. Both Soren and Etienne have always had expressive faces when singing/growling, but they seemed to exude even more passion. The coordinated headbanging was a great visual, and I loved seeing the guitarists play off each other consistently. I am always so impressed with how effortlessly Soren goes from bass to cello, and the cello in particular sounded fantastic this night. One big thing I noticed was how much grander and fuller the sound was compared to previous shows, with Dallas’ keys in particular more noticeable, leading the way in orchestral grandeur. Jess’ various guitar leads sounded bolder as well, and Julia is just a marvel to experience behind the drumset. The entire band exuded such confidence, which has never lacked previously, but just felt even stronger this performance. It was by far the best show I have seen from them yet, and there is zero reason Tribunal shouldn’t be playing bigger stages and festivals regularly.

Tribunal played an 8-song set (9 if you count the live instrumental intro) plus a single song encore, with a healthy sampling from both of their full length albums. The setlist was:

1. Ruin / The Penitent 
2. A Wound Unhealing
3. Initiation 
4. The Sword of the Slain 
5. Armoured in Shadow 
6. …And the Thorn-Choked Flowers Grow
7. Without Answer
8. Incarnadine
9. [encore] Apathy’s Keep

Tribunal was the reason I went to this show, but it was fun hearing three brand new bands (for me) for the first time. I loved that the show kept a doom theme while mixing it up across all 4. Every band benefitted from the larger stage and great sound of Rickshaw Theatre, though I am probably going to be spoiled now and want to see Tribunal on a larger stage every time! As usual, Tribunal was 1000% worth the drive up from Seattle, and I look forward to the next time!