Death the Leveller – I (2017) / 82%

Balanced and potent formula

I was intrigued to see that Cruz Del Sur were gonna release the debut album of Death the Leveller in March 2020 so I went back to check their 2017 EP to get myself ready. Doom metal? Check. Best traditional metal label in the world? Check. Buddies of the best metal band in the world (Primordial)? Check. I was excited to hear this. Formed by the instrumental core of Mael Mórdha, a band I’ve heard a decade ago but forgot about, Death the Leveller dismissed the folk elements of their former band and decided to explore the bleakness that doom can convey.

I was pretty much sold the moment I saw the artwork combined with the epic track lengths of that “extended play”. I mean, it’s almost forty minutes of music divided within four songs... Plenty of meat on the bone. The quartet has this compelling dark aesthetic that’s really appealing to me as far as doom metal goes. I knew what to expect with that skeleton holding a balance and I wasn’t disappointed. I guess they could be compared to Dread Sovereign, Alan Averill’s doom metal side project but I’ve found them more interesting. “All Hell’s Martyrs” was a disappointment for me and I think I haven’t heard their followup yet. The thought of a doom metal Primordial was intriguing and Death the Leveller kind of filled that need.

The vocals of Denis Dowling have the same passion and intensity as Averill’s but they’re also cleaner and more rooted in pure heavy metal. Robust singing all around here. Really memorable, in fact. The ending of the last track “How to Track Pernicious Spells” made me shiver. The instrumentation is pretty pristine and the production sis top notch, they’re veteran musicians after all, that’s obvious enough. They're super good at building crescendos, creating tensions and just using their extended song structures efficiently.

The songs are all pretty much nine to ten minutes but they’re filled to the brim with riffs and they’re not what I’d call slow either. “Gone Forever” has insanely good riffing till the end of its duration. I’d say that Death the Leveller plays some sort of melancholic, atmospheric doom metal which isn’t too far away from what traditional doom can be at times. Bands like Warning, Mirror of Deception or The River navigates the sad waters of depressive doom but there's many more mysterious islands to discover. Death the Leveller definitely has a boat with several oarsmen since they’re constantly active, constantly bludgeoning and constantly interesting throughout the forty minutes duration. I’m turning thirty in like two months and long albums can be a drag to listen to nowadays so I’m hoping their album isn’t seventy minutes! Just like Primordial, you come out emotionally drained after spinning them.

It’s intense without being abrasive, dark without being shallow and trite, epic and complex without being syrupy. I’m quite stoked for what’s to come.

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Scorching Tomb – Demo 2019 / 77%

Dirty Montréal 514 Series: Part II

The first effort from those newcomers is a strong slap in the face. The first song demo focuses on simplicity and groove over flashy technicality and it pays off. The vocals are raw, rough and comes off as echoes from a shadowy grave or a decrepit Hochelaga basement. They’re fun and a good fit with the fast and heavy riffs. I rarely want my death metal to be nice and clean and I’m getting what I want here. I want to be thrown in an unmarked grave, one that’s been freshly dug. My corpse laying in a white sheet or in several duffel bags.

Morbidity aside, Scorching Tomb were able to convey those themes quite well and for a demo release, that’s exactly what you want to accomplish. You want it as an appetizer of things to come and you don’t want the customer to leave. Their songs are fairly short and to the point and the musicianship and songwriting are as solid as the tattooing of some of his mysterious members are known for. Incorporating some slight hardcore influences since Bolt Thrower are better than most things in life, they’re able to be a bit somewhat different than the plethora of generic death metal coming from all over the world.

Not unlike Oath Div. 666 or even Outre-Tombe as far as spirit goes, the band definitely prefers its meat (vegan or not) and potatoes to any frivolities that Québec death metal might be known for. The guitars are crisp and there’s no fretless bass solos or jazz influenced leads. It’s just punches after punches of...well, scorching death metal. Not the most memorable stuff but it goes hard and constantly delivers good riffs.

Get in the tomb as quick as possible. If the ground is too frozen, just pile some rocks over my body.

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Grales - Demo 2019 / 75%

Dirty Montréal 514 Series: Part I


Some steps to do before checking this band:

• A) Order a poutine. Don’t forget that if it’s not cheese curds, it’s not poutine and you should probably reconsider your life if you don’t mind shredded cheddar on your poutine. If you’re in the city, I’d suggest Poutineville.
• B) Put some wool socks, it’s winter for fuck’s sake.
• C) Cancel your psychiatrist appointments???????

That new quintet from Montréal will fill your bathtub with a year worth of filth. Unleashing three five minutes songs of thundering sludge/doom, Grales takes you by the hand and shows you how dejected and depressing their city can be. That period between autumn and winter where the ground is getting dirty and the snow can’t decide if it wants to stay or just melts into small putrid lakes of icy water is what that band sounds like. I mean that in a self-loathing but positive way, of course.

The guitars are thick (thicc?) and sounds like you’re constantly falling into brown snow because there’s a thin layer of ice beneath it. The bass is huge too (as it should be) and the drumming is varied, well executed and made me lose my mind from time to time. The vocals are also insane, they have the right amount of viscosity and poison to automatically provide you with the number of a weed dealer who’s probably gonna try to sell you meth too.

Grales gets hypnotic too. The start of “Cult of Domination” reminds me of the psychedelic elements that Ufomammut are known for. Considering they’re a quintet, they’re really able to keep things constantly filled to the brim and this helps when you want to create intriguing and inspired atmospheres. Two guitars are definitely efficient at giving you a big, loud and fully realized sound.

Despite keeping their compositions to a standard length, they’re able to explore some different rhythms and tempos. They’re also quite good at keeping things airy and they know how to stay pertinent without bludgeoning the listener with a constant volley of vocals.

They think of themselves as antifascist sludge and in a tense metal scenes where some people are too tolerant and friendly towards racism and white supremacy, it’s always nice to know that some members of the metal scene won’t stand for that kind of behaviour.

“You won't get your 'ethnostate'
Your obedient wife with a smiling face
You won't get your 'rightful place'
As the master caste of the fucking 'master race' “

Well said, dudes.

Tape release by the excellent Québec label From the Urn (Lochness, Marécage, Grand Morne...)

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