Lüger– Cosmic Horrör (2020) / 85%

Leather in Space

The dangerous Montréal quartet is back with a four track extended play and it’s pure fire. I liked their 2018 opus (the Realm reviewed it) quite a bit but Cosmic Horrör (the umlauts are important, of course) sees the band improve and push their sound to the next echelon. They’re a pretty unique beast in the Montréal metal scene with their apocalyptic blend of influences and I’m stoked to see them on stage again whenever it will be possible.

“Space Coma” opens the record with blistering drums and features insane guitar solos with a melodic psych rock edge. It’s an effortless mix with their bass heavy approach to Motorized and Pentagrammed heavy metal. Jim Laflamme’s semi-harsh, tough vocals are emphasized by being judiciously but sporadically used (they only appear midway through “Call of the Snaggletooth”) and they feed the riffs perfectly.

The opener of side B appropriately named “Psychotropia” could have been twenty minutes as far as I’m concerned. It starts with an extended spacey intro that wouldn’t be out of place on a Ufomammut album before descending in their usual airy but demented riff heavy affair. It’s like driving a Martian bulldozer that’s been fueled with acid.

There’s a lot of stuff in Lüger’s cosmic Harley Davidson’s leather pouches but it’s so adequately condensed in one potent formula that’s both original in its dated but timeless recipe. Incorporating more than just heavy metal, doom metal or hard rock, the boys also feed their machine with adequate doses of punk, thrash, space rock or even hints of black smoke here and there. It’s raw but it sounds like a wall of brick that’s been built by master builders who look like deviant bad boys based on what your boomer aunt thinks. Even if there's a sense of familiarity to their music, it's exciting and enticing enough to be a fucking good record.

They’re the type of bands that are able to develop an image that becomes deeply tied to their sound. Leather, shades, tattoos, wearing vests while being shirtless etc. All bands have an image, the ones who say that they don’t have are the same ones who will gladly tell everyone that “they’re one a political band”. The important is to craft a solid and interesting look that will instantly embody the music you play. Well, Lüger plays rocky, punky sexy metal exploring the vastness and deserted confines of space and they look the part. The old school video game look of the artwork also does a great job at describing their sound. Undead evil knight? Space Castle? Yes, you betcha.


Bandcamp

Shezmu - À Travers Les Lambeaux (2020)

Controlled Chaos

The first proper album for Shezmu after a bunch of extended plays and demos, À travers les lambeaux (could be translated to “through the shreds”) is a blistering piece of occult death metal that will help you get through this summer if your main vice is listening to hellishly dark music. Their first release as a three piece since the arrival of Yannick as a full time bassist, the short but sweet album doesn’t mess around with any aspects of their identity.

With their inspirations fully assimilated and ready to torn apart the competition, Shezmu delivers a well written and intelligent record full of twists and turns. Without playing a fully epic blend of metals similar to what bands like Sarpanitum or Necros Christos do, the Montreal band prefers to focus on pure death metal while incorporating some slightly foreign touches. The vocals of axeman and band leader Olivier (also in a wide array of other cool bands like Palmistry, Complot! or Moulin Banal) are deep, thunderous but also tortured clean screams reminiscent of Bolzer. It’s not a technical band, the focus is on riffs and riffs alone, there’s no unnecessary wank, it’s just riff worship and that’s totally fine with me. They’re mixing this sort of subtle antique feel with the evil energy of Incantation and it works. Not totally unlike Dead Congregation did.

The interlude “La rage” divides the album in two with a middle-eastern feel similar to the grandiose instrumental compositions found on Melechesh’s “The Epigenesis” and it was a welcomed respite since Shezmu are so fucking intense. There’s some shorter numbers like “Les secrets des ziggourats” and it brings forth a quasi blackened grind element to the fast compositions. Still, the bulk of the album is the two bread slices around it, its two longer compositions located at the start and at the end. They allow themselves to slow down and pummel you with “Lex Talionis”. At the edge of cavernous death metal, Shezmu’s guitars are pretty clear as far as death metal is concerned. The opener and title track has those hypnotic riffs that almost gives me the same effect (good) stoner metal has on me. This is perhaps their biggest strength, this sort of thundering but controlled chaos handled through efficient but minimalist musicianship is just so good. Shezmu are the cream of the crop for Québec death metal alongside Outre Tombe. Let’s see if Sedimentum can beat ‘em with their upcoming debut album.

Bandcamp

Québec Dank Kush Special with Lochness and Marécages

There’s some sort of doom/stoner movement going on in Québec right now with a small scene resurging from the dank abyss to create weed fueled riffs. The doom/stoner vibe from the province was mostly due to Max Tremblay from The Death Wheelers, Strange Broue and Marécages. Tremblay also runs Brouemaster Visual Decay and provides art for many bands, even international ones like Haunt or Idle Hands. He, of course, did the art for both Lochness and Marécages. I like his art, always colourful but also always pretty grim and dark, it’s full of contrasts!

Lochness – Black Smokers (2019)

First Puff - 83%

Lochness, now, eh! The Montréal trio plays slow, thundering doom/stoner with a definite aquatic feel. Composed of Alban Bachand and Mathias two tattoo artists from the Ligne Verte shop (awesome spot!) and Tony Ross from  Aiauasca (also into tattoos!), the power trio really surprised me with the quality of this release. Compared to most doom/stoner, it’s not overlong and it has a distinctive and interesting identity other than the commonly used “blaze it 420” one. Lochness are all about the pressuriezed heaviness of the deep sea and how foreign and alien that mysterious part of the world is. The album starts with a long seven minutes instrumental track that really shows the colours of what the band is all about. They’re not heavily focused on vocals usually (Ross handles both the drums and the vox) and they also dig the use of samples. When there’s vocals, they’re unhinged and they feel like they’re underwater (check out “Alien Deep”), it’s oddly fitting.

The guitars of Fortier are loud and strong and like American traditional tattooing, it’s bold and there to stay as Black Sabbath foretold. Their songwriting is quite loose and natural, their songs are long but busy with riffs. It’s never boring or overly slow and “atmospheric”. They do like repetitiveness though but they’re good enough to achieve a form of riff hypnosis.

All in all, Lochness delivers a compact thirty-five minutes opus full of huge tones. I’m usually bored by most stoner/doom but they had enough originality to distinguish themselves from the pack. I’ll go swim in the Lochness, I hope I’ll see you there.

Lochness on Bandcamp

Marécages - Marais Juana - Une Ode Cannabique (2019)

Second Puff - 4x20=80%

Speaking of Marécages (swamps), their debut EP is literally a brick made of frozen weed. Max Tremblay (The Death Wheelers, Strange Broue) is joined by Seb Dallaire and Christian Labrecque (AKA Crock 0))) haha) both known from grind bands like Fistfuck and Mesrine and together, they had a lot of fun on this release. The artwork is striking and amusing, it’s just a really big frog that would eat if you were small enough. Frogs and toads eat everything, they’re like me at an all you can eat sushi restaurant.

Their song titles are full of portmanteaus like “Cannabysse” and their lyrics are all in French (always happy to see that), it’s massively fun. The opening song “Marais Juana” is also exactly 4:20, hopefully on purpose. Their metal is aggressive, not too dissimilar to the Hochelaga approach of Dopethrone in a way. It’s dirty sludge/stoner/doom with a really thicc groovy bass, riffs made of rusty steel and bludgeoning drumming played by a madman who hasn’t slept in weeks. Their vocals are, of course, harsh as hell and sounds like a resin infested worm in the best way possible. The use of samples about weed and horror movies is also on point, I personally liked the one about krokodil a lot!

The EP is tight and goes hard. It sounds like a big toad rumbling in a swamp looking for some tasty worms and flies. It doesn’t sound like they’re on weed... Well maybe marijuana laced with cocaine, acid and PCP...

Marécages on Bandcamp

Vapeur – l’Indifférence (2017)

   

Dans les vapeurs de vos cris?

Le projet montréalais Vapeur lance cette semaine sa deuxième galette et c’est certainement celle qui va révéler le quatuor rock à un plus large public par sa production sonore aboutie et sa foudroyante pochette armée de couleurs vives et psychédéliques. Après « L’effort » sorti en mai 2016, les garçons sont de retour avec «L'indifférence », un effort résolument plus ancré dans le punk et le groove. Tout comme les trucs fuckés sur la couverture, la qualité est au rendez-vous.

Les ambiances sont variées chez Vapeur. Il a presque autant d'ingrédients sonores que de choix de condiments pour tes hot dog vapeur d'après brosse. Nous pouvons passer du glam rock à tendances hard au rock garage incorporant aussi bien les influences de Malajube que des Américains de The Strokes (leur leader étant même honoré par le titre de la quatrième pièce :« Casablancasse-toi ») et au punk rock à ambiance feutrée.. Nous entendons également de profondes racines pop rock qui fait du EP un explosif mélange nourri de mélodies accrocheuses assumées. Malgré tout cela, le talent principal du groupe est de faire un rock francophone ayant comme acteur principal les guitares électriques. C’est quelque chose de rare dans le paysage rock québécois qui, ces temps-ci, nous sert des plats atmosphériques et planants (outre bien sur le son boosté de Galaxie) et c’est intensément rafraîchissant.

Les textes d’Andrew Duquette-Boyte évoquent des images pleines de folie nostalgique et sa livraison vocale délibérément fracassante convient parfaitement aux riffs de guitares acérés que Vapeur nous livre à la tonne. Ces jeunes hommes fringants nous prouvent que le rock en Français peut réellement fonctionner et frapper fort et j’en demande plus. Vaporise-moi.

Page Facebook


Un beau 8.5 hot dog vapeur sur 10

Local Sounds: Volume 7.0

Happy new year everyone. I’m back with the seventh volume of Local Sounds, a series showcasing the best non-metal music being made in Montréal and Québec. I have three excellent releases to talk about today.

Les Indiens – Shaman UFO (2016)

The Quebec City quartet impressed the hell out of me when I’ve seen them in Montréal (with Grand Morne and Gerbia) back in 2014 but I pretty much forgot to check their latest album until the first month of 2017 appeared. On this lush full length, the dudes created a super cool form of rock with extensive metal influences. With nods towards Kyuss, Sleep and (obviously) Black Sabbath, Les Indiens unleashed a wide array of heavy riffs with enjoyable but buried vocals (their lyrics are all in French.) Furthermore, they have this spacey vibe as demonstrated by the Shaman UFO interludes and the use of psych elements right from Flower Travellin' Band's handbook. The production is also top notch and their sound is a natural mix of modern feedback and vintage roots. Massive, fun and interesting, this is an album worth checking out for fans of loud and smart rock music.

Bandcamp







Security – Arid Land (2016)

The debut extended play from this duo (two members from Dernier Sex) is faithful to its geographical origin. Like Montréal's winters, it's cold but mysterious, lifeless but highly active like an undead corpse. Composed of four numbers, the EP combines lush industrial with loud but subtle drum machines, coldwave, ambient, noise rock and drone and it's highly addictive and evocative. The warm clean vocals of Anna Arrobas are providing a peculiar contrast with the icy instruments, they’re in the background giving us hope that winter is almost over. It’s stripped down music to its core and the relationship between the guitar and the bass of Élie B. Faubert is one of balance and complementarity. I was expecting something great after heir fantastic performance with Rakta right before the summer and this didn't disappoint at all.

Bandcamp









Atsuko Chiba – The Memory Empire (2016)


The Montreal quintet is definitely one of the most interesting bands we have. Released during a gig with the excellent Milanku back in December, this three songs extended play explores the many facets of Atsuko Chiba’s identity. From the Rage Against the Machine inspired hip-hop vocal attacks to the psychedelic synths and funky metallic moments. Their palette of sounds is as extensive as the one of The Mars Volta and it’s truly difficult to pinpoint everything they do and create. They’re able to move the listeners with their drawn-out instrumental movements such as the opening of closer “Damonsta Titillates” and they don't even rely on repetitiveness or the generic crescendo formula used by most post-rock bands.. Borrowing elements from many scenes, the band is an outsider who’s doing what it truly wants. They’re shaking genre conventions with heavy guitars, thunderous bass licks and progressive explosions and I love it.

Bandcamp

Mountain Dust, Zaum & Chronolith @Turbo Haus, September 30th 2016

Mountain Dust, Zaum & Chronolith @Turbo Haus, September 30th 2016

To end this warm month of September, I had to choose between three interesting gigs happening on the same evening. It wasn't an easy decision to make since I'm a big fan of Toronto's Demontage who were opening for DBC at the Piranha Bar and the Red Bull Academy drone gig seemed pretty attractive as well. In the end, I went with the style of music closer to my earth, doom metal. After a long commute to the south west of Montréal, I arrived in time to see the first band on the bill.

Turbo Haus on Facebook

Chronolith are a fairly new local band and based on their singer, they play some form of sludge. I guess they do but they're not your usual run-of-the-mill sludge band. The guitar is fairly inventive and sometimes inflicts ethnic influenced leads with a progressive precision and the bass was quite loud with a clean and heavy sound. They're not the dirty, heroin-addicted style of sludge, they belong to the psychedelic school that Kylesa used to teach at. On some of their songs, they had a violinist who added some richness to their sound and it wasn't too dissimilar from what SubRosa are offering us. The singer was pretty generic and didn't offer much as far as stage presence is concerned but maybe he wasn't feeling well that night. Anyhow, I liked their compositions and I'm looking forward to their studio releases.

Facebook Page

ZAUM: The duo from Moncton are about to release their second full length (once again on Sweden's I Hate Records) and they decided to do a short two dates Québec trip before going overseas to play a massive European tour. The metropolis was to first to host those two bearded gentlemen and they didn't disappoint. They opened with "Influence of the Magi" the first side of Eidolon, their new album, an extended twenty minutes track full of twists and turns before playing two older tracks. Zaum consists of drummer Chris Lewis and bassist/singer Kyle McDons and those two guys are able to convey an impressive sense of mighty power with their interesting formula. McDons is using a wide array of pedals and his abilities exceed the comprehension of mere mortals such as myself. He's also a sound engineer so he knows exactly what to do to make his project sound great. Decorated with their numerous personalized candles, the stage was blown to bits by the subtle yet captivating red lights emanating from underneath Lewis' drums and the whole setting really managed to give the necessary aura their middle-eastern influenced approach to doom metal needs. Thunderous, simple but not lo-fi, Zaum are all in and they always deliver the slow, tasteful goods.

Previous reviews of Zaum: Oracles (2014) and Himalaya To Mesopotamia (2015)

ZAUM on Facebook

Mountain Dust are perhaps Montréal's current best rock band and they closed the evening. I had to miss their album release gig so I really wanted to see them play their new songs live and it wasn’t disappointing. The quartet plays heavy rock with an amalgam of influences from diverse eras. You get the lap steel from the blues or country scene, the keys from the Deep Purple and the presence of guitarist/singer Brendan Mainville can recall everything from the grunge era to the early proto hard rock days of the 60s. Speaking of this decade, the band did a fantastic super heavy cover of The Doors’ “Waiting For the Sun”. The dudes are all coming from a metal or hardcore background so there’s this added heaviness to their vintage rock and it’s highly fun to hear and watch. It’s authentic without sounding like a pale copy of your dad’s record collection

Review of their debut album Nine Years

Mountain Dust on Facebook

Mountain Dust - Nine Years (2016) / 90%

Montréal’s Mountain Dust were pretty good when I saw them live with Dopethrone and Zaum some years ago but I had no idea they were this good. They obviously really took their time to craft this debut album since it’s inspired and spectacular rock with all the right influences.

  

Undeniably rooted in the past, Nine Years is nevertheless able to sound fresh and modern due to the band’s ability to mix styles in a tasteful way. You get the proto-metal influence from Led Zeppelin (not in a copycat way like Wolfmother though), the heavy organ sound of The Doors but also a big dose of stoner, blues and psychedelic rock. It’s also sorrowful and mesmerizing mostly due to the mournful and raw but awesome vocals and the evocative heavy riffs. The use of the slide guitar brings the blues in a great way and I was surprised how well the instrument was integrated to their rock core. They also use some folk and country elements such as the clean overture of southern “Tale of the Red Rain” and its desert mighty sound.

They remind me Royal Thunder (one of my favorite current rock bands) in the way they rock hard and almost borders the metal realms in those aggressive moments but also the fact that they’re really damn varied. I mean “Lonely War” almost sounds a dark version of a Beatles ballad and there’s other longer tracks where they unleash the heavy organ stoner/hard rock sound such as the title track. The seven numbers are all tremendous but the band kept the longer ones for the second half and this was a judicious decision as I feel the flow of the LP is excellent.

For a debut album, Mountain Dust wrote something very accomplished and mature. I now feel bad for missing the album release gig since this is surely one of the best rock records of 2016. It’s genuine but still inventive, it’s old school but contemporary and it’s hard to ignore. Popular retro rock bands should open for Mountain Dust.

Originally published on The Metal Observer

Rakta with Grosser and Security @La Vitrola in Montréal, July 10th 2016

*all the mediocre pictures were taken by my cellphone*



Thanks to Suoni Per Il Popolo for organizing this gig.

On this evening of July that felt more like we were in late April, I've decided to go see this interesting gig even if it was a bit out of my comfort zone but it was a rewarding experience.

Security opened the show with their blend of noise rock, Loop (the british band)-esque heavy explorations and many more influences too numerous to talk about. The duo composed of two members of the coldwave/synthpop/etc… project Dernier Sex unleashed a dark set of thundering bass and subtle yet highly evocative guitar lines. The guitarist, Anna, did some ethereal vocals as well but they were sparse, tastefully buried and not the focus of their music. The drum machine was used in an enjoyable and repetitive way adding a drone/industrial feel to their already busy mix of elements. A really good band and I’m looking forward to their studio material.

8/10

Grosser, a quintet from Calgary (or Montréal now apparently? Who cares?!) were next with their take on early punk rock/hardcore. The ubiquitous keyboard presence reminded me of Wolf Parade and it was the most interesting aspect of the band for me. The guitarist and the bassist looked like they had no fun at all compared to the dynamic and charismatic singer who was pretty damn good. The keyboardist was also adding an admirable queer presence to the band’s identity and it was a nice touch. This band felt more inclusive that what I usually see from the metal scene! Somewhat derivative except for the keys, the band’s short set was pretty cool and the weird projections were clearly a great bonus to their performance. They were composed of old (late 80s/early 90s) television samples of random and sometimes, gross stuff.

7/10

Rakta, the all girl Brazilian trio played a fantastic gig of their kraut rock infused psychedelic post punk with a lot of tribal inspirations. I was familiar with their debut album for a while now but this was pretty damn different as they played stuff from their newly released opus and it’s slower and more introspective music. With no electric guitars this time around (people told me that they had one when they toured here last year), the band relies on a hard bass presence, groovy and energetic drumming and a wide array of keyboard and electronic effects (they even had a The Doors-like organ moment!) to create their rich atmosphere. They reminded me of fellow South Americans Föllakzoid (that I’ve seen live some years ago) with the way they mixed repetitiveness and intricacy. The three ladies were very fun to watch, their tour is only starting and it’s really obvious that they really love what they do.

The part where they all gathered to play percussion for a good 3 to 5 minutes was mesmerizing and captivating. An interesting and dedicated band and they were tremendous on stage. They have my total support.

9/10

Intonate – The Swerve (2016) / 83%

Orphans of Sickness

We have a long standing technical death metal tradition to respect in Québec and Intonate are the brand new soldiers of this style. Their debut album takes the flexible bass fluctuations of Beyond Creation and push it towards a more dissonant and dark direction. One thing is for sure, the four musicians were able to totally play their way through the demented infernal landscape shown on the cover art with their instrumental prowess.

It’s a bit hard to distinguish progressive death from technical death as they’re often closely related. Intonate explores a lot of sensibilities here but we’re far from the ruthless and inane technicality of Necrophagist. It’s more akin to Spawn of Possession, Obscura or even the atmospheric obscurity of Ulcerate. The lyrics written by guitarist Ulysses Fiorito are smart and often conceptual (some tracks are about the ancient Akkadian empire and the city of Uruk) or based around science fiction and philosophy. They're a good fit to the aural side of the band.

The bass is thick, played by a quasi virtuoso and we’re far from the annoying sound displayed by Dominic Lapointe on an album like The Aura. The Nucciarone brothers (Dominic on drums and Nicola on guitar/vocals ), just like the Duplantier brothers of Gojira, are one hell of a fraternal duo. The drumming is intense, precise yet subtle and the airy mastering gave it the necessary place to grow. Sure, there’s guitar solos but they don’t go overboard and become a burden to go through. While they remain a technically sound band, they still deliver loads of memorable moments such as “Retribution Waters” with the grievous harsh vocals performance of Nicola.

Some tracks are lengthy but even “Eternal Seed” and its 13 minutes doesn’t seem like a never-ending ordeal to listen to. It flows very well and even if I think it’s an exhausting style of music due to its demanding nature, I managed to listen to the album several times without being bored and helpless. All in all, Intonate’s debut album, while not totally something fresh or new is an excellent offering of intelligent spatial death metal and someone should sign these guys as soon as possible!

Intonate on Facebook

Metal Bounty Hunter: Volume 9

Brought to you by the Hound

Unru - Als Tier Ist Der Mensch Nichts (2016) / 80%

Oppressive incestuous post black

This German quartet's debut album (that we can translate to "As an animal, man is nothing") is a brief voyage into the oppressive minds of their songwriters. Rooted in both black metal and hardcore (crust, post hardcore...), the four songs managed to incorporate the pure hatred and violent conviction of all their influences. The drums are buried under the loud and atmospheric guitars but I liked the way they were recorded, it seems to be natural and fits the aggressive yet pensive identity of Unru.

I guess we could say that they're a post black metal band but there's nothing fancy, comforting or joyful about their music. The vocals are deep howls and combined with the instrumentation, it's like walking in an old post World War II disaffected military complex, it's cold and suffocating in the best way possible. If you like the numerous incestuous explorations of black metal and hardcore, this is a band to check out. The lengthy songs made this an exhausting but rewarding experience.

Dautha - Den förste (2016) / 83%

Sweden's new trad doom titanI do think that Griftegård only managing to release one full-length is a tragedy in itself but if we ignore this first world problem, I’m quite happy that Ola Blomkvist (guitars, lyrics, direction) is back with a new traditional doom project and it’s well worth the time for everyone who likes the style. While not reinventing the classic wheel of doom, the integration of some beautiful violins is refreshing in something else than melodic doom/death or goth metal à la My Dying Bride. After a brief intro (translated to “Adulterers should be killed”), we’re served two excellent mid-paced numbers with epic soaring clean vocals and terrific riffs. Definitely influenced by the medieval period and religions, Dautha’s music is classy, engaging and played by talented Swedish veterans. Let us rejoice when darkness thrive / Oh, this is Hell but we shall laugh This is a demo but the quality of the songs and the production made me wish it wasn’t. Unfortunately the handmade packaging limited to 78 copies is sold out but I’m sure we won’t have to wait too long before we get more material from these guys. Well, I hope so.

Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us (2016) / 97%
Nine Inch Cocks

Signing to Nuclear Blast definitely made Nails sellouts, right? Oh fuck no it didn’t. The Californian trio unleashed their longest album ever (still only 21 minutes) and it’s one of the perfect outlet for aggression and violence I’ve ever heard. The band got added to the Metal Archives due to this record and rightfully so, I could compare it to the movie Alien, a cinema classic classified as both horror and science fiction… Well, YWNBOOU borrows as much from hardcore as it does from metal. Nails puts classic grindcore, old Swedish death metal, powerviolence, crust, Slayer-ish thrash in a dirty blender and crush the mixture till it’s just perfectly bloody.

Just like “Unsilent Death” or Abandon All Life, most of the tracks are short motherfuckers who will slam your head and make you jump everywhere. They never forget to write compelling and truly awesome riffs such as in “Into Quietus” and end the album with a monstrous eight minutes track containing everything they ever been known for. Slow pummeling riffs, spiteful vocals and fast destruction. I was really happy when they played “They Come Crawling Back” live as it’s one hell of a track. The best extreme album of 2016.

"VIOLENCE IS FOREVER"

Pillars – Pyres and Gallows (2016) / 70%

The Baguette Doom Series pt. XVII: Nice

The quartet from Nice (not pronounced like you think) plays heavy as hell doom metal without turning into a stoner band. The vocals of Clément Flandrois are rough, sort of harsh and would fit a southern metal band. The dude has a lot of range though and shows how good he is on the 10 minutes title track.

Many French bands actually sound like they’re from the American south and I’m not totally sure why (check out Glorior Belli and their southern black metal sound) and Pillars are definitely one of them. I mean, it’s subtle, don’t expect to hear some classless Hellyeah worship here, it’s still trad doom with obese riffs and a sad lyrical approach. This debut extended play has no obvious problems, it’s honest, well written and even has this blackened feel not usually present in this style of metal. Nevertheless, they could streamline their compositions a little and there’s a certain lack of memorability on there.

Deathbringer - From Silence Was Born The Sound of Death (2016) / 75%
Unsilent death/black

Montréal’s Deathbringer plays a savage and natural sort of death/black metal. Their debut full length, a short affair sounds like a demented Immolation at times. There’s an obvious focus on riffs and the album is full of great catchy ones. The production job was kept willingly raw and when I first heard a track from the album, I wasn’t quite sure it was the right decision but now that I’ve heard the full thing, I do think it fits the atmosphere they were going for.

Vocal wise, there’s a mix of cavernous growls, high pitched screams (both apparent on the last track “Bone Weaver”) and also some cleans (“By the Will of God”). The singer is one of the best aspects of Deathbringer, it adds to the dual identity of the band and their fluid back and forth between death and black metal. Even if they’re Canadian, they’re not really war metal, their core is death metal and there’s even doomy influences at times. War metal for me must be black metal with additional elements coming from death and grind.

All in all, it’s a strong debut for Deathbringer, they understood that riffs are the primordial element to make your band worthwhile and even though they kept the mastering and mixing lo-fi and raw, it makes the songs shine in the darkness.

Gevurah – Hallelujah! (2016) / 93%

Spreading of the indomitable fire

While their debut was pretty damn good, the debut full length from this Montréal duo defied my expectations as the project improves all their aspects. I believe Hallelujah! established them as the band to beat as far as Québécois black metal is concerned. What's weird is that they manage to crush all their provincial opposition by truly leaving aside the usual tropes we find in this scene. There's no wintery atmosphere, no folk interludes or instruments and no try hard patriotism or nationalism. Nevertheless, one important facet of Québec's ancestral society remains, the attachment to Catholicism and spirituality (made clear by their name taken from the Kabbalah). This religious identity is represented through the occult and evil atmosphere written so eloquently by the two musicians.

The themes of Gevurah are more comparable to Québec’s cousin, France (think of Aosoth), than with their own North American acolytes. There’s also certain influences from the Norwegian or Polish scenes in here. I think that those European scenes really adhere to the “let’s play black metal that’s atmospheric instead of playing atmospheric black metal” doctrine. I mean, even in the instrumental sections of this album, there’s still plenty of riffs to listen to. They never take the easy way out and just write sub par “atmospheric” parts where nothing happens. The riffs are delivered songs after songs even on their epic numbers like the concluding song.

What often distinguished great black metal acts from mediocre ones is the quality of their intentions. Gevurah masters both the musicality and the aesthetics of the genre, the tenebrous feel is one of the best I’ve ever heard and it’s combined with this lush yet totally claustrophobic production. The sound is fully controlled by one half of the band, Xavier handles it like a true professional (well he has his own studio after all). Another accomplished feat in their compositions is the ability to be pummeling while being long-winded, it’s not an easy task to write an almost twenty minutes black metal track without the need to include extraneous genres like funeral doom. At times it’s like if they were The Ruins of Beverast but without the atmospheric doom used by the German solo act. In fact the last track uses Gregorian chant and totally nails this occult yet relaxing part before unleashing the metal riffs to end the nineteen minutes trip into oblivion.

The vocals are deep, cavernous and it’s easy to follow the exceptionally well written lyrics (mixing both English and French). The drumming (X’s main instrument) are thoroughly awesome and he proved that he can play anything since he joined Cauchemar to record one of my other favorite albums of 2016. The guitars are pushing forward many different sorts of moods, from slow but still heavy riffs to dissonant faster moments. Just like the songs, they’re quite varied but never go into an unnecessarily sweet or overly melodic direction.

The superb art of Denis Forkas fits the dark aura emanating from Gevurah’s timeless and graceful black metal like a glove. An essential métal noir album.

Metal Bounty Hunter : Volume 8 – Sunmask Special

Metal Bounty Hunter : Volume 8 – Sunmask Special

Sunmask is a new Canadian label specialising mostly in doom metal and I’d like to offer my support by reviewing a bunch of their releases. I’ve already covered Sea Witch, Strange Broue and their excellent Shooting Guns/Zaum split but there’s many cool new stuff to check out. My country is producing some excellent bands and it’s a blast to see them released on analog formats (tapes and vinyl discs) by a legit label.

Check out the Facebook page to stay up to date: Sunmask

Lüger – The Lethal Tape (2016) / 84%

This Montréal quartet recently played live with The Death Wheelers (featured below) but I had to fucking this gig because I’m basically a boring dude. I really like this release, they mix a bunch of stuff and they do it very well. The tape starts with this introduction called “Red Magick” which sets the tone for the whole thing with its horrific and undead samples. Lüger are sort of a super heavy horror rock band who just mess around with the styles with ease and fun. Combine stoner metal, huge doom riffing, dirty heavy metal and you have their sound. It can differ from songs to songs, like “Lycanthropia” almost recalls Orange Goblin while “Snakebait” sounds like a doom version of Mötley Crüe and Motörhead.



The vocals of Jimmy Target (also in a rock & roll/stoner rock band called Jimmy Target and the Triggers) are just fueled by alcohol and hookers. Like the music, it’s captivating by its dirtiness but also how smart and well thought out it sounds. I can’t wait for a full length from these guys.

Lüger on Bandcamp

The Death Wheelers – Mind Blowing Trip (2015-2016)

Witchstone – Summon the End (2016)

Split released on tapes or vinyl by Sunmask

84%

The Death Wheelers is Max Tremblay’s counterpart project to Strange Broue. While his other band plays huge doom/stoner vocals hugely inspired by Electric Wisard and the likes, this project is purely instrumental and like a bunch of Hells Angels high on satanic cocaine, it rocks hard. The songs are short burners with huge, thick bass lines and heavy as fuck doom riffs. There’s also many B movie (or just cult ones like Easy Rider on “Freewheelin’”) samples opening the tracks giving the Death Wheelers a welcoming nostalgic and vintage feel. There’s this fun atmosphere, perfect for driving at night and it’s almost as good as Karma to Burn, which are the masters of instrumental stoner metal in my opinion.

Actually released last year, the then sold out EP is now part of this split release with Witchstone and their two new tracks. I wanted to review their first full length released in 2014 so tackling this split is a pretty good opportunity to write about them. The quartet from Calgary is widely different than The Death Wheelers in the way they doom their metal. The two long pieces are full of old school horror doom influences with both venomous sludgey vocals and clean ones, super cool psychedelic guitar solos and slow riffs. The mix of harsh vocals and a musical background based mostly on doom/rock isn’t quite dichotomic (check out Black Magick SS for rock with harsh vox!), it really fits the occult mood they’re going for. Both songs are really damn good, they’re able to be atmospheric without forgetting to write compelling riffs.

This is a good split even though both bands don’t really fit together quite well. I think it should had been marketed differently but that’s just me! Anyhow, both sides are pretty damn solid examples of how good the Canadian doom/stoner/whatever scene is.

Witchstone on Bandcamp
The Death Wheelers on Bandcamp

Longhouse – Earth From Water (2015-2016) / 79%
Re-issue on CD by Sunmask

This trio from the Canadian capital of Ottawa plays top notch heavy sludge metal. The cover art inspired by the world turtle mythology really caught my eye, it’s pretty gorgeous and fits the quasi atmospheric side of the band well. They include some sad traditionnal doom melodies from time to time such as on “Gehenna Gate” and some progressiveness, especially in the well composed and modern guitar melodies. There’s also some heavy metal here, the epic instrumental banger “Phrygian Doom” sounds a bit like something Iron Maiden would do nowadays

The vocals of Josh Cayer are high pitched nasty groovy growls, not too different from what we’re used to from the sludge world but they’re effective and not overly present or tiresome. Longhouse, the type of habitations the Iroquois native people used, evidently use this background as their main inspiration and more bands should write about this spiritual and often dark subject matter. Alongside bands like Monobrow or Norilsk, they’re one of the finest doom bands from the greater Ottawa area.

Bandcamp

The Weir – Calmess of Resolve (2015-2016) / 75%

Re-issue on vinyl by Sunmask

This band from Calgary plays slow, crushing atmospheric sludge akin to what Cult of Luna used to do. It’s heavy, extended numbers full of despair and feelings. While it’s nothing original and new for the experimented listener, they’re a fine band who’s able to develop those long songs correctly. The fourteen minutes instrumental title track is especially strong with the way it’s built and executed. The other songs have your typical harsh vocals but they’re sort of buried underneath the somewhat blurry mix.

Post metal, atmospheric sludge or whatever is a genre strong on building heavy and emotional crescendos and The Weir are good at them. While it’s a decent album, it’s possibly just not memorable enough for me to revisit it often. I guess they’re good enough to open for Neurosis when they’ll tour Alberta.

Bandcamp