St. John’s grunge band Jaded Truth released their third full length record Take a Seat back in November of 2022, and have now followed up the release of that record with a new music video for a song off of that album. The song in question is “Riders”, and the video for it was released through YouTube on March 20th, 2023.
You can watch the music video for “Riders” through our YouTube embed below.
~ Akhenaten
St. John’s blackened death / thrash metal outfit Winterhearth have released their brand new EP, Rape of Eden. The EP, first announced on February 27th, 2023, was released on Tuesday, March 21st, 2023, and is available to listen to via streaming services as well as through the group’s Bandcamp page. This new EP is the first release from Winterhearth since drummer Brad Ivany departed the band, to be replaced by Nathan Manuel.
You can listen to Rape of Eden through our Bandcamp embed below.
~ Akhenaten
St. John’s traditional heavy metal / power metal group Category VI have released their brand new third full length record Firecry. The new album, which was released through Moribund Records, dropped on Friday, March 24th, 2023, and is available to listen to on streaming services everywhere. Physical copies of the album are also available on CD which can be obtained from the band members personally via local pickup or through the Moribund Records website at this link: here!
You can listen to Firecry through our YouTube embed below.
~ Akhenaten
St. John’s post punk / noise rock project Wannabe Erudite, the project of our very own new review writer Stephen, has released a brand new demo. The demo in question, entitled Remembered Demos, was released on March 2nd, 2023. While initially started as an RPM Challenge project, Stephen has stressed that this particular release is not in relation to RPM 2023. The demo includes 5 tracks, the last of which is nearly 14 minutes in length.
You can listen to Remembered Demos through our Bandcamp embed below.
~ Akhenaten
Vertebraeker – Spinal Sword
October 28th, 2022
Thrash Metal / Crossover
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland
Vertebraeker is a brand new thrash metal outfit from St. John’s that is poised to be the purest representation of the genre within the province. Are you a fan of Municipal Waste? Do you enjoy a bit of D.R.I.? Well, this band, and more specifically, this record, are for you. Admittedly thrash metal is more of a “summer genre” for me, so it took me a while to really get around to this one. I like to drive down the highway with the windows down blasting stuff like this at full volume, or kick up dirt in a mosh pit and an outdoor show while a band like this is playing. Having finally given it a number of listens, however, I feel like my opinion on it has solidified and I’m ready to dig into its meat and tendons.
Spinal Sword, which is as kickass of an album title as you can possibly have, represented by the killer depiction of such a vile weapon in its album art, is chock full of savage, thrashing riffs that will no doubt inspire crowds to mosh and headbang like there’s no tomorrow. This is the kind of music that was written and performed for the purpose of getting drunk as fuck and fucking shit up. There’s no remorse to be found once you hit that play button. You’re in for violence, and violence is what you’re going to get. With song titles like “Death Penalty” and “Daily Shred”, would you expect any less.
The vocals on here, sung by Matt Morgan, are hefty, and perhaps a bit more gruff than what one might expect. They have power behind them and have a bit more of a punk affectation than I initially thought they would, which is possibly why I perceive this record as leaning somewhat into crossover thrash territory a la the aforementioned D.R.I. The vocal performance is great and exactly what this kind of music needs, though I feel like they’re a bit low in the mix. I feel like overall it’s just kind of quiet in comparison to the guitars and the drums.
The riffs on here, provided by the dual guitar attack of John Cooper (ex-Emblem) and Mike Molloy (ex-Mutank) on guitars, with Morgan on bass, are just pure thrash metal, however. There’s a lot of modern thrash worship like on the tracks “Mind Fog” and “Death Penalty” which feel like they could easily have been written by a band like Municipal Waste. Other songs like “Marooned on the Moon” are a bit more melodic and honestly remind me of very early Metallica, whereas the opening riff from “Bog Haunter”, has a bit of an Exodus vibe to it. Some of the later cuts on the album, like “Chopping Block” and “Daily Shred” seem to draw more from that time period when speed metal was merging into thrash metal, drawing upon groups like Motorhead, Exciter, and yes, once again, Kill ‘Em All-era Metallica, as inspiration for the riffage.
The drums, played by Geoff Higgins, are probably the most involved and interesting part of this record. The different patterns played here are varied and dynamic, and don’t rely just on the one-two-one-two that you’d expect. Of course, there’s plenty of that to be had anyways, as you’d want from any thrash record, but there’s other stuff going on as well. I particularly love the blast beat section that shows up only for a brief moment in “Marooned on the Moon” before disappearing, never to be seen on the rest of the record. The track “Bog Haunter” has some particularly interesting and complex drumming patterns as well that really through me for a loop, as does the ending section of “Daily Shred”. The double bass work here is also really damn good, and is a big contributor to the “get the fuck up” vibe this record provides.
The production here is probably where the album loses me a little bit. It’s very clean, almost to a fault. I like my metal to have a bit of grime and filth to it, depending on the subgenre in question of course. With thrash metal I like it to sound a bit dirtier, or perhaps even cavernous. While I’m glad you can hear everything that’s going on I feel like the whole thing sounds just a bit too light. All that it needs to sound more full and heavy would’ve been to add a bit of reverb to it, especially on the vocals. Other than that I can’t complain too much. I think the drums are probably the best sounding part of this album.
This is a pretty solid first effort from Vertebraeker. While I would say that some of the songs on here feel a bit formulaic and tread into the problem that a lot of modern thrash metal has of sounding very samey to other bands in the genre (ie: Municipal Waste has written the same album five times), there’s enough uniqueness here to keep me interested. Songs like “Marooned on the Moon” and “Bog Haunter” stand out on the tracklist for providing sounds that I didn’t really expect on my initial listen, and keep the record varied enough to keep me coming back for more, whereas other cuts like “Death Penalty” don’t really grab my attention. Check this one out and keep an eye on Vertebraeker. Whatever they do next is sure to be just as uproarious.
Final Verdict: 7/10
Good
Favourite Tracks:
“Marooned on the Moon”
“Bog Haunter”
“Chopping Block”
“Daily Shred”
“Spinal Sword”
~ Akhenaten
St. John’s noisecore / hardcore punk project 6000apez has released a brand new album chock full of noisy, abrasive, and chaotic hardcore punk entitled January 12. This new album was released on, well, January 12th, 2023, through Bandcamp exclusively, and is the first of a deluge of new releases the project has dropped over the course of the past three months. We’ll cover the other releases later on as the weeks go by, but for now you can listen to January 12th through our Bandcamp embed below.
~ Akhenaten
St. John’s alternative rock / pop punk band Laxidaisy is seeking a new drummer. The band has so far released a self-titled EP as well as a single entitled “A Ballad of Ships and Wolves”, though has featured a revolving door of drummers for these recordings. If you are interested in joining the band, send the band a DM through their Instagram account.
~ Akhenaten
Welcome to the 52nd episode of the Heavy NFLD Official Podcast. On this episode we re-cap all the heavy music released for the RPM Challenge in the year of 2023!
All songs belong to the original artists. Podcast recorded by Greg “Akhenaten” Ravengrave.
Tracklist:
01. The Crevice – “Valley of Flies”
02. Pouch Dweller – “Laserblast’s Last Stand”
03. Chris McGee – “Sudden Shock”
04. Cemetery Hill – “Doomed Generation”
05. Ninth Quarter – “Crustborne”
~News Break~
06. Elder Caius – “Kailash, When It Rises”
07. Count Cromulent – “Thunder Reigns”
08. Wannabe Erudite – “Pester”
09. Canvas – “Permanent Holiday”
10. Personal Space Invaders – “Solid Ground”
~ Akhenaten
St. John’s hard rockers The Skeats are currently hard at work on their fourth full length record, which currently remains untitled. The band revealed that they were back in the studio on February 25th, 2023 through their social media pages, working once again with Ward Pike at Comfort Cove Sound Studio. The following day, February 26th, the band revealed that recording of the drums and bass have been completed alongside an outline of most of the tracklist.
While the first track’s name is obscured, the rest of the tracklist is as follows:
2. “Black Sensations”
3. “Secret Side”
4. “Hang It Up”
5. “5th Degree”
6. “Stay Home”
7. “Call to Action”
8. “Daze”
9. “Twitch”
10. “Fine Wine”
11. “1=5”
12. “Sunrise”
13. “Chasing Angels”
14. “Full Grown”
~ Akhenaten
Elder Caius is a brand new progressive / psychedelic rock project from St. John’s, NL. Borne out of the RPM Challenge of 2023, the project has released a single track so far, their debut single, entitled “Kailash, When It Rises”. The track is nearly 9 minutes in length and twists and turns into all sorts of unexpected directions. “Kailash, When It Rises” was released on March 1st, 2023 through Bandcamp.
You can listen to the track through our Bandcamp embed below.
~ Akhenaten
HeavyNFLD 