Legendary stoner rockers Sheavy, who are arguably the most well known heavy band to ever come from our humble little island, have unveiled a new patch design. The patches were made available on April 7th and announced through the group’s Facebook page. They can be purchased either through the band’s Bandcamp page or through their Facebook Marketplace. They can also be purchased in person down at Distortion when the bar opens at 10:00 PM from Wednesday through Saturday.
~ Greg Ravengrave
As regular readers of Heavy NFLD will know I have been a huge fan of Allagash ever since their first self-titled album was released back in February of 2016. Their sound combines 80’s speed metal with the hard cutting edge of thrash all draped in the atmosphere of a cold, alien and Voivod-esque cosmos that the lyrics so vibrantly describe. As such it’s a pleasure to be able to discuss the music with band members Sumerian, Mooncrawler and Entity.
You guys have been active since 2015. How did you each meet the other members of the band? What led to the formation of Allagash?
Sumerian: Me, Mooncrawler and Hawk Emblem had been friends for a long time, and literally one day Hawk Emblem called me and said “We wanna start a band about aliens and call it Allagash”. I immediately agreed, and we wrote our entire first album in one day.
Entity: I was traveling through the space time continuum when I picked up a signal from a distant galaxy. I followed the distant signal through an unknown portal that led me to a brilliant glimmering light coming from a great pyramid. When I found the source of the signal I found it was the first album by Allagash. I decided to reside in the cold, harsh environment of their island and join the band.
Lyrically speaking, all of your songs revolve around aliens, alien abduction, science fiction (or in some cases, science fact) and conspiracies of other sorts. Where does the inspiration for this material come from?
Mooncrawler: I think I can speak for us all that the topics involving the unknown and the unexplained in some ways are just more interesting than everyday life in general. Growing up being a huge fan of sci fi and fantasy movies, Unsolved Mysteries, The X-Files, The Outer Limits, etc. I find my interest in all of this fun and easy to write about.
Do you genuinely believe in abduction stories like the namesake of the band? Or is it just window dressing for the music itself?
Entity: The events that took place in the Allagash county were real. When you canoe the St. John’s River you too will find yourself missing time and have strange scars. The fear will never leave. They haunt you. They follow you. Leaving you in a state of wild despair. They have been here with evil intent. The day they come don’t be surprised.
Mooncrawler: As strange as it sounds I am a huge believer that other intelligent beings are sharing the same existence as we are. I believe that there is so much more to this then what is going on in our little worlds. I do genuinely believe in a lot of the abduction stories that I have heard and read about and have developed a more realistic outlook on life because of it I think, haha. Originally Trev, Harry and myself were not going to let anyone know it was us on the first album. We talked about getting it out there somehow without ever acknowledging it was us, haha. Living in a small place like this and knowing the majority of people around kind of made short work of that idea.
Looking at the aliases on your Bandcamp page, they’re pretty creative. With names like Sol, Mooncrawler, Hawk Emblem, Entity and The Harvester, how did you guys decide on what names to use?
Entity: I exist forever. I never die. Yet I never live. I am all around. I am energy. I’ve seen eons before our time. I see the dark future that lies before us. I am the Entity.
Mooncrawler: As our band grew each member came up with their own aliases. I pretty much pictured some kind of life form lurking around the moons surface for mine, haha.
Who are your biggest inspirations and influences? I hear a combination of 80’s speed metal as well as thrash in your music, but there’s elements of black metal that pop up occasionally too, especially in the more atmospheric tracks like “Dark Future”.
Sumerian: I guess when I first learned to play, the kind of modern metal “shred” type sound didn’t really exist. Black metal existed, but there was no internet, so it was very rare and I didn’t know much about it. I started with old Ozzy, Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Guns ‘N’ Roses, even Led Zeppelin. Mostly rock music, really! I eventually graduated to black metal, and now it is one of my favorite genres.
Allagash seems to keep live performances to a minimum, only popping up once every now and again on the live circuit in St. John’s. Is this intentional to maintain anticipation for the next show or is it simply a matter of not having enough time to play regularly?
Entity: Less is more. When bands play too often people become bored and will skip their shows. When you’re scarce and you practice and hone in on your sound and you only play once or twice a year you draw crowds and leave an impact.
Mooncrawler: I think we are just taking things day by day. We definitely spend more time writing then we do jamming but it works. I can only speak for myself but in past experiences I find too many shows within a short time thins out the material for me. I like the idea of just playing every 3 or 4 months. That being said though, if any bands come to town or we are in the mood for a show we can get things together pretty quickly.
Do you have any plans to take the band on tour?
Sumerian: As of now we have no touring plans, but we are willing to consider any opportunities that come our way!
Back in 2016 you guys shared the stage with the legendary Voivod at The Rock House. When I think of a band to compare Allagash to Voivod is the first to come to mind. You also played alongside the legendary Anvil the same year. What has it been like to open for such highly regarded and influential bands?
Sumerian: It was an honour to play with such legends!! Voivod actually listened to all the local bands from here and chose us as the opener, we were humbled that we got the gig personally through them. Generally the promoter usually chooses the opener, which was how the Anvil show came about.
Entity: Playing with Voivod was huge. It was an honor. We also played with Cauldron. I’m a big fan of them. We’ve been lucky to play with these awesome bands.
On your previous EP, entitled Canadian Encounters, you had a guest guitar solo from Gian Pyres, formerly of Cradle of Filth. How did you get in touch with him and what led to him being on the release?
Mooncrawler: Gian introduced himself to us at the Voivod show. After finding out that he lived close by he quickly became a familiar face around the house. As far as him being on the EP goes it just kind of came about through hanging out really.
You guys have a new album coming out, entitled Cryptic Visions. Where does the title come from and what can listeners expect from this new album in comparison to your previous releases?
Mooncrawler: A lot of my lyrical content for this album started taking shape around the idea of the end of days sort of theme. Songs envisioning the world’s end and others about those who monitor us intervening started the idea for the title. The thought of us still being a primitive race sits well to me and easy to write about. I’m pretty sure we will destroy ourselves through nuclear dispute, haha.
Once Cryptic Visions is out in the wild for public consumption, what’s next on the horizon for Allagash?
Sumerian: We have a new deal with Raw Skull Records. They will be doing a European release of our first two albums on CD. Also we took part in a Gamma Ray tribute, that’s also coming out in Europe, on Burning Sun Records. There are also talks of a split EP with another Canadian band, but that is hush hush for now!!
Thanks for taking the time to speak to us here at Heavy NFLD!
~ Greg Ravengrave
Halifax groovy thrash and death metallers Dumpster Mummy are one of a small smattering of heavy bands from our neighboring province of Nova Scotia to make the perilous and expensive journey to St. John’s to play kickass heavy tunes on The Deck. Thanks to support and interest from local metalheads and the intrepid work of Still Heavy Productions the band is making a return to the island this May for a mini-tour through Clarenville and St. John’s.
The mini-tour kicks off in Clarenville at Flannigan’s Pub on Friday, May 17th, along with cold hardcore punks Smoke Signals and the black thrash savagery of Winterhearth, who are finally returning to the live circuit after a considerable absence. The tour continues on Saturday the 18th with an all ages show at Treble Lounge in St. John’s, featuring the same lineup but with Dead Inner Youth added to the bill. That same night the same lineup will again be performing to the 19+ crowd but with Sons of an Eastern Moon replacing Winterhearth.
Dumpster Mummy were the winners of the Halifax edition of this year’s Wacken Battle of the Bands and have several other awards and nominations under their belt, including an EMCA showcase. Check their music out on Bandcamp down below and don’t miss these shows. They’re sure to be bangers!
~ Greg Ravengrave
Pearl is (left to right) TJ Schwarzenfeiger (bass), Tomas Hiscock (drums, vocals), and Luke Roberts (guitar).
Conception Bay South natives Pearl smashed onto the scene earlier this year at the All Ages Annihilation show in March, playing alongside current scene mainstays Sons of an Eastern Moon, Dead Inner Youth and Mantra, as well as fellow newcomers Last Cigar. They are one of many underage bands to crop up downtown in recent years, due in no small part to an increased emphasis on all ages shows from Chris Carter at Treble Lounge and Glen Tizzard at Distortion.
On April 2nd the group announced via their Facebook page that they are in the process of recording their debut material, including at least two tracks entitled “Synthetic Minds” and “Hallows Eve”. Whether more songs are going to be recorded or the release will be a single or an EP is as of yet unknown. Pictures from the band’s Facebook page showed them recording said songs at Holy Spirit High School in Paradise.
~ Akhenaten
Sons of an Eastern Moon have been hyping their debut album for a while now, revealing only one track from the record entitled “Loke’s Legacy” in the lead-up to the album’s release. Much like Allagash who we mentioned earlier today, we won’t have to wait much longer to hear this album from Newfoundland’s very own proponents of the pagan lifestyle.
The band will be playing at Distortion alongside Winterhearth (long time, no see), Devastator, Last Cigar and Deadgaard on April 27th to celebrate the release of the album. The title of said release is said to be L’Anse Aux Metals, a play on words referencing the legendary L’Anse Aux Meadows, the site of a Viking settlement on the Great Northern Peninsula dating back over 1000 years.
Whether or not the album will receive a digital release prior to the release show remains to be seen. In the meantime, check out “Loke’s Legacy” on Bandcamp.
~ Akhenaten
Bandcamp is a veritable treasure trove for discovering obscure, underground acts from every corner of the world. I’ve discovered innumerable albums and bands from our neck of the woods here in Newfoundland and Labrador simply by browsing the related tags on the website. One such project is the newly minted Halfling Rune, a one man dungeon synth project from an unknown part of the island.
Halfling Rune released its debut EP, Squire, yesterday, on March 19th, 2019. Though the unnamed individual behind the project claims to not be a musician, Squire is an interesting lo-fi release that evokes feelings of nostalgia for anyone who played RuneScape or the Ultima series way back in the day. Halfling Rune joins the ranks of Chamber of Stillness, Broken Rune and The Dead One B.C. among the growing number of one man dungeon synth projects sprouting up throughout the province.
~ Akhenaten
HeavyNFLD 