Metal Maniacs: John N. Roach

For this installment of Metal Maniacs, Sons of an Eastern Moon guitarist John N. Roach takes us on his own musical journey that led to him becoming the musician and music fan that he is today.

Alrighty, my turn to contribute to this amazing website. Hello! My name is John Roach and I’m a founding member and guitarist for Sons of an Eastern Moon and Animus Volatilis (disbanded). Following Andrew Marsh’s (WinterheartH) lead, I too will refrain from adding local metal to my list, while also not allowing any repeat bands. My music influences span far beyond metal, but I’m sticking to metal for the sake of this list. While I’m borrowing ideas from Andrew, I’m also gonna tack on some honorable mentions at the end. Lets do this.

3 Inches of Blood – Fire Up the Blades

One of, if not THE greatest metal bands to come from the Great White North. 3 Inches of Blood helped me through a lot of angst in high school. I would be walking the halls blasting this album on my walkman or Zune player on a regular basis. It was around this time I had recently picked up the guitar. While others learned “Smoke on the Water” or “Stairway to Heaven”, I was trying to learn “The Goatriders Hoard” and “Black Spire” by ear. 

I tend to save the intro tracks for when I have an exam or some test to get me mentally prepped for the challenge ahead. I would end up doing the same for job interviews, and for tests when I attended OIART. Whenever I face adversity, I will fire up the blades.

Amon Amarth – With Oden on Our Side

High school. I was just getting into metal at the time, after being shown DragonForce, Sonata Arctica, Kamelot, Nightwish, etc. I was stuck on the notion that “screaming is not singing” and was strongly against it. That is, until a span of maybe 2-3 months where I was introduced to In Flames, Arch Enemy, and Amon Amarth. The song “Cry of the Blackbirds” was my greeting from this massive album. A friend of mine gave me a burned CD with some select bands on it. No matter how much I would continue to say I was against gutterals… I would come back to this song. It became common for me to have Amon Amarth at the ready for when I’d go for walks in the hall to make me feel stronger and more confident. It’s a big reason why I have the album art tattooed on me now (thanks to Jessica Smith Tattoos). 

Blind Guardian – A Twist in the Myth

First job. I had my first taste of disposable income. Whenever I could get the bus or hitch a ride with my parents, I would go to the HMV in the Georgian Mall in Barrie, Ontario and buy random CDs purely based on name recognition or if they had a cool album cover. Absolutely no prior research.

Blind Guardian’s A Twist in the Myth was one of these treasures I brought home. I wore out the CD I played it that much. 

The melodies, the soaring vocals of Hansi, the intensity… I was hooked in a way I hadn’t been with a full album before. Masterpiece of an album, and an underrepresented album in Blind Guardian discography discussions. BUY IT!

Sonata Arctica – Ecliptica

Let’s rewind the tape here a little bit. Before Amon Amarth and liking gutterals, I was predominantly a power metal kid. While looking up other bands that sounded like DragonForce, I found Sonata Arctica. 

Ecliptica is the debut album from Sonata Arctica, and to this day one of their strongest releases with most of the band’s greatest hits. Jani Liimatainen quickly became one of my favorite guitarists, and I binged every one of his Young Guitar videos. I was ecstatic when my parents got me my first electric guitar for Christmas, partly because it looked like Jani’s. Now, Jani played an expensive Ibanez at the time, but my Costco-bought Yamaha guitar had the exact same red burst that his did. The first metal song I tried to learn was “8th Commandment”… which I still can’t play, but at least I have a cool guitar! Hahah!

Devin Townsend – Ziltoid the Omniscient

Teenager after a heartbreak. What else is there to do but sulk and listen to metal music? At this point I had been exposed to a lot of metal and was downloading music like mad. I’d hear a single song, and then torrent their discography. I didn’t wanna miss anything lol!

I had my bloated collection on random one day, and a song called “Terminal” from the album Ki by Devin Townsend Project came on. I was mindlessly listening up until then… and I was grabbed. I had thought to myself “wow…I need more of this”. Little did I know, this was the tip of the Devin Townsend iceberg and in no way could I have expected to go from the album Ki to something like Ziltoid. 

Yeeeeesss. Indeeeeed, Ziltoid the Omniscient is a concept album that explores war, hatred, revenge, genocide, depression, and the worlds best coffee beans. Once I learned that all the music was written by Hevy Devy himself, it added to my intrigue. I’ve been a huge fan of all his works since then, but Ki into Ziltoid was the sonic whiplash that my soul needed at the time to help me grow up and move on. 

“They hide their finest bean…PREPARE THE ATTACK!”

Arch Enemy – Doomsday Machine

Surprise, surprise! We’re back in high school again. This time in Mr. Ness’ music class, and we were all assigned to bring in one song for us all to hear an analyze. He stressed that it could be anything, and that he wanted us to share our real music. 

I don’t remember what I brought in, it was some DragonForce song I think. This other kid, however, broght “My Apocalypse” by Arch Enemy. 

We’re still at the “no screaming” phase for me, so I was turned off immediately. Silently and internally bitching to myself about how bad it was sounding… until the bridge. The ambient chirps and clean guitars, with a super melodic lead. I remember the goosebumps. Fuck, I’m listening to the albums while I write and it still does it to me. I raised my hand right after it ended, and asked the kid who that was again… I was on board now lol. I left that class thinking “wow…this music can be melodic too?”. 

Since then, Arch Enemy might have changed, but this album left its mark on me. The first time I preformed metal in front of an audience was a cover of “Nemesis” with my old band Animus Volatilis at a school assembly…. 13-14 years ago. Holy fuck.

In Flames – The Jester Race / Black-Ash Inheritance

Alrighty, so we’re in that 2-3 month metal transition time… thing. I’m on the verge of liking heavier vocals in my music. Arch Enemy and Amon Amarth are starting to sway my my opinions. In Flames swung me the rest of the way. 

Songs like “The Quiet Place”, “Cloud Connected”, and “My Sweet Shadow” were what initially started it all… but then I did some digging. I found out about the monolithic melodic powerhouse that In Flames really was, with Whoracle and The Jester Race. It’s almost ethereal how these Swedes juxtapose beauty with brutality. The songwriting, the riffs, the lyrics, all accumulate into one happy metalhead. 

As a diehard fan, it was difficult to narrow down one single album, but The Jester Race altogether encapsulates the band in my eyes. It’s the album I spent the most time with trying to learn guitar.

In Flames We Trust.

Dark Tranquility – Fiction

These next 3 albums are invaluable for my music identity, but there’s no bombastic high school sob stories or significant tales of random finds. On my quest to find more melodic death metal, I heard some friends talk about “The Three Gothenburg Kings” of Swedish Metal. I had already started my fandom with In Flames… why not the other two? 

Fiction was where I began with Dark Tranquility. It was a similar flavor to what I had heard before, but with a difference in orchestration and instrumentation. We have clean vocals mixed in, we have more emphasis on synths and keys, and we have a more earthy scream from Mikael Staane. Hooked. Instantly hooked. NEXT!

At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul

Continuing onto the thrid king… whoa. I was not prepared for this immaculate pillar of the melodic death metal legacy. Everything that needs to be said about this album has been in past interviews, reviews, documentaries, etc. 

There is no way I could not include At the Gates’ magnum opus. NEXT!

Insomnium – Above the Weeping World

I grew up associating melodic death with Sweden, and power/folk with Finland… that was until I stumbled upon Insomnium. MDM like I hadn’t heard it before. More “modern” in the guitar tones and production. Beginning this album with rain and piano sets the mood for what Insomnium means, and its a unique sonic footprint that has inspired me and my songwriting. Instead of the cold, harsh, and crisp nature of early 90’s MDM, this was warm, full bodied, and still brutal.

Welp, that’s my list… and potentially too much info. I hope you enjoyed my hike down memory lane, and I appreciate being aloud to add my two cents to this album article run 🙂 

Here are my honorable mentions, as promised!

Twelve Foot Ninja – Silent Machine
Kamelot – The Black Halo
Angra – Shadow Hunter
Noumena – Anatomy of Life
Kalmah – Seventh Swamphony
Soen – Lotus
Unleash the Archers – Abyss
Omnium Gatherum – Grey Havens
Equilibrium – Sagas
DragonForce – Sonic Firestorm

~ Written by John N. Roach
~ Edited by Akhenaten

Hefe NFLD: Deadgaard / Orchid’s Curse – Graveyard of the Gulf

Deadgaard / Orchid’s Curse – Graveyard of the Gulf
June 7th, 2018
Melodic Death Metal / Progressive Death Metal
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland / Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

Throughout human history, we have existed and persisted through extraordinary strife
and conditions that should have been the end of our story, time and time again. We have continued on despite all of this, and the arts have survived along with us. COVID-19 is another chapter in this continuing story, keeping a lot of us metalheads from gathering, moshing, and enjoying a big part of what makes our community so tight knit. While being isolated at home is for the overall safety of everyone, a positive that can be taken away from it is that it allows us to have the time to catch up on and absorb the absurd amount of music at our disposal. Especially, from all of the local talent that Atlantic Canada has to offer your quarantined ear holes. Two melodic death metal masters, Deadgaard and Orchid’s Curse, released a split EP in 2018, which is what I will be pairing and reviewing in this… review. Sit back, and get your online liquor store shopping carts prepped for the beers that will go along with Graveyard of the Gulf.

We start out of the gate with “Endless Hate”, and we get smacked with triplet grooves and
melodic moves that you would expect from a band plucked right out of the heart of Swedish metal scene in the late 1990’s. The opener is progressive and has a definite flow, moving from hammering melodic passages to slow, heavy, chugging moments filled with stops. It reminds me of how Megadeth’s “Holy Wars” has an album’s worth of riffs in the one song. The combination of the massive vibrato of the whaling guitars along with the annunciation and grit of the growls, invoke thoughts of Dethklok’s (Brendon Small specifically) approach to song writing. As the EP progresses, there are also moments of 90’s In Flames in the song “Nightfall”. The latter half of that song in particular has a modern At the Gates feel. Again, the b’ys are wearing their influences on their sleeves (and we have the same sleeves). This is brought to life of the heels of the expert drumming. The use of flighting bass frills that poke through the mix at just
the right times also adds to their raw power. Deadgaard’s final track of the EP is “The Call”, which has the most bounce and groove of all the tracks so far. Poly-rhythms aligned with surgical precision, showing how tight this group truly is. “The Call” also again demonstrates the progressiveness of the band, moving flawlessly in and out of grooves, stops, and solos.

And then the Soilwork half of the… I mean, the Orchid’s Curse half of the EP begins.
While these b’ys are still within the melodic death metal tree, they are flexing different muscles than Newfoundland’s Deadgaard, but still deeply rooted in the Swedish branches of the sub-genre, while also merging a handful of others. Track six for example, “Thoughts & Prayers” manages to meld elements of hardcore punk, black metal, groove, and thrash. Extremely diverse for such a short banger of a tune. The Gojira-like belts in the songs chorus with tremolo picking and blast beats is a massive punch to the guts, without overstaying it’s welcome. Compared to the first half of the EP, Orchid’s Curse have a more rounded and tamed sound. Don’t get me wrong, it’s metal as fuck, but that raw factor isn’t there as much as it is from Deadgaard. The drums are snappier and brighter, the guitars are cleaner… actually everything on this half of the EP is brighter. Brightness suits the style though, where isn’t not as much about straight double kick, but about the dynamics of the progressive changes happening throughout. They flow, but the flow is faster and the mix facilitates that perfectly. For example; “Black Mirror” takes it’s pedal off the gas, and then finds another heavier pedal to slam down on. The use of the dynamics, stops, and melody interwoven again prove to me that Orchid’s Curse are deserving of being one of Canada’s elite metal bands this side of Quebec. The final track of Graveyard of the Gulf, brings everything to a close bringing back an In Flames “Pinball Map” groove that has a wicked and dissonant bridge near the end of the song that snarls my face up every time I hear it. Orchid’s Curse are Canada’s black metal / thrash Soilwork, and I’m very okay with that.

Swedish metal has been a major influence on a lot of bands over the years, and strands
of those melodic tendencies can be found in both of the epic bands on display here. There’s two bands with similar influences, but two sides of the same coin. You have your raw, unadulterated, HM-2 pedal on max powerhouse of Deadgaard combined with the polished, progressive, soil workers in Orchid’s Curse. Both bands flexing their love for the blue and gold, but with their own takes on the genre. Due to this, I do not believe a single beer can do. We have to represent the whole coin here, which is why the two beers I have paired for this EP are Erdinger’s Weissbier and Dunkel beers from Germany. Dunkel for Deadgaard, representing that raw melodic malty darkness that each song provides from them. Weissbier for Orchid’s Curse, the sweetness of the coriander showcasing smoothness and fullness/ brightness of the mix.

We know that both of these bands are deadly, and worth all the attention they can get.
Especially live. One of my dreams once all of this pandemic shit is done with, is that I get the opportunity to see both of these bands again (and with Erdinger beers ready to go). Graveyard of the Gulf is available for digital purchase on Bandcamp, and I encourage anyone who is a fan of any of the bands I’ve referenced in this review to go and buy it. It showcases two bands, filled to the gills with talent and a common love of all things thrashy and melodic.

~ John N. Roach

Album Review: Qyn – Archetype

I’ve been patiently waiting…

Qyn – Archetype
February 7th, 2020
Progressive Metal
Independently Released
Grand Falls-Windsor / St. John’s, Newfoundland

Is there any reasonable way to describe the debut album from St. John’s progressive metal duo than it being the Newfoundland and Labrador metal scene’s very own version of Chinese Democracy? Or perhaps that’s an outdated joke. Certainly Fear Inoculum, the long awaited fifth studio record from Tool, would be a more apropos comparison. Yet what do both these referenced records have in common? Unfortunately, it’s a ‘botched’ launch, the result of years worth of fans salivating over new music from their beloved favourite band, only to have the final product be rather underwhelming as it is nigh impossible to live up to such massive levels of hype. Qyn fits this template because Archetype is an album that was announced 11 years ago in the bygone age of 2009. The question we must ask ourselves is ‘was it worth the wait?’ Let’s dig in to find out.

From the beginning we can tell that these guys aren’t playing around when it comes to the riffs. Newfoundland riffer extraordinaire Chris Feener forms the backbone of this duo, offering tons of proggy, melodic and groovy guitar work all over this record. His guitar work especially calls to mind the work of fellow modern metallers Trivium and other groups in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal while adding a Threat Signal or Sylosis flair to the compositions. This no doubt comes across because of Feener’s previous stint in Threat Signal from 2010 to 2012. Songs like “Twigtd” (standing for “The World is Going to Die”) present significant melodic focus with lots of pretty chords forming the basis of the chorus in a similar way to melodic death metal giants like In Flames or Dark Tranquility. Other tracks like “Lucifight” are a lot more groovy in their delivery, calling to mind bands in the djent and progressive metalcore scene like Periphery and Fellsilent.

When it comes to songwriting it’s clear that Feener has everything on lockdown. There are few moments on this record where it feels like the tracks are comprised of “riff salad”, something that progressive metal is often accused of due to its penchant for crafting overblown, lengthy songs that meander and bore the listener, but there are few moments on this record where that seems to be an issue. However, that being said, the few moments where this does happen stand out like a sore thumb. A prime example would be the sweep-pick filled ending of the instrumental piece “N313 / Floydian Slip” which in my opinion far overstays its welcome. While I’m not against conceptual instrumental pieces such as this one, I felt it could have easily been a minute shorter.

The other half of this duo is vocalist and lyricist John Charles Ennis, who I can only compare to other greats in this genre of modern progressive metal like Spencer Sotelo of Periphery or Rody Walker of Protest the Hero. While Ennis doesn’t have as high of a range as these two aforementioned gentlemen, he still has some serious pipes going on. While for most of the album he sits comfortably in his mid-range, he’s not afraid to belt out a gut-wrenching scream like near the end of “Twigtd”.

The production of this record is as tight as it gets for albums released in this style of modern metal, calling to mind other groups like The HAARP Machine or Lamb of God. However, my one criticism of the production on this record is the use of fake drums. While many bands in this style of metal resort to programming their drums simply because it’s genuinely easier than finding someone with the talent to perform this style, let alone the space and money to actually own a drum set, I still think it’s not the best choice. Granted, I think these are some of the best programmed drums I’ve heard in a while, and “Lucifight” does actually include real drums courtesy of death metal alumni Alex Rudinger, but I always lament when a band has to go this route instead of trying to find somebody who can actually perform these parts.

There are other aspects of the production that I sincerely enjoy, from small touches like the “woah-oh-oh”‘s on “Lucifight” and the Morse code ambient piece at the end of “Hoi Polloi”, to the broader scope of things, like how chunky the guitars sound. The guitars and bass shine through, holding together the structure of these songs while Ennis’ vocals soar through them. Everything sits at a comfortable level and it never feels like one instrument is fighting for control over the other.

It’s safe to say that if you’re a fan of any of the other, bigger bands I mentioned above, like Trivium or Protest the Hero, this is an album that will definitely be up your alley. The combination of progressive structures with tight musicianship and groove, superb vocals and catchy melodies will be sure to tickle the fancy of any djentlemen in the audience.

In terms of what I mentioned at the beginning, whether or not this record was worth the 11 year wait, that’s a hard question to answer. For one, when you wait so long for a piece of media to be released it will undoubtedly accrue a level of hype that exponentially increases with each year between announcement and release. That’s why so many albums that are, in a sense, objectively good, have still fallen flat. The aforementioned Chinese Democracy and Fear Inoculum are prime examples of this phenomenon, as is the theoretical “new” album from the long-defunct Necrophagist. Yet I still feel that Archetype is absolutely worth listening to. Perhaps much of that can be ascribed to the fact that I wasn’t personally aware of Qyn’s existence until midway through 2019 when posts about their album nearing completion were circulating on Facebook. Maybe having that sort of ‘outsider’ perspective has allowed me to view this album more objectively that long time fans of Guns ‘N’ Roses or Tool viewed those bands’ respective long-awaited releases. But then again, perhaps not. Maybe it’s just a damned good album.

Final Verdict: 8/10
Great

Favourite Tracks:
“Lucifight”
“Hoi Polloi”
“The Insignificant”
“The Offering”

~ Akhenaten