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.
Well another year has come and gone and what can I say except that I am thoroughly impressed, flabbergasted and bamboozled at the amount of quality heavy music that was released in 2019 that came from our humble little island. The scene is expanding, and while that makes our job a tad more difficult in some respects, I couldn’t be happier. Making this list of the best records to come out of the province in 2019 was a lot more difficult than I was expecting, but all that means is that our home is exploding with talent, and hopefully the rest of the country will start waking up and taking notice.
But enough preamble, let’s get into this!
10. Birnsi – Disappear
Emerging as one of a small selection of heavier albums released in Record Production Month 2019, Disappear is the debut album from solo multi-instrumentalist Birnsi. The progressive metalcore sound of this release is unique in the St. John’s area, where the only bands doing this style either suffer from lower production quality, are either not very proggy at all, or went completely defunct years ago. In fact the only other band I can think of that is doing something like this is Aeria.
Birnsi’s sound is easily comparable to fellow internet multi-instrumentalist Canapplejack or to even to post metal bands like Toundra. The atmosphere is laid on thick on here, with emotive chords and minimalist melodies striking through the rest of the instrumentation. Pianos and synth-strings clash with technical acoustic guitar strumming and mathcore-style distortion, along with the occasional djenty passage. On top of that the drumming on this thing is on fucking point. If you like bands like TesseracT, Cloudkicker or other ‘ambidjent’ artists this thing is definitely going to be up your alley.
09. Bad Milk – Spitt
Bad Milk first erupted onto the St. John’s scene with their 2016 self-titled EP which I absolutely adored, but I felt was a bit too short to satisfy my craving for grungy, grimy sludge metal and stoner rock. Thankfully my prayers were answered as Matt Wall, Alex Pierson and Ashton Whitt came through with a full length offering of down-n-dirty riffing. With eleven songs of straight up balls-to-the-wall energy these guys did not pull any punches.
Compared to the likes of other local bands like Sinews, Puce and Geinus, Bad Milk fit right in with their brand of ooze-drenched grit. The drums punch you in the face. The bass crushes you. The guitars scream in your ear drums, and the vocals flay your skin from the bone. If you like bands like the Melvins or early, pre-Nevermind Nirvana, this is an album for you.
08. The Skeats – Bulletproof… by Midnight
Glovertowners-turned-Fogtowners James and Daniel Keats had a bit of a rough go a few years ago when they lost their bassist and vocalist Nicholas Saunders. But upon replacing him with new bassist and riff-writer extraordinaire Joshua Organ the group got right back into the thick of things and started work on their sophomore record, Bulletproof… by Midnight. With a few dots added to the title to give themselves a bit of a Megadeth-esque flair you can tell this album is going to be a bit more aggressive than their previous effort.
Leaving some of their punk rock roots behind the band ventures into a sound more influenced by hard rock and heavy metal to a point where it could be considered an amalgam of 90’s punk with modern radio rock. The riffs on this album are huge, the eldest of the Keats brothers sounds even more confident with his vocal performances, and the songwriting by and large is just damned good. Check this out if you like bands like Green Day, Billy Talent and Avenged Sevenfold.
07. Chain of Lynx – MMXIX
While Chain of Lynx initially started as a project between two friends who wanted to write and record singles to be released whenever they felt like it, focusing more on individual tracks than full albums, the group eventually succumbed to the full length desire and produced an entire ten track record for Record Production Month 2019, and the end result is fantastic.
With a sound combining elements from stoner rock with straight up hard rock to grunge and other elements from adjacent genres, MMXIX is a no-holds barred steamroller from beginning to end. The riffs on here are massive, the vocal melodies are catchy as hell, and the production is tight but not too tight. It’s got the perfect level of grime that a sun-baked desert rock-esque album need. If you love Queens of the Stone Age and other bands of that ilk, give this a listen.
06. Endrot – Planned Obsolescence
Endrot, one of multiple projects by multi-instrumentalist Mike Taylor, first came about during Record Production Month of 2018 with his debut album Killer Chainsaw Robot from Beyond! While that album was awesome in its own right, it’s the album that followed that that really captured my attention.
Planned Obsolescence is an ode to the grindcore-meets-melodic death metal of Carcass, played through an HM-2 heavy metal distortion pedal, that’s over as soon as it starts. Taylor pulls no punches on this thing, delivering stone cold solid riff after stone cold solid riff, bashing you in the face with it’s heaviness, speed and aggressiveness in about 15 minutes. There isn’t a single song on here that hits the two minute mark. It’s just twelve short tracks of pulverizing grind that ended up becoming one of my favourite local records of the year.
05. Yes, Officer – Lessons from a Snake Oil Salesman
Yes, Officer really took the St. John’s scene by storm in the last few months of 2019. On top of releasing his second album, Lessons from a Snake Oil Salesman, as part of Record Production Month 2019, solo musician Jeremy Harnum enlisted a backing band of fellow rockers to bring his vision to the stage and did a small run of (really awesome) t-shirts.
But none of those things should eclipse the fact that Lessons from a Snake Oil Salesman is a killer record, combining elements of post hardcore with grunge and alternative rock and even a little sludgey metalcore in there for good measure, it’s an eclectic mixture of sounds that help make the project stand out in the local scene. It’s hard to really find a band to compare Yes, Officer to, but if you dig any of those above mentioned genres then this album is definitely for you.
04. Dark Era – Dark Era II
What can I say about my (personal) favourite band in the local scene, other than that they surprised the hell out of me when they came out of nowhere with a full length sophomore album, with absolutely no warning, no promotion, and only two months after the release of their previous 9-minute long single “Nightscapes”. I haven’t even had a chance to review Dark Era II yet, but after multiple listens I can tell you that this record is worth your time.
The blackened crust punk of Dark Era is just as good on here as it was on their debut record from way back in 2016. The atmospheric guitars are back alongside the heavy, punishing drums and Mel’s unmistakable, pissed off punk yelling. Dark Era II surprised me not only in it’s sudden release, but also by being just as good if not better than the music the band has released in the past. Definitely check this out if you’re into bands like Amebix, Young and in the Way or Gallhammer.
03. The Tangerine Machine – Forward From Here
Gander-born shredding maestro Evan Foote has had a rough go in the last few years. Following the loss of his father a couple of years ago he found himself kicking it into high gear to write and record a full length album, with many of the lyrics dealing with that family tragedy and the aftermath of trying to push forward and move on, hence the album’s title Forward From Here. Joined by a group of highly capable musicians, The Tangerine Machine was born, and they did not disappoint.
This record blew me away not only with how good the songwriting is, and how well produced it is for a local record, but it also blew me away when it comes to the style. Having known Evan personally for years I expected something much more shreddy, much more djenty and much more melodic in the vein of Scar Symmetry. But instead what I got was something that I could best describe as “progressive grunge”. Evan’s crooning voice singing over these groovy-as-hell riffs was a total surprise, but a welcome one. If you want to know what the offspring of Rush and Alice in Chains would sound like, check this out!
02. Allagash – Cryptic Visions
It’s no secret that I am a massive fan of Allagash. Aside from Dark Era they are easily one of my favourite local bands. This is due in no small part to the superb riff-writing and songwriting skills of band mastermind Trevor Leonard. I still remember the first time I heard the band’s debut album and getting tingles in my spine when the introductory riff to “Fourth Kind” kicked in. As such I was beyond stoked to hear the band’s follow up to that record, 2019’s Cryptic Visions.
While I don’t think Cryptic Visions reaches those exact same heights of catchiness and memorability as the band’s self-titled debut, it is still without a doubt one of the best local records to come out in 2019. Leonard’s savage guitar playing on here is still rooted in that old school 80’s speed metal style, couple with a bit of thrash here and there and an ever so tiny smattering of black metal. Vocalist Regan Ryan’s signature thrashy yell is in full force on here while Jon Singleton absolutely kills it on the drums. When it comes to the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal, Allagash deserve to be in its highest echelons.
02. Jim Jones and the Kool-Aid Jammers – Instant Cult Classic
I wasn’t always a fan of punk rock. I’ll get that out of the way right now. I’ve been turned onto it more and more in the last few years, thanks in no small part to a punk rock girlfriend, but also thanks to the debut record from the best-named local band, Jim Jones and the Kool-Aid Jammers. The band’s self-titled album was an earworm-infested, acid-infused joyride of banger after banger, and as such I was excited to hear what the group would do next.
Thankfully, Instant Cult Classic is as good as it’s title would suggest. I honestly didn’t expect it but the band surpassed the heights they achieved on their debut. Eschewed some of the surf punk influences in favour of a bit more of the hardcore side of things, Jim Jones produced a second record full of heavy hitters. The obvious band for comparison would be the Dead Kennedys, but imagine the Dead Kennedy’s with modern production quality and this record is what you get. Highly recommended.
01. Sons of an Eastern Moon – L’Anse Aux Metals
Perhaps the most exciting new band from Newfoundland is St. John’s folk metal outfit Sons of an Eastern Moon. Given the ancient Viking history of Newfoundland and the small but growing neopagan and witch community in St. John’s it’s honestly surprising that more bands haven’t emerged adopting the style of European bands like Amon Amarth or Eluveitie, yet here we are. Sons of an Eastern Moon went all in on this record and it comes across as a genuine love letter to both the folk metal genre and Viking history in general.
The guitar duo of Cory Fagan and John Roach do an expert job of crafting brilliant, memorable riffs that are still stuck in my head months and months after the initial listen. While many listeners have contentions with the vocal style of band frontman Kris “Thor Odinson” Ross, his high pitched, crazed-berserker screams remind me of defunct Vancouver power thrashers 3 Inches of Blood and I think it fits perfectly, may the naysayers be damned. If you like any of those above mentioned bands then I think you’ll dig this record. I know I did. That’s why it’s at the top of this list.
Wastecase – An Act of Defiance October 28th, 2019 Post Hardcore / Metalcore Independently Released St. John’s, Newfoundland
Welcome readers! Today we’re taking a look at St John’s own Wastecase’s debut release An Act of Defiance. An Act of Defiance was released October 28th, 2019 and can be found on all major streaming services and I encourage you to put it on while you read this.
Wastecase started a few years back by Paul Brake and friends Steve Cranford (drums), and Matt Dines (bass). While there’s a couple of the songs from this line up made it onto Wastecase’s debut release, An Act of Defiance (2019) this “formation of Wastecase didn’t really work out” says Paul Brake – the brains, hands, voice, and dare I say soul, of Wastecase as it is now. After the original version of Wastecase disbanded he took the project into his DIY basement studio where he recorded and played every guitar solo, drum fill, scream, and atmospheric synth part on An Act of Defiance.
The project now has a live line up including Barry O’Keefe (guitar) and Adam Hearn (drums) from Release the Hounds, Chris Carter (guitar) from A Legend Fails, Evan Hennessy (bass) from Man the Animal and Rivals, with Paul Break fronting the band.
Wastecase isn’t a band that fits neatly into one genre. That’s one of the reasons why I like them and why I think that whoever is reading this is going to like them too. With that said I’m going to throw out a couple guiding genres that I feel apply to the band’s first release, An Act of Defiance. In no particular order and in varying degrees throughout: acid punk, horror punk, post-hardcore, and hard rock . An Act of Defiance sounds desperate, creatively aggressive, and it is exploding with cathartic release. The entire album is high-energy, shit-kicking goodness that would make the meekest of us hungry for a fight, figuratively speaking of course. It straightens your spine and makes you walk with serious intention. Paul and the band should consider leasing out mosh-pits along with every copy of the album because it would really compliment the listening experience.
An Act of Defiance is 8 songs at about 25 minutes of highly melodic, relentless, channeled, chaos. From the start you can expect pummeling percussion with plenty of blast beats that tastefully give way to more rhythmically diverse patterns and then back again, constantly and seamlessly. The drumming on An Act of Defiance couldn’t be more suiting or more vital to its sound.
There’s a lot happening with the guitars on this album. You get some harmonics, and some dissonant noise focused tricks, as well as wah-saturated lead lines. The rhythm guitar parts fill out the backbone of the sound and carry a punk vibe with a tendency towards riff-rock songwriting choices. The guitar work also knowingly dances around dissonant chords / arpeggios as in “Precious Blood”. When I mentioned post-hardcore earlier this review, that is what I was talking about.
Let’s talk bass for a second. Good bass playing can often go unnoticed, and there are a lot of reasons for that, but one of the main reasons great bass playing goes unnoticed is because that’s how it’s written. Bassically (heh) bass often functions as the bedrock of a sound and allows other instruments to harmonically play off of the ground that it paves. As such it can be intentionally less flashy to allow space for everything else. It’s not going to grab your attention but the bass playing in An Act of Defiance is a big reason it sounds as full as it does – it performs exactly as it should rhythmically and helps to build and ease off momentum as needed. I don’t want to damn it with faint praise here, but I see the bass as a songwriting and grounding tool with the occasional embellishment to help it stand on its own.
The vocals on An Act of Defiance are aggressive throughout. The feeling of desperation I mentioned when describing their sound is definitely coming from the vocals. There is a near constant sense of exertion bordering the point of exhaustion, as the parts vary in grit from hair-raising screams to yell-talking. Lyrically, and I am extrapolating from my own interpretation here, Wastecase keep things aesthetically consistent with their sound – colourfully vulgar. There are recurring themes of: taking control of one’s direction and influence, violently awakening to personal, social and existential/moral reality, reflection on one’s behavior, and the part we play in contributing to our own emotional, existential and moral self harm as well as the frustration and struggle associated with the curing or killing of these things. Lyrically the songs have a strong flavour of pushing forward and striving despite friction, and also the necessity to take control of one’s own direction and influence despite seeming too far gone. You can expect lots of creepy and unnerving imagery, tension and angst abound as displayed with song titles like “A Mouthful of Hornets” and “Precious Blood”.
Now that the obligatory tangential analysis is done, let’s move on to the tracks.
01. “A Mouthful of Hornets”
The album kicks off with “A Mouthful of Hornets”. Lyrically the song is about violently awakening to self destructive behavior, like biting into a mouthful of hornets. You shouldn’t do that. As you could imagine there’s a lot of screaming. “A Mouthful of Hornets” is percussively relentless. There are spots that let you catch a breath but they don’t last long. Seriously, this song will make you feel claustrophobic and there’s a lot happening in little space, but in a good way – think house party mosh pit (yes, that’s a great band name, go ahead and use it).
The chorus of the song balances out the a/A style of the intro/verse and gives you some space to breathe. The structure is relatively straightforward but the pieces fit like a glove and the “false ending” before going back to verse/outro riff is solid. The mix has a lot of character, I’d also like to note the clipping on some of the vocals – it adds a nice bit of distortion to the vocals and adds to the dark feel of the song. If you’ve ever heard of word painting, that’s basically what’s happening here. I mean, if you took a bite into a mouthful of hornets your singing voice would probably come out sounding a little off as well.
I’m gonna list off the rest of the highlights a la Joe Bob Briggs:
You’ve got blast beats.
You’ve got two voices screaming over each other.
You’ve got a lead sound at around 1:13 that sounds like an elephant.
You’ve got complimentary yet competing rhythms and harmonies,.
You’ve got discordant but harmonically sound guitar parts.
You’ve got – “A Mouthful of Hornets”.
02. “Bruise on Your Brow”
Ah, order from the noise. Where “A Mouthful of Hornets” will chew you up, and spit you out before you know what’s happening, “Bruise on Your Brow” is more like a signal in the noise. The song starts off with vocals and guitar and builds nicely before kicking out the jams. The song is a bit more linear with a punk rock verse into a chorus with an almost hard rock / anthem rock vibe to it. Lead guitar parts with wah definitely add to a hard rock vibe. Lyrically the song is about rolling with the punches, and she’s definitely a bruiser.
03. “Precious Blood”
The opening riff of “Precious Blood” is my favourite riff on the album, which is a good thing, because it’s the anchor of this song. Almost every part of the song revolves around it and it doesn’t get boring once! If anything, I want more! It’s slinky and funky but still has that trade mark discordant cap on the riff. Supporting the lead guitar are the rhythm guitar and bass as they take shots and leave lots of negative space. This creates a call and response that gives the tune a bit of a stagger. This part is also what connects the verse and chorus parts. “Precious Blood” is definitely a highlight on An Act of Defiance.
04. “Master Destroyer”
Back into the pit with “Master Destroyer”. This track has this steamroller of a sound that can and will trash anything in its path. The tune throw’s its weight around until about a minute into the song where you get a feeling of suspension. The pick scrapes at around 1:04 are a brilliant idea as they seem to represent the sound of a wire that’s been strained to its breaking point, and in doing so they create the image of supporting something really heavy that’s about to come crashing down, and be sure friends, it does. The more I listen to this song the more I picture some kind of giant creature like the Blob or Godzilla or something just laying waste to cities. After the suspension cuts the song moves into a brief build that gives way to a very satisfying guitar fill with a whammy pedal at 1:32. It’s a solid tune, short and sweet but it will flatten you.
05. “Bad Trip City”
“Bad Trip City” starts off sounding punk rock as hell with a descending guitar part that gets picked up by four on the floor and a building snare roll and kicks it into full tilt. Meanwhile there’s a screeching whammy lead guitar part reminiscent of a synth from an old school horror flick – again a great stylistic choice that compliments the lyrics and subject matter of the tune. The verses are pretty old school punk rock, but then the tune gets flipped on its head with an ascending pattern that changes direction of the tune towards the chorus. The chorus stands out like a sore thumb as it cleanly stops the momentum and introduces a more dissonant part as Brake sings “Bad trip city, am I still with me?” and then the band just comes in banging. Around 1:32 the song goes into a breakdown with more squealing whammy and a slow trudge through the verse parts through to the outro. The tail end of “Bad Trip City” gives off a strong doom / horror punk feel.
06. “Genuine Article”
The intro to “Genuine Article” features the trippiest garden chimes I’ve ever heard. In addition to the avant-garde atmospheric sounds there’s a contrasting sporadic guitar part just doing a few quick bends here and there. The song slowly builds itself off of this segment. All in all its a quirkier, spacier tune than most of what we’ve heard so far. The song kicks in at 1:25. The song bounces between a more spacious verse and a riff-rock / hard rock chorus. The keys that kick in at 1:50 aren’t particularly complex but it adds a dark texture to the song and, like Big Lebowski’s rug, they really tie the tune together. This song definitely stands in contrast to most of the album and that is in no way a bad thing. It shows versatility and really adds to the body of work. Lyrically the song seems to be about being authentic and the pitfalls and fall out of not being true to yourself.
07. “What’s It Gonna Be?”
“What’s It Gonna Be?” comes out swinging with a nu metal meets riff-rock verse. One of the cool things about this song is that it follows a 12 bar blues progression. The intro / verse part plays then repeats itself when it moves up a 4th, then moves to the 5th for the turnaround. The song not only fits a 1 – 4 – 5 but the 12 bar format as well. The structure only digresses from the 12 bar format in the intro and for a break down at 1:42.
Let’s talk dynamics for a second. The turnaround of “What’s It Gonna Be?” is less busy and less aggressive than the body of the progression but the gritty wah that sits on top helps to fill it out. There’s one of the best screams on the album at 3:19. Lyrically the song challenges you to take charge of your future and to start acting as soon as “your brain allows”. Its both a song that is motivating and encouraging as well as a song that warns you that not choosing is very much a choice.
08. “Stripped, Shaved, Beaten and Burned”
The final track of An Act of Defiance is “Stripped, Shaved, Beaten and Burned”. The lyrics of the song, much like Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping”, are about getting knocked down and getting up again and never being kept down. It’s about the inevitable erosion attached to every action and choice and life in general, and it’s about persisting despite this and fighting through it. “Stripped, Shaved, Beaten and Burned” kicks off with vocals and a guitar part that sounds kind of like thrash metal. The parts are joined by drums as they build into the verse. The song takes from punk and hard rock heavily. To paint with broad strokes – I would say that the parts themselves are more hard rock (see chorus) where as the punk rock elements shine through in the songwriting / structure. For example at 1:22 there’s a verse progression where guitars drop out (except for the delay manipulation) and it couldn’t be more punk rock. Lyrically and vocally this song stands out from the crowd but that’s not to say it isn’t a banger. In fact the break down after the second chorus (2:13 – 3:07) is as epic and hectic a part as anything from the first half of the album, and it doesn’t lose a gram of speed as lead guitar shreds, in a Jack White-esque tone, all over the build, through the righteous and dramatic outro and brings the album to a close.
Final Thoughts
Wastecase’s An Act of Defiance is chaotic but melodic, aggressive and tense but still very musical. Listeners can expect:
Strong songwriting that covers a variety of styles.
Shredding lead guitar with plenty of wham and wah.
Punishing drum parts.
Aggressive and gritty vocals.
A tendency towards riff rock and punk rock with sprinklings of horror punk / acid punk / post-hardcore, some psych, doom, and technically even blues if you want to get semantic about it.
In An Act of Defiance there is no shortage of densely stacked instrumental parts, but they are organized in an old school punk / pop punk kind way that helps give the songs clarity. Despite the dark subject matter there is a theme of perseverance and finding forward momentum in spite of, if not from, the adversity that we face as individuals. The album is well mixed, it is lo-fi but in a way that is aesthetically consistent with the material presented there-in. The songs reflect the idea of necessity as the mother of invention, or growth in this case, and could be argued as a case study on how not to be a Wastecase.
Final Verdict: 7.7/10 Great
Favourite Tracks: “A Mouthful of Hornets”
“Master Destroyer”
“Precious Blood”
Suggested Pairings:
Listen to this album:
With your parents.
When taking your kids to their first day of kindergarten.
At your retail job.
While playing super smash bros.
While moshing.
While actually fighting a man.
John Roach’s beer pairing for this album is:
Fat Tug IPA from Driftwood Brewery
“Definitely something aggressive, with classic rock and roll influences. [A beer] that packs a punch. I would pair with this is Driftwood’s Fat Tug from Vancouver. It’s a hops uppercut [focused], with a subtle sweetness that lingers in the aftertaste. The punch is what kept pulling me back to it for sure!” Seems about right.
There’s been a severe lack of anything other than the above photo in the local news over the past few days. The blizzard to end all blizzards appeared on the east coast of Newfoundland on January 16th before moving inland and battering the island and the city of St. John’s on the 17th and 18th, plunging the city into a state of emergency. While the storm has since subsided and moved on the people of the city are now heavily focused on the clean up efforts. Many people from the local scene posted their experiences online to show just how bad the situation was and still is.
Photo by: Ian White (Radio Witchwood, ex-Anal Christ)
Photo by: John Roach (Sons of an Eastern Moon)
Photo by: Robert Butler (Brainer, Wild in the Streets)
Photo by: Chris Feener (Qyn, Hostile Takeover)
Photo by: Jon Swift (Waste of Corpses)
Photo by: Jon Swift (Waste of Corpses)
Photo by: Jon Swift (Waste of Corpses)
Photo by: Jon Swift (Waste of Corpses)
Photo by: Jon Swift (Waste of Corpses)
Photo by: Jon Swift (Waste of Corpses)
Photo by: Jon Swift (Waste of Corpses)
Photo by: Jonathan Mercer (Bridges)
Photo by: Jonathan Mercer (Bridges)
Businesses and venues in downtown St. John’s also found themselves eye-deep in snow, bringing the local economy to a complete standstill for several days, save for all the storm chips and beer that were sold in the days prior.
CBTG’s – Photo by: Danielle Trouble
Green Sleeves Pub & Eatery – Photo by: Jon Swift
The Rockhouse – Photo by: Wendy Rose
Fred’s Records – Photo by: Wendy Rose
Hooligan’s Custom Tattoos – Photo by: Wendy Rose
Pennywell Orange Store – Photo by: Jon Swift (Waste of Corpses)
Bud Light Mainstage – Photo by: Jon Swift (Waste of Corpses)
Fogtown Barber – Photo by: Fogtown Barber Official Instagram
Many people also posted short videos online to catch the storm in action as it wreaked havoc throughout the city as well as the cleanup efforts in the following days.
While the weather has subsided we hope that everyone who had to endure this monumental record-breaking storm did so safely. We also wish everyone the best of luck with the clean-up efforts that will be taking place over the next several days until the state of emergency is lifted.
Sons of an Eastern Moon – L’Anse Aux Metals April 27th, 2019 St. John’s, Newfoundland Folk Metal
What can I say about Sons of an Eastern Moon that hasn’t already been said at this point? The band almost took over the metal scene in St. John’s in one fell swoop over the course of the last year, consistently playing shows in packed venues, drawing thick crowds for good reason. They are without a doubt one of the freshest groups on the go in the scene right now, and the release of their debut album, L’Anse Aux Metals, proves that they have exactly what it takes to continue their raids across the island and hopefully beyond.
The first thing that will stick out to new listeners of the band is the vocals. Frontman Kris “Thor Odinson” Ross lets loose with a raspy falsetto no doubt inspired by the shrieking cries of Cam Pipes from the now defunct 3 Inches of Blood. Ross has remarked before how it took him quite a bit of trial and error to nail down exactly what he wanted his vocal style to be, going back and forth between clean singing and the typical death metal growls before finally settling on the current style, and I think that was a fantastic choice. Its not often you get this style of riffage and musicianship accompanied by clean vocals, less so clean vocals in this high octave range. That being said, while Ross’ vocals aren’t polished by any means, I believe that lends to this style of music. The dirtiness and occasional off-key moments accentuate the barbarian-esque theme of the band, adding to their overall style and image . Its very punk rock.
Instrumental-wise we’re given a real treat for the ears. The riffs on this thing are what the meat of the album is based on. Dual guitar duo Cory Fagan and John Roach may be fledglings in this genre, following in the footsteps of many great Viking metal bands before them such as Amon Amarth or the almighty Tyr, but they can shred and write with the best of them. There isn’t a single moment on this record where the riffing feels phoned in or used as filler. Every riff here matters. Take for example, the earworm that is the bridge section of “Serpent’s Rise”, a jaunty jig-inducing melody that will instantly get stuck in your head before the song goes back into the main riff once again to close out the track. The melodies here are deliberate and focused, doing a stellar job of drawing the listener in to a fantastical world of ancient Nordic history and myth. Even the acoustic interlude “Full Sails and Calm Seas” pulls no punches with evoking imagery of pirates and brigands of all sorts sailing the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean.
Of course its not all folksiness from front to back. On occasion the songs on here delve into much darker territory, the most prime example being “Scorched Steeples”, which is not only the heaviest hitter on L’Anse Aux Metals, but also borrows heavily from the brutal side of melodic death metal a la At the Gates and even has a minute but noticeable black metal influence. The band has stated that groups Immortal and I have had an impact on their sound, and in fact covered a song by I at one of their performances, so it makes sense to see that influence wade through in their recorded material.
The rhythm section on L’Anse Aux Metals pulls no punches either. Bassist Robert Peyton keeps the groove held down in simple-but-effective thudding basslines behind the guitar riffs, adding a thick layer of low heaviness underneath the soaring highs of Fagan and Roach. Meanwhile drummer Benoit Roy maintains himself as a rhythmic powerhouse who can be flashy when he needs to be but isn’t a show-off either. Slower tracks like “Under the Eastern Moon” have simple beats behind them which works for the overall context of the songs. He knows when it sounds best to use the hi-hat and ride during verses, to use the crash during choruses and uses the china exactly when you want him to. Not to mention the double bass drumming here is on point, coming in at just the right moments, tying the tightness of the band together in a nice, neat, little bow.
Lyrically the album covers the standard fare you’d expect from any folk metal band; Vikings, paganism, northern European history and culture, Norse mythology, etc, and it makes sense. As most of us know already, Newfoundland and Labrador has a proud bit of Viking history behind it, with the ancient Viking settlement of L’Anse Aux Meadows, from which the album gets its name, located at the extreme northern tip of the Great Northern Peninsula. As the location of the first European contact with the Americas I’m honestly surprised a Newfoundland band hasn’t come by sooner to tap into this topic and this genre. It seems to me that our province would be teeming with metalheads willing to write about the Vikings but aside from a few songs here and there by some select bands, Sons of an Eastern Moon are the first band to hang their entire sound upon this theme.
When all is said and done, Sons of an Eastern Moon have really accomplished something special here. They’re one of the few bands from our province whose music has actually given me shivers, that feeling of elation you get when you listen to a song that’s so good and touches you in that special way that few other songs can. In just a single album they’ve managed to, at least in my eyes, catapult themselves into the ring with the other modern metal contemporaries in this province. Alongside Emblem, Deadgaard and Allagash these Vikings are now a part of the metal revolution that’s happening on the island. If you haven’t heard L’Anse Aux Metals yet, what in the Hel are you waiting for?
Final Verdict: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Scorched Steeples”
“Under the Eastern Moon”
“The Battle of Utgard”
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