The Scrolls of Akhenaten: April 26th, 2024

April 26, 2024 / Akhenaten / Leave a comment

Despite being on the road in a completely different country I still will find the time to provide you with eight killer album recommendations because music is what makes the world go round. On that topic I’ve encountered a number of bands over the past week that definitely deserve a bigger audience.

Black

The first time I was exposed to Infant Island it was when they were added last minute to a huge mixed bill that featured the likes of Gatecreeper and Fearing. It was odd but given how mixed the bill was I guess it made sense to toss a screamo band on there. Admittedly I wasn’t all that into them for this live show but decided to check out their new record when it dropped earlier this year and was shocked to find out just how damn much I liked it. This album is fucking phenomenal, featuring tons of atmosphere, triumphant guitar work that screams out over relentless blast beats and passages of intense, cathartic screaming. Screamo and black metal may seem at polar ends of the musical spectrum but bands like Infant Island manage to bridge that gap almost flawlessly and this record is proof of that. Obsidian Wreath is a phenomenal release that deserves your attention.

Death

Eyecatcher is a four piece death metal outfit that my own band Ratpiss played with while on tour in Long Island City, New York. This Maryland quartet was amazing in the live setting and their brand of Obituary / Power Trip worshipping death metal was right up my alley. Checking them out on the recording side of things I am happy to report that their first self-titled release is just as good sounding as the live versions of these songs were. This is ripping death metal with thrash metal and grindcore influence that would not go unwelcome on a playlist next to bands like Frozen Soul and Sanguisugabogg. While this EP is “blink and you’ll miss it” short, it’s packed with more killer riffs and drum beats that you can shake a disembodied leg at. If the cover art doesn’t sell you on it already, let the song titles like “Blood Carnival” and “Wormtongue” entice into the grotesque nature that awaits.

Doom

I was first introduced to Horndal through my friend Tyler. Admittedly when I first checked it out I wasn’t sure about it but after numerous repeat listens it dawned on me: this album is fucking incredible. This thing combines elements of the bright, harmonized guitar work of groups like Thin Lizzy or Kvelertak along with the progressive riffing nature of bands like Mastodon as well as the raw sense of urban decay ushered in by bands like Tombs or Morne to create a sound I’ve never quite heard before. This thing is a beast of modern metal, and not in the same way that people describe Lamb of God. This is the pinnacle of modern metal music, utilizing every aspect of heavy music that I personally love in such a way that I’ve never been privy to. It’s experimental while also being catchy as fuck, all while the gruff caveman vocals detail stories about the history and legends of the band’s hometown for which they are named.

Prog

Orbs was a band of particular interest to me back in 2010 when they first emerged onto the scene of modern, nu-progressive artists that had readers of the blog Heavy Blog is Heavy fawning. Featuring such notable names as Dan Briggs from Between the Buried and Me, Adam Fisher of Fear Before the March of Flames, and Ashley Jurgemeyer of Abigail Williams, this was a supergroup of sorts that existed to blend elements of jazz, prog, and space rock with a post-hardcore affectation and approach to songwriting, and holy moly did they ever knock it out of the park. Almost 15 years after the fact I still come back to this album and can sing along to all the words like no time at all has passed. Relentlessly interesting and masterfully composed with hooks for days both on the vocal front as well as the instrumental front, it’s a shame Orbs hasn’t been more active in the intervening years.

Punk

Another band that Ratpiss has shared the stage with, multiple times now. Philadelphia’s Diuretic absolutely fucking rule. Not only are they super cool people, but their music fucking rips too. The band has released one EP and a demo as of their existence so far, with Martyrfucker being the most recent effort. Pissed off, aggressive, loud and nasty, this is grindcore as it should be. Along with the general angry vibe of the music it also sounds raw as fuck. It’s not really “pure” grindcore in a sense since most of the music on here doesn’t rely exclusively on blast beats, and there are a lot of groovier sections with two-step parts that lean them a little bit more towards the hardcore punk side of grindcore. That said Diuretic is still full of angst, piss, and vinegar, and this EP is a prime example of just what the Philadelphia grind scene has to offer.

Thrash

This Montreal thrash trio, which has since evolved into a quartet, have been slowly making a name for themselves over the past year in Quebec and the wider Eastern Canadian scene. Taking influence from both the realms of old school thrash metal legends like Slayer and Anthrax as well as newer crossover institutions, the band doesn’t really fall squarely into one category or another. There’s a hefty amount of hardcore punk influence going on here, especially on the EP’s opener “Chernobyl”, but the ripping thrash doesn’t take long to kick in. Guitarist Christophe Michaud has one goal in mind and that’s to rip your head from your neck by making you headbang like a fucking lunatic. He accomplishes that goal in spades on here, while making sure the punk influence keeps things fun and upbeat.

Trad

Vancouver’s Gatekeeper are the best kept secret in the world of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal originating from Canada. This band embraces every classic metal cliche, taking as much influence from bands like King Diamond and Mercyful Fate as they do bands like Blind Guardian. They straddle the line between old school heavy metal outfits like Dio as well as pure power metal that emerged from Europe in the 80’s and 90’s a la Helloween. Delightfully melodic and impossibly catchy, every song on this record is absolute fucking banger and deserves to be blasted at max volume. With lyrics inspired by the works of famous fantasy and horror authors like Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft, listening to this album makes me feel like Conan the goddamned barbarian, riding a mighty steed across the plains of uncharted wilderness, a great broadsword strapped across my back.

Non-Metal

Com Truise – *In Decay*
**July 16th, 2012**
**Synthwave**
**Ghostly International**
**Orlando, Florida, USA**
**Standout Song:** “Data Kiss”

Have you ever been on a long-ass drive that you started early in the day, like before noon, and you keep on screaming down the highway, still having not reached your final destination as the sun goes down behind the hills and it seems like night is going to last forever? You’ve had one too many energy drinks and you’re wearing sunglasses to minimize the glare of the searing lights of the construction zone you’re passing through? Well this album is the soundtrack to that vibe. This is a night driving album if there ever was one. Much like other synthwave artists like Perturbator, Carpenter Brut, or Filmmaker, Com Truise has made a career off of perfectly encapsulating the atmosphere of the liminal space that is a highway after dark. That said Com Truise’s music is a bit more chillwave-leaning than the retro and horror inspired vibes of those other artists, but the comparison is still apt.

~ Akhenaten

The Scrolls of Akhenaten: April 12th, 2024

April 13, 2024 / Akhenaten / Leave a comment

This one is coming to you a day late because life got in the way this past week and I didn’t get as much time to hammer out which albums I wanted to recommend to you all on Friday. I was also busy hosting a show at The Traxide in Montreal featuring some rather excellent bands from the Maritimes, namely the blackened death metal stylings of Paratomb and progressive metal wizardry of Omnivide, along with local thrashers Grimhold and death-sludge riffologists Obelisk. Now that I’ve got a few moments of free time to myself this Saturday (between recovery) I’m going to make up for it. Read on for some of your (somewhat) regularly scheduled riff recommendations!

Black

The first time I heard this record I was absolutely floored and to this day it continues to shock me. I’d like to thank Devon Milley for this recommendation as it was through him that I discovered this band. I’ve never heard a band so perfectly emulate the sound of Darkthrone’s early material. Everything on this record from the guitar tone to the drum approach to the production to the vocal approach is the closest I’ve ever heard a band mimic that style, and they do it wonderfully. The riffage is so pure and kvlt and trve and devoid of any bells and whistles. Even the vocals sound eerily similar to the range and tone of Nocturno Culto on those classic black metal albums as well as the post-Panzerfaust era of the band. All you have to do is listen to the first track here, “Three Desecrated Hosts”, and you’ll see what I mean. If you’re at all a fan of that style of Norwegian black metal, then Germany’s Pakkt is a must-listen, especially for Darkthrone die-hards like myself.

Death

I first discovered this band through a video made by the YouTuber known as The Punk Rock MBA. I think that guy sucks but I’d be lying if I said he hadn’t put me on to some cool music over the years. Human Remains is definitely one of those bands. The first time I put this record on I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. “A deathgrind diamond” as one Bandcamp reviewer named Brett put it, this thing is fucking weird. There are sounds on here that I didn’t even know a guitar could make before I listened to this thing. It’s exceptionally brutal, uncompromising, relentless, and unapologetically experimental. There’s plenty of moments where the music remains firmly rooted in brutalizing the listener with blast beats and atonal guitar riffs before launching into interludes that feel like they’re drawing upon bands like Mr. Bungle and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Of course Dillinger was probably influenced by this band considering that Human Remains predates them.

Doom

Wardehns – *Now Cometh the Foul*
**December 21st, 2018**
**Stoner Metal / Sludge Metal / Crust Punk**
**Independently Released**
**Wausau, Wisconsin, USA**
**Standout Song:** “Denim Dogs”

I was put onto this band through a friend of mine who just happened to be playing them out loud on a Bluetooth speaker while I was hanging with some pals at their house. I was pretty much immediately hooked by the quality of the riffage, the production value, and just how similar it felt to the kind of sludge metal that I am really drawn to: bands like Mastodon, Kylesa, and Black Tusk. The ones who are a little artsy but aren’t afraid to get deep, down, and dirty with their music. Wardehns certainly scratches that itch for me and I’ve had this record on repeat ever since that initial encounter. It’s monolithic in size, with every song imparting the image of a group of intrepid travelers and warriors climbing their way to the top of a frostbitten mountain, surviving blizzards and avalanches, and fighting horrible beasts all along the way. The album cover is indeed a perfect representation of what kind of music you’ll hear on this thing. It comes highly recommended.

Prog

I brought up Omnivide in the intro to this article not just to tell you about the show I was at last night, but also as a genuine recommendation for a band that kicks fucking ass that doesn’t live all that far from Newfoundland. This New Brunswick progressive metal outfit just released their debut album, A Tale of Fire, last month, and are currently embarking on a tour across Canada in support of it. Having seen them live a couple of times now as well as having listened to this thing all the way through time and time again I can attest to this band absolutely ruling. If you want your brain to be disassembled and then put back together wrong then this is the record for you. Their music certainly draws heavy influence from big-name prog bands like Between the Buried and Me, but there are also shades of groups like Cynic, Obscura, and Beyond Creation to be found within. If you like any of those bands you’ll almost certainly like this.

Punk

I was lucky enough to catch Flower at Varning Fest last year, an annual underground crust punk and metal festival that occurs in Montreal. They came up from New York City to play here and absolutely tore the place apart. I thought their live performance was already great but it was checking out their recordings after the fact on my own that really sold me on them. This right here is the kind of punk I like the most. It’s loud, aggressive, angry, and dirty as fuck. All the best crust punk is only a few steps removed from speed metal and black metal and Flower really embrace that vibe on this LP. The album opens with an atmospheric blackened guitar riff that reminds me extensively of Gallhammer and Darkthrone, before the unruly punk ripping starts at full force. It’s so gross and nasty, from the raw guitar tone to the punchy drums to the pissed off vocals. Flower are fantastic, and this LP absolutely slays.

Thrash

Mexico’s Phantom are pretty much everything I want from modern thrash. Their sound is supremely old school, drawing clearly upon the bands of the 80’s, with the Teutonic sound in particular being a primary influence. If you like Sodom, Kreator, or Destruction, or at least the way those bands used to sound back in the day, then Phantom may be for you. That’s not to discount the American influence in their sound either, because notes of Slayer and Metallica definitely crop up from time to time, but ultimately they keep things rooted in that more aggressive sound that veers on the edge of black metal without ever stepping forth into the blizzard. What makes this album even more impressive is that the dudes in this band are really young, most of them being around the ages of 18 to 20. For being as young as they are they’ve got a fantastic grasp of their instruments and their songwriting capability is excellent. I’m stoked to hear what they put out next.

Trad

I never thought I would unironically enjoy a NASCAR-themed metal band but then I am the Intimidator came out of nowhere and showed me the errors of my hubris. This is the new solo project of former Poison Idea guitarist Andrew Stromstad and the entire thing is lyrically and aesthetically based around the final day of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt’s life. If that wasn’t already enough to sell you on the concept, then I’m happy to report that the music contained within is just as fucking awesome. It’s old school speed metal that draws as much influence from Metallica, Motorhead, and King Diamond as it does from a blackened speed metal act like Venom and an epic doom metal band like Candlemass. While the record may be all over the map in terms of influence it is surprisingly consistent all the way through, featuring fabulous riff after fabulous riff and vocals that’ll put hair on your chest.

Non-Metal

Shpongle – *Tales of the Inexpressible*
**March 29th, 2001**
**Chillout / Psychedelic Trance**
**Twisted Records**
**Chobham, England, UK**
**Standout Song:** “Star-Shpongled Banner”

I discovered Shpongle years ago when I was still in high school. While sick and staying home from school one day I went down an enormously long musical rabbit hole on YouTube (this was back in the day before algorithms ruined everything) which eventually led me to a fan-made animated music video for the song “Star-Shpongled Banner”. I was so enamored by the combination of the music with the visuals I was experiencing made that song stick with me for years to come, and to this day I still revisit this record from time to time. While I don’t often find myself listening to electronic music, when I do I prefer the kind of stuff that’s outside the realm of the typical club fare. I don’t go to clubs often, mind you, but I have a hard time imagining that this is the kind of thing played anywhere outside of a hippie drug den. It’s not for everyone, but if you like weird electronica you should definitely check this one out.

~ Akhenaten

Metal Maniacs: Greg Ravengrave

July 29, 2022January 20, 2024 / Akhenaten / Leave a comment

This edition of Metal Maniacs features Greg Ravengrave, the multi-instrumentalist behind Mistwalker, drummer of Ratpiss, as well as numerous other projects, and the founder of Heavy NFLD.

Hey folks! After doing this project for a few months thanks to the inspiration of Winterhearth frontman and guitarist Andrew Marsh I figured it was finally time for me to sit down and write about my own series of inspirational and influential records that led me to become the musician I am today. For those of you who don’t know, my name is Greg, I’m the founder of Heavy NFLD and the guy who mainly writes for this blog. I write and record everything in the black metal project Mistwalker, play drums in the crust band Ratpiss, and have umpteen-thousand other side projects besides that which span a number of different genres. With that out of the way, let’s get into it!

The Sword – Age of Winters

When I was but a wee lad I was growing up in the town of Glovertown, which is about three hours outside of St. John’s, in the Gander area. I grew up in a pretty strict Christian conservative household where my family did everything in their power to shelter me from the outside world. In all honesty, it was pretty fucked. Thankfully we eventually got the internet. At this time in my life I was pretty heavy into gaming and I was obsessed with the PS2 video game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. One day I was browsing YouTube and found a trailer for the game’s sequel, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. The song used in that trailer? “Iron Swan” by The Sword. The heaviness, aggression and insanity of the instrumentation in that song was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. Coupled with visuals of vast swathes of Venezuelan jungle being burned to the ground and tanks and attack helicopters blowing shit up, it kicked my ass. From that moment I was hooked and needed more. Thankfully the rest of this record, including such classics as “Freya” and “Winter’s Wolves”, had plenty more megalithic riffage to offer my adolescent brain.

Slipknot – Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses

While The Sword was my gateway drug into metal, it wasn’t until Slipknot came across my ears that I delved fully into my nu metal cringelord phase. I first heard “Before I Forget” on Guitar Hero III as a teenager and, in all honesty, it didn’t quite click with me. However, when I eventually came across the song “Duality” on YouTube I was hooked. The rest of the album was like a drug, from the absurdly heavy and chaotic early tracks like “The Blister Exists” to the absolute banger that is “Pulse of the Maggots”, this album was exactly what my miserable, angst-filled teenage brain needed. Even the quieter, more solemn songs on this album, like “Circle”, “Vermilion”, and “Vermilion Part 2” hit me right in the feels. From this record I would eventually branch out into the rest of Slipknot’s discography and became a die-hard Maggot.

Judas Priest – Painkiller

Around the same time that Guitar Hero started to fall off as a franchise, Rock Band came in to absolutely dominate the rhythm game market, and me, along with many of my friends, became obsessed. Towards the end of high school we used to host Rock Band parties on a pretty regular basis, and I can even credit the game with being how I first learned how to play drums. When Rock Band 2 came out near the end of the 2000’s I ate up the amount of metal tracks that had been included on the game’s disc at release, including Judas Priest’s “Painkiller”. I was blown away by the sheer sonic assault of the drum into. I had never heard anything quite like it. I was obsessed and immediately went to listen to the rest of the record. I remember having the thought, “this is fucking metal, man”. For real, if an alien visited Earth and asked me to define heavy metal I would play this album. Every single song on this thing is an unabashed banger. This is one of the few records in existence I would say is an 11/10, and to this day it remains in fairly constant rotation on whatever device I’m using to listen to music.

Mastodon – Crack the Skye

Similarly to Judas Priest, I also discovered Mastodon through Rock Band 2 thanks to the inclusion of “Colony of Birchmen”. At the time, however, that song didn’t quite click with me. Luckily it was only about a year later when the band would drop one of the most critically lauded records of their career. Crack the Skye came to me at exactly the right moment in my life. It was dirty and dark but was incredibly complex. This album introduced me to progressive metal but also encouraged me to push my drumming skills to the next level. Brann Dailor is an absolute monster on this record and I spent many hours in the rec room of my parent’s house trying to nail this entire album behind the kit.

Between the Buried and Me – Colors

Yet another artist discovered through Rock Band 2, albeit this time through the game’s downloadable content. “Prequel to the Sequel” was my first exposure to progressive metal of this stripe. The guitar playing on that song is on another level and the sheer complexity of the track as it twists and morphs into so many different areas still boggles my mind to this day. When listening to the full record it’s clear that Colors is in a class all on its own when it comes to contemporary progressive metal. Aside from showing me just what was capable within the framework of the “metal” genre, this band also got me into harsh vocals. There was a long time where I didn’t like screaming, no matter if it was the ultra low gutturals of a band like Cannibal Corpse or the higher pitched snarl of metalcore bands, I wasn’t into it. I could only tolerate Slipknot because for some reason in my adolescent mind Corey Taylor’s yelling wasn’t the same as a straight up death metal scream (don’t ask how I justified that, because I wouldn’t remember). But once I got into Between the Buried and Me I really understood just why harsh vocals were so appealing to people, and from then on I was sold.

Devin Townsend Project – Addicted

This was my introduction to Devin Townsend, an artist who has arguably had the most effect on my life as a musician, at least from a work ethic perspective. Addicted, like many of the other records on this list, came to me at the perfect moment in my life. It melded heavy guitars with a 100% pop aesthetic, fusing heaviness with absurdly catchy bubblegum melodies, and it was like a sonic version of crack to my ears. I couldn’t get enough of it. It was this album that made me realize that no matter how complex or impressive the musicianship on any given record is, what really matters to me as a musician is if your songs are memorable, and so I started putting a lot of focus into trying to craft catchy hooks over anything else. Granted, I wasn’t actually recording my own music at this point (around 2009/2010-ish), but it greatly influenced the music I did end up working on in the coming decade. Aside from that, the sheer amount of music that Townsend put out around this time wound up having more of an effect on me than the music itself did. How he was able to put out so much material so quickly, most of which was pretty damn good, astounded me, and I aspired to try and live up to that as much as possible with my own works.

SikTh – Death of a Dead Day

The first time I heard “Bland Street Bloom” by these UK tech metal legends I was blown away. If Between the Buried and Me opened my mind to what was capable of being played on guitar, and Devin Townsend showed me that prog and metal can still be catchy and poppy without sacrificing heaviness, SikTh showed me that you can maintain both of those qualities while also being insane. No doubt a huge influence on the djent scene that emerged in the 2010’s, none of the bands that followed in SikTh’s footsteps could ever really hold a candle to these guys. Sure, I love Meshuggah as much as the next guy, and they undoubtedly started the style, but SikTh has a special flavour that nobody could ever really match. As much as I love groups like Periphery and Tesseract and Born of Osiris, SikTh is the gold standard for technical and progressive metal, and this album is the pinnacle of that. To this day I’m still mesmerized by the guitar and drum work on this thing and I can only hope to one day be able to even come close to what is performed on this record.

Stolen Babies – There Be Squabbles Ahead

I was never quite a goth kid when I was in high school but I always kind of wanted to be. There was definitely an appeal to the aesthetic presented by what is considered typical “goth” media like The Nightmare Before Christmas or My Chemical Romance, but given the oppressive nature of high school in small town Newfoundland I never really went full tilt, so to speak. Musically I wouldn’t even end up getting into actual, honest to Satan, goth rock until recently. Back in high school I found myself drawn more to avant garde metal, which, in my opinion, is usually just a fancy way of saying carnival musical with distorted guitars. Stolen Babies were my entryway to that world, and to this day I don’t think any band has quite managed to capture the feeling that their debut record, There Be Squabbles Ahead, has. I remember hearing one song from these guys on YouTube and being unable to find the rest of the record anywhere, save on a torrent site, so I let the album download over the course of a week and when I finally got to listen to it I was enthralled by what I heard. It’s fair to say that this record has influenced my own music to a degree, especially when it comes to some of the Halloween-themed releases I’ve dropped as Mistwalker (namely Of Pumpkins and Pinecones). And yes, before you ask, I did end up buying the album. I own a CD copy of it at my parents’ place in Glovertown.

Amon Amarth – Twilight of the Thunder God

This one probably doesn’t come as much surprise to anyone. The band’s most popular and critically acclaimed record, Twilight of the Thunder God is remembered fondly for a reason. This album is another 11/10 for me. Every track on here is so flawless both with their songwriting capability and memorability. Every song on this album is memorable and stands apart from the others on the record with their own individual flavour and uniqueness. This was probably the first death metal record I ever full enjoyed, this or At the Gates’ Slaughter of the Soul. However, it was this album’s (and band’s) Viking themes that drew me. It was around this time (2011-2013) that I became very interested in Norse mythology and Viking history, and this record was my gateway to that. The riffs and the vocals are so powerful that nary a melodeath record has risen to accomplish what this album has. It was this record that led to me incorporating occasional themes of paganism and Norse myth in my own music when I officially started recording under the name of Mistwalker in 2013.

Darkthrone – F.O.A.D.

It was when I was in college (from 2012-2014) that I met my Kristopher Crane (from the projects Nemophilist and Acorn to Great Oak and also from the bands Impaled Upon the Mountains and Grimacing, which we formed together) who introduced me to black metal. I was aware of black metal before college but it never quite clicked with me. Once I was a bit older and felt a bit more depressed in my adult life I think that’s when I fully got it. The album that really did it for me was F.O.A.D. by Darkthrone, which Kris had introduced me to. Songs like “Canadian Metal”, “The Church of Real Metal”, and “Raised on Rock” just hit me right in the gut. To this day Darkthrone is the band that has inspired me the most as a musician, particularly in terms of style. Their mixture of black metal with old school heavy metal and crust punk (particularly their 2000’s era) and even the doom metal they’re doing these days is exactly the kind of music I want to create.

Honourable Mentions:

At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul
Baroness – Red Album
The Black Dahlia Murder – Nocturnal
Darkthrone – Transilvanian Hunger
Diablo Swing Orchestra – The Butcher’s Ballroom
Equilibrium – Sagas
High on Fire – Death is this Communion
The Human Abstract – Digital Veil
Judas Priest – Screaming for Vengeance
Kylesa – Static Tensions
Mastodon – Leviathan
Periphery – Periphery
Slipknot – All Hope is Gone
Whitechapel – A New Era of Corruption

~ Akhenaten

Album Review: Slowpoke – Slowpoke

November 10, 2021November 7, 2021 / Akhenaten / 1 Comment

Slowpoke – Slowpoke
August 22nd, 2021
Stoner / Doom Metal
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland

Slowpoke is the long awaited debut record from the stoner and doom metal trio of the same name. Consisting of frontman and bassist Ben Chapman-Smith, guitarist Cameron Legge, and drummer Adam Young, Slowpoke have arisen in the east Canadian doom metal scene with a record that boasts beefy riffs, a few guest features, and lyrical subject matter that will likely hit close to home for many St. John’s metalheads. So let’s dive in and find out how this record stands up against the riff-laden sea of sludge full of bands who are more or less retreading old ground.

The record has a somewhat interesting beginning, opening up with a bass intro reminiscent of the Motorhead classic “Ace of Spades” on the cleverly titled “Stony Iommi”, before launching into a furiously fast series of thrashing drums combined with a punk approach to the guitars. The track blazes along way faster than you’d expect of a typical band underneath the stoner or doom umbrella, though I feel like I’m getting shades of groups like Mondo Generator and the Melvins on here. The band manages to bring a much faster approach to the stoner genre to the table on this track without sacrificing the atmosphere that the genre typically cultivates. The song does eventually transition into a much slower and atmospheric, almost meditative bridge that brings to mind groups like Kamchatka or Samsara Blues Experiment. This slow, plodding section begins quietly but gradually builds more in volume as the electric guitars begin to duel back and forth between the left and right channels as the acoustic guitars bring up the rear. Near the end the song dips into some Kyuss-esque territory that also conjures vibes of music from the Kyuss diaspora groups like Brant Bjork. At nine and a half minutes long this track certainly brings the thunder as an opener, setting up a strong vantage point from which to continue engaging the listener.

“Slumlord” tips your expectations right on their head, however, as it’s a much shorter, conventional barn burner of a rock and roll track. Reminding me of groups like fellow Canadians, Diner Drugs and Doors & Fours, in the way that the riffs are combined with fast, punky, Motorhead-esque drums. Lyrically the song is, rather obviously, about a shitty, unreasonable, disrespectful landlord, something that many of us can relate to, especially in these times of ever increasing housing insecurity. It’s a catchy little ditty that would be well served with a music video, however my main criticism lies in the vocals. It feels like Ben might not be putting as much emphasis on the cleans as perhaps he should. Maybe it has more to do with the mixing, but I just feel like there isn’t as much power in the cleans as there are in the much beefier and gruffer harsh vocals.

We then come to “Sid the Cat”, a track about a famous city cat affectionately named Sid that residents of downtown St. John’s are all too familiar with, especially since he would regularly chill indoors in bars like Distortion. Musically the song feels much more bluesy than any of the other tracks on this record, making good use of the classic blues scale used by musicians like Stevie Ray Vaughan. There’s a distinct Clutch-esque sound to this sound, though admittedly with a bit of a heavier slant on the guitars, a la a group like House of Broken Promises. I think the clean vocals are better presented in this track, but the harshes are provided by guest vocalist Al Yeti Bones of the band Gypsy Chief Goliath, and he definitely brings a feeling of grandiosity and intensity to the vocal styling present on this track.

“Miami Camo” is one of the slower songs on the record, delving headfirst into some stoner rock tropes with its meditative vibes. Things do change up during the chorus where the pace seems to slightly quicken, and there’s a faster section during the bridge, but overall the song keeps things mid-tempo. Vocally I think this might be Chapman-Smith’s best performance, regarding both clean and harsh vocals. There’s some real power behind the cleans and the growls on here that draw me in. Instrumentally, however, it doesn’t really do much for me. In terms of the riffs and the catchiness of this track I think it’s the least memorable cut on the record.

The following track, however, “Windtalker”, exhibits much more standard rock and roll style riffs, performed in a waltz, and they’re catchy as hell. This song feels like it could’ve easily been written by The Damned Things, from the instrumentation, to the vocal melodies, to the highly melodic, bluesy and harmonized guitar solo. If it wasn’t for the production value and the differences between Chapman-Smith and Keith Buckley’s vocals I would think this was a Damned Things demo. There are shades of other bands like Audrey Horne on here as well, and overall this is probably my favourite track on this record for that reason. I’ve always said I’m a sucker for a catchy hook and this song delivers on that in spades.

“Sanctuary” continues this similarly melodic and simplistic approach to songwriting, presenting some pretty damn catchy hooks throughout its seven and a half minute runtime. I’m reminded of groups like Priestess in the approach to heavy yet highly earwormy riffs, but the song doesn’t stick to one style. There are moments where the guitars chug along like Mastodon while the bass thuds against the inside of my skull like a depth charge. The track doesn’t hold back from including some Josh Homme-esque “woah woahs” during the bridge before going full 60’s psychedelia with the addition of an organ to the song’s already melancholic texture profile.

We then come to the namesake of both the record and the band itself with the nine minute closer song “Slowpoke”. This is by far the closest the band gets to ‘epic’ on this album. It’s slow and plodding in a similar fashion to some of the slower and moodier songs a group like Baroness might engage in. It’s dark and atmospheric and laden with organ passages that give it a spooky tinge unlike any of the other songs on this album. Around the halfway point the track sort of goes into this long winded breakdown that’s focused on the repetition of this one riff with slight variations, and helps reinforce the (there’s that word again) meditative vibe given off by both this song and several others on this record. We also get some guest vocals from Gordon McCready, formerly of the band Headloss and currently of Smyth Valley, though I feel like he was relatively underused, only showing up for one verse. I feel like if you’re gonna end your record with a nine minute cut and you have a guest vocalist in on it, why not utilize them a little bit more?

Overall I think Slowpoke’s debut is pretty strong for a first record. The band clearly has a lot of love for other bands and artists that span the gamut of the ‘riff filled land’, drawing influence from poppier rock acts like Queens of the Stone Age as much as they do the heavier side of things like High on Fire. There’s a diversity of sound going on here, from the hard rock assault of “Windtalker” to the bluesiness of “Sid the Cat”. You’d be hard pressed to find much in the way of sameness on this album. I think the band does a generally good job of writing catchy and memorable tracks, though there are a few tracks that are duds for me personally. I also think the production leaves the record feeling a bit too fuzzed out for my liking, as there are occasions where aspects of certain songs feel muddled and lost in the muck of the stonery fog. Perhaps that was done on purpose, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was, but I would have liked a little more clarity.

Final Verdict: 7/10
Good

Favourite Tracks:
“Stony Iommi”
“Windtalker”
“Sanctuary”

For Fans Of:
Kyuss
Clutch
Queens of the Stone Age
Priestess

~ Akhenaten

Album Review: Häg – Häg

July 22, 2020July 19, 2020 / Akhenaten / 1 Comment

If you could look me in the eyes now, would you though?

Häg – Häg
June 5th, 2020
Progressive Doom Metal
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland

Arising from the ashes of the band formerly known as Goon, Häg have picked up from their original demo released way back in 2017 under their old name and have pushed full steam ahead into their debut full length studio album, a self-titled effort to boot. With Häg we see a band with numerous influences coming together to create a sound that is both unique to the heavy music scene in the province as well as unique to themselves. There aren’t many bands out there that sound like Häg, and for that they’ve already done themselves a service in helping to get noticed outside of our own insular world here in Newfoundland.

With the album’s opener, “Summon the Earth to Lay Claim Back into the Soil”, a wordy title if their ever was one, we immediately get hints of both Black Sabbath and Candlemass with the riffage, provided by axe-wielding duo Adam Hefferman and Andrew Wicks, who waste no time launching into some sweet guitar sounds that get stuck in your head. But while the song may start off with the typical epic doom metal bent, it doesn’t take long for the group’s more experimental and unique leanings to creep in. The chorus is epic, massive and bombastic, featuring these rampaging double bass kicks from drummer Keith Harding and some truly soulful crooning from vocalist and frontwoman Clair Hipditch who sings the song’s name above swelling, atmospheric, black metal-esque chords. It’s near the end of the track when the band’s progressive elements make themselves known front and center with some pretty and engaging guitr noodling that reminds me of the prog bands of old such as Yes, King Crimson or Pink Floyd.

As the album’s opener closes we come to “Your Skin”, a track that was previously recorded on the group’s original demo. This track does well to showcase the group’s more atmospheric and melancholy side. The guitars and bass, provided by Josh Ward, are at the same time heavy and crushing in the instrumental sense but also in the emotional sense. This song feels so mournful in its tone, especially when Hefferman and Wicks harmonize their guitars. Hipditch reminds me much of fellow doom vocalist Julie Christmas in both her tone and enunciation on this track, though the comparison to Christmas could honestly be applied to the rest of the record.

“Funeral” is also a song from the original Goon demo that was rerecorded for this album and it continues the absolutely devastating melancholy tones from before, reminding me of groups in the larger death-doom world like Swallow the Sun or Paradise Lost with their intricate compositions and beautifully sad compositions. I absolutely adore Hipditch’s vocals on this song, especially when she sings “If you could look me in the eyes now, would you though?” at the very beginning, or the chorus when she sings “Underneath you, underwater, I’m drowning and you don’t seem to mind. You told me one day that you would bury me, I told you one day the undertow would drag us down”. The ending of this track sees the band get punishingly heavy with a post metal style breakdown featuring relentlessly chunky chugs and an endless war-drum beat on the toms.

We then come to “Slow Ghosts” which is the final song rerecorded from the Goon demo. On this track we see the band get much more stripped back and toned down, channeling those 70’s prog vibes with some quiet, fluttery guitars, lightly patted drums and ethereal echoing vocals, while the bass offers a tone in the background smoother than a seal’s pelt. When the heaviness does kick in a little bit more towards the end of the track it feels very much like a natural progression and continues to make the song feel like a strong and silent centerpiece to the record.

“Slow Ghosts” sees the end of the rerecorded tracks from the demo and we get back to the wholly original material with “At the End of the Ambush”. The best way I could describe this track is that it feels like a beefed up, heavier version of a bluesy jazz song that you’d hear in a smoky noir nightclub back in the 1940’s. This is by far the standout moment for Hipditch on the record, whose vocals scream out over the rest of the band, taking center stage. The guitars and bass play these really sultry, sexy riffs (or, at least as sexy and sultry as doom metal can really be) that evoke the nightclub I was talking about, while the drums stay very basic and stripped back while also being loud and bombastic.

“House Sparrow” was released as the album’s lead single prior to the record’s full release, and even now after having heard this song many, many times, I still notice little things about it in the mix that I never caught before. I love the intricate feelings on this song, from the low key techy moments during the verse with the complex drumming to the Mastodon and Sahg vibes that I get during the pre-chorus and the chorus with the tempo changes. It’s clear that having released this song as the lead single that this is the track the band is most proud of, and it shows. The multitude of textures on this track and the multiple segments that complicate the arrangements on here are evidence of a band that works extremely well together both as writers and as players.

“Ruins” may be the band’s most upbeat and basic ‘rock’ track on the whole album, with it’s fast-swing drum beat on the toms and the almost Clutch-esque guitar riffing going on. It’s kind of hard for me to describe this track but the weird vibes and two-step inspiring tempo easily make this the most danceable song on the whole album. For real, if I was to ever see Häg live and they didn’t play this song I would consider it a crime. While doom metal isn’t known much for moshing, this is the mosh track on the record and I fucking love it for that.

The album trudges to its bitter end with “The Grim Sleepers” which is perhaps the most traditional doom metal track on the record. Taking cues from Sabbath and Candlemass once again, the riffs on here are slow, heavy and punishing. There are some quieter moments throughout the song but by and large this is a straightforward doomy steamroller that plays the album out and serves as a culmination of what the rest of the album had going for it.

If you couldn’t tell by now I fucking love this record. The vocals are epic and powerful, the guitars and bass work together to create a mixture of heaviness with atmosphere baked in the tones of melancholy mourning, and the drums are both loud and in your face while also being able to hold back and be quieter when needed. This album is the result of a band that has clearly been playing together and writing together for some time and it shows. If this is what Häg come out of the gate swinging with then they’re destined to go places. Check this record out now. You won’t regret it.

Final Verdict: 10/10
Flawless

Favourite Tracks:
“Your Skin”
“Funeral”
“At the End of the Ambush”
“House Sparrow”
“Ruins”

For Fans Of:
Candlemass
Swallow the Sun
Julie Christmas
Pink Floyd

~ Akhenaten

Corey Merrigan Releases New Demo Track “Big Ounce”

April 15, 2020April 14, 2020 / Akhenaten / 1 Comment

Adventure Team Assemble and Reclamation guitarist Corey Merrigan has been working on demo material steadily over the last few years, including tracks that are more in the vein of just ‘fooling around’ as well as tracks meant for his various bands and serious projects.

The latest in this series of demo tracks is entitled “Big Ounce” and was uploaded to Merrigan’s Soundcloud on Tuesday, April 14th. The track exhibits a sound that could best be described as ‘blackened groove metal’ with some hefty Mastodon vibes going on throughout.

You can stream “Big Ounce” through our Soundcloud embed below.

~ Akhenaten

An Interview with Pearl

March 10, 2020March 8, 2020 / Akhenaten / 1 Comment

Left to right: Luke Roberts (guitar), Tomas Hiscock (drums, vocals), TJ Schwerdtfeger (bass).

Conception Bay South crossover thrashers Pearl have been around the block for a little while despite their relatively young age in comparison with a lot of other active bands in the area. The three piece has been active for several years and their sound could best be described as a mixture of thrash metal with Pantera-esque grooves and a tiny hint of death metal sprinkled over the top. They’ve been heavily active in the local scene within the past two years, playing a slew of all ages shows and there never seems to be a month that goes by without a Pearl show. As such, we had a chat with the guys behind the music to find out what exactly drives them to be so prolific.

First off, tell the people who we’re talking to!

Hi! We’re Tomas, Luke and TJ from Pearl, a crossover thrash metal band from a little island in the middle of the Atlantic!

How did you guys first get into heavy music? Do you have any bands you’d consider favourites?

“I got into this kind of music mainly by my dad showing me Mötley Crüe and Poison growing up with a little push down the rabbit hole by Tomas introducing me to Master of Puppets. My favourite bands are Havok, Metallica, Nekrogoblikon, Testament and Commoname.” – Luke

“Like Luke my dad was a huge influence on my music taste at a young age I remember digging through his CDs and seeing ZZ Top’s greatest hits with girls all over it and fuzzy guitars, I learned drums just so me and him could jam. Later on he showed me High on Fire and Mastodon and I ran with it developing my own taste. To this day he is my biggest musical inspiration along with Deftones.” – Tomas

“I started out in like grade seven listening to Rings of Saturn and System of a Down. Heavy music was never really a part of my life before that but it hit hard around then. I didn’t end up getting a favourite band that stuck until I found Tool, and I still listen to them now. My favourite bands are Deftones, KoRn, Depeche Mode, A Perfect Circle and Attack Attack.” – Tony

How did the formation of Pearl happen? How did you guys all meet?

“We all met through Tomas. TJ and Tomas were friends for years before through kick boxing. Since Tomas and I had gone to the same school, we just started hanging out and jamming songs like “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath and a poorly played version of “The World is Yours” by Arch Enemy. After going through certain bassists, we had asked TJ to come play bass with us one night, we all clicked, and the rest is history.” – Luke

How did you come up with the band’s name? Is there any significance to it?

“Pearl’s name was an obvious choice for us! Me and TJ did kickboxing together there, just down the street from where he lived. Both me and Luke worked in fast food there for a while plus I play a Pearl kit!” – Tomas

Does being based in CBS as opposed to St. John’s-proper present any unique challenges when it comes to being an active band and playing live as often as you do?

“Not really it is only a half hour drive at most and our parents are all really helpful with getting our gear to us if we had to work or set up early. The biggest challenge is being underage and not being able to stick around to support our friends.” – Tomas

Speaking directly to Tomas, your vocal style is completely unchained, best described as a gruff roar mixed with the occasional bloodcurdling scream. How long have you been a vocalist? Are there any particular vocalists or frontmen you look up to as inspirations or influences? What about drummers?

First off thank you kindly! I have only been doing vocals for a few years and only really started because of Pearl. I never really could scream or sing at the time but I could do it while playing so I ended up with that duty. I wanted something to fit and I tried singing clean along with what at best could be described as a screech but over time I found myself trying to augment my voice to sound burly and it never worked. I found myself listening to Expire when I realized I just have to let go and just go for it and that is when I truly found my voice. I haven’t changed since then minus some techniques to protect my cords from damage. Some voices that have influenced me over the years are Troy Sanders (Mastodon) and Chuck Schuldiner (Death). Drum wise Gene Hoglan has been a huge influence on the way I play, hear and see the drums. He made me see them less as a time keeping device and energy builder and more of a part of the composition.

Speaking directly to Luke, your guitar riffs are heavy and groovy, with flavours of groove metal, death metal and nu metal mixed in with the thrash base. How long have you been playing guitar? Who are your inspirations and influences as an axe-wielder?

I’ve been playing guitar for about three years now. I’m self-taught and I haven’t taken a lesson in my life. I mostly got inspired to pick up the guitar by the whole 80’s hair metal scene, but my main inspirations are Reece Scruggs of Havok, Gary Holt of Exodus and Alex Skolnick of Testament, and the obviously Dimebag Darrell of Pantera. My whole riff writing ideas are based on the things I hear around me, it could be a melody that I could just hear or for example, the melody in our song “Synthetic Minds” was basically written by my sister as she was humming the melody and thought it sounded nice.

Speaking directly to Tony, your bass tone on these recordings is thick and heavy, bringing that extra layer of oomph to the music you guys have recorded (and a good bass tone is certainly needed for this style of groovy thrash). How long have you been playing bass and who inspires and influences you on the low end?

I first picked up the bass in early 2018 and I was a huge Tool fan at the time so I played exclusively with a pick, but I made the switch to fingers out of just wanting to be as versatile as I could and that’s what I mainly stick with now. Playing-wise my main influence is Alex Webster from Cannibal Corpse with the gallops and flying around the neck, plus a bit of Fieldy from KoRn with the ghost notes.

Are there any bands you guys look to as a direct inspiration on your overall sound?

No actually! When writing music or dialing things in we all just listen until we all have a ‘that’s it’ moment. We try to stay away from sounding like anybody else although if we had to say some bands that may have influenced our sound it would have to be Machine Head and Sepultura.

So far you’ve released three songs, “Hallows Eve”, “Synthetic Minds” and “Daylight”. While “Synthetic Minds” has a pretty blatant political slant to it, what are the lyrical themes of the other two tracks?

“Synthetic Minds gets a bit of a wrap for being political and I understand why especially from the first verse but it wasn’t written with that in mind. More so with the ideas of being your own person and not just going with the flow, “Hallows Eve” continues on that idea but more so from the view of somebody stuck in the loop. The chorus lyrics pertain to the religious beliefs of heaven and hell basically saying that at the end of your life what you will have to say for yourself and would you be proud of your legacy. The close themes of these songs is why we released them together. Daylight comes straight from heartbreak and not knowing what to do with yourself. I’m glad I was able to take something terrible and turn it into one of our best songs” – Tomas

Do you see Pearl as a band with an overall lyrical theme, or would you rather have the creative freedom to write about whatever strikes your fancy?

“I’ve never sat down to write with ideas in mind everything I write is straight from my mind to the paper but I’ve noticed over time that the themes of the lyrics lend themselves to a concept album following somebody through their life which is where Through Life and Death, our upcoming album, comes into play”. – Tomas

You recorded “Daylight” with Ward Pike at Comfort Cove Sound Studio. What was it like to work with him?

“We recorded that as a part of a compilation CD that is yet to be released entitled Trouble at Treble. Working with Ward was truly a blessing. To this day the best thing we have done as a band. He is an amazing producer and recording engineer”. -Tomas

You guys have played live a lot, including a ton of all ages shows, throughout the last couple years. Is there any one show that sticks out as being an unforgettable experience?

“For me, it would have to be our recent Snow & Ice in Paradise show, where after our set, all of my friends came up to me asking for signatures, even ended up signing the chest of my friend Bramen of Last Cigar.” – Luke

“With all the shows we have played over the few years I would have to go with the first time we worked with Still Heavy at Treble. Everything ran smoothly which from a person who does a lot of the scheduling it was a pleasure right from the start working with Antony. Not only that the club was packed and we played awesome, we lost our minds and it was truly unforgettable.” – Tomas

What’s next on the horizon for Pearl?

“Planning on recording an album soon Through Life and Death. Other than that, we just plan on putting on an insane show and giving people a fun time they won’t forget.” – Tomas

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us here at Heavy NFLD! I hope Pearl continues to churn out awesome groovy thrash tunes for years to come.

“Thank you for everything and all the great things you do for our growing music scene here in NL.” – Tomas

~ Akhenaten

Album Review: The Tangerine Machine – Forward From Here

January 13, 2020January 10, 2020 / Akhenaten / 2 Comments

The Tangerine Machine – Forward From Here
September 13th, 2019
Progressive Hard Rock
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland

Tangerine Machine’s debut album Forward From Here shows a new band getting off to a strong start.A fresh hard rock quartet, Tangerine Machine is comprised of members Evan Foote and Steve Fudge on guitar/ vocals, Mike Fudge on bass, and Jeremy Waddleton on drums.Making their way onto the scene in November of 2018, Forward From Here was released in mid 2019.

Forward From Here is an album that anyone who likes hard rock can put on and enjoy, largely due to their familiar yet distinct sound. The band’s groove focused hard rock brings to mind groups like Clutch, The Sword, and especially post-reunion Alice in Chains. The emotionally driven lyrics about pushing forward and finding strength, paired with the heavy, rhythm focused riffs on tracks like“Back From The Edge”, and “The Machine, Pt.1”are very reminiscent of albums like Black Gives Way To Blue, and The Devil Puts Dinosaurs Here.

Tangerine Machine isn’t afraid to bring in some progressive elements as well to bring the album to life and keep it from growing stale. For example, the one and a half minute long instrumental “Freight Train” shows the band pushing their technical skills with rapid fire drums and riffs, and a wild guitar solo, with an accompanying eerie synth and choir, creating a huge and foreboding track that sounds like you’re facing down a speeding locomotive. It’s moments like these when shades of influence from groups like Mastodon, or fellow local group The Combine can be heard.

One thing I did notice is that the vocals on this album are always made to be the most prominent thing in the mix whenever present. This is something that I found worked for the most part but did draw attention away from the rest of the music and was overpowering at times. With a large amount of reverb on the vocals already they would have already stood out at a lower level, but at the level they are now the sound can be slightly off at times.

Another minor gripe I had with the production is that during some parts it’s difficult to hear the lead guitar. For example towards the end of “We See You”, a two part guitar solo starts, the first half in the lower range, then moving up the scale for a more high- pitched shredding style. I don’t know if it was intentional to draw more attention to the second section but the first half tends to blend in with the rhythm guitar, making it hard to appreciate when you can’t fully hear it.

This happens a few times during the albums, and while not a major problem, does stand out when everything else is done so well. In all the album’s highs easily outweigh the few production blemishes that really aren’t a big deal, especially considering it’s a self released album from a new band. If you’re in the mood for heavy-hitting hard rock that’s not afraid to show it’s proggy side, then Tangerine Machine are your dream machine.

Final Verdict: 7/10
Good

Favourite Tracks:
“Back from the Edge”
“The Machine, Pt. 1”
“Freight Train”

For Fans Of:
Clutch (modern era)
Alice in Chains
Mastodon

~ James Titford

An Interview with Evan Foote

September 27, 2019 / Akhenaten / Leave a comment

Tangerine Machine and Thursday at 10 at the Fat Cat

Evan Foote is the lead guitarist and lead vocalist of St. John’s progressive rock band The Tangerine Machine. Photo credit: David Hiscock, Action Snaps.

First off, tell the people out there who we’re talking to!

My name is Evan Foote – I’m the vocalist and lead guitarist for the band Tangerine Machine!

Where are you from originally? What led you to move to St. John’s?

Originally from the town of Gander, and moved out here in early 2012 for school – been staying here for work ever since. Been loving the small city life.

When you’re not shredding a seven string what do you do for a day job?

Hahaha mostly either 6 or 8 string these days, regrettably sold my Jeff Loomis 7 string a few years back and I’ve been trying to buy it back since! (Nathaniel if you read this, please sell it back to me <3)

My day job is as a commercial relationship manager for a bank – bit different than my usual weekend hobbies to say the least.

How did you first get into heavy music? Do you have any bands you can point to directly as being “favourites”?

I’ve been listening to heavier/progressive music as long as I can remember – found out a couple years ago that my parents made a Pink Floyd mixtape for when I was born. Was heavily exposed to classic and hard rock by my dad – can remember countless times driving along listening to Zeppelin, Yes, and Motley Crüe to name a few. Some thrashy stuff popped up sometimes as well – Metallica was a semi-frequent listen.

Based on that exposure from a young age, I think I was kind of looking to push that “different” envelope a bit further. I think I remember being in like grade 6 finding out Billy Talent existed, which blew my little mind – pretty much attribute the song “River Below” as my first exposure to heavy stuff. That music almost freaked me out at first, but between warming up to that and playing Guitar Hero 2 with Mike and Steve Fudge (bass/guitar and backup vocals for the TM), I started really getting into the harder stuff. Went through a classic edgy Avenged Sevenfold phase, then somehow skipped straight to a power metal diet of pure DragonForce, and then finally settled on obsessing with Dream Theater by 2009. Prog rock/metal has kind of been the backbone of my musical tastes for easily 10 years now, but I go through phases of pretty much every genre that isn’t country. Meshuggah is also always on heavy rotation.

I guess at this point, some heavier favourites in no real order:

Haken, Dream Theater, Bent Knee, Tesseract, Meshuggah, David Maxim Micic, Devin Townsend, Ghost, Leprous, Mastodon, Pink Floyd, Zepplin, Boston, Periphery, Nightwish, Protest the Hero, Scar Symmetry, Wintersun.

Being from Gander originally, what was it like growing up in a small town in Newfoundland while being both a fan of and a musician who plays heavy music that the majority of people don’t want to hear? What challenges did you face?

Wasn’t overly too bad – just not exactly opportunistic in terms of band formation or gigs. Biggest challenge was finding like-minded people for bands and learning and groups; there was a time when I was younger that mom drove me back and fourth to Grand Falls-Windsor a few times to take lessons from Chris Feener, and there were countless times that I drove back and fourth to band practice with you in Glovertown in the Scrap Metal and The Singularity days. The opportunities for rock and metal musicians in central are seemingly fairly limited these days from my out-of-the-central-scene view, which really is too bad. Music is a team sport – sometimes finding those progressive Swedish extreme metal teammates is more challenging.

You’re a very talented guitarist who plays a mixture of hard, chunky and melodic riffs in progressive time signatures. Who are your biggest inspirations as a guitar player?

I really appreciate the compliment! In the younger years, the inspiration was definitely anyone that played really hard and fast. Lots of Dream Theater and Protest the Hero to thank for some hard riffs/solos and 7 string purchases.

However, these days, I’d say Per Nilsson of Scar Symmetry, Rick Graham, Charlie Griffiths of Haken, Fredrik Thorendal of Meshuggah, and David Maxim Micic are the ones that inspire most of my playing/progression.

I pride myself on a very heavy pick hand for riffs which really made a few of the riffs come to life more on the album, which I directly attribute to playing Meshuggah tunes on an 8 string. Soloing wise, Per, Rick, and David are the biggest – and it’s a bit of a mash of all three that results in my playing/solos.

Your vocal style is reminiscent of some of the grunge era greats like Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains but there are noticeably some other influences in your singing as well, especially from the djent scene. Who are your biggest inspirations as a vocalist?

Also really appreciate that compliment! Some grungy influence for sure rolled in there; however, during the recording process we described my voice as the love child of James Labrie (Dream Theater) and James Hetfield (Metallica), but that child really just desperately wants to be Dan Thompkins of TesseracT – and I feel like that’s relatively accurate at this point. Got a real passion for cool huge sounding vocal harmonies that I fully attribute to Boston and TesseracT, no doubt. Couple other notable inspirations are Ross Jennings of Haken and Devin Townsend (but I’ll never be as cool as Heavy Devy).

The Tangerine Machine is a unique band name yet also sounds familiar to the German electronic band Tangerine Dream and conjures imagery of A Clockwork Orange. How did you come up with the band name?

The name is actually many years old – it was actually the name of a cover band that myself, Kevin Clarke (Thursday at 10), and Brad Cook dreamed up in 2012-2013. He had a gorgeous bright orange Mapex kit, and if I remember correctly, the name somehow or somewhat related to the kit. (Kev please comment and correct this part of the anime lore)

While you are the primary songwriter for Tangerine Machine, who else is in the band?

Primary songwriter, but all tunes ended up being a fully collaborative effort – we’ll get into that later.

Mike Fudge, bass player, backup vocals, and gear whore extraordinaire. (Seriously, I thought I was bad, he’s 10 times more off the deep end on gear than I am, and his rig sounds and plays absolutely god tier)

Steve Fudge, geets and backup vocals, also a bit of a gear whore and proud owner of a John 5-owned Lahney VH-100 Head (which absolutely slaps).

Jeremy Waddleton, the drumdaddy of our outrageous fiasco, and he’s a bit of a gear whore too.

What was the inspiration behind your debut album, Forward From Here? How did you come up with the title?

There was a lot of inspiration for this. When I approached the band members and pitched this, we were like 3-4 weeks deep and I was already talking it up and saying we need to do an album. I had put off doing something like a solo album with existing ideas for years, and I finally felt that we had found the right arrangement of band members and sound to really put something awesome together that combines all of our backgrounds and influences into one crazy 45-minute package.

After my dad passed away in 2017 I kind of re-evaluated a lot of things, and I wanted to put a push on getting an album released. The album is of course called Forward From Here, which is named after the final two tracks on the album – both of which are about losing dad.

You mentioned before that the album was entirely self-recorded and self-produced. Can you give us some insight as to what the writing and recording process was like?

I’m super happy this question came up, because I really nerded out over the whole process and I’m definitely going to include way too much detail for the nerds that’ll appreciate the super in depth nitty-gritty info.

Honestly the writing/recording process was actually such an amazing time. Writing-wise, we had purposefully bitten off way more than we could chew at once – we started by looking through my old project files of half-started or somewhat-finished tracks on Logic, and found over 200 projects to go through to hunt for ideas and riffs that I had between 2014 and late 2018. We pulled a bunch of them, and easily left behind another massive set of projects that’ll definitely be used on a future album. However, the focus was that we were looking for groovy, hard, and catchy sounding riffs and ideas that we felt we could put cool vocal lines over.

Writing collaboratively was what made our process work – while I can’t speak for the other guys processes, when I just write songs alone, I become a real obsessive perfectionist over recording and structure, so song writing/riff tweaking with Mike and Steve and Wadds was seriously such an awesome time that really kept the process fun and moving. We’d take the original idea and rehash it, and then tweak the riff until it fit what we were looking for. We’d then go back to my place on a separate night and track out the song as a real quick and raw sounding demo, just cutting and chunking riffs and parts until the clusterfuck sounded like a song – but this process created a real solid framework for the tunes, which made recording the album so much easier. We also did a lot of writing at my place with no ideas set in stone, which is how the song “Forward” came about – I think the riff started with something Steve had in mind, and then we laid it out and just kept coming up with more cool ideas and tweaks. I had been listening to too much TesseracT that week, so I thought ambient guitars/sections would be fun as hell to toss in. It ended up being what I consider to be the best/coolest/most proggy tune on the album.

I remember when I sent the first demo of “The Machine Part 2 (Lay Down)” to the group, it sounded like a disjointed nightmare. But Steve and Wadds suggested shifting a bunch of parts and making one part a chorus and developing other riffs, which we quickly turned into the song structure we ended up using. So many demos had stupid names that turned into songs – Steve’s original “Gnar” (“The Way”), Steve’s “Other Gnar” (“The Reign”), “The Stank” (“Not Lost Just Losing), etc., and that’s how we addressed them literally until we named them when the lyrics were done.

We had some changes prior to starting the recording – we mutually and amicably parted ways with the original singer Neel. So once that happened, we decided that I would take over lead vocals, which felt pretty organic – I was singing about half of the songs we were playing at the time.

When it came to the recording process for the album, we had a blast digging into it overall. We decided all the instruments would be done at Mike and Steve’s place, and we’d record solos and vocals at my place in a homemade vocal booth. It was honestly a super fun time to get the recording done – we had the demo project files that we basically retracked in full with our gear that we were constantly tweaking and upgrading. We did all the demos with my trusty old POD HD Pro, which we ended up using for all the lead tones as well as the ambient guitar parts on the album. Decided that it would be easier to get a different-yet-fully-tweakable tone with the POD.

We tracked all the rhythm guitars and bass parts in a single weekend – we locked ourselves in the Fudge’s house for 60 hours and did nothing but crank tube amps. I used my Mesa Boogie John Petrucci head and mesa cab, and Steve used a Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 18 through a gnarly Marshall 2×12 cab. Two very different amps that ended up sounding awesome when combined with Mike’s unreal setup, which was primarily driven by a Darkglass AX-7 pedal into a Mesa Carbine head – sounded absolutely ridiculously good. Filled out the mix perfectly. Mic’d up each cab with 4 microphones to give us full options and tweak-ability as we got through the mixing stage, but ended up using the tones from the tried and true SM57s, with blended on and off axis tones. We used a condenser mic as well as the DI out of the amps, but 98% of the time they sounded like absolute garbage.

That was in early march – between work, school, and other life factors, the album production took a bit of a back burner until May. Steve moved for a work term in Hali in early May, so luckily we already had his parts fully tracked. Once we got rolling again, Kev Clarke (Thursday at 10) helped me with some of the vocal line ideas and tracking in my shitty homemade booth. I found I really need someone else present while I’m tracking to stop me from obsessing over tiny details and tell me when parts sound bangin’ – Mike was manning the desk for some of the vocals and the final solos (the last of which was “Forward”, the biggest shred sesh on the album), which was a massive help. I just get too obsessive when I track alone, so I either had Kev, Mike, or my girlfriend Jenn sitting at the desk in my studio room to help get this done. It was all such a fantastic time.

In regards to the ambient pianos/interludes/stank organ/choirs, those were all programmed/played by me. It was honestly hilarious to track the organs – I didn’t use a midi keyboard, I used my laptop keyboard as the “organ keys” through a heavily tweaked VST, so I’d get really into the song/recording and be slamming huge chords on this tiny little laptop keyboard.

We finished up tracking everything in around late June I think – after that I just dug into the mixing process. I had tuned/treated my studio room and ripped down the vocal booth (which was two mattresses, several blankets, and two sets of twinkle lights), so I spent hours on each tune going way too in depth with it and getting the tones/mix I felt was great. I sent the first pre-mastered versions to the guys and walked away from it, and then got notes from everyone on the album/mix – Wadds has probably the best ear of us all, so we sat down and went through the tunes and tweaked a lot of stuff and finalized most of the mix. Biggest change was him basically saying “Why is there so much GODDAMN ORGAN”, so we ended up turning it down/changing parts in every song, which pulled the final result together amazingly.

I used a few reference mix tracks, but the final master reference track was “Daydreamers” by David Maxim Micic, which I think is an absolutely fantastic recording that basically had the same kind of instrumental setup we did, and hits everything I love in a great song/mix. Overall, I’m super happy and proud of the production and the final result we pulled together.

If any music/recording nerd wants to reach out to talk to me about it or wants to see the project workflow/process on Logic, seriously reach out and message me. I love nerding out about this stuff.

Now that Forward From Here is out on streaming services do you have any plans to release the album physically?

That’s the dream! Currently figuring out logistics in the near future for a small run leading up to our next show.

With the release of Forward From Here do you plan on doing an album release show? Do you want to ramp up your live performances in St. John’s?

We plan on doing one very soon! Our release show schedule got complicated by some changing work situations/turnarounds for us, but we’re planning on a major one mid-late October. In a perfect world, I’d love to be up to playing 1-2x a month and just getting out and jamming. We’ve only done a few shows, but each one was an incredible time.

What’s on the horizon for The Tangerine Machine?

More shows, more writing, and more gear. Can’t wait to get out and have some more fun playing the album!

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us here at Heavy NFLD!

~ Akhenaten

HeavyNFLD

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