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

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

February 2021 in Review

March 3, 2021 / Akhenaten / Leave a comment

Despite the fact that Newfoundlanders have been dealing with an outbreak of the UK variant of COVID-19 since the early days of February, this month has been particularly active in terms of new music being released. We’ve got some new singles including the much hyped “Scorn” by Ultimata and “Deadman Control” by Aeria, along with a brand new live album from Jim Jones and the Kool-Aid Jammers and the debut demo from hardcore band Hollow Grave. We also did a ton of interviews this month to coincide with the Music NL Awards, of which Qyn was the ultimate winner of the Loud Artist of the Year Award. Head down below to see what happened this past month in the Newfoundland and Labrador heavy music scene!

Biggest Stories
– New Jaded Truth Record Mastered by Jack Endino
– Qyn Wins Music NL Loud Artist of the Year Award

New Albums Released
– Roza Redd – Rosa Redd

New EPs Released
– Resurectum – Resurectum

New Singles Released
– Aeria – “Deadman Control”
– Amer Ali – “Chasing the Sunrise”
– Ultimata – “Scorn”

New Demos Released
– Hollow Grave – Hollow Grave

New Live Albums Released
– Jim Jones and the Kool-Aid Jammers – Live @ Bar None

New Lyric / Music Videos
– The Hellfire Club – “Pretty Possessions”

Albums Announced
– Dendrochronologist – Dendrochronologist
– Razgriz – Untitled Debut Material
– Tower of Skulls – Untitled Debut Material

New Merch
– Aeria Reveal New Merch
– Ultimata Reveal New Merch Based on Single “Scorn”
– Yes, Officer Releases New T-Shirt Design

Interviews
– An Interview with Andrew Marsh of Winterhearth
– An Interview with The Hellfire Club
– An Interview with Jeremy Harnum of Yes, Officer
– An Interview with Paul Brake of WasteCase
– An Interview with Qyn

Album Reviews
– The Birchmen – Hot L.A. Nights [Written by Ben Chapman-Smith]

We also recorded our 27th episode of the Heavy NFLD Official Podcast this month in which we laser focused on thrash metal. Check it out on our Bandcamp page!

Albums Archived
– Kyle Gryphon – Isolation [LP / Folk]

~ Akhenaten

Album Review: The Birchmen – Hot L.A. Nights

February 8, 2021February 7, 2021 / Akhenaten / 1 Comment

The Birchmen – Hot L.A. Nights
September 1st, 2020
Progressive Sludge / Death Metal
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland

The Birchmen are a heavy stoner rock band based in St John’s NL. If it’s your first time listening to them you can expect crushing riffs, aggressive vocals, progressive songwriting and more groove than you can shake a stick at. The Birchmen have been blowing minds and melting faces for the last decade, and, on September 1st 2020, they unleashed their latest work – Hot L.A. Nights.

Hot L.A. Nights comes in at 6 songs totaling just over 30 minutes and they don’t waste a second of it. It’s like someone left the engine running on the album, as soon as you hit play the first song “Voodoo Pork” lurches into high gear and I’m not going to lie, it’s startling. The more I listen the more I dig it though.

“Voodoo Pork” does a good job of pulling the listener in and introducing them to The Birchmen’s brand. The track is 5:40 of aggressive call and response patterns, melodic stoner rock guitar, tension, and a story about some bad bad pork. My favourite moment of the track is the drop at about 3:50. It really adds depth by contrasting the rest of the song.

Tunes like “Coital Time Slam”, “Slammin’ Salmon”, and “Space Pants” seem to be The Birchmen’s bread and butter. They all have stampeding drums, wicked guitar chemistry, majestic cadences, playful subject matter / lyrical tone, and song structures that evolve more than they repeat. Each of these songs has its moments and they’re all great songs but I wouldn’t consider them my favourite tracks on the album, though space pants gets an honorable mention for its name alone.

I once heard the bassist / vocalist of The Birchmen, Andrew Kearney, describe this song as being “about a mammoth that makes bad life choices”, since then “I am Mammoth” has been my favourite song by the Birchmen. I’ve only heard “I am Mammoth” played live before so I was pretty stoked to hear the recorded version of the song. There are some textures and tones on the recorded version that either weren’t as defined, or weren’t present live. I especially love the darker of the two guitar tones in the intro of the song, I find it’s sound reminiscent of the Deftones’ White Pony album. So that’s a win in my book. Speaking of wins, the transition into the B section of the song, at about 2:30, was also impressively fitting and unexpected.

The final song on Hot L.A. Nights is called “Winds of Kush”. The song’s intro is atmospheric and spaced out, it has a post-punk vibe to it that I really dig. I wish that it was revisited later in the song, or that just had more time to develop. Don’t get me wrong, this track is as solid as the others but if I were to put on a different hat for a second and think out loud about what I’d like to see from The Birchmen that they can do, but they’re not showing us – it’s that. They’ve shown us time and time again they can manufacture an eye in a storm, if you follow the metaphor, but these calm / clean / atmospheric parts are often short lived before returning to the intensity of the chaos on either side of them. I would love to see where they can push the cleaner / atmospheric / calmer end of their sound since they’re proven to be monsters on the attack.

Someone should make a movie called The Invasion of the Birchmen since the boys have already put together the perfect soundtrack for it. Seriously, theirs is the sound of impending doom. There is a consistent musical theme of movement and momentum in their songs. This coupled with an aggressive vocal approach, crushing riffs, tone-smithing, informed and clever songwriting choices, and absolutely relentless drums, lends to a real sense of urgency, desperation, and action.

Final Verdict: 8/10
Sick!

Favourite Tracks:
“Voodoo Pork”
“I am Mammoth”
“Space Pants”

~ Ben Chapman-Smith

Month in Review: September 2020

October 13, 2020January 20, 2024 / Akhenaten / Leave a comment

The frigid chill of autumn is in the air as we come into the spookiest month of the year and begin to carve the jacks to keep the spirits of the underworld at bay. But before the most metal holiday of the year commences lets take a look back at the month that preceded it, the month in which the last throes of summer die as the slow wasting away of the verdant greens sets in for the equinox.

September was a busy month. Our very own compilation album Burn the Leeches topped the Earshot Charts, the chart system used by Exclaim Magazine to deduce the popularity of music across Canadian radio stations. On top of that we saw Ratpiss announce that they have finally found a guitar player and the one and only Trash Juice reunited after a year of floundering in obscurity.

New music from The Hellfire Club, Monroe, Withered Crops, Artach, Rick Massie and Most Likely Forever graced our ears while Grole, the new side project of Spectral Wound’s Illusory, was also dropped, offering the town of Marystown some much need representation in our scene.

Veritable tons of merch were released this past month, including our very own Heavy NFLD shirts! Speaking of which, if you’d like one, send an e-mail to heavynfld@gmail.com with your shipping address and your preferred size and we’ll get one to you as soon as possible!

Biggest Stories
Burn the Leeches Tops the Exclaim Earshot Charts
CBC Interviews Heavy NFLD Founder Greg Ravengrave
Facebook Introduces New Rules that Target Musicians
Lawnya Vawnya 10 Reveals Lineup
Ratpiss Announce New Guitarist Sami El-Agha
Trash Juice Reunited
Winterhearth Receives Coverage in The Newfoundland Herald

Interviews
An Interview with Hag

Album Reviews
Rick Massie – Eclipse [by Akhenaten]

New Albums
The Hellfire Club – Volume II

New EPS
Monroe + Withered Crops – Split

New Singles
Artach – “Cryoseism”
Goddammit – “Police Force Trauma”
Hag – “Symptom of the Universe” [Black Sabbath Cover]
The Knifes – “Pop Country Single (Poisons)”
Most Likely Forever + Decay – “Natural Born Killers”
Rick Massie – “The Storm”

New Demos
Grole – Grole
Wild Step – Demo

Albums Announced
Criss Rogers – Untitled Solo LP
Mantra – Lucid
Mistwalker – It Came from the Past

Merch
Artach Reveal New Line of T-Shirts
Grind Mind Reveal Custom Skateboard Deck
Heavy NFLD Releases T-Shirts
The Outhouse Releases Misfits-Inspired T-Shirt
Ultimata Reveal New Tapestries

Horrific NFLD
Grind Mind Release New Horror Short Bound by Blood
Grind Mind to Resume Pre-Production of Mummering Legends

We also released the 22nd episode of our Official Podcast which we unfortunately had to cut short due to time constraints, but it’s still available for your listening pleasure. This episode focuses around some of the prog metal that has come out of Newfoundland in the last few years. You can listen to it through our Bandcamp embed below.

Albums Archived
Artach – Cold Day in Hell [Single, Black Metal]
Artach – Cryoseism [Single, Black Metal]
Artach – Ice Raven [Tech Noir Mix] [Single, Black Metal]
Artach – Lords of a Frozen Domain [Single, Black Metal]
Artach – Night Songs [Cinderella Cover] [Single, Black Metal]
Artach – Northward Leading [Single, Black Metal]
Artach – Shimmer [Single, Black Metal]
Bad Milk – Spitt [LP, Grunge]
The Birchmen – Hot L.A. Nights [LP, Progressive Metal]
The Hellfire Club – The Hellfire Club [LP, Hard Rock]
The Knifes – Pop Country Single (Poisons) [Single, Hardcore Punk]
Most Likely Forever + Decay – Natural Born Killers [Single, Nu Metal]
Various Artists – A Heavy NFLD Compilation: Burn the Leeches [Compilation]
Winterhearth – Riverbed Empire [LP, Black Metal]

~ Akhenaten

August 2020 in Review

September 11, 2020September 8, 2020 / Akhenaten / Leave a comment

Well, well, well. Things certainly picked up in August didn’t they? After what felt like a months-long drought of news with potential stories merely trickling down the gutter into our figurative drainage pipe, things are finally starting to happen again.

We got a shit-ton of new releases including a monumental new album from the Winterhearth (their first new music in four years), the first full length record from sludgers Puce, entitled The Trough, plus a surprise return from St. John’s hardcore punks Of the Black, who have been out of the picture for so long that I imagine most people had assumed they were broken up or on indefinite hiatus. The Birchmen also surprised us by dropping their first full length album on the last day of the month and boy is it a doozy.

On top of that we hit a major milestone right here at Heavy NFLD by releasing our first ever compilation album. While it’s digital only, Burn the Leeches is a record released for a good cause. All profits obtained from digital sales of this album will be going towards the Anti-Racism Coalition of Newfoundland and Labrador. At the time of this writing we’ve already donated $100 and we’ve been getting sporadic purchases in the last few weeks. So help us reach our next hundred dollar goal and go buy yourself a copy for as low as $1.00 CDN over on our Bandcamp page!

New Albums Released
– The Birchmen – Hot L.A. Nights
– Heavy NFLD – Burn the Leeches [Compilation]
– Puce – The Trough
– Winterhearth – Riverbed Empire

New EPs Released
– Of the Black – One
– Of the Black – Two
– Of the Black – Three
– Of the Black – Four
– Of the Black – Five

New Singles Released
– Artach – “Night Songs” [Cinderella Cover]

New Demos Released
– Deadmarsh – Debut Demos

Albums Announced
– Aeria Working on New Material

Reviews
– Yes, Officer – Autobiography of a Naysayer [By Corey Merrigan]

New Merch
– Jaded Truth Reveal Rx Shirts

Horrific NFLD
– Grind Mind Working on New Horror Short Trap
– Grind Mind Reveal Release Date for Bound by Blood (Formerly Entitled Trap)
– Horror Anthology Terror Nova to Receive Physical Release

Watch
– Interview with Sruthan of Artach
– Jaded Truth Premiere Music Video for “Fat Man in an Overcoat”
– Puce – Dragonfly Sessions
– Winterhearth – “Charmed (By the Dead)” Official Lyric Video

We also got back to our regular schedule with attempting to do a monthly podcast. In this edition we play some songs from new albums that have come out in Newfoundland and Labrador over the course of 2020 thus far and we take a listen to the interview that yours truly did with CBC over on their Sunday Morning Show. You can take a listen to the latest episode over at the Heavy NFLD Bandcamp!

Albums Archived
– Hag – House Sparrow [Single / Progressive Doom Metal]
– The Knifes – No Quarantine [Live Single / Hardcore Punk]
– Nocturnal Prayer – May You Lay Waste to Astral Gods with Star Disintegration [Demo / Black Metal]
– Old Thieves – The Keys [Single / Post Hardcore]
– Rick Massie – Eclipse [LP / Progressive Metal]
– Rick Massie – Following the Rain [Single / Progressive Metal]
– Rick Massie – Time After Time [Single / Progressive Metal]
– Rick Massie – Together As One [Single / Progressive Metal]
– Ultimata – Voiceless [Single / Progressive Metalcore]
– Yes, Officer – Autobiography of a Naysayer [LP / Post Hardcore]

~ Akhenaten

The Birchmen Release New LP ‘Hot L.A. Nights’

September 4, 2020September 3, 2020 / Akhenaten / 1 Comment

St. John’s progressive death / sludge metal band The Birchmen have been one of St. John’s’ longest running experimental heavy outfits. The group released their first official entry into their discography, Slaughter in the Water, in 2018 and remained fairly quiet about any further recordings.

However on August 31st, 2020 the band surprised many by releasing their first full length album. Entitled Hot L.A. Nights, combined with the album art pictured above, the record’s aesthetic capitalizes on the current wave of 80’s nostalgia sweeping popular culture right now.

Hot L.A. Nights is available on Bandcamp and streaming services right now and you can listen to the album through our Bandcamp embed below.

~ Akhenaten

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The Birchmen Release New LP ‘Hot L.A. Nights’