White Lake Mountain - Demo (demo)

WHITE LAKE MOUNTAIN - Demo
2013
Indie

Some time ago, I reviewed a band called The Unavowed, from Ottawa. They had released one epic EP called War, that offered the best of heavy, stoner, and crust altogether. When I heard that two of the band members were now in another band called White Lake Mountain, from the same area, I was very curious to hear what it would sound like.

Earlier this Spring, White Lake Mountain posted a four-tracks demo online. This project not only demonstrates that the ex-Unavowed are still rocking hard, but also that there's a new solid stoner rock entity in the National Capital. Along with Chris Mesner on drums and Nick Toone on bass, the band introduces the excellent Joe Hammond and H. Figurine on guitars. Vocal duties are shared by Toone and Hammond, in a heavy rockers style.

Apparently a home recording, this demo has nothing particular about its production. Call it raw, crust, or garage, it's not important when it comes to a demo, as long as it rocks - and this is exactly what this demo does. The four songs display a certain stylistic range, from dirty rock ("Cataclysmic Skies") to stoner doom ("Behemoth"), with equal ease at both ends. On the musicianship level, the two guitars approach is worthy of mention, for example on "When the Sleeper Wakes" (a song that reminds me of Mortification's song "Influence", in a good way).

This demo's song titles tell me something epic is coming our way - let's hope White Lake Mountain doesn't stop there.

www.whitelakemountain.com
https://soundcloud.com/#wlmband

Towards Darkness - Barren

TOWARDS DARKNESS - Barren
2012
Avantgarde Music

Funeral Doom is not a popular style in Canada - quite the opposite -, and bands that follow this path are not only few, but they also are mostly unknown on the underground scene. It's no wonder to see this ultra-specialized branch looking towards an international network. Nonetheless, Canada has some top-notch bands in the genre like Towards Darkness, a quiet band hailing from Montreal.

After a first album released under the moniker The Mass and entitled Towards Darkness, the formation changed its name and released Solemn, a suffocating yet intricating album in 2007. This proved to be an important step in the band's journey, as it started moving towards a different approach, more metal, and darker. This slow descent brings us Barren, five years later. Minimalistic, heavy and coated in a refined production, the four-tracks is a monolithic 55-minutes slice of grandiose desolation. The drum recording is crystal clear, and its decomposed patterns carry all the weigth of the music genre. There are passages of clean guitars, ambiant melancholic melodies that float here and there, but then again most of Barren is made of those heavy clouds of strings that rolls over the desertic landscape. There are no viruosity or technical feat here; just heaviness skimmed to its very bones. The choice to aim for a clean production gives the album an impressive depth, and adds a lot to the sterile looking overall atmosphere.

I like Towards Darkness because of the original path it took. Although it professes funeral doom, it came to it via sludge and bands like Neurosis. Here we find the monolithic guitar riffs, the droning routines, the layers of noise, and the hardcore accent of the vocals. Having said that, the band followed the road to exploration, and their original influences morphed into something else. One specific aspect of their sound, on Barren, is the keyboard. Filling most of the void with various notes and background layers, it seems to be influenced by the richness of finnish funeral doom. The result of this blend makes Barren an album that stands out in the genre.

Like a supergroup, Towards Darkness has impressive musicianship: Nick Richards from Show of Bedlam on drums, Kevin Jones also an ex-Show of Bedlam and ex-Negativa on guitars, Joël Cyr on guitars, and Simon Carignan from Longing for Dawn on keyboards and sound effects. As if it wasn't enough, they had guest guitarists Samuel Dufour from Vengeful and the late Steeve Hurdle from ex-Negativa and ex-Gorguts.

For those who dig the Neurosis influence in them, I would recommend their earlier efforts - but if you like the funeral death edge of Barren, I recommend looking into the equally excellent band Longing for Dawn.

http://www.lastfm.fr/music/Towards+Darkness

Loviatar - Widow's Flame (EP)

LOVIATAR - Widow's Flame EP
2012
Indie

Nested in the small post-hardcore/sludge/doom community of Ottawa, conveniently located mid-way through the Toronto-Montreal corridor where most touring bands travel, Loviatar is making a name for itself as an opening act.

Widow's Flame is the second EP from Loviatar. This time again the production is really good, being recorded at Pebbles Studio by Mike Bond, who also happens to play bass with the band. Interesting enough, Widow's Flame is the second in a series of short EPs released by Loviatar - the third one being expected somewhere in Spring 2013. Like Eternal Sons, the first one, it has a very simple design, with a focus on the clean minimalistic logo, and is housed in a cardboard packaging. This time again, the EP title is a play of words based on the two original songs found on the album, i.e. "Flametongue" and "Widow's Walk". Since these EPs are so short (this one is 11 minutes long), continuity between them contributes to defining the identity of Loviatar.

We find ourselves again in a world of fantasy, where post-metal meets doom, where the songs and texts are epic. The guitars, at the core of the music, have this great rock energy, but also give a lot of space to the other instruments. The bass and drum have this great complicity, and supports the songs with great mastery while staying in the back. The vocals, high and clean, are a gifted trademark of Loviatar, something many heavy and doom bands will envy.

On the other side, there is something I personally find clumsy with the pace of this EP. While the two original songs are excellent, they are accompanied by a cover of Leonard Cohen's "The Partisan". This is a good and interesting rendering, but from an outside perspective I'm questioning its place on the EP: given it has a total of only 11 minutes, and given that the first track is fast and the second is slow, it feels unnecessary to have a third song that brings a completely different direction. All in all, this may not be a big deal since all songs are good and will probably blend in, in the long run, with Loviatar's future discography.

With Widow's Flame, Loviatar is staying very close to what it offered us on Eternal Sons. They added a second guitar player, but so far it has more impact on the live aspect than anything else. Two new songs is not a lot when they are of average lenght, and this EP can't be considered as a landmark or a statement, but it is useful to generate an interest from the local scene.

I'll definitely keep an eye open to see what brings the third EP.

www.loviatardoom.com
http://loviatar.bandcamp.com/

Milanku - Pris à la gorge

MILANKU - Pris à la gorge
2012
D7I Records / Tokyo Jupiter Records / Replenish Records

Milanku is a four-piece band from Montreal. They started in 2006 and released a first album in 2008, Convalescence. More recently, they came out with their second opus, Pris à la gorge. I thought about writing a few words here not only because it's a great album, but also because it will be pressed this Spring on vinyl by none other than the excellent Washington label Replenish Records (Vestiges, Alda, Rituals). The artwork displayed here is the later version.

What is Milanku? The short answer would probably be a francophone post hardcore band. They deliver a quality product, both in terms of composition, texts and production, that helps them standing out immediately. Their music uses many post rock ingredients to express melancholy - especially the little guitar in the background and the minimalistic drumming, as found in "Hypomanie", "La nausée" or "Inhibition". At the same time, they have a clear hardcore and sludge edge, found in the harsh guitar-and-vocals attack of songs like "L'inclination", "Dopamine" or the wall of sound of "La Chute". This is highly melodic, but the melodies are built with repetition and layers of instruments, rather than being delivered easily from one single instrument. The arrangements found on Pris à la gorge are worth mentioning, as they are key to this feeling of being "grasped by the throat" (Pris à la gorge) and swallowed into darkness. For example, the very first song, "La Chute", starts with this very quiet atmosphere built by a clean guitar, a muffled background noise, and a few spoken words that express personal distress. Then, when the guitars kick in, we're completely submerged by a wave of intense melancholic pain. Further into the song, there is a quiet build-up that brings the listener closer into the music, before closing the trap and resuming the song with the same intensity as earlier.

The texts add something powerful to the melancholic feel of the music. Drenched in nostalgy, they either express pain in their hardcore delivery, or intimacy when spoken ("Antalgie", "La nausée").

The production is excellent and contributes to this masterwork. It is far from being raw, but it has a few dirty details left intentionally in the mix, for example: the end of certain chords (noticeable in the end of a few songs), the saturation of the vocals, or the granular distortion of the guitars. All the effects and the arrangements are perfectly blended, and the crystal clear drum-and-bass backbone leave all the space needed for the guitars to create these overwhelming atmospheres.

The first reference that comes to mind is Le Kraken. Not only the two bands started about the same time, but they also share the same vocalist, Guillaume Chamberland. While each other's music genre is not that far apart, there is a clear difference in direction between the two: Le Kraken's songs are shorter, more post-hardcore driven, while Milanku's songs are more complex, more melodic, and use a lot of clean guitars.

Impressive.

http://milanku.bandcamp.com
http://www.storenvy.com/stores/57506-desordre-ordonne
www.replenishrecords.com

Near Grey - Near Grey

NEAR GREY - Near Grey
2012
Indie

Big thick waves of monochromatic acrylic paint. The cover artwork for Montreal's Near Grey expresses perfectly what their music is about: something abstract, atmospheric, and voiceless. We enter the realm of sludge, we connect to an intangible country where musical textures counts more than any kind of groove. But there are no coldness, no evilness, and no negative weight. At the same time, we're nowhere near the light, the warm instruments or the happy radio vibe. The best descriptive could be "near grey", indeed.

The style has grown quite a bit since Neurosis and Isis made it popular. Near Grey plays a slower, instrumental version of sludge/post-metal, without getting too much into shoegaze or post-rock. They keep their distortion on as a background for their music, with only splashes of clean guitars here and there to give it some relief. A few feedbacks, a few keyboard atmosphere, and many guitar effects are additional tools used in the refined production.

This first offering of Near Grey is an EP. Three songs, ranging from 7 to 18 minutes, form the eponymous journey. Despite their duration, the songs never feel too long, nor repetitive; in fact, they progress naturally, taking a left turn on certain occasions, and they leave a lot of space for the guitars sound to die out. The pace of the album is an excellent breathing exercise, taking its time to reach various anonymous inscapes.

Recommended for fans of Three Steps to the Ocean, A Cold Dead Body, Omega Massif, Explosion in the Sky, etc.

http://neargrey.bandcamp.com/

Show of Bedlam - Roont

SHOW OF BEDLAM - Roont
2012
Choking Hazards Records

I admit I didn't know about Show of Bedlam (SoB) before I saw this "Doom Night" poster, and went to see them live at Cafe Chaos in Montreal. Now, that was a surprise, the band deliver the goods and are probably one of the best doom acts I've seen live in the City that Never Sleeps.

Right off the bat, SoB isn't your typical type of doom (or classical doom). This is a noisy branch bred in pain, born into hardcore, and likely raised around a few crossover acts such as Earache's rosters of the 90's. If we were to try finding SoB's parents, we would probably find it somewhere between the social violence of Today is the Day and the dark personal journey of Rollins Band. One closer comparative could be the mighty Jucifer, with whom it seems that SoB shared a split earlier.

Roont is a full lenght divided into four long tracks, and an interlude. It is one whole uneasy atmosphere, opening up a personal nightmare. Beyond the doom music itself, this direction is crafted by the female touch of singer and frontwoman Paulina Richards, who also participated in the brilliant Masseter alternative project. Throughout her relatively long texts, she is dragging us into an inscape journey where we witness dark interpersonal situations, and find a few shady characters; something also explored by other female-fronted bands such as Otep, Doll, or Social Revolver. With Paulina's very specific tone of voice and variations, Roont is like a black and white vintage horror movie, with a touch of purple despair.

SoB is a four-piece band: vocal, guitar, bass and drum. The tempo of the album is relatively slow, like a hearbeat pounding in your head, alone in the dark of an empty basement, waiting for your captor. There are all sorts of noises, loops and synth effects added to the instruments mentioned above, thus offering a rich backdrop to Roont. The guitar sound is dirty, and the bass - deep down the spectrum - is full of overdrive. The female vocals are saturated and textured with a deep reverb, giving them a nice ghoulish/horror movie texture.

On the cover, there is an appropriately depicted spooky abandoned wooden house, somewhere in a nameless town. On the back of the cover, we see a spiritual summoning session (likely taken from a black and white horror movie). On the inside, we find a 12'' piece of sparkled wax, purple and black.

Roont is definitely making my year's end list as one of the most pleasant discoveries, and probably as one of Choking Hazards Records' best releases to date.

http://showofbedlam.bandcamp.com/
http://chokinghazardrecords.blogspot.ca/

Le Kraken - Exil (EP)

LE KRAKEN - Exil
2012
D7i records/Vendetta Records

It has been almost three years since Le Kraken released their second release and first full lenght album, Exalt. While the music used the same common denominator as many sludge and crust bands, it was a welcoming variation: simple structures, short songs, and French lyrics. I was highly anticipating any follow up to it, and it came under the shape of a 5-songs, 17+ minutes 10'' EP.

At first, Exil sounds like more of the same cool-aid we drank earlier: punk-size songs (2 to 4 minutes average), guitar-oriented structures, atmospheric chords layered over a pounding drum, and a vocal pitch drenched into hardcore. However, after a few listen, we unearth something definitely fresh.

This EP is the opportunity to introduce a new line-up. Bassist Guillaume Chamberland has taken vocals duty, and a new guitar player, Jean-François Dussault Desgroseillers, joined, now forming a four-piece with drummer Louis Guillemette and guitarist Jean-Phillipe Marcil.

Exil is also an opportunity to introduce a new logo, something crucial for a band that has started to tour seriously and that is constantly expanding its audience.

So how does that translate into music? Opening track "Exubérance" kicks in with what we came to know (and like) about Le Kraken: contagious guitar riffs, clever drum patterns, and a range of vocals that makes the music quite accessible. Then, all of a sudden, the drapery falls, and we are left with some sort of Cult of Luna-esque melancholic guitar atmosphere. It is picked up by the other instruments, in a slow and almost doomy atmosphere, bringing the listener somewhere unexpected. "L'assault & l'esquive" displays a similar structure, i.e. riffs and drum patterns change mid-way through the song. Applied to their heavy-but-not-oppressive music, this technique makes the songs breathe, and suithes the mood perfectly. These two songs are followed by "Erratum", a short crusty snack that could have figured on any of Le Kraken's previous releases.

The band clearly crafted their art while sharing the stage with many other bands from the same genre. Centrepiece to the album, the excellent "Arbore essence" is something radically new for Le Kraken. In a progression of guitar textures and a wise alternation of drum patterns, the song brings echos of Alaskan or Textures, among others. Delightful.

Last, but not least, the Exil EP ends with the title track. With a focus on a strong chorus, this one captures the best of the album through variations of atmospheres and tempos, and offers one of the best texts the band has written to date. On that level, this time again all lyrics are sung in French and express personal reflections, or states of mind. The choice of words is better than your average band, but the construction is very raw, unpolished and unfinished, as a note to yourself in the corner of your university notebook.

Aside from the music, the Exil EP is housed in a stunning piece of art. The dramatic picture on the cover is the art of Alexander Mody, who is responsible for designing Vestiges' most striking landscape cover arts in the last years. There are two editions: black wax, and black haze/clear wax. Definitely worth purchasing on vinyl.

In conclusion, Exil is Le Kraken's first step into a new direction, one that is rooted into new alliances. It is laid on strong foundations, but rather than being limited by its past releases, the record tells us that the band is ready for venturing into new paths.

http://lekraken.bandcamp.com/album/exil
http://www.toysofdisharmony.com/