Vathek - Aborted Origins Review // Independent Release

Out of one of Canada's lesser talked about areas, comes the Death Metal band, Vathek. Formed in Winnipeg, Manatoba, Vathek have been creating a name for themselves opening for some of the biggest hitters on the road these days. After releasing the debut EP Apocalyptic Pandemic in 2013 and sharing the stage with the likes of Skeletonwitch, Kataklysm, and Aborted, Vathek got working on their first full length release, Aborted Origins.

The first thing to note is the mix of influences throughout this album, the speed and lyrical content similar to Grindcore. Blitzing guitar work and melodic undertones from Thrash Metal. Most prominently though is the chugging and blasting of Old School Death Metal. Instrumentally, Vathek take on a sound very similar to Cannibal Corpse in a lot of sections. "Martial Ingestion" is the perfect instance of this, throughout the majority of the song, the guitar work goes from chugging consistent riffs to small tapping sections. While songs like "Exsanguination Asphyxiation" and "Gratification From Despair" are much more fast paced throughout and take on a much more aggressive, pit-inducing form.

The use of snippets is also used throughout, music like those familiar with Kataklysm's use in almost all their albums. One is found is the heavily Grindcore influenced "Syphilis Shotgun" (originally from the debut EP), which literally just details what it's like to have syphilis in the most gruesome, Metal way possible. While guitar solos are far and few between on Aborted Origins, "Syphilis Shotgun" has a quick little piece near the end of the song, giving the listener just a little nibble at what could be on album number 2. 

From beginning to end, Aborted Origins is a hard hitting, no joke Death Metal album. The songs range from the absurd (see the aforementioned "Syphilis Shotgun") to absolutely destructive. Vathek don't hold back from dabbling into Grindcore, Thrash Metal and Brutal Death Metal throughout and try to push the boundaries of what's possible on this album. If Vathek continue to explore and expand their sound going into their next album, the next big Canadian Death Metal band could very well be on the way. Don't hold back, Aborted Origins is definitely worth a listen.

9/10

Raider "Urge to Kill" Review

          "Urge to Kill", the debut EP/Demo from KW Death Metal band Raider just dropped over this past weekend, this is a release we have been looking forward to so we had to dive right into it. The band is made up of a couple of relatively well known locals including Kyle Edissi (Aepoch, Invicta) and Brandon Sanders (The Wormwood Scrubs) as well as some new talent like vocalist Angelo Bonaccorso, so let's hop into it!

          "Urge to Kill" is a total of three tracks with what we will say is two separate "modes", the first of which is an oldschool style Melodic Death Metal and damn is it done well. "Phlebotomized" (the act of puncturing a vain, if anyone is curious) and the title track, "Urge to Kill" would both fall under this umbrella. While obviously the two songs are not exactly the same, "Phlebotomized" is a straight forward Melodic Death Metal song in the vein of Amon Amarth or Unleashed, while "Urge to Kill" takes on a bit more of a hectic approach, including straight speed in both the main instrumentals and solos much more like that of The Black Dahlia Murder or even a little more closely, Skeletonwitch.



          "Nebulous" is the only out of place track on this album. While the other two take on a much more Melodic Death Metal approach, this one seems to aim more for a Melodic Thrash style, which all in all isn't a bad thing. The song itself is good, although it seems to suffer from a bit of an identity crisis, trying to make the song too much like the other two while trying to take it in a different direction at the same time. The effect this has on the song is the fact that it does become a bit of a missmash which does hinder it a little bit and unfortunately made it a bit stale.

          All in all, "Urge to Kill" is a great first release from a band still trying to find their voice. Raider took chances with this release and honestly for the most part it paid off, my biggest suggestion to the guys in Raider would be lean more towards the Melodic Death Metal side as those tracks are killer pieces of music. Keep an eye out for these guys as if they find their stride, they'll be going far with their music!

          Raider will be playing their release show March 30th alongside Invicta, Rippr'd and Woofout at The Boathouse in Kitchener! also, CLICK HERE to be taken to the bands Bandcamp page and check out "Urge to Kill"

Live Report: Skeletonwitch with Abyss and Droid at Lee's Palace // August 9th, 2016

 Find remaining tour dates and Ticket info

                Welcome to Bloor St. In Toronto, one of the busier areas of the city, this is the area where a lot of venues are as well but tonight we are at Lee’s Palace to catch the (mostly) Canadian Skeletonwitch tour “No Sleep Till Vancouver” with only local support coming from Droid and Abyss respectively. The day is incredibly hot and humid and most of us were trying to get into the venue to cool down a bit and get out of the sun, but come 8pm the doors finally opened and we were welcomed in.

                Around 8:30 the first band, Droid, took the stage and it was a pleasant surprise. While these guys didn’t have a whole lot of stage presence and mostly stood in place with mild movement they played their hearts out and knew how to talk to the audience and joke with them. Between some pretty wicked guitar solos, great drum work and groovy bass lines, no one in attendance seemed to dislike this 3 piece band and they got a pretty good reaction after each and every song they played.

                Next up were Abyss and as much good as I want to say about their brand of Death Metal, it’s a little hard after this performance. The band made it through one song without a bassist (due to technical issues) before stopping to make a couple bass jokes. It didn’t just stop there though, after about 15 minutes of rather unfunny bass jokes, relentless talking and even having people in the crowd telling them to just play the band were finally rejoined by the bassist and they played about 3 more songs before calling it for the night. Plenty of people walked out after about 5 minutes of waiting and the music itself wasn’t all that extraordinary anyways, with the bass being inaudible most the time outside of what was maybe a 2 second solo in one song.

                Alas, Skeletonwitch were finally set to take over, with this being their first headlining tour with Adam Clemans on vocal duties, I was very interested in seeing how he would fare compared to the first time I had seen him while the band was on tour with Abbath. To start, I have to give Clemans praise, he has taken complete control of the band, looking incredibly comfortable with the band and moving around a lot more and getting in touch with the audience. The band came out and kicked off with “Beneath Dead Leaves” and “Burned From Bone” off the last album “Serpents Unleashed” to great response from the crowd. “Crushed Beyond Dust” is a fan favourite track and got blood pumping that may have slowed for some of the audience during the last band and opened the pit up, only to be followed by the new song “Black Waters” off the bands new EP “The Apothic Gloom”. The band even broke out a couple past songs they had never played before, “Gorge Upon My Soul” from the bands 3^rd album “Breathing the Fire” and “This Evil Embrace” before jumping into another song from the EP “Well of Despair”. Going back to the beginning of “Beyond the Permafrost” the fast paced “Upon Wings of Black” began and got the pit moving at full speed, it may be a Tuesday, but people are partying like it’s a Friday. In the final few songs they band broke out some of the best in the books, “The Apothic Gloom” which is quickly turning into one of my all time favourite songs from Skeletonwitch, “This Horrifying Force (The Desire to Kill)” which saw Clemans interacting with the audience the way a lot of singers are scared to, letting them sing into the mic. Finally, to close out the set the band played the fourth and final song off the new EP, the epic, 7 minute long “Red Death, White Light” which honestly, is the quickest 7 minutes that’ll pass with the high energy of Skeletonwitch.

                While I praised Adam a lot all the members deserve their due, Evan Linger and Scott Hedrick show how in sync they are often normally being side by side guitars held out together. Dustin Boltjes is a monster drummer, an intimidating looking guy and one of the nicest people you could ever meet and of course Nate Garnette, AKA N8 Feet Under who is not only a wicked guitar player, but tries his voice at backing vocals and damn can this guy scream! It would be cool to see him do a song where he rocks vocals of the first album, “At One With the Shadows”.

                Tonight, Skeletonwitch played a slew of great old songs and showed off the entire new EP live, they’re a force to be reckoned with. One of the strongest live bands out there and getting better with each and every show, Adam Clemans and claimed the bands as his own and while many fans were sceptical, myself included, he’s far from a clone, this is the new voice of Witch. The tour continues through Canada and into the states for a couple shows so if they pass by your way, check it out, it’s well worth the time. 

Droid performance: 80/100

Abyss performance: 35/100

Skeletonwitch performance: 95/100

Interview with Scott Hedrick of Skeletonwitch (audio)

     As the Decibel Magazine Tour 2016 was nearly finishing, the tour made its way up to a still snowy Toronto and after their exhausting set and having to unload the stage, Skeletonwitch guitarist Scott Hedrick still had enough energy to talk to us during High on Fire's set about the new vocalist, Adam Clemans, the upcoming EP, all the changes to the band, and of course, how happy Abbath's voice makes him.






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Tour review: The Decibel Magazine Tour with Abbath, High On Fire, Skeletonwitch and Tribulation in Toronto at The Opera House April 10th, 2016

                On Sunday, April 10^th, 2016 on a snowy day in Toronto, the Decibel Magazine Tour descended upon our beloved venue, The Opera House. Abbath, High on Fire, Skeletonwitch and Tribulation made up the extreme metal tour of the year bringing a couple different firsts to North America, Skeletonwitch on tour with their new vocalist Adam Clemens and Abbath on tour for the first time.

At roughly 7pm, with a line of us standing in the snow the doors finally opened and with very little time to waste, Tribulation took the stage shortly after. Opening with “Strange Gateways Beckon” this band is just as mysterious as they are fantastic, with guitarist Jonathon Hultan very light on his feet, dancing and making his way around the stage seamlessly. While the show continued the band continued to keep the audience captivated in each and every line they had to shout out. Eventually, very quickly and after only a few songs, “Holy Liberation” began and cranked through in what felt like no time at all and Tribulation were done. The audience was mesmerized and even though they were the opening band tonight, they packed in the venue and made plenty of new fans already. No one was ready to see them leave, except those of us who knew what was next.

                After a very short transition, Skeletonwitch took the stage with new vocalist Adam Clemens, known best for his work with Wolvhammer, opening with “I Am of Death (Hell Hath Arrived)” off the bands most recent album “Serpents Unleashed”. Instantly, most previous fans of the band were drawn to the new incarnation of the band, while not having quite the vocal range previous vocalist Chance Garnette had, Clemens made up for with sheer destructive Black Metal force. The band played a lot of songs off of “Serpents Unleashed” with a couple songs from “Beyond the Permafrost” and “Forever Abomination” mixed in, but it was the new songs that made everything special, you want to hear what the band will be bringing soon. “Well of Despair” has been out for a month now, but the song live is even more destructive, the fast paced Blackened Death sound Skeletonwitch are known for got the crowd headbanging like some psychos. “Black Waters” was the other new song shown off and personally sounded a bit more melodic and chaotic instrumentally than anything previously done by the band. Not knowing the song made it a bit hard to follow, but that’s fairly common with any song you don’t know, but all in all it’s a song to look forward to hearing a studio version of to really take in the madness. Eventually the band had to come to a close with “Beneath Dead Leaves” and let the pit open one last time for Skeletonwitch before their final goodbyes.

                Due to an interview taking place at the time, I was only able to catch the first couple songs from High on Fire, but the interview was worth it, don’t worry that will be up very soon. Opening with “The Black Plot,” I actually enjoyed the band more this time than when I saw them on tour with Pallbearer. Maybe it was just an off day for the band last time, but the new songs like “The Black Plot” seemed more rehearsed and much tighter than before. The band brings a traditional Heavy Metal destructive sound that a lot of people can enjoy, although being the slightly out of place band on a bill filled mostly with Black Metal. The other song I caught before having the leave the main area was “Carcosa” which, although a good song and it may have just been my excitement, seemed to take forever. High on Fire has a lot of energy tonight and it was a shame I had to leave, but just you wait for the interview.

                My interview finished just as High On Fire were closing out, meaning when i got back to the main area, the crowd was just thinning out a bit for the smokers to take a quick break. Sneaking back up close, Abbath’s introduction began and needless to say, the crowd went mad. After an epic introduction, the sound of marching feet began and out came the band, everyone except Abbath himself, but soon enough, just before the vocals of “To War!” started, the man of the hour made his way in front of Toronto. All eyes were on the frontman as the band cranked out songs, old and new, including “Winter Bane” from the first Abbath album, “Warriors” from the band I and Immortal’s “Nebular Ravens Winter”. When the band began “Ashes of the Damned” it was hard not to watch the frontman, if you know Abbath, you know his signature Black Metal grunt, and this song is full of them. While Black Metal is meant to sound evil, Abbath is hard to sake to seriously, constantly making faces and striking poses for photos, you can’t not be happy when seeing this band live. If you watch drummer Creature, you might feel uneasy though, dawning a demon mask, whoever is behind the set knows what’s going on. Creature will stare straight forward for 99% of the show, barely needing to look at what part of the set his sticks are hitting and if you watch it too long, you’ll start to get that “are you human?” feeling. When the band broke into the Immortal track “Tyrants” you knew shit was going down, the pit opened to its largest size and the crowd went wild, hair was everywhere and people were being thrown around like there was no tomorrow. In the songs slow section, roughly half way through, Abbath began to make poses and try to get the crowd as loud as he possibly could, and it worked, before breaking back into the headbanging madness. “Count the Dead” put a break between two more Immortal songs, “One by One” and a song that personally, I was overly excited to finally see, “Solarfall.” Abbath took every chance he got to take to the very front of the stage during “Solarfall” and again, got the blood pumping. “Root of the Mountain” followed with “All Shall Fall” afterwards. The band left the stage and after a ton of cheering and chanting Abbath retook the stage, asking “so you want some more?” and caused absolute chaos one last time with “In My Kingdom Cold,” saying goodnight, promising the bands return and leaving the stage.

Tribulation Performance: 85/100

Skeletonwitch Performance: 95/100

High On Fire Performance: 80/100

Abbath Performance: 95/100

Overall Experience: 90/100

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Skeletonwitch "Well of Despair" Single Review

                I can’t believe it’s finally here, after all the drama revolving around Skeletonwitch at the end of 2014-beginning of 2015 with the unexpected departure of ex-vocalist Chance Garnette and a European tour with ex-Cannabis Corpse vocalist Andy Horn, no one knew exactly what happened to the Witch. After nearly a year of silence the band announced they were releasing a new EP and that they would be taking place in the 2016 Decibel Magazine Tour alongside Abbath, High on Fire and Tribulation, but still the question was “who is doing vocals?” Well, if you somehow missed the news Wolvhammer vocalist Adam Clemans took over vocal duties and FINALLY the band have released their first bit of new music.

                Monday night, Skeletonwitch debuted a new song on Sirius XM’s Liquid Metal and if you missed it there then the good news continues, they debuted a video for the new song titled “Well of Despair” and released it on Bandcamp with a limited edition single art shirt (which is now sold out, i just went to buy one...). Now the question on everyone’s mind, how is it still Witch without Chance, trust me I had issues believing it was happening too, and how will it sound compared to previous albums? Instrumentally, Witch is there. From beginning to end, Nate and Scott’s riffs are as Witch as it gets, the bass from Evan is still as prominent and melodic as it was on “Serpents Unleashed” and the drums from Dustin will still make the earth shake. The vocals from Adam are a bit different from Chance’s obviously. While not trying to be a clone and having his own technique Adam made it his own while still adding in the grunts that the Witch fans know and love. While not having quite the same range in vocal style, Adam is still an amazing voice to have in Skeletonwitch and I personally am very excited about seeing him front the band.

                A little more on the song, there are 4 general phases to this song the speedy melodic Thrash Black Metal mix intro, the verse/chorus riffs that everyone knows and loves from Skeletonwitch that makes their music so distinguishable, a heavier riff just before the second chorus that sounds like something ripped out of “Beyond the Permafrost” that makes me excited to hear how much they mix the past few albums into one. Finally, in the last minute you get the headbanger, the section of the song where the pits will go mad, the headbangers will break their necks and Adam takes his vocals to probably the deepest and most Black Metal they get in this track. The track is one of the longer songs Skeletonwitch has released (still only about 4 minutes) but it keeps true to what the band wants to do, get in, shred and get out and it does exactly that.

                This is only one song, I get it and trust me I was a huge fan of Chance and he will always be an idol of mine vocally, but here’s the thing: Adam fits. It’s amazing to me to see someone fit in so well without trying to be a clone. Skeletonwitch are back and whether you like it or not, the band is as healthy as ever, this song proves it. Now I’m off to convince them to stick “Released from the Catacombs” into their setlist! Tour with Abbath starts on March 17^th in Baltimore and if you don’t believe me that the band are back, go get a ticket and see how energetic they are live! Expect a review of the show when it gets here to Toronto and an interview I will be conducting with them on site.

95/100

Skeletonwitch's "Burned From Bone" Review

Skeletonwitch's new song "Burned From Bone" was played for the first time officially to the public this past Tuesday, August 13th 2013, on Sirius XM's Liquid Metal and I don't think a single person who listened to it was disappointed. The song starts with a very Skeletonwitch regular sound, until the song kicks in. When Chance does his awesome noise growls and the main guitar riff kicks in from Scott and Nate, I found myself looking at my iPod (which at the time was my Sirius radio) and thinking "holy shit, this is real Blackened Deathly Thrash Metal." Now we are getting to the good part, when Chance's vocals kick in. Don't get me wrong I love the entire band and I've never been disappointed with anything anyone has done but I'm a vocalist and I have to give praise to this man. The lyrics he comes up with in this song like "I am the demon cloaked in the light of darkness" in the opening line and "your fate but a living cremation, suffer burned alive." When I hear Chance's crazy vocals I'm always thinking "is this what a Skeletonwitch would actually sound like?" Of course it is! Than the slower breakdown vocals "your life now feeds the flame, choke on the ashes as you die..." These sections in Skeletonwitch songs are always what I look forward to, even though the song slows down Evan, Scott, Nate and Dustin have this way of making these sections so heavy you can't help but find yourself headbanging (don't drive and listen to this song if your someone who normally headbangs during these section, don't want to cause an accident) now how do you come out of an awesome Chance vocal, headbang heavy section? With a guitar solo from Mr. N8 Feet Under of course! Now this solo isn't insanely face melting fast but the way it's set up it feels like a bass solo mixed with a guitar solo! N8 is an insane guitarist jus like Scott (whom I've had the pleasure of meeting and he's an awesome guy very down to earth and willing to talk to myself and other fans at the concert, not to say the others weren't but he was the only one at the merch table at the time) this solo I always find myself playing air guitar to. N8 knows how to do a solo and with Evan's bass solo sounding section under this, this entire ending to the song couldn't have been more epic.

If you haven't checked out the new song find it on the Prosthetic Records youtube channel (or follow this link http://youtu.be/Kd0y6vFC3CA?a ) overall I'd give the song 9.5/10 very quick in and out just like all Skeletonwitch songs and it makes me excited for the new album being released this October on Prosthetic records (PreOrder here http://www.indiemerch.com/skeletonwitch/ ) and too see them for the second time this year on their tour with The Black Dahlia Murder! (Tour dates here: http://loudwire.com/the-black-dahlia-murder-2013-north-american-tour-skeletonwitch/ )