Sludgehammer "Antechamber" Review

Out of Toronto, Ontario, comes one great Thrash Metal act. Sludgehammer are back for their second album, Antechamber. This time around, with a new vocalist. Between the time of The Fallen Sun and Antechamber some changes had to happen and Sludgehammer introduced new vocalist Josh Stephney. Together with Stephney, the band has played many shows and finally, as of today, released their second album. So now it's time to jump into the fire and take a look at whether or not the wait was worth it.

The album kicks off with the first single, “No Control”. Starting off with a chugging riff reminiscent of old school Decapitated it doesn't take long for the song to take on a form of its own. Once Stephney jumps in and starts to take control, the real sound of Sludgehammer starts to come out. Opting to keep to a mostly quicker pace, the only time the band returns to that intro sound is during the guitar solo. In “No Control” alone, the sound changes quite a bit. The chugging start, fast paced verse into chorus and even faster after that. This is the norm for Sludgehammer, throughout Antechamber the band isn't scared to lay all their cards on the table at once.

Breaking the norm though, “Broken Sea” opts instead to keep a midtempo, heavily melodic sound going throughout the song, only choosing to sway ever so slightly throughout the song. Mixing in Jeff Wilson (guitar, vocals) and Dan Ayers’ (bass, vocals) clean vocals to the song, and throughout the album, adds a lot of layers that help build up the grandiose sound that Sludgehammer strive for. This is even more prevalent in “Climatic Death”, which the band has released a music video for. The contract between the clean and hard vocals brings even more emphasis to the warning that this song brings. If you don't want to think that far into the song and don't care too much about the environment, then you'll still dig this song because the instrumentals are intense. The song is heavy, especially around the chorus and even jumps into a blast-ier section of instrumentals right after singing about your climatic death.

“Balance of Life” is probably the most experimental song on the album for the use of clean and hard vocals. Featuring some of the lowest vocals from Stephney and more clean vocals than any other song on the album. The chorus is almost a conversation back and forth, clean to harsh. The verses feature Stephney's low sections and if nothing else, “Balance of Life” has the best guitar solo on the album, leading right into the end of the song. The middle of the album was definitely a good spot for this, if it doesn't jive well, then at least there's still the second half the album. The album closes out with easily the most Thrash song on the album, “Line 'Em Up”. If you need a song dedicated to the party lifestyle, this is it, entirely based on getting blackout drunk and for us metalheads, thrashing and enjoying the party. The song is focused entirely around Stephney's low vocals, so for those who prefer absolutely zero cleans, this is the song. It's not over the top in any way, the instrumentals shred and there's some killer solos, but at the end of the day it's just a party hard Municipal Waste style Thrash song that would work perfectly as an opener or closer to any set.

At the end of the day, Sludgehammer took everything they knew from their debut release, evolved on it and tried some new formulas. Antechamber holds up perfectly beginning to end, this is an album that literally meets the definition of “all killer, no filler”. For those looking for something heavy, something to bang their heads to, this is it.

Live Review: Unbowed, Decatur, Stolos and Cerbearus at The Boathouse

The Boathouse is nothing show of the Metal hub of Kitchener, Ontario. You would be hardpressed to find a weekend, especially during the winter, that long haired men and women converge on this location to catch some of the best local acts. February 8th was simply jsut another night of this, featuring some of the more frostbitten bands around the area and a couple new bands to the area.

Kicking off the night around 9:30pm, was the debut show from Cerbearus a brand new band who it's kind of hard to place a finger on genre wise. They took on an almost death-thrash style for a good part of the show, along with a more hardcore style. the hardcore side of them was much more prevelent in their original track "Fucked By A Bear", which impressivly got the entire crowd chanting along with the title of the song. Also, in the two covers that Cerbearus did, "Hail Destroyer" originally by Toronto hardcore legends, Cancer Bats and "As Diehard As They Come" by Hatebreed. The latter of which was preformed with "Little Dick" Mike from the local band ULT. The band finished with "Carnivora", featuring Brett MacIntosh of Aepoch doing guest vocals, this was where the band really hit their stride, unfortunately it was the end of the set that they really nailed it, but it definitely left people wanting more. All in all, This wasnt exactly what I expected from a show focused around black metal, but it was enjoyable nonetheless and these guys definitely have a place in the scene.

Next up, making a stop on their Decatour, is Decatur. Decatur brought an old school style of thrash to The Boathouse and showed Kitchener how to rock. Even though it was getting late, these guys would not let up. Playing essentially half of their album Badder Than Brooklyn, I think these guys made a splash. They were wild from beginning to end, especially their bassist. There was no holding them back and they toom full advantage of what little space they ahd on stage. "Internal War" was easily the most aggressive song they had in the set and really set the tone and reason as to why people should not take beer in the pit, because man did it soak the place. This may have been a new band to a lot of people, but the crowd seemed to really get into it from beginning to end, Decatur will definitely be asked to return after a show like this.

New black metaller's Stolos took the stage next. These guys are taking hints and theatrics from the likes of Mayhem and King Diamond and making it work on a small stage. Their stage show kicked off with the band walking out filly robed and laying a sacrifice down on a table, then stabbing her repeatedly. Once he band took their place on stage the show kicked off. Their frontman takes his place behind a podium brandished with the Stolos logo, with his goons all around him. These guys may be rather new to the scene, only having played a handful of shows, but they perform like professionals. Their set mostly consists of orignal tracks, taking their songwriting very seriously, Stolos take on the frostbitten tones of the early black metal bands, like Immortal and Darkthrone. Towards the end of their set, Stolos do a cover of "Deathcrush" from Mayhem, and do it very well. The instrumentals are spot on and luckily, you dont have to hear Maniac's ear piercing screaming vocals. Stolos take hold of the black metal roots and make it their own. Always an enjoyable show.

Last up was our headline band, Guelph's own Unbowed. It's no secret that I have been following these guys for years, considering their last EP Dogma was covered and highly praised when it came out (read that here). This is a band thats developed and chaged a lot over the years, changing gear from a black-death metal band and adding all sorts of influences from symphonic to hardcore. Unbowed focused mostly on their newer songs from their latest album Through Endless Tides, actually opting to not play anything from their first EP or album and only one track from Dogma. The songs on Through Endless Tides hold up well live though, showing the experience and the full scope of Unbowed's influences. Their set kicked off with a new song, a song we should see released on their new release which is most likely coming this year. The song itself was tame, it's a good way to start of their set showing the power this band has without over doing it. It may be breaking midnight, but there was no sign of slowing down. The enxt three songs were all off the latest album, but "Mountaincarver" stands out for it's harmonies and the major shifts in tone in the song. "Mountaincarver" changes from black metal to symphonic metal to so many other thigns, but it never loses its momentum in these shifts. The band showed off another new song, "Anthem Of I" before breaking into the only song of Dogma, "Besieged". "Besieged" is a song that should never leave Unbowed's live rotation, the song itself is everything the band embodies from beginning to end. Unbowed kill it once again and this time on their first show in Kitchener. This is a band that should not be missed live if you have the chance as their ever evolving sound will always keep fans old and new interested.



Live Report: Invicta and Raider Release Show with Rippr'd and Woofout

          A sold out show at the Boathouse on Saturday night, led by the release for the new Raider and Invicta albums. The night kicked off with the only out of town band, Woofout, this was my first interaction with the band, never heard them prior to this show. The played pretty solid Rock and Roll, much in the vein of Motorhead, and it seems like the crowd was into it. Woofout rocked a handful of songs, with some good crowd interaction, but pretty quickly the show was over and we were into the next band.

          Rippr'd kicked off the hometown metal vibe with their oldschool Thrash Metal vibes.

"Too Trashed To Thrash" is essentially the Metal anthem of Kitchener at this point. It seems like it's a must know song to be officially part of the scene, I'm saying this as someone who was an outsider only two years ago. Rippr'd rock that Thrash crossover sort of tone much along the lines of Municipal Waste or S.O.D. and they take full advantage of it, they're also very self aware as a band with songs like "Ripp", "We're Rippr'd" and "Tales from the Ripp'd" it wouldn't surprise me much if they ended up as well known for their catchphrases, as much as their music.

Rippr'd Setlist:

1. Too Trashed To Thrash

2. Banned For Life

3. Hot Sluts With Tits

4. Ripp

5. Tales From the Ripp'd

6. We're Rippr'd

         Raider followed up the hometown heroes, but considering it was their release show the crowd was beyond anxious for this to start. Even though the recently released "Urge to Kill" is only 3 songs, Raider managed to fill out a full 45 minute set playing the entire EP, including taking a fan from the crowd hostage during "Phlebotomized". If the crowd wasn't rowdy enough already, when the band broke into their cover of Pantera's "Fucking Hostile" the venue became, for lack of a better term, fucking hostile. With ~120 cap, the bar was packed so when the pit opened, everyone knew it. People were being carried around (since there wasn't much area to crowdsurf), the first front row was nothing but a flurry of hair and the back was people on their toes trying to see the mayhem. It's hard to think of something that could top this, but apparently covering the infamous Amon Amarth song "Twilight of the Thunder God" will do it. Although this was a release show for Raider, they showed off what the future held, filling out the rest of the setlist with a couple new songs "Sky Burial" and "Ravenous Hydra", but with the close of Raider's set, it was time for our second release set of the night.

Raider's Setlist:
1. Nebulous
2. Phlebotomized
3. Ravenous Hydra
4. Fucking Hostile (Pantera Cover)

5. Sky Burial

6. Twilight of the Thunder God (Amon Amarth Cover)

7. Urge to Kill

          Just like Raider before them, Invicta were playing a release show for their recently released EP "The Executioner". Also along the same lines, the album is 4 tracks (5 with the intro) and doesn't quite fill out a 45 minute setlist. Majority of the EP was pumped out right away and the best thing about Melodic Death Metal is the pits, the pits are always a good idea and everyone in the venue knew it. If Raider didn't cause enough damage, Invicta took it a set up by showing off their level of influence even causing a more intense wall of death in a ~120 capacity venue where its about 15 strides wall to wall than I've seen in 900-1000 cap venues like the Mod Club and Opera House in Toronto. Invicta broke into a cover of "Sixpounder" by Children of Bodom, a generally underappreciated, yet still well known song and that pretty much set everyone off, the hair was flying and no where was safe. Luckily this is Metal and we don't need a safe space. Invicta showed off what would be coming in the future with "Halls of Execution" and "Infinite Aggression" and much like Raider, I wouldn't be too surprised to see the next release relatively soon. With everyone tired out though, Invicta called it a night.

Invicta's Setlist:

1. Hamartia

2. Prehistoric Suffocation
3. Forbidden Scriptures

4. Promise Land

5. Sixpounder (Children of Bodom Cover)

6. Halls of Execution

7. The Executioner

8. Infinite Aggression

Invicta "The Executioner" Review

          Kitchener-Waterloo is rich with new Metal over the first few months here in 2018. On top of that, certain musicians in the scene seem to need to be a part of every new album coming out. Today, we check out "The Executioner", the debut release from Death-Thrashers Invicta. This band made a splash last year with their debut show opening for The White Swan and have since had a few lineup changes, now we are at the brink of the release, so without any furthur hesitation, let's hop on into it.

          The album kicks off with "Hamartia"m which is simply just a Thrash Metal intro that leads into our first proper track, "Prehistoric Suffocation". The opening tack should do nothing but spell out the madness thats to come for you, this is a track full of Thrash Metal chaos, Melodic Death Metal groove, harmonizing guitar parts and of course, brutal solos. "Prehistoric Suffocation" starts off the album on a high note, but thats only one track.

          "Forbidden Scriptures" follows, this track is probably the strongest one on the album. The verse and the bridging portions all follow a very Thrash filled sound, the riffs are fast and brutalizing, the drums are fiercy and the vocals are aggressive. The chorus on the other hand is a lot more Melodic taking more of a page from bands like Amon Amarth and Children of Bodom or even some earlier Sodom. The other big standout track on the album is the title track, "The Executioner", which is just pure Thrash Metal mayhem. Think "Something Wild" or "Hatebreeder" era Children of Bodom and in both instrumentals and vocals, frontman Kyle Edissi seems to take many pages from Alexi Laiho the vocal style in general, although Laiho does have a higher tone, is the first giveaway. The pure aggression as well Edissi gives up some annunciation in turn for a more savage sound.

          If you're a fan of old school Thrash Metal and Death Metal, "The Executioner" will be right up your alley, if you're not, I'm a little confused why you read this far. Invicta release "The Executioner" on March 23rd and will be playing their release show on March 30th at The Boathouse in Kitchener alongside Raider, who will be doing a release show as well for "Urge to Kill", as well as Rippr'd and Woofout.

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: Cattle Decapitation, Revocation, Full of Hell and Artificial Brain "Inhuman Beings" Tour at The Opera House

        The Opera House is a venue that Metal fans in Toronto visit a lot, so many shows happen here, for good reason as it's an outstanding venue with great staff. It's Halloween night and Toronto is full of spooky people, but tonight Cattle Decapitation bring their "Inhuman Beings" tour through the city with Revocation, Full of Hell and Artificial Brain to show the Death Metaller's in the area how it's done.

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

        Like we said, it's Halloween and bands and fans alike are taking advantage of it. Artificial Brain opened up the show and I was stoked to finally see these guys live, their last album "Infrared Horizon" is a Death Metal monster you need to check out, and the band will be playing a handful of songs from both their albums tonight. Paulo Paguntalan took over vocals for the band tonight dressed up as a lovely lady donning a night pink dress and fluttering around stage flirting with the boys at the barricade. His vocals matched the band very well, makes sense why they picked him to fill in tonight, with the only real noticeable difference being his higher growls weren't as well annunciated as Will Smith's but nevertheless the band killed tonight. songs like "Anchored to the Inlayed Arc" and "Worm Harvester" were intense live, and right off the bat the crowd was ready to go with heads banging and the pit spanning a good chunk of the venues floor. After only 5 songs though, the band were done and left for the night, only to be seen again in the crowd all night enjoying the rest of the bands.

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

        Full of Hell hit the stage next with their blend of Experimental and Grindcore, the band were all wearing dippers showing off their legs tonight. Full of Hell didn't exactly stick out to me, the music had a lot of samples going on and while I understand the idea of Grindcore is to be fast and intense, the joke of "showed up 20 minutes late to a Grindcore concert, missed the first 3 bands" seemed inherently true. The band even pulled Paulo back on stage for a cover of Napalm Death's world record song "You Suffer" near the end of their show. I can't deny the band has fans, a ton of people were pushing their way through the crowd and into the pit and the pit pretty much hit full size during Full of Hell's set, but personally the band did nothing for me.

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

        Luckily, Revocation had the exact opposite effect on me and the band put on an outstanding show. Opening with the 80s Spider-Man Theme playing over the PA Spider-Man aka Dave Davidson entered the stand to introduce the rest of the Avengers before the band stated. Enter stage right Spider-Man, Spider-Man and Spider-Man who made up the entirety of Revocation. After about 5 minutes of joking around, the band broke into "Teratogenesis" and "Communion", the first single from their newest album "Great Is Our Sin", eventually the show was broken up with the Spider-Man Theme coming back and the band's stage hand entering to give Dave a different guitar dressed as a spider. After some joking about Spider-Man, not spider, man, the band continued their set and hit the song most fans were excited to hear, "Empire of the Obscene" the title track from the bands first album. Again later, the theme song came back and enter the band's stage hand as Spider-Woman, who decided afterwards to crowdsurf all the way from the stage to the back of the venue. With "Dismantle the Dictator" came the end of Revocation's set and a huge pit, a lot of crowd surfers and more spider jokes, but it was time fore the band to call it a night, and Spider-Mans exited stage right.

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole

        Last but not least of the Halloween festivities, our headliner and Death Metal masters, Cattle Decapitation. This is the second time I've managed to make it out to catch these guys and a far larger venue than last time (for all you Toronto locals, last time I saw them was the upstairs of Sneaky Dee's). If I had to guess this will be the bands last outing for their album "The Anthropocene Extinction" which the band played the majority of. Kicking off with fan favourite's "The Carbon Stampede" and "Dead Set On Suicide" the band hit the stage fast, each member outside of Travis Ryan dressed as another animal, Travis Ryan was dressed as the bands mascot, a goat headed creature draped in cloth very similar to the Grim Reaper, which only makes sense. For anyone unaware, the band have a habit of displaying the horrific nature of slaughter houses and animal life on farms being bred for slaughter and depicting humans in the same conditions. None is more obvious than when the band broke into "Not Suitable for Life" which was preceded by "The Burdon of Seven Billion" being played over the PA. The crowd was wild, the pit ate most of the floor and for anyone wanting to avoid it, you would have had to hide at the very far back of the venue, fans were showing the band what they had. Probably my favourite track off the new record and the first single "Manufactured Extinct" came near the end of the set and one thing interesting is the fact that the band has clean vocals in the song where you will see all the fans singing along. Before long though, after a chant for the band to reclaim the stage and "Your Disposal" was presented as our encore, the band called it a night and seeing everyone outside, while no one wanted to see it end, everyone was pleased with the set.

Photo Credit: Samantha Carcasole