While contemporary heavy groups are busy hugging trees and familiarizing themselves with legal botany, Assimilation occupy themselves with cultivating relentlessly crushing death metal. Often operating with beers in hand, the quartet finds an odd but fitting balance between crushing sonics and laid back attitudes. Here's a look into what makes them tick.

The idea behind Mark Morton’s first solo album, Anesthetic, was to creat an album of songs that wouldn't fit in a Lamb of God release. In interviews, Morton has said that this album was written at a relaxed pace over a long period of time. It presents a body of work in a veritable variety of styles, though for the most part it does not stray too far from his work in the aforementioned Lamb of God.

If there’s a band that embodies the DIY spirit, Montreal trio Men I Trust could certainly claim it.  For example, until this year, the group would even ship their merch to fans while traveling between tour stops.

Since their single “Knocking At The Door” blew up in 2017, the Arkells have been making waves in Canada and abroad. The track and video had them nominated for best single and best video of the year at the 2018 Juno Awards and Nielsen Music announced Arkells were the second most popular Canadian rock band on Canadian radio that year, behind the Tragically Hip, of course.