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Ashbreather, a new and upcoming Montreal band, has the potential of making it big, simply due to the amount of originality they hold. The fuel behind this driving force: they are non-stop writers, creating new and fresh music, song after song. Let’s dig into their newest self-titled release, Ashbreather.

The album begins with a somber atmospheric feeling as if being pulled into a journey, like as if one is rising from the grave and coming back to Earth. Right off the bat, the opening track titled “Lonely Graves” gives the album a fittingly-good introduction.

Once the instrumentation hits, you really do feel the liveness of the record itself as it breathes heavily with a stonery/progressive metal vibe screaming all over. Furthermore, the opening portion of the record features a shift in change of tempo that successfully hooks the listener into what Ashbreather has to offer.

Surprised upon my first listen, I noticed that all the songs go into one another, which is a nice touch that most albums do not usually tend to have these days. Ultimately, I applaud Ashbreather for bringing that classic feeling back.

Very similar to Between the Buried and Me’s self-titled debut album, Ashbreather uses elements that bring that album format back, and put in a new spin on it. Throughout the record you realize you are locked into an engaging listening experience like none-other. 

Additionally, there are a lot of energetic and hyped-up moments throughout the album. These hit you like a brick, making you just want to mosh in your room, even if you would look like a fool doing so. I know I’ve made a fool of myself while listening to this record!

A lot of the guitar work is done through Mackay Agellon's signature style with a lot of influence from bands like Mastodon, Gojira, and Opeth, which is very noticeable throughout Ashbreather's songwriting. Agellon’s ability to write crushing guitar riffs that blow your mind is unparalleled.

Furthermore, some of the tracks on this record showcase a lot of amazing vocal work done by lead singer Ben Lavoie. He has an amazing vocal range which is very similar to other singers like Dave Mustaine of Megadeth or Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth. Additionally, the backing vocals from bassist Charles Richards and Colin MacAndrew offer a nice touch. Fun fact: each of the four members perform some vocal duties on the record.

Noticeably, there are a lot of technical aspects on this record, but the band can still write catchy and simpler songs. The radio-friendly “Save Me the Sorrows” track is a great exercise of what this band is capable of when they want to write a single that gets them on the map.

The highlight of the whole entire album is “Shake Hands With a Knife”. I do not know how they created that song, but it's crazy and all over the walls. The track ultimately showcases what this band can do together, showing that they have the ability to create things that are complex and that can boggle the mind. This showcases the fact that they can write a very long progressive song that exceeds the regular listening time, but still holds itself together in a matter that pleases the listener.

Overall, this album will be a big hit for those who love progressive metal/sludge.

Everyone should be on the lookout for Ashbreather, because they will be taking the world by storm. Ultimately, the band demonstrated here that they are very efficient with their music, know how to craft great songs, that they can appeal to an audience, all while showing a lot of professionalism.

2020 will be the year of Ashbreather.

Final score: 10/10

Phil hosts Turn on the Darkness every Wednesday from 1:00-2:00PM. Tune in for the best of progressive metal and shreddy guitars, only on CJLO 1690 AM.

Photo Credit: IMDb

What can be said about The Rolling Stones that can make this Rock and Roll band seem Metal, besides their longevity as a band that still tours or those Keith Richards memes. It could be the band’s persona as the “Bad Boys” of Rock and Roll or the infamous Altamont Free Concert, which would later become known as a disaster. The band’s persona and the concert are the focus of Albert and David Maysles documentary, Gimme Shelter (1970). From these two themes we can analyze this documentary from a Metal perspective. 

Even though they are a Rock and Roll band, the persona of The Rolling Stones can be seen as the “Bad Boys” of Rock and Roll, with The Beatles on the polar opposite of the spectrum. The Rock and Roll lifestyle of alcohol and drugs are on display, both with the band and fans partaking in this lifestyle. The band has a Hard Rock aesthetic that is also associated with the genre of Metal. Their thematics have a darker tone than the regular light Rock and Roll fare with songs like “Paint It Black” and “Sympathy For The Devil”.  They have their own onstage persona to go alongside their performances, just as a Metal band have their own onstage personas. 

The Altamont Free Concert was a recipe for disaster when you factor in that it was a free concert that could not hold everyone that was coming. Add  the lifestyle of some of the fans of the music, including alcohol and drugs use, and you have a concert that might get out of hand. As for security, they hired The Hells Angels, who were also participating in the drinking and the drugs. Even before the Stones took to the stage there were violent altercations happening, notably between one of The Hells Angels and the male lead singer of Jefferson Airplane, Marty Balin. Once the Stones took the stage, the concert had gotten way out of hand as one of the fans rushed the stage during “Under My Thumb” that led  security to violently remove him, resulting in his death. 

Not the normal scene you will see at a concert going experience, whether it being Rock and Roll or Metal. However, the Maysles capture the chaos of the event and playback the video footage to The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, who seems distraught by the events of the Altamont Free Concert. Jagger is also seen pleading with the crowd for 
peace and civility between song sets. But, based on the lifestyle that surrounded the band and their fans, the outcome of their Altamont Free Concert could have been predicted. 

This is the last segment of Metal My Movie for Metal March. Got a movie suggestion for next seasons Metal My Movie then send them to atmovies@cjlo.com. 

Anchor: Luca Caruso-Moro

Writer: Hadassah Alencar

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Thousands screen for COVID-19

On its opening day, the first coronavirus screening center in Montreal tested over 2,000 people.

This was at the Place des Festivals clinic, where no appointment is needed to test.

Instead, people only need to show symptoms of COVID-19, like a fever, dry cough or trouble breathing.

Quebec cases of COVID-16 have hit 1339 as of Wednesday afternoon. 

China lifts lockdown

After a two month quarantine in the province of Hubei in China, residents experiencing no cold symptoms are free to go outside.

The city of Wuhan, where the virus was first recorded, is the capital of the Hubei province and will remain quarantined until early April.

According to Chinese authorities, the rate of cases has drastically subsided with the Hubei province not recording any new infections for over a week.

The Canadien lay off 

The company that owns the Canadiens hockey team has announced they will lay off 60 per cent of their staff. 

Coaches and scouts will continue to receive their full salary. NHL players will also receive their full salary during the regular season.

All other employees will receive 80 per cent of their base salary for an eight week period.

Photo Credit: Chris Romano

As you may or may not know, I’m the Metalcore enthusiast at CJLO. Go ahead, call me a “poser” all you want. There is nothing better then a good Metalcore song during these quarantine times, where the only moshpit you might see is a hole in you wall with mushrooms growing out of it.

Since we are still in March and we enjoy our Metal music at the station, I decided to write this article explaining why Metal elitist fans don't like my favorite genre. Of course, this article is going to be biased. I’m listening to Parkway Drive, Norma Jean and August Burns Red while writing this but, I’ll try to be as objective as possible. Here are the four reasons why Metalcore is hated by Metal elitists.

1. A middle finger to two communities

The term Metalcore emerged in the 90s, when a few bands started mixing thrash and hardcore punk together. These artisits borrowed the screaming vocals and the breakdowns from Hardcore and the riffs from Metal.

We can compare Hardcore Punk, or just Punk, and Metal to the Capulets and the Montagues, making Metalcore Romeo and Juliet. Punk and Metal fans have been buttheads in the past, being very proud of their respective communities. 

When some hardcore bands (which are punk bands that pushed the genre characteristics to the extreme) started using a more “metallic” sound was when the term metalcore first emerged.

To put it simply, both Punks and Metalheads are proud elitists of their genre. So, when metalcore came along, it was the bastard union of the two; making it the obvious scapegoat for the two communities. Since Metalcore takes a bit more of the Punk (with the screamed vocals and the breakdowns) compared to metal (the guitar riffs), it’s normal that the elitist Metalheads won’t welcome it into the community.

2. It’s too accessible

Let’s face it: metal elitists are hipsters. And what do hipsters do? They hate on anything that is too trendy or too accessible to the general public. As an example, you can take my girlfriend, who loves bands like I Prevail and Beartooth, but has some trouble getting into Mayhem, Asphyx or Darkthrone. 

Death Metal, Black Metal and the such aren’t for everyone, either because it’s too heavy, too fast or too dark for the general public.

Metalcore is a mix of Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk, using melodic riffs to mix it with some breakdowns and some hardcore screaming vocals. To the general youth, it’s kind of way to express some frustration, to rebel a little (not that you can’t do it while listening to some Darken Death Doom metal.)

Metalcore has gotten even more accessible with the Punk Goes Pop trend as few years back where a lot of Metalcore bands took songs like “Glad You Came”, “Bad Romance”, “I Kissed A Girl”, “Wrecking Ball”, and made a metalcore cover of it. 

I remember back in 2014, the local news in Montreal (a.k.a CTV) talked about I Prevail’s cover of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space”. Of course, when something related to music gets on the news, it’s more accessible to everyone (with the exception of some people burning churches.)

3. The Influence of Emo and Pop on the genre

Some bands seem to be more hated than others. The first one that comes to mind is Bring Me the Horizon (BMtH). There hasn’t been a social media platform where I haven’t seen some people destroying Oliver Sykes and his band. Why? Two reasons mostly.

Reason number 1 - They have too many connections to the emo/scene movements
Reason number 2 - Their latest album(s) being too influenced by pop

One thing that I need to mention about BMtH is that they used to be a Deathcore band when they first started. As you go through their repertoire, you can see that it's pretty diverse from years to years. As they went through different phases, they went through different genres, but some themes remained through it all: the heartbreak, the hurting and all the edgy stuff usually associated with emo and scene.

They might have been the one that brought all the cringy emo fanbases into metalcore, or it might have been Falling in Reverse. Who really knows for sure? One thing is for sure. Most people went through some phases when they were younger and a lot of them are ashamed of themselves and cringing while looking at some old pictures. Elitist metalheads are kinda doing the same with the Metalcore cringy emo fanbase, some of its more emo bands like Bring Me the Horizons.

To add insult to injury, BMtH’s last album Amo (stylized as amo) mostly consisted of pop music, with a few Metal/Rock tints here and there. That kind of finished digging their grave for Metalheads, as pop is the most accessible and the most commercial genre that exist. The album wasn’t bad per say, it was better than most pop that airs on the radio these days in my opinion, but it wasn’t metal.

4.    All the bands sounds the same

This last argument will also be a wrap up so bare with me. One of the most used argument against Metalcore is that all of its bands sound the same, which I would have to agree with to a certain degree.
To its defense, Metalcore became really popular around 2005 to 2010-ish. That was when all the social medias and streaming platforms started being popular too. Since a lot of bands became popular from Myspace (such as Black Veiled Brides, Bring Me the Horizon, Hollywood Undead, Job for a Cowboy and Suicide Silence to name a few). You would think that a lot of others would soon follow their tracks, hoping to become as successful. With the commercial success Metalcore had around 2010, it is understandable that a lot of bands would want the same as many other well established Metalcore bands on the market.

We also live in an era where the music industry is over saturated. Everyone can make decide to be a singer, make a band and start posting music on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music or other music streaming platforms. A lot of Pop or Rap artists sounds the same. Metalcore is the most commercially successful genre of Metal. Therefore, it only makes sense that bands try to copy others’ sound to become successful.

I have seen a lot of people on forums (jazz musicians, metal critics and others) say that Metalcore was simple, unstimulating and generic. Well, this is where we can praise Bring Me the Horizon. Even though their last album was heavily criticized by Metalheads for being more Pop than Rock or Metal, it seemed to start a wave in the world of Metalcore. More and more bands started tweaking their sound in different ways, seemingly searching for something more unique and more personal. While looking to be the gateway band to get people into Rock, this shook the world of metalcore and challenged some bands to modify their sometimes-well-established sound to find a new voice.

In the end, you can like whatever genre of metal you want. But, if you think Metalcore is more Punk than Metal and that makes it "not Metal enough" or "heavy enough", follow the advice that Lzzy Hale, the lead singer of the rock band Halestorm, gave me during an interview. Go see a live show before you judge or say anything about it. You always get a better idea of a genre after seeing it live a few times then listening to a few albums on Spotify.

Jean-Phillppe aka JP, is the co-host of The Iron Club check them out every Sunday at 10pm.