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‘Faut qu’on commence? On commence maintenant?’; after a few sound tests the first act, Helene Barbier, skips the introductions and small talk and starts off the set with “Not so Impressed”. Her set combined a mixture of songs from her first album ​Something​ and newer songs like “Tidal Bore”. Her debut album ​Have you met Elliott?  is set to be released later this year under Higher Records. Barbier still has somewhat the same mellow garage rock vibe than her main band Phern, but without the upbeat or pop components. Even though she carried a rather shy stage presence, her use of repetitive yet catchy choruses and chords kept the audience engaged.

After a short break one of Gauche’s members, Perry Fustero, got on stage to perform his solo act Pearie Sol. The one man show is only performed with his synth keyboard, through which he delivered experimental and uptempo organ melodies that reflected his vibrant stage energy. Pearie Sol’s stage presence is perhaps his most remarkable quality, the wacky and quirky organ wouldn’t work as well without his zesty performance and yelping singing style. During songs like “Not Sure”, Pearie Sol dances while aggressively hitting his piano notes. His intense performance gives off the impression that he is completely immersed in his music while playing. Fustero played out his set in a continuous manner, the songs flowed one after the other with few abrupt endings. To finish off, Pearie Sol wrapped up his set by slowing down his rhythm with “ Love is for the Loving”. With the following, he gave a last raw performance; stepping away from quirky playful sounds, this last song presented more sorrowful lyrics and longer organ notes.

At last, Gauche got on the stage and brought an extensive array of instruments like a saxophone, bongos, chimes and maracas. They performed most of their debut album ​Get Away with Gauche​ in addition some to new songs. The DC natives make protest songs that incorporate post-punk with a variety of other genres like groove. Identifying as a feminist and anti-capitalism band, their lyrics tackle macroscale cultural issues. They opened their set with “Copper Woman” and then followed with “History” gradually stepping up the rhythm. Gauche’s political lyrics were felt through with their restless performance. One could feel the vehemence coming from Gauche’s singers, Daniele Yandel and Mary Regalado, when singing and shouting “​I hate Pizzagate Alex Jones, I hate you too Fuck you” during one of their newest songs “Conspiracy Theories”​. It didn't take long for everyone in the small intimate crowd—even shy people like me—to start dancing along to their rebellious anthems. When introducing their last song, Regalado enthusiastically brought out a second maraca, “we get two for this one”. They closed off the show with “Rectangle”, their longest and most instrumentally driven song. It features a captivating bridge that was much more potent live than on the recorded version. The song’s overwhelming instrumentals created the perfect chaotic ending to a powerful show.
All of Helene Barbier, Pearie Sol, and Gauche’s music can be found or downloaded on their Bandcamp profiles.

You're welcome: I have delved into the Tartarean pits of my inbox and brought back such wonders to behold. So wondrous are these wonders that even for the recounting of their wonder I can't help but say you're welcome.

Empath is emerging.

That's right, a new era of Devin Townsend succulence has dawned upon our sordid realm, and now that it is up in me, like a caring mother bird shall I regurgitate some digested scraps of it into your eager brain-maw. To think this time last year I was digging through Steve Vai's garbage, and now look at me.

I shall begin with broad strokes. The forecast was for eclectic weirdness, and it certainly weird and varied, but not in the indescribable way that Devvy seemed to think in his myriad announcements and lubing of our expectations. In my profesh opin Empath can be described rather succinctly:

Imagine if the “Mighty Masturbator” was written to be on Transcendence and then instead of just one track the whole album was that. There I did it can I lick your wrinkly skull now, you croc-wearing goof?

Thus is the acute strangeness of Empath: irrefutably bizarre, but nonetheless irrefutably Devv-ish. You can basically stop reading now, that was the best summary you're gonna get anywhere. For those who remain I shall reach deep into my gullet and satisfy your unseemly hunger further with a blow-by-blow of the record, so uhh... yeah. Here's that:

We open with “Castaway”, a tropical beach choir dealie that bleeds into “Genesis”, our call to adventure. If you're demented enough to even be here right now I'm going to assume you've seen both the “Genesis” and “Evermore” music vids. You know what's up, moving on.

“Spirits Will Collide” pops the power ballad cherry a little early in the game, but I see it as the “meeting the mentor” stage of our little hero's journey, ramping into the crossing of the threshold that is “Evermore”.

You know what, sure, let's push this monomyth bullshit 'til it breaks. “Sprite” has a road of trials-y vibe to it. It sure is proggy as hell, while also trying to be soundtrack to a children's movie? Yeah we're getting into the belly of the whale here fer sure bud you betcha. From that mathematical reverie we are snapped awake by some borderline “Strapping Young Lad” aggression with “Hear Me”. I'd be tempted to call this the central ordeal but we're still not at the halfway point so oops there goes Joseph Campbell. On the other hand Chad Kroeger is apparently harmonizing on the chorus so the memes tell me this has to be nadir of the record.

Then, out of nowhere we have “Why”. “Why” is aptly titled. Sure let's jump out of chuggy angry boi prog right into what is essentially musical theatre, played straight, no subversion or anything. Just, Devin singing something out of some unwritten musical. Okedoke.

After that, nothing can surprise you. “Borderlands” is the midpoint of our listen and it's an 11 minute upbeat... thing that meanders in and out various thoughtscapes but always returning to its core bend-at-the-knees-up-and-down groove until it dissolves into contemplation and bleeds into “Requiem”, itself a bookend to “Castaway” earlier featuring a cheeky reference to “Stormbending” off “Transcendence”.

Which brings us to “Singularity”, the final 23 minutes of this 74 minute behemoth. I'd point out the obvious, that Devin has finally gone mad enough to top “The Mighty Masturbator”, but interestingly it subdivides cleanly into six uneven parts. These parts obviously lean on each other seamlessly, if you don't know they're there you will miss the transitions, but they're discretely self-contained and more than just proggy ramblings. I don't know how to reconcile being a Devin Townsend fan who gets bored with proggy ramblings, but Singularity manages to hold my attention. Enough said.

Once I get my mittens on the bonus tracks I might deduce a clearer picture of what I just listened to, like a scientitian in the wilds digging through droppings for vital data on an elusive beast. Until then I shall have to remain mildly confused and titillated. Business as usual.

We here at CJLO love heavy metal, despite its many flaws. It’s not just a few bad apples spoiling the genre. Some cases are evidence of cultural intolerance infiltrating the scene, getting worse as the music becomes more extreme. This two-part series will examine the problematic nature of metal. We’re only scratching the surface here, the subject matter can fill books and multiple documentaries. But only by acknowledging the problem, can we change it for the better.

Although its roots are based in African-American blues and rock n’ roll, metal has attracted a number of white supremacists. Part one uncovers how the music is used to sell hate, and what a handful of individuals are doing to combat that racism.

Evolution of a Problem:

Since its inception, Heavy metal pioneers like Black Sabbath and Slayer have used Nazi imagery for the sake of being provocative. Lemmy of Motorhead was particularly controversial for collecting Nazi memorabilia, but he insisted he was only interested in the historical significance, and not the ideology. It wasn’t until the 1990s, that Nazism was taken seriously. The Norwegian black metal scene took it to the next level with acts of violence and terrorism. The most infamous perpetrator was Varg Vikernes of Burzum, and his transition from a Lord of the Rings nerd to Satanist to “Pagan Nationalist.” His many crimes include murder, arson of several churches and mailing a faulty letter bomb to Israeli band Salem. He and other Scandinavian black metal bands sought to return to their Pagan roots, writing songs of Viking armies conquering foreign foes. This led to the creation National Socialist Black Metal. The music style has been used an effective recruitment tool for far-right hate groups, operating in secret through record labels. European NSBM was later adopted in North America, building on the legacy of the racist skinhead band Screwdriver. It was rebranded as “hatecore” and was able to fly under the radar thanks to free speech laws. The racism in the lyrics was downplayed so that bands could reach a wider audience and headline mainstream music festivals.

the problem persists:

Just like the world today, racism in metal is subtle, but has occasional publicized outbursts. In 2016, Phil Anselmo of Pantera was caught on camera giving a Nazi salute and shouting “white power” at a concert. He claimed it was a joke, but his behaviour wasn’t the least bit surprising, considering the amount of confederate flags in Pantera’s album art. The same year, NSBM band Graveland were set to headline the Messe des Morts festival, but the show was shut down by anti-fascist protesters. Meanwhile, Varg Vikernes, a decade since being released from prison, has abandoned black metal and instead posts racist video rants on Youtube.

who is fixing the problem:

In response to NSBM, there has been a rise of explicit anti-racist black metal bands. Lyrics fantasize about executing racists like in “White Genocide” by Neckbeard Deathcamp and Gaylord’s “Neo-nazi Metalheads Will Be Hanged and Their Broken Corpses Openly Mocked.” This year was also the first installment of Black Flags Over Brooklyn, a festival dedicated to anti-racist extreme metal. Bands like Anal Trump (a parody side-project of Travis Ryan from Cattle Decapitation) have directly donated money made from record sales to organizations that support minority groups that have been hurt by the Trump administration’s policy.

People of colour are occupying more and more space in metal. Excluding the cringey white rappers of nu metal, artists are infusing heavy metal with hip hop to speak of the black experience. Some notable bands are Body Count—Ice T’s metal side project—and Ho99o9, who mix elements of trap, hardcore punk and industrial metal.

If you ever have suspicions of a certain band being racist, do your research. It sometimes only requires a Google search. Antifa networks have done a lot deep-diving on bands, often finding racist remarks made in interviews, old photos of band members sieg-heiling, or an association with NSBM record labels.

Chris Aitkens, aka The Frog, is the host of SEWER SPEWER on CJLO every Wednesday at 1pm. 

After discovering Hero’s Last Rite while doing my research form the Thrash Metal episode of the Iron Club, I was intrigued by the little heavy band from Fredericton, New-Brunswick. After exchanging a few emails, I got my first phone interview with singer Steve McDonald and here is the transcription of that phone interview.

JP Bernier : “I’m with Steve McDonald, frontman of Hero’s Last Rite, a band from New-Brunswick. Hi Steve, how are you?”

Steve Mcdonald : “I’m good and you?”

JP : “I’m pretty good, thank you. So, you guys formed in 2008?”

SM : “Yeah”

JP : “If there was one question you were tired  to be asked, which one would it be?”

SM : “One question that I would be tired to be asked? Hum… Well, I mean, we are not some huge big name, it’s not like we get asked too many questions but, when we do get interviewed, I guess that the one that is asked the most is when the new music’s coming out? Which is not something that I’m tired of hearing. I understand that people want to hear it but I think that’s the one [question] that we get asked the most.”

JP : “Okay, and what would be the answer to that question so people would stop asking it?”

SM : “ Typically, we are always working on music. We put out albums and by the time the album comes out, we already have two, three songs on the go. So we typically like to have maybe a two years span between albums, it used to be longer but we kind of shorten that up between the last few albums just because we are doing everything on our own, so we aren’t on anybody’s timeline. We basically tell them [the fans] that it’s coming, so people are starting to know that, in 2 years, the new album will be coming out.”

JP : “So it’s for soon? Since the last album came out in 2017.”

SM : “It will definitely be 2019, probably the end of summer or the fall for the brand new album.”

JP : “So I discovered you guys during my research for our Thrash themed-show on the Iron Club, and I had no idea how many bands were from the Maritimes. How is the metal scene in the Maritimes  for an outsider like me?”

SM : “It’s phenomenal! There is a lot of bands in general. Not just in the metal genre but there is a lot of rock bands, punk bands and stuff like that but, as far as the metal genre, it’s quite alive and well. We are actually doing a tour in May with three other populars bands ; Discord from Moncton, Death Valley Driver from  Prince-Edward-Island and Orchid’s Curse from Halifax and us, doing a kind of a four city run over a two weekend period. We did it twice before and it has always been successful so we are doing that again. But, even in our home town, there is probably four or five good working consistent bands, Moncton has a really good scene as well as Halifax, Charlottetown and Prince-Edward-Island. There is no shortage of bands,  I think one thing that there is a shortage of is the shortage of venues, I think everybody suffer from that, in their city at some point, venues open and close. But like I said, the is no shortage of great bands in our neck of the woods.”

JP : “ So you always have new music coming up and you are always rocking to some jams.”

SM : “Oh yeah! Absolutely, yeah!”

JP : “So a lot of your members were ex-members of Obsidian Reign. Was it the origin of Hero’s Last Rite and, if not, how Hero’s Last Rite came to be?”

SM : “Obsidian Reign started in 2003, it was myself and Mike Davidson who plays guitar for us and and other fellow that was on the drums and we played  the three of us and then, our old bass player, Paul Vidal, was in it as well and then, 6 months into 2003, we got Dan Rogers, our current drummer. So we did that for about 5 years and there was another fellow in the band playing guitar, we splitted with him and he moved away and we then just decided to kinda break away from Obsidian Reign, change our sound pretty drastically, just a different kind of approach with the way we wrote music, that was in 2008. After that, Tim Gorman, who was with the band from about 10 years, I met in in 2009 and he left last year, on good terms. He wanted to focus on other things. That put us as a four-piece, Paul Vidal leaving 4 years ago, and we are in the process on writing our first album as a four-piece. It’s going good, the music kinda got a little bit of a change to it, we are focusing on not being as heavy or brutal kind of our last album or the one before that. I’m changing a little bit of my singing stuff, more clean singing, stuff like that. That’s where we are in 2019.”

JP : “ So a lot of great stuff coming up then! You talked about the change in the writing process between Obsidian Reign to Hero’s Last Rite, so what is the writing process with Hero’s Last Rite?”

SM : “ With us right now, it’s very collaborative between all four of us. Mike, our guitar player, writes all of the music, he will bring the ideas to us and usually, it’s either the full song will be done and no work is needed or little tweaks needed will be done or we will just completely rearrange the whole thing but he is definitely is the primary music writer. He brings everything to the table and we just work on it, practicing kinda hammering it out and tweaking it as we kinda see fit and then I throw lyrics over it, then we hammer it out and usually, after a couple of practice, it’s good to go!”

JP : “So it’s pretty simple.”

SM : “Yeah, it’s simple. After 17 years of working together, we know each other and the way we work, It helps.”

JP :  “After 17 years, it a good thing to be able to understand each other.”

SM : “ Yeah!”

JP : “So you guys are having a lot of shows in the Maritimes, did you do any shows outside of New-Brunswick, Moncton and the like?”

SM : “Yeah, well, with Hero’s Last Rite, we haven’t. With Obsidian Reign, we did get to Montreal and Toronto. We played down there a couple of times. Not to say we don’t want to, it’s hard, we all have wives and kids and houses and all that, not to use it as an excuse but it’s just kind of the way it is with getting time off from work now to go on trips like that. It’s not something that is out of the realms of possibility cause we all say that we want to do it, it’s just a matter  of booking the show and we know people in those areas, like in Montreal, in Toronto and in Ottawa. So who knows? WE always say this time around, we’ll go, we’ll make it to Montreal, we have friends of ours that goes to Montreal all the time, like Discord out of Moncton. They’re in Montreal and Ontario almost every year so it may be an option to ride on their coattails. I don’t know, we all talked about it over a beer but whether it happens or not is a possibility.”

JP : “Something to look up to in a near future.”

SM : “ Absolutely!”

JP : “What do you think would your most popular song, as of right now?”

SM : “Our most popular songs would be the ones that we did  the videos for. Viral Judgement off our Mirror’s Face album usually get a pretty good pop at shows, because people are a little familiar with it because there is an official video up for it. And I’m Atomic, we have a video for that, we don’t really play that one anymore live, we haven’t in a couple years but that always get a good pop. Those two, Viral Judgement and Generation Why off of Mirror’s Face are probably two of our more popular ones.”

JP : “ Why do you think they are more popular than the others?”

SM : “They’re quite catchy, quite accessible. If you just feel like going and banging your head to a metal song, those ones are gonna do it. They allow the headbang to pretty easily, it’s just the beat, I don’t know how that works but they just seem to be the ones that get the most pop whenever we play them.”

JP : “My favorite of yours is Wasted Prayers, it’s the one i played on the show for our Thrash episode. I just wanted to know what is the meaning behind the song. I have looked up the lyrics, but I couldn’t quite find the meaning.”

SM : “When I write lyrics, I like to do my own lyrics and then, everybody else kinda pull their own meaning out of it. That one, it’s more or less calling out people who try to be holier than now, they present this persona of themselves being good religious persons yet, will stab you in the back at the first moment they get. So it’s basically calling out those people. I’m not really a religious person, I respect people that are religious. It’s not a call out to religion itself, it’s a callout to people that claim to be very pious and religious and yet turn around and don’t act as a person. That where that song is coming from.”

JP : “Is the religious scene in New-Brunswick and in the Maritimes big? Because in Quebec, it’s been in decline for 10 years now.”

SM : “I don't know. [laughs] I have no idea. I don’t follow the scene too well. My parents are religious but I kind of  stepped away from that when I became an adult. I don’t know, I guess? there are churches everywhere.”

JP : “ So it would be a good research to do?”

SM  : “ Exactly, to see what the numbers are!”

JP : “Now, a more sillier question. If you were a Disney character, which one would you be and why?”

SM : “ Well, I would like to think that I would be Goofy, because he seems like he has a good time and gets away with it.”

JP : “That’s true! My last question is what can you expect from the new album that might be coming around in the spring of 2019 or the summer of 2019?”

SM : “It’s a little bit different, we went a different root with this one. It’s not going to be as  brutal and heavy, my singing is is gonna have very little growly stuff, maybe some background vocals will be kinda growls but the main vocal that I’m doing are very clean in a vein of Tool, that kind of clean. I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration for my vocals from bands like Tool and singers like Russell Allen from Symphony X. Not that i can sing like that but the way he present his vocals style and the way he plays with his own voice with almost a falsetto, it’s something that I’m really trying to capture with this one. As far as the guitar work, it slowed down a little bit but it still got a heavy undertone. If I can compare it to something, we are trying to be like Tool or that kind of band, not regarding the time signatures but being clean with heavy undertone.”

JP : “Do you have anything else to add ?”

SM : “Oh, just thanks so much for the support! We really appreciate it. It’s always great when someone from another province reaches out to us so we really thank you for that.”

JP : “Well, I thank you for being the most welcoming band, it’s not the word I’m looking for but it’s the only one that comes to mind. You guys were great. I didn’t believe it when you kept replying to my emails back to back.”

SM : “It’s too bad that more bands don’t do that! [laughs]

JP : “You were the most reponsive bands of the ones i contacted for Metal March. You guys are awesome!”

SM : “Great, great! Well, we appreciate it and if there is anything you need from us in the future or whatever, we will definitely support you guys, show you guys on our page and such.”

JP : “So if I go on a trip in the Maritimes, I’ll come visit you guys!”

SM : “Yeah, send us an email, absolutely! I’ll put you up in the house, I’ve got a great big house.”

JP : “Alright, thank you”

SM : “Thank you, talk to you later!”

JP Bernier is the Co-Host of The Iron Club, airing on Wednesdays at 3pm.