Rawkin: Thrashing head-banging party in Forwell Hall
This past Friday's New Music Night, the metal heads, and head banging, thrashing, moshing population of Fanshawe came together for a night of demonic voices, great music and a big party! Although this particular night had a cover, priced at a student-friendly cost, Forwell Hall transformed into a full-blown mosh pit. The three bands performing were Desiccated Viscera, Terrorhorse and Baptized In Blood.
As a metal head, I was looking forward to the evening. I approached this differently because I was not familiar with any music from the bands. Not knowing what I was in for was very exciting. Fresh perspectives and pleasant surprises became the best tools I had to review the performances and the music!
Desiccated Viscera is a very new band — this show being their third ever. The band is made up of Wes Taylor — guitars/backing vox; Derek Ward, vox/bass; Shane Addison — guitars; and Darryl Stephens — drums. They classified themselves as “a straight-forward melodic death metal band in the classic style.” They mentioned that it's hard to classify metal because of the many sub-genres. The band currently listens mostly to new and old metal. They are currently working on writing new songs and becoming tighter as a band. Having only three shows under their belt, they don't have a huge fan base as of yet and are working towards getting one through more live performances.
Finding out how new of a band they were I was interested in how that was going to play out on stage. They started out very strong with a hard in-your-face song G.O.D., and even though the crowd was not very big yet, the students were digging the tune. The show suffered a few glitches — a broken guitar string and an issue with the kick drum — but they managed to keep the crowd interested.
Ward as the lead vox and bass player pretty much needed to stay in centre stage but his performance was still energetic and his growling and screaming was very consistent. Taylor was very electrifying, doing most of the head-banging and his back-up vocals matched Ward's vocals. The crowd could see that they have it together. This may be a band to look for in the coming year.
Next was Terrorhorse and they gave a very serious interview in the greenroom. Matt MacIntosh — guitar; Richard LeBlanc — guitar; Zach Sullivan — vox; and Cameron Fleury — drums; and Aaron Van Duynhoven — bass. They are currently doing a 15-day, 10-show tour and are focused on being a serious full-time band. They are all committed 100 per cent into making touring and playing live music their main focus in life. They had just booted their lead vocalist because he was not as committed and didn't want to play certain smaller shows. They got Sullivan on vocals and it seems to be working for them.
I asked them what they classify themselves as and the response was, “Heavy shit from Canada!” MacIntosh and the rest of the band added most people would say they are a heavy deathcore metal band. Like Desiccated Viscera, they added it's too hard to classify metal and what they do.
I made the mistake of standing in the front row by the barricades for their set and I paid for it pretty quickly as people behind me were moshing hard. I stayed where I was for the duration of their set because I found them extremely interesting on the stage. They were using eight-stringed guitars and I believe it was a seven- or eight-stringed bass. For some bands this hampers their performance — it's as if they are making up for lack of talent. Other than a little drum trouble for Fleury, their set was extremely heavy, performance-driven and the music very complicated. The guitars complemented each other and both guys had mad skills. Yet I felt perhaps they were making it too complicated and using too many unnecessary tricks. The crowd seemed to disagree with me though as they continued to mosh while connecting with the band.
The main headliner was Baptized in Blood or BIB. This interview was a little chaotic — there were members from all three bands in the greenroom and the guys were all messing around. As much as they like to party they are a very serious band and had a lot to talk about. The band is made up of Johl Fendley — vox; Josh Torrance — guitar; Nick Bertelsen — guitar; Matt Harris — bass; and Alex Johnston, drums/vocals. These guys are from London, ON. The band has been together for around five years now. They started out by drinking beer and starting a metal band and here they are today.
The significance of their name came from one of their favourite bands of all time, Death, and on Death's bootleg EP is a song on it called Baptized In Blood. They were originally going with the name Baptized in Fire but that wasn't nearly metal enough and they thought of BIB and have been BIB ever since.
We started talking about what they are currently listening to and they all said, “Lady Gaga is the shit. She is doing what was done 20 years ago and no one else is really doing that now, at least not very well.”
They also had other influences including Anthrax, beer and Jagermeister. Success to them is when “the bills are paid… the kids know our words… big money.” Three songs to figure out who they are: “Next Stop Hollywood, lyrically tells you who the band is; Down and Out, shows you how we move in the sack; Up Shirts Down Skirts — good tune if you are a woman and how to work with us…” The structure of their music is straightforward 4/4 time and verse, chorus, verse, nothing too complicated.
This time I learned my lesson and I stayed on the wings of the stage so I wouldn't get killed by the moshers. They tore into their set with Kicken' and Fendley stage-diving into the mass of moshers, confetti, streamers, silly string, and inflatable beach balls of every size that the fans had a blast playing with. The band seemed to be loving it. Their stage performance is rehearsed and perfectly executed. They guys had throngs of fans headbanging in unison with them. They have a really good fan base and the energy coming from the crowd to the stage was electric. The end of the show they made an unofficial/official announcement that I'm not allowed to repeat, but look for it in the near future! The crowd went nuts when they heard it!
Their new album Gutter Bound is out now and is, lyrically and musically, a very strong album. The guttural demonic singing is a lot clearer than you might expect.
Feel free to email me any questions or comments and any burning questions you want answered from upcoming bands and I will add them to my ever-growing list of questions. Until next week keep on RAWKIN!
As a metal head, I was looking forward to the evening. I approached this differently because I was not familiar with any music from the bands. Not knowing what I was in for was very exciting. Fresh perspectives and pleasant surprises became the best tools I had to review the performances and the music!
Desiccated Viscera is a very new band — this show being their third ever. The band is made up of Wes Taylor — guitars/backing vox; Derek Ward, vox/bass; Shane Addison — guitars; and Darryl Stephens — drums. They classified themselves as “a straight-forward melodic death metal band in the classic style.” They mentioned that it's hard to classify metal because of the many sub-genres. The band currently listens mostly to new and old metal. They are currently working on writing new songs and becoming tighter as a band. Having only three shows under their belt, they don't have a huge fan base as of yet and are working towards getting one through more live performances.
Finding out how new of a band they were I was interested in how that was going to play out on stage. They started out very strong with a hard in-your-face song G.O.D., and even though the crowd was not very big yet, the students were digging the tune. The show suffered a few glitches — a broken guitar string and an issue with the kick drum — but they managed to keep the crowd interested.
Ward as the lead vox and bass player pretty much needed to stay in centre stage but his performance was still energetic and his growling and screaming was very consistent. Taylor was very electrifying, doing most of the head-banging and his back-up vocals matched Ward's vocals. The crowd could see that they have it together. This may be a band to look for in the coming year.
Next was Terrorhorse and they gave a very serious interview in the greenroom. Matt MacIntosh — guitar; Richard LeBlanc — guitar; Zach Sullivan — vox; and Cameron Fleury — drums; and Aaron Van Duynhoven — bass. They are currently doing a 15-day, 10-show tour and are focused on being a serious full-time band. They are all committed 100 per cent into making touring and playing live music their main focus in life. They had just booted their lead vocalist because he was not as committed and didn't want to play certain smaller shows. They got Sullivan on vocals and it seems to be working for them.
I asked them what they classify themselves as and the response was, “Heavy shit from Canada!” MacIntosh and the rest of the band added most people would say they are a heavy deathcore metal band. Like Desiccated Viscera, they added it's too hard to classify metal and what they do.
I made the mistake of standing in the front row by the barricades for their set and I paid for it pretty quickly as people behind me were moshing hard. I stayed where I was for the duration of their set because I found them extremely interesting on the stage. They were using eight-stringed guitars and I believe it was a seven- or eight-stringed bass. For some bands this hampers their performance — it's as if they are making up for lack of talent. Other than a little drum trouble for Fleury, their set was extremely heavy, performance-driven and the music very complicated. The guitars complemented each other and both guys had mad skills. Yet I felt perhaps they were making it too complicated and using too many unnecessary tricks. The crowd seemed to disagree with me though as they continued to mosh while connecting with the band.
The main headliner was Baptized in Blood or BIB. This interview was a little chaotic — there were members from all three bands in the greenroom and the guys were all messing around. As much as they like to party they are a very serious band and had a lot to talk about. The band is made up of Johl Fendley — vox; Josh Torrance — guitar; Nick Bertelsen — guitar; Matt Harris — bass; and Alex Johnston, drums/vocals. These guys are from London, ON. The band has been together for around five years now. They started out by drinking beer and starting a metal band and here they are today.
The significance of their name came from one of their favourite bands of all time, Death, and on Death's bootleg EP is a song on it called Baptized In Blood. They were originally going with the name Baptized in Fire but that wasn't nearly metal enough and they thought of BIB and have been BIB ever since.
We started talking about what they are currently listening to and they all said, “Lady Gaga is the shit. She is doing what was done 20 years ago and no one else is really doing that now, at least not very well.”
They also had other influences including Anthrax, beer and Jagermeister. Success to them is when “the bills are paid… the kids know our words… big money.” Three songs to figure out who they are: “Next Stop Hollywood, lyrically tells you who the band is; Down and Out, shows you how we move in the sack; Up Shirts Down Skirts — good tune if you are a woman and how to work with us…” The structure of their music is straightforward 4/4 time and verse, chorus, verse, nothing too complicated.
This time I learned my lesson and I stayed on the wings of the stage so I wouldn't get killed by the moshers. They tore into their set with Kicken' and Fendley stage-diving into the mass of moshers, confetti, streamers, silly string, and inflatable beach balls of every size that the fans had a blast playing with. The band seemed to be loving it. Their stage performance is rehearsed and perfectly executed. They guys had throngs of fans headbanging in unison with them. They have a really good fan base and the energy coming from the crowd to the stage was electric. The end of the show they made an unofficial/official announcement that I'm not allowed to repeat, but look for it in the near future! The crowd went nuts when they heard it!
Their new album Gutter Bound is out now and is, lyrically and musically, a very strong album. The guttural demonic singing is a lot clearer than you might expect.
Feel free to email me any questions or comments and any burning questions you want answered from upcoming bands and I will add them to my ever-growing list of questions. Until next week keep on RAWKIN!
