Sunday 3 August 2014

RRROOOAAARRR DAY 2 - August 2nd - Blasphemy/Black Witchery/Innumerable Forms/Funebrarum/Hellacaust/Oath @Sala Rossa, Montréal


By Calum Fraser, Stéphane Pilotte and Antoine Richard

Day 2

The second day of the festival at the Sala Rossa, this time it's a death and black metal night with some newcomers and some cult classics. The weird fat chick who was attempting to mosh yesterday was there but only outside sleeping, chainsmoking and panhandling as she probably didn't have the cash to enter the venue. A funny sight.

Oath (9:00-9:20)

Oath, a new Sherbrooke death metal band opened the gig, they were pretty energetic and they had stage presence. The ripped handsome singer was pretty good and the drums are excellent. Nothing overly special but their blend of dirty, catchy old school death metal works. They need to release something already though, the singer said that a six songs release is almost done so that's good news. One of the most promising Quebecois band.

7 juice monkeys out of 10

Hellacaust (9:40-10:00)

From Stéphane's hometown of Halifax, these greasy death/black metal dudes played a bunch of groovy songs with cool solos with thrash and crust influences. Half their set was new songs and it's cool to hear new stuff from them after a six years studio break. They definitely know how to compose catchy stuff and the crowd seemed to be into them.

7 Trailer Parks out of 10

Hellacaust


Funebrarum (10:20-10:50)

One of our most anticipated band of the festival, these old school death metallers from New Jersey played a fucking pristine set. Veterans of the American East Coast scene with members or ex members of Disma, Incantation or Evoken. They managed to get a good pit going and the singer was very damn engaging. They had a short set but they made the best of it, “Depths of Misery” was a real highlight, they need to come back to Montreal and play a full set!

9,5 Martin Brodeur out of 10

Funebrarum


Innumerable Forms (11:10-11:40)

A one man band formed by Justin DeTore (Magic Circle, Soul Swallower...) but helped on stage by 2 Mammoth Grinder members. They were probably the most sonically massive band and the Justin has a very good stage presence. They played a cover from a Swedish band (no idea who was it though) and it very intense. Chris from Mammoth Grinder has a permanent grumpface, smile motherfucker. The band needs to release a full length already!

8 permanent massive grumpfaces out of 10

Black Witchery (????-1:30)
These make-up loving manchildren took forever to get onstage and the delay was in no way worth it. The drummer looked chronically butthurt, constantly experiencing technical difficulties. Not that his drumming was in any way worthwhile. He just blasted along haphazardly, playing the same beat for the entire song (with a terrible tone to boot). The band tried so hard to come off as evil and cold, but in the end they sounded boring and looked profusely goofy. Some would say they're a chaotic force (*cough*Tony*couch*), but what they did was a lame excuse to play generic, samey monotonous horseshit for 45 minutes straight. They made the whole show almost an hour late because they took too long to apply their makeup. The only bad part of this evening.

4 Make Up Wearing Manchildren out of 10

Blasphemy (1:50-2:40 or so)

This shit right here more than makes up for Black Witchery. Just as impressive as their frenzied war metal assault was their truly imposing stage presence. Composed of huge powerlifters who would have no qualms about kicking your pansy ass, these behemoths played with purpose. For some inexplicable reason, there was this one incredibly massive dude who looked straight out of WWE standing on the side of the stage looking scary for the duration of the set. Metal can sometimes be silly in how exaggerated everything seems, but this was over the top in the best way humanly possible. They didn't look like some skinny basement dwellers trying to look evil, these guys are probably of the ilk you would meet in a maximum security lockup.

9 Jacked Up Ross Bay Cemetery cultists out of 10



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