On a Tuesday evening at the legendary club Foufounes Electriques, a brutal death metal show was awaiting the small, gathered crowd of faithfuls. Gates to Hell and Sentenced 2 Die were bringing the Maggot Stomp death metal tinged hardcore to devastate us with heavy brutal riffs mixed in with tons of breakdowns.
The opening band was BoneBearer, a new Montreal death metal band in the same vein as our touring bands. This was their second show and their EP release show. I had listened to their singles that were released, and I greatly anticipated their set. They ended up being my favourite band of the evening; they infused classic death metal sounds with hardcore attitude and a lot of interesting guitar melodies with some subtle black metal influences.
Their vocalist, Sam, was an absolute beast on stage, snarling and growling over the brutality provided by the crushing down-tuned guitar. They brought some inflatable baseball bats and balls for their set, which ended up being used for some friendly crowd-killing. I strongly suggest you check out their self-titled EP released this week, whether you are a fan of death metal, deathcore or hardcore, you should give this album a listen. So far, it has made my personal shortlist of best EPs of the year. As a fun little side note, they had a PS2 with a small television hooked up at their merch table with some classic games for all the fans to enjoy between bands.
Up next were local death metal/hardcore veterans Primal Horde, and the crowd was hyped up for them as they always are. Their set started with their standard intro of their singer wearing a chain mail coif banging a drum over what they describe as caveman death metal riffs. It was a set filled with slow, heavy death metal beats as the crowd moshed quite violently. Primal Horde creates extreme music to make you want to mosh hard, and everyone participated earnestly. They ended their set with their classic song “Poser Disposer,” asking the crowd to dance even harder. Primal Horde always delivers live and are always worth catching. If you haven’t had the chance, check out the newest split EP with Scorching Tomb. Their song, Dungeon Stomp, is an absolute banger!
Sentenced 2 Die from Minneapolis is a band with a lot of hype, and everyone in this scene is anticipating their full-length album, which should be dropping sometime this year. There is a perfect mix here of the classic death metal sound with plenty of headbanging moments. I greatly enjoyed the melodic touches the guitarists added to the brutal rhythms. They played some of the new songs from their forthcoming album, which sounded fantastic. They played a lot of great tracks, including “Tortured Guilt” and “Manifestations of an Infection,” but the outright stand-out song was “Bestial Deformity,” where the vocalist switches up his usual deep growls to an almost monk-like chanting in the middle of the track. I wasn’t familiar with them, and it was a great musical discovery.
Our headliner for the evening was Gates to Hell from Louisville. In the same vein as the other bands this evening, they offered a last brutal death metal onslaught. The band delivers punishing old-school death metal with heavy, brutal slam riffs with samples interjected. They offered a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the small, gathered crowd that was left on this Tuesday evening.
I’d like to thank the guys from BoneBearer for the invitation to the show. It was a very successful evening of brutality for all.
Review – Jason Maher
Photos – Jessica Toupin
