Trois-Rivieres metal band Nova Spei release their third album, Trinitas, today on Bam & Co. Heavy, and bring it to Foufounes Electriques on Saturday 14 November with Burning Attic and Unless We Fight.
It is the band’s first album with vocalist Emmanuelle Desbiens-Dubois, who joined after the previous lead singer left, and the first they have recorded in a professional studio. Their two earlier records were produced in-house; the most recent, Sequentis, came out in November 2021.
Founding guitarist and principal songwriter Dany Soucy says the lineup change weighed on the writing. “Writing Trinitas was both a challenge and a burden. There was the fear of not being able to compose an album that would do justice to its predecessor,” he says. “The departure of the previous lead singer had a significant emotional impact, and having to rebuild a new dynamic was somewhat daunting. In the end, it was the change Nova Spei needed to get back on its feet and move forward into another chapter of its life.”
The album was produced and mixed by Francis Perron, whose credits include Voivod and Martyr, and mastered by Maor Appelbaum, who has worked with Faith No More and Yes. Soucy says the plan was a follow-up in the style of Sequentis, but the sessions with Perron moved toward “a much more organic approach, prioritizing groove simplicity to hook the listener more easily despite the overall aggression.” On the new voice, he says: “Choosing a female voice for the lead vocals has significantly boosted the intensity we were aiming for.”
Across 13 tracks, the lyrics deal with addiction, betrayal, depression, manipulation, trauma, Indigenous experiences and personal rebirth. Renaissance tells the story of the band’s own struggles and comeback. Déraciné centres on Indigenous experience, and Enterré Vivant is the lead single, with a video. The instrumental Résonance is about the lasting impact of loss, and the closer, Draps Blancs, follows a routine medical procedure that ends in tragedy.
Soucy formed Nova Spei in 2012. The band’s first big run was as direct support for Anonymus on their 2017 Quebec tour, and they have since played more than 100 shows in Quebec and Ontario. Their music has also been played during Montreal Canadiens games at the Bell Centre.
The Montreal show is part of a Quebec run that starts tonight in Trois-Rivieres and continues into December.
Lineup
- Emmanuelle Desbiens-Dubois, vocals
- Dany Soucy, guitar
- Cédrick Charland, lead guitar
- Nicolas Dumais, bass
- Julien De Carufel, drums
Trinitas tour dates
- 6 November · Le Nord-Ouest, Trois-Rivieres, with Insurrection and Unless We Fight
- 7 November · Paradox, La Baie, with Matante Mutante and Unless We Fight
- 13 November · Source de la Martiniere, Quebec City, with Unpunished and Unless We Fight
- 14 November · Foufounes Electriques, Montreal, with Burning Attic and Unless We Fight
- 5 December · Le Murdoch, Sherbrooke, with Carry The Cross and Castor
