A Night of Black Metal, Power, and Prowess in Thee Frozen Land – Newfoundland!
September 2nd, 2023, The Rockhouse on George Street in St. John’s Newfoundland Canada was set ablaze with one of the most epic displays of metal to ever grace these rocky shores. With thanks to Nicholas Baker of Grenadier for putting it all together, for Grenadier supplying the gear, and Jordan Kelly for bringing the Newfie pride from away into a savage black metal line-up.
The bands: Hometown heroes Grenadier (see Trumpets Blare in Blazing Glory album review here) are the best death metal group to ever come off the island. Adam Sharr’s powerful deep growling vocals are reminiscent of Napalm Death’s early era Barney Greenway during Harmony Corruption but not being segregated to just one style. The guy can hit screeching highs as witnessed on upcoming material and also delivers clear power metal vocals on covers such as Manilla Road’s ‘Crystal Logic’. This dude’s range is insane and vast. Sharr also has a black metal side project titled Nocturnal Prayer (see Mutilation on the Bed of Winter album review here) which is some sick ass old school black metal. I was also fortunate enough to check out a couple solo acoustic tracks Sharr released on Bandcamp which are impressive as hell.
Harry Clarke, the Newfoundland giant is a metal staple in such bands as Firereign, Allagash, Emblem, and others. His low-end bass keeps everything flowing and even possesses a well heard melody reminiscent of Iron Maiden especially when I watched clips from Grenadier’s live performance at the Messe Des Morts Metal Festival in Montreal, Quebec. The bass was so upfront and sounded impressive as hell there.
Nicholas Baker is a maestro on the guitar. Massive crunching melodic riffs galore grace your ears accompanied with Chris Rogers also sharing guitar duties. Jordan Walsh absolutely annihilates the drum kit, blast beats, mid-paced tempos, fills and everything in between. Signed to the infamous Drakkar Records in France, played at Steelfest in Finland and have garnered a solid following in the metal scene.
Jordan Kelly is a formidable force in metal himself, blasting the hypercans for the successful Spectral Wound (see review of A Diabolic Thirst album here) and constantly touring with the band worldwide. Also fronting the blistering band Profane Order (see One Nightmare Unto Another album review here), and his solo black metal endeavor Grole (see Demo album review here). Grole is a homage to his love for all things Newfoundland. The guy is multifaceted and has a ton of projects including his one-man hardcore band, Jock.
A native of Marystown, Newfoundland located on the Burin Peninsula, Kelly currently resides in Montreal, Quebec. Quebec being the mecca of all things metal in Canada hailing successful big groups such as Gorguts. Kelly basically made a black metal Newfoundland tribute band in Grole even including a deadly ol’ into to A Pike Upon My Shoulder record titled ‘Thee Frozen Land’ which is a blend of the traditional Newfoundland song ‘Saltwater Joys’ by Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers as well as the Newfoundland anthem ‘Ode to Newfoundland’. This would be the first live performance featuring the Grole material and using the Grenadier b’ys as his band. Like the song says: “We love thee frozen land!!!”
Ifernach (see Four Fatal Amulets EP review here) are clearly one of my favorite black metal bands in Canada, correction, one of my favorite black metal bands in general. Finian Patraic is a passionate, intelligent, and dedicated artist, a solid writer, performer, and musician. His music is always changing from stripped-down savagery to memorable melodic passages. His Mi’kmaq culture is prevalent in his work and especially on releases like Blood, Bone, Skin, Stone where we are taken on a primitive trip of musical discovery. My personal favorite songs currently are ‘Terre Noire’ and Le Vent Et La Mer’ (features a melody I could hum all day, no shit).
Hailing from the town of Chandler in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of Quebec on the Gaspé Peninsula Patraic dwells writing music, hunting with family, enjoying nature while living off the grid as much as possible and preserving his culture. I have kept in touch with him on social media on a regular basis where he is super responsive. He is always the showman on stage donning distinctive corpse paint. There are numerous Ifernach releases and they all bear their own distinct style never sounding redundant, always original.
Finally, Akitsa are a classic black metal outfit out of Montreal fronted by Outre-Tombe. Outre-Tombe owns the ungodly distro label Tour De Garde who specialize in the blackest of metals including vinyl, cassettes, CDs, merch, zines, and more. They released Grole’s With A Pike Upon My Shoulder and various Ifernach material. He also delves into different noise projects such as Âmes Sanglantes and is in an amazing group I just discovered called Departure Chandelier. I read an interview with Vice magazine with Akitsa which brought back some fond metal memories of my own musical discoveries such as HMV record stores and M.E.A.T. magazine. Akitsa’s raw musical approach is captivating as it is bleak. That sonic shrapnel sounding guitar tone is symbolic and haunting with the tortured screams supporting it. Credo is my recommendation from them along with La Grande Infamie.
Now onto the evening in celebration. Approximately two-hundred black metal fans traveled near and far (many from off The Rock) to The Rockhouse on George Street for the experience.
First up Grenadier set stage, with their always powerful performance including some new tunes. Their set consisted of ‘The Levant Sultanate’, ‘Unmarked Graves of the Autochthonous’, ‘Commending the Imperial’, ‘The Extinguishing Fleets’, their titular ‘Trumpets Blare in Blazing Glory’, as well as the mightily chaotic new song ‘Wolves of the Trench’.
Grole set stage next with the boys from Genadier, opening with the energetic and aforementioned ‘Thee Frozen Land’. This opening song was sure to give goosebumps to any self-respecting Newfoundlander in attendance, complete with the Republic of Newfoundland flag in Kelly’s hand. Accompanying that song, the set included ‘A Noted Sabbath Breaker’, ‘Dust to Dust’, ‘To the East’, ‘Unholy Order’, ‘Outport’, and ‘Come into My Parlour’.
Fans were never kept waiting long. A swift 15-minutes between sets and we were moving onward. Ifernach, set the stage with a phenomenal performance with an abundance of songs from the 2021 album Capitulation of All Life, with ‘Gathering Archangels’, ‘From Pestiferous Dreams’, ‘Hovering Over Ruins and Death’, ‘Until the World Burns’, ‘Mundo Malism’, and ‘Foi En Rien Ni Personne’. ‘Halloween’ was also performed as well as the Akitsa cover, ‘Je n’y serai pas.’
The evening of unholy blackness concluded with Akitsa hitting the stage. With a mightily penetrating set, vocalist Outre-Tombe, adorned with a grimace on his face met the bands blackened energy of pure heart and intensity with the songs: ‘L’uion des cœurs noirs’, ‘Prophétie hérétique’, ‘Espoir vassal’, ‘Les flots de l’enfer’, ‘Affront final’, ‘Celui Qui Est Sans Peur’, ‘Silence’, ‘Vers la Victoire’, ‘La grande infamie’, ‘Chimeres’, and ‘Origine mythique’.
Those in attendance of this September 2nd, 2023, exceptional black metal endeavour were captivated by the experience. It was a cool experience seeing so many people travel to our little province to share their love of metal. A giant thank you goes out to Grole, Ifernach, and Akitsa for making the trip to our little island to reward us with such a show. Another big thanks go to homegrown Grenadier for facilitating such an experience that won’t soon be forgotten.
Article written by Richard Taylor and co-written by Chris Severed.
~ Set List ~
Grenadier:
The Levant Sultanate
Unmarked Graves of the Autochthonous
Commending the Imperial
The Extinguishing Fleets
Trumpets Blare in Blazing Glory
Wolves of the Trench
Grole:
Thee Frozen Land
A Noted Sabbath Breaker
Dust to Dust
To the East
Unholy Order
Outport
Come Into My Parlour
Ifernach:
Halloween
Gathering Archangels
From Pestiferous Dreams
Hovering Over Ruins and Death
Until the World Burns
Mundo Malism
Foi En Rien Ni Personne
Je n’y serai pas (Akitsa cover)
Akitsa:
L’uion des cœurs noirs
Prophétie hérétique
Espoir vassal
Les flots de l’enfer
Affront final
Celui Qui Est Sans Peur
Silence
Vers la Victoire
La grande infamie
Chimeres
Origine mythique
