Derelict – Montreal Technical Death Metal

Hey guys. Below is a blog update from Max about the Montreal metal scene.
Just a quick reminder, if you’re IN Montreal, tonight (Oct 26th), we’re playing at Foufs with Decapitated, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Decrepit Birth and Rings of Saturn:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=206241806102975
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The Montreal Effect

Very often in life we ask ourselves or others how we are influenced by our surroundings. This is true in many walks of life. Our surroundings affect how we dress, what music we listen to and many other things too numerous to list properly right now. As someone who writes music, in this case death metal music, I have to say that my surroundings have had a great impact on my playing and songwriting.

We in Derelict are very fortunate to call Montreal home. Montreal is a very lively and artistic city where you can attend some sort of artistic performance or live a nightlife experience pretty much any night of the week. It’s also a fairly unique city in that the French and English languages live in relative harmony. What is also true about Montreal is that it has a world-class metal scene.

When I was a young teenager and discovering the heavier arts, some of the bands I stumbled upon after the Big 4 were Iced Earth, Opeth, Death, Arch Enemy and Deicide. I was off to a good start when I saw someone mention Cryptopsy in a magazine(that’s right, metal sites were not as common back then). My friend Pat and I first listened to the song “White Worms”. I couldn’t believe that this type of brutal music even existed, let alone that the band was from my hometown! After that life-changing event it didn’t take long for me to realize just how much of a brutal bastion of metal this city really was.

Years later it’s very easy for me to cite a bunch of local bands who have had a tremendous influence on me and other members of Derelict past and present. I don’t know if it’s because of Voivod, but Quebec metal bands, many of which are from Montreal, often seem to have either a technical, progressive or off kilter approach that give it a distinctive sound. Some bands, like Gorguts, even venture into the avant-garde category, literally reinventing how they played their guitars as they went along. This alongside other influences from the United States and Europe have now made Montreal a more diversified metal juggernaut, with famous bands like The Agonist, Blackguard, Beneath the Massacre and the recently defunct Despised Icon all making waves in their respective styles. While that is happening you have bands like Neuraxis, Unexpect, Martyr, Augury that keep pushing their own boundaries. The underground is also kicking it pretty hard with bands like Beyond Creation, Endast, First Fragment, Self-Collapse, Impalement, The Unconscious Mind and many more playing local shows seemingly every week.

The speed, relentlessness and jarring musical direction this city harnesses has resonated in Derelict as well. The eerie tones and chaotic rhythms of our brethren and metal forefathers seem to creep through our songs (or at least some of the ones I write). We are often told that we have the “Montreal” sound. I for one embrace it and am very proud of the strong metal tradition of my hometown. Vive le métal!