NERVOUS IMPULSE, VAGINAL ADDICTION, & L’HABIT ME SUCE LE MOINE
Bar l’Anti (St. Hyacinthe, QC)
Those who know me and my musical tastes know that I’m a devout worshiper at the altar of Nervous Impulse. On the topic of grind metal in Montreal, there are few groups that come to mind with as much creative clout as these underrated blasting barbarians.
You can imagine my glee when I received an invitation from drummer Yan Chamberland and vokillist Eric Fiset to accompany the quintet to St. Hyacinthe on Saturday to witness their auditory destruction live in concert for the first time. The other dudes in the band are equally awesome and talented. Bassist Félix Bourcier, along with guitarists Bruno Mercier and Francis Cousineau round out the group with speedy riffs, killer cohesion, and a loaded low-end.
Former members of notorious 90s grind gods Obscene Crisis, both Eric and Yan have been bandmates and friends for at least a decade. This tight collaborative environment allows for a subtly organic camaraderie that can’t help but bleed out over the other members of the group, who themselves have an impressive grip on the speed, fury, and aggression redolent in Nervous Impulse’s signature sound.
Eric’s got probably the most unique-sounding vokills in Quebec extreme metal, harnessing the raw brutality of grind, while still keeping a very old school dirtiness to his delivery that sets him apart from more clean-edged vocalists in a similar niche.
We all met up at the band’s jam space on the outskirts of Montreal East to carpool to Bar l’Anti with plenty of time to spare before load in. Energy was high, and there were plenty of laughs and great stories going around. It’s not mandatory for bands to get along in order to create good music, but there is something to be said about mutual respect and its relationship with fostering a cohesive sound and natural flow.
Having not played a show in Montreal since 2012, Nervous Impulse has remained under the radar in Montreal since this year’s release of «Time to Panic», yet has a string of die-hard grind fans in other regions of Quebec, and all across the globe. They’ve got an enormous fan base in Russia, who are no strangers to insanely awesome brutal music. The band is one of those groups that simply requires the right show to put them out there and market them to the jaded masses of our fair city.
That said, there were less people at the show on Saturday than would have been ideal. Bar l’Anti isn’t a huge joint, but is reminiscent to Montreal’s Katacombes on Ontario st.. It’s elongated, and decorated with band flyers for local acts I’d never seen or heard of here on Montreal soil. It’s a really nice venue with a side-facing stage.
Drummondville’s L’Habit me Suce le Moine started off the evening, blaring a straight up, groovy grind style with a variegated vocal. Tons of brees and gutterals to please even the most jaded of audience members. L’Habit me Suce le Moine are self-professed «gay grind», and the spirit of brutal metal reigns supreme for these brutes. I’d like to see them head back to Montreal in the near future to play at a metal show, if it’s not already in their plan! They’ve been to the city before, but mainly at punk gigs. Dave, the singer, is the promoter for GrindYourMind Open Air, an annual grind metal fest taking place in a field at Notre-Dame-du-Bon Conseil.
Montreal’s Vaginal Addiction took the sophomore spot on the bill, a group that I’d become familiar with through their showcase at Obscene Extreme America this past August. They’re a brutal death grind outfit, and the hunger and passion of their craft is already pretty apparent, regardless of a lack of any demos or albums yet available online. That’s an assumption, at least, considering a released disc is required to be eligible for a band page on Metal Archives.
Their eagerness and comfort on stage is palpable. They’re confident, and they’re engaged. I enjoyed watching them play!
Now, to proceed to the final course, Nervous Impulse. There was an almost buzzing in the air, as folks gathered around, waiting for fireworks. I was lucky enough to witness a private jam session about a month ago with a few other people, and I was anticipating the similarities and differences between sound crammed into a tiny jam space, and that which is blasted through a bar’s PA into eager eardrums. I was not disappointed.
Opening with Time to Panic’s «Oil Spill», the sound was crushing from the beginning to absolute end of the set. Eric crushes vocally. He likes to self-deprecate, saying he’s old at 44, and that his voice could give out at any moment. He’s seriously talented, and there’s a reason why people in Quebec know his name, and respect his skill.
Yan is a machine on the drums. You know when a drummer gets into shorts to be more comfortable, that his legs are going faster than his pants will allow. I took advantage of the extra space in the venue to approach the stage and check out for myself the swift and merciless bass drum explosion that erupted from this humble, unassuming dude. Wow!
Bruno, Félix, and now Francis, who joined just a bit after Time to Panic’s release, if memory serves me, were absolutely amazing on stage. They are furious, methodical, and completely consumed when they play.
I’m very curious to see if they won’t get a chance to blast the heads off Montrealers in the near future. It’s only a matter of time. Not time to panic just yet. A huge thank you goes out to Nervous Impulse for this opportunity. I am honoured and humbled to have been a part of it, even in this small way.
9/10 (10 would have been a better audience turn out and participation)
Jenny King
