Alcoholator, Canceric, Survival Instinct (QC) at Katacombes (Friday, February 12, 2016)
Becoming an annual tradition, this epic thrash bash surrounds the celebration of both Canceric drummer Zack Osiris and Alcoholator frontman Matt Butcher‘s birthdays, which also happen to coincide with Valentine’s Day!
And what a love fest it was! I arrived at Katacombes about 15 minutes shy of the first act, Quebec City oldschool thrash novitiates Survival Instinct. These guys were a page right out of an 80s metal mag, right down to the unruly long blond locks. Their bassist William stood out visually like a sore thumb, with short hair, glasses, and a white Joy Division shirt. I loved it – work your metal, son!
The other three dudes, Martin and L’Wiff (guitar), and Alexis (drums) all alternated vocal duty, imparting diverse old school thrash vox varying from Dark Angel to Possessed in sound. It was refreshing to see a rotation in vocals and hear a variation of musical flow as a result.
The drums were tight, and Alexis didn’t skip a beat jumping from a side mic vocal set up to straight up percussion. It’s not an easy skill to learn, coordinating a full kit as well as keeping a steady voice, so mad props to this dude for mastering that skill with ease. Both L’Wiff and Martin slayed on guitar, and didn’t disappoint when it came to tossing in the early 90s guitar squeals and shredding solos. William kept up the low end like a champ. Would gladly see these boys play again!
Canceric is always a treat to behold. These guys mean serious business, and metal oozes from their collective pores. Drummer Zack Osiris is a good friend of mine, and I know full well how much this guy bleeds for metal every day of his life. He’s not only an amazing drummer, but a devoted metalhead who makes the Montreal scene his home, and local folks his metal family. His partner in crime Julien Provost flashed an absolutely gorgeous cherry red Jackson flying V that had more than a few of us fapping internally. Gorgeous piece! Great solos, great backing vocals. Zack has an amazing love of the drums, and he plays with a burning demonic zeal in his eyes that is ever-present and executes through his drum sticks like blasting lightning. I don’t care how cheesy that sounds.
William Pichette makes for a killer frontman. He’s got energy, a professional stage prescence, and a solid vocal pitch. The crowd took a bit longer to warm up (ie: get moshing) than is typical of either a Canceric or Alcoholator event, so William took it upon himself to dive down into the crowd and behold the musical mastery of his fellow musicians and get the crowd going. Great move! Vince Laliberté is a great congruency between Julien‘s more riff-based guitar style, given his absolutely killer solos. These guys are fast and very traditional in their style. Which is what brings me to J-F Tremblay. It’s a really cool addition to have a dude rocking the fretless bass, an arguably very modern soundscape for the low end when partnered with a really late 80s-early 90s thrash tone. With big hair and leather pants, the look really glued together with the sound – which was big, fast, dirty, and full of finesse.
Alcoholator, you devils! I’ve known frontman Matt Butcher for years, and he’s always been very articulate, intelligent, and fun loving. He’s a die-hard hedonist but has also been able to make his band successful through plenty of hard work, business sense, and fucking skill. This is someone whose vocals come naturally to him. He stands on stage absolutely effortlessly screeching into the mic, and makes it look easy as hell. He’s got great stage presence, and keeps the crowd engaged and on the tip of their toes. Well, to a point. The band is so comfortable together, that in between tracks they threw in some Metallica riffs, and only a few of us seemed to recognize this, which was in and of itself pretty appalling. But thanks for the moment of carefree nodding to some of the greats!
Francis Louis-Seize joined Alcoholator last year, a bit late in the game, which is nothing to sniff at given his immense musical clout as guitarist in Hidden Pride and live bass for Point Blank Rage. He’s got showmanship down to a science, and his funloving persona is very well-fitted to the Alcoholator sound. Last year, he dressed up as cupid on stage! Lead guitarist Oli Whiskey is a fantastic shredder, partnering well with bandmate and good friend Matt Butcher. Great solos, great speed. Great fun. Phil Macht ties it together with a rapid fire percussive sound and he never misses a beat. As a Tankard fan, I love the omnipresent nods to drinking beer and getting drunk, and partying your ass off. The addition of the presenting name «Warm Beer Productions» is humourous and very fitting indeed.
As appears to be a tradition, we were all welcome up on stage during «Drink Beer or Die Trying», a crowd favourite. The pit was fun, but not as wild and thrash pit as I prefer, given there were a few blokes there with some pretty weak-ass shoe soles who continued to slip and skid and fall at every jostle of the shoulder. Dudes. Combat boots. Thanks. That aside, there were still some great pit moments, a wall of death, and plenty of circle pittery. I was happy. And drunk. And happy.
Please take the time if you have not already, and like these guy’s Facebook pages and follow them on Bandcamp. Info is below, along with a link to the Facebook event page.
– Jenny King
SURVIVAL INSTINCT (QC)
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