“I started writing mellow acoustic songs with no intention to play them live,” says Sean Raven, founder of the acoustic doom blues band Chakobsa.
The band’s “heavy mellow” style emerged from Raven’s original acoustic writing and his adaptations to his own physical limits. While he began his music career as a songwriter and guitarist, he eventually became unable to endure rehearsals on the six-string, due to some problems with his arms. But he kept at his musical endeavours and, even though he is no longer a full time guitarist, he has …

With their Reclamation [Independent, 2010] EP set for release May 8 at the Starlight Room in Edmonton, Alta., melodic death metallers Sonorous Odium are finally getting some results for their four years of hard work and tenaciousness.
Before the foundation for Sonorous Odium was built in 2006, guitarist Wally Fischer and bassist Eric Rodgers had been playing and writing together for a few years. With another guitarist and drummer in the band, the guys started looking for a vocalist when Fischer and Rodgers found Curtis Vieville.
“We actually approached him first. He …

“When I formed the band years ago, it was just part of a dream I had to combine the two types of music I like best: traditional Celtic folk music and death metal,” explains Chrigel Glanzmann about his Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. The eight piece group is comprised of musicians playing unique instruments such as the hurdy gurdy, fiddle and bodhrẚn, to name a few, along with the traditional electric guitars, basses and drums you expect to see weilded by a metal band. Glanzmann himself is the group’s lead …

Dark Witch Productions put together a face melting death metal show for April 3, 2010 at Vern’s Tavern. Fornication from Calgary Alta. were up first and they set the bar high for the rest of the night. This band has come a long way since they started and their set on this night was impressive. These guys actually stepped in last minute to help out Dark Witch when fellow Calgary band Ominosity was forced to drop off the bill two weeks prior, due to guitarist Andrew Schoepfer breaking his hand.
Next …

What do you get when you mix Swedish Vikings with Swiss Gauls? Fun. Amon Amarth stormed MacEwan Hall in Calgary, Alta. on April 14 along with their friends Eluveitie. The openers joining the two veteran bands were Holy Grail from Pasadena, Calif.
Holy Grail came on stage to an antsy audience, as most people had shown up fairly early for the concert. The band doesn’t just look like they just teleported in from the ’80s thrash era, their sound is a mix of old school thrash and power metal. The band …

Just the day before this issue was published, Edmonton, Alta.’s Death Toll Rising (DTR) played the first show of the Suffocation of Mankind tour, in support of their upcoming album Defecation Suffocation. And the quintet started off their evening with their usual Wednesday wing night tradition.
“The tradition of eating chicken wings is a time-honoured one. Ever since the dawn of man, our insatiable thirst for the dead, roasted flesh of poultry has fueled our drive to finish work at a reasonable hour, in order to stuff our mouths with the …

Southern Death Threat embarked on their Ready Set Attack Tour at the beginning of March, and stopped in at Calgary, Alta on Mar. 11, 2010 to play The Distillery. Joining the Vancouver band on stage were two local acts that brought their own unique style of rock to the bill. Meggido, another local Calgary band, were also scheduled to play but were unable to make the show that night due to unforeseeable circumstances.
Playing their debut show and kicking off the night was Calgary’s Stinger. The band is comprised of some …

Megadeth. The Rust In Peace 20th Anniversary Tour. The show at the Big Four Building on Mar. 6, 2010 was not a show to miss. Fans’ reactions to finally hearing songs off Rust In Peace [Capitol Records, 1990], an album that is known as a genre-defining landmark in metal, well… those reaction can’t exactly be reiterated here because all the profanities would be edited out and all you’d get is maybe a “holy” and the odd “mother.” Joining the tour were thrash legends Testament and Exodus, to form a full …

February 24, 2010 marked the beginning of Shadows Fall’s first ever headlining tour in Canada, and The Republik in Calgary Alta. was packed most of the night for all four bands on the tour.
Baptized in Blood, of London Ont., started off the night and their metal-meets-punk sound was well received. These guys clearly have fun on stage, and with songs titles such as “Up Shirts and Down Skirts” you know you’re in for an entertaining show.
Blackened death metallers from New Orleans Goatwhore played second and were the band that got …

Junkies Rush has only been around since 2008 but they already have two music videos making the rounds, and just this year released the EP Sins On Your Sleeves. Guitarist Russ Bridger and bassist Wade Christenson had been working on the project for about a year before drummer Wayne Davies joined in and really helped get things going. The Calgary-based metal trio released their second music video “Broken Pieces” on Jan. 31, 2010. Just a day before our February issue went live and we at Pitch Black were lucky enough …

The Headbanger’s Society at the University of Lethbridge was spawned in April 2009, and it was all because a metal band asked the right person to help find them a gig. About a year ago, Datura, a progressive metal band from Nelson, B.C, approached Calvin Shiu, who is now the president and one of the founders of the Society, in hopes of setting up a show in Lethbridge.
“I was more than happy to help out, but as I went out to look for venues, I started to realize how bad …

The New Year started with a bit of a rough start for The Distillery. The Calgary music venue was hit by a major flood and it was unclear if they would be opened for a show on Jan. 9 with headliners Exit Strategy. Luckily, the bar was able to get everything cleared up enough to open the doors that weekend.
Cast in Stone kicked off the night. CIS has just recently started playing live again after almost a yearlong hiatus. The band had a hard time putting together a full line …

In the first leg of their Evangelia Amerika tour, in support of the recently released Evangelion, Polish blackened death metal legends Behemoth visited with fans before another slaytacular show at The Republik.
Dozens of enthusiastics showed up at Calgary’s Axe Music for a chance to meet the band and score autographs from vocalist/guitarist Adam “Nergal” Darski, bassist Tomasz “Orion” Wróblewski, and percussionist Zbigniew Robert “Inferno” Promiński. Guitarist Patryk “Seth” Sztyber wasn’t along for the meet-and-greet, but joined the rest of the group on stage before a riotous crowd.
Plagued by controversy through …

These days, school and heavy metal are mixing in a variety of ways. Many musicians in our local Alberta bands are also pursuing a post secondary education, but getting a university degree or a college diploma is not an easy task in first place. Throw in the commitments of a band, and your workload seems to increase exponentially. Certain considerations will come up, such as choosing between your band and school. If that opportunity to tour say, Europe, comes up in the middle of a semester do you drop all …

Cyrus Kriticos is a character from the 1960 horror flick “13 Ghosts,” and the namesake of Edmonton’s female fronted death/thrash metal band, Kriticos. Cyrus Kriticos was a ghost hunter that hunted ghosts specifically from the black zodiac to complete a machine called the “Ocularis Infernum” (Eye of Hell) that was designed by the devil and powered by the dead.
“Just as Cyrus Kriticos fueled the machine with spirits of the dead, we fuel our fans with the spirit of our music,” vocalist Cyn Mecredi explains.
Bassist Rick White takes the significance of …

The first week of December was one brutal snowstorm after another, and on Dec. 5, the snow was making the highways so treacherous for the bands on the Decimation of the Nation Tour, it even caused Cannibal Corpse, who were co-headlining with Hatebreed, to arrive so late to MacEwan Hall that Hate Eternal was already on stage. Due to that same weather, we at Pitch Black were unable to capture Hate Eternal on camera, but we were lucky enough to catch the last part of their set. Even though they …

How did you first get involved in Alberta’s music community?
I’ve been involved as a musician in both the Edmonton and Calgary areas since I was a teenager, writing and performing music in a variety of genres, ranging from Celtic to hard rock. After moving to Calgary, my passion for metal led me to play keyboards for Sacred Ally. I am now the keyboardist for Gales of Avalon.
What inspired you to launch Pitch Black Magazine?
As a journalist and a photographer, a lot of music-related gigs are freelance and pay little to …

Tim Brown, vocalist and guitarist for Edmonton country and western thrash metal band Sixguns Over Tombstone, has been writing material for the band since he was 17. Even with the release of Putting Revenge on the Map in July 2009, Sixgun has already started compiling material for another album, which is set to include new material, as well as songs written back when the group was still playing the all-ages circuit.
Sixguns Over Tombstone graduated to bar shows in 2005. That year also signaled the beginning of a series of lineup …

The Nov. 28 thrash metal show headlined by Richmond, Va.’s Municipal Waste at The Warehouse began in an unusual but sensual fun way. Opening up for the bands were Calgary’s Kabuki Guns Burlesque (KGB) troupe. Bunny Bunnotzi, Lacy Gunsmoke Dusty Tops, Lacy Gunsmoke and Daisy DeVille treated the audience to their unique sets of saucy striptease.
Toronto, Ont.’s Cauldron are a very impressive NWOBHM band. Not only do these guys look the part, they play it very well. The set was tight and the crowd went nuts for “Chained Up In …

A summer trip to Europe in 2009, and a few metal festivals later, and Striker found themselves signed on to Germany’s Iron Kodex Records. A representative heard the band’s original four song demo, written by founding members Dan Cleary and guitarist Ian Sandercock two years prior.
The Edmonton, Alta.-based Striker has since released another collection of songs, their first release through Iron Kodex. Road Warrior was written by the quintet as a collective, and the six song EP, released March 31, 2009, gives listeners a taste of the fierce metal that …

The first ever Metal Conference was held in Calgary, Alta. on Oct. 2 as part of Noctis Valkyries, an annual festival put on by Scarab Productions. Upon arriving at the Ramada Inn, everyone was greeted by Terese Fleming and her well-organized Noctis crew. Each guest received a warm welcome, the schedule for the day, and lots of free swag, which included stickers buttoms, music samplers, and even a copy of Divinity’s Allegory and Kilyakai’s single “Without Warning,” from their latest album.
The conference rooms were named after some favourite metal bands: …

MacEwan Hall was packed on Oct. 2 with those who came out to see Children of Bodom on their first headlining tour through Calgary, Alta., but a large portion of the young crowd was excited to see the two openers as well. However, the key word here is “young.” The beer garden, which usually ends up crammed with the over-18 crowd between bands was practically empty the whole night. It seems the Club Night show of Noctis III at The Distillery was able to lure most everyone of legal age …

A Bloodshed Nightmare conjures images of blood, guts and gore through their lyrics – and a bit of partying. And with Halloween coming, who doesn’t like celebrating the macabre by rocking out and partying in the most of gory of ways.
Hailing from Siksika Nation, just 30 minutes southeast of Strathmore, Alta., the quintet describes their sound as deathcore with a bit of metalcore and death metal thrown in for good measure as inspired, and counts The Black Dahlia Murder, Suicide Silence and Carnifex as their biggest influences.
A Bloodshed Nightmare are …

Harvesting Hell Open Air Festival, changed last minute to an indoor event, brought a diverse line-up of heavy metal and punk from regional to international scales to Edmonton, Alta.
Originally proposed as a “cultural gathering” for the growing metal communities across the province, the two locations considered to host the show outdoors were in counties which decided not to proceed due to concerns over permits and security. Regardless of those events, the Harvesting Hell crew did an impeccable job with the last minute changes, and put on a “hell” of …

Finland’s symphonic power metallers Stratovarius played to a small but enthusiastic crowd on Sept 29th at the Warehouse in Calgary Alta. With the original openers Pagan’s Mind dropping off the bill, two local bands were called in. Kobra and Lotus, a mix power metal, thrash and a bit of rock’n’roll, played first and had a lot of fun playing to the Warehouse crowd. Vocalist Brittney Paige is a captivating frontwoman she was full of energy and even got up to the barrier to interact with the crowd. Progressive metal …

Calculating Collapse are about to take take their ferociously metal blend of thrasy hardcore on a cross-Canada tour, drawing on the many invaluable lessons learned since the band first formed in the winter of 2006 to help get them ready for the journey.
“We have toured through parts of British Columbia and Saskatchewan before. The last time we went on tour was a year and half ago, before we began prepping for our upcoming album,” says guitarist Arjun Roy, one of the founding members of the Grande Prairie-based quintet.
“A few days …