Winter comes early

There must be something attracting French metal bands to Ottawa; just a few weeks after Vulcain passed through, Alcest made the trip to Bytown. They were on tour with Emma Ruth Rendle, another performer making her name on the outskirts of metal. As it happened, several other acts were in the vicinity. I'm guessing that rather than indulging in some fatal audience-splitting, the folks at Black Widow productions just decided to stick Abigal Williams and Today into Mavericks as well, add on locals Destroy Clocks, Peronicus and Inherent and call it a festival. Unfortunately I arrived to late to catch Peronicus's set. Thus, I headed upstairs to check out Destroy Clocks, who seemed a little bemused to be on a metal bill (last time I saw them was at the House of Targ opening for No Joy). Here's Nicole rocking the keys.



N. Hell frets!



Jeff hits!



Hell sings!



Singalong action!



Close-up action!



Dial-twisting action!



The whole lot!



Downstairs for some metalcore action courtesy of Inherent. Here's growler-in-chief Nick Hughes.



Brant Collins handles the low end.



Nick takes a stand.



Matt Stolarik on drums!



Extra Matt!



Guitar action with Andrew Kirby!



Melodic action!



The whole lot!



Guitar action!



Shadowy action!



Andrew sings a bit!



And finally a bit more Nick.



Back upstairs for some Today Is The Day. Steve Austin and a cast of dozens have been bringing their avant-garde mindbend to audiences since about 1992 - I can remember buying Temple Of The Morning Star back in 1997. Here's the man himself.



Bassist Trevor Thomas and drummer Douglas Andrae are new additions to the band.



Steve frets!



More Steve!



Douglas hits!



Extra Trevor!



Rhythm section action!



Gripping action!



Emma Ruth Rendle was a real show-stealer. I'd compare her work to Chelsea Wolfe and Muscle and Marrow (who I saw a couple of weeks later at Mavericks).



The other side of Emma!



The entirety of Emma!



Upstairs for some more heavy stuff in the black metal vein with witchy Olympia combo Abigail Williams. The hoody-loving outfit were short a member since their bassist is verboten in Canada, but still put on a fine performance with two guitarists and a drummer. I know Ken is the singer; the other axeman is Jeff and the drummer is Charlie Fell.



Charlie hits!



More guitar!



Jeff frets!



Extra Charlie!



More Jeff!



Feedback action!



More guitar!



When I headed back downstairs to Mavericks, the room was shrouded in stage smoke. Not too much, fortunately, but it was pretty dark and I was thinking I wouldn't be able to take any photos. Fortunately, they turned the lights up. I've seen at least one member of Alcest before; bassist Indria also appeared with Peste Noir at the New Bayou (the space now home to the House of Targ). I've got all of Alcest's albums, and was not disappointed by their live show. The band appeared quite pleased by the enthusiastic audience as well. Here's Indria (and band founder Neige behind him).



Guitarist Zero also provides excellent backing vocals.



Neige sings!



More Zero!



Winterhalter is the other mainstary of Alcest.



Metal action!



A great evening of metal.