Metal thoughts

As both a giant nerd and a heavy metal fan, it's probably no surprise that I'm a longtime fan of The Lord Weird Slough Feg. I was glad to hear they had a new album out, and even happier to hear they were planning a summer tour that included a stop in Ottawa.  Also on the bill, likker New York trio Sanhedrin, Montrealers Cauchemar and locals Rockin' Engine, who kicked things off witha hard-rocking set. Here's guitarist Steve and drummer Joel!



Bass action with JP!



Guitar action with Ste Vy Leff!



More Joel!



Extra Ste!



Singalong action!



Rockin' Action!



Guitar action!



Upstanding action!



Cauchemar were on next; they sounded really good! Here's Andre on bass!



Gripping action with Annick!



Nightmarish action with Francoise and Joel!



More Annick!



Extra Andre!



More Joel!



Rhythm section action!



Sanhedrin played a great set as well. Here's Erica!



Guitar action with Jeremy!



Singalong action!



Nathan hits!



Extra Jeremy!



Extra Erica!



More Jeremy!



More Nathan!



Feedback action!



Hair-tossing action!



Slough Feg was everything I'd hoped to be; here's main man Mike Scalzi.



Percussive action with Jeff!



Mike sings!



Bass action with Adrian!



Lordly action!



More guitar action with Angelo and Mike!



Weird action!



Extra Angelo!



The whole lot!



Even more guitar!



Adrian sings!



More Jeff!



Metal action!



Porkpie hat action!



Super stuff!

Icey what you did there

Annick from Cauchemar has been in the heavy metal game for quite a while now. In addition to her band, she manages the Temple of Mystery label, which released a comp of Canadian metal acts, Trapped Under Ice. Four of them came to House of Targ around the time snow was finally vanishing from Ottawa.. First up was Cauchemar (who will be back June 2 at Mavericks for the Slough Feg show). Here's Annick!



Bass action with Andre!



Joel (also of Occult Burial) hits!



Guitar action with Francois!



And so on!



More Annick!



And so on!



The whole lot!



On to Freeways, a Brampton combo with a real 1970s sounds, a la Thin Lizzy and Budgie. Here's frontman Jacob and drummer Sebastian!



Guitara ction with Domenic!



Bass action with Omar!



Flying V action!



Rhythm section action!



More Sebastian!



Extra Jacob!



Bonus Domenic!



I popped over to Black Squirrel Books briefly to check out Lo Siento (more about that in another post), but returned to Targ in time to catch Occult Burial's very smokey set.



Bass action with Joel!



Guitar action with Dan!



How smokey was it? Let's just say this is my best shot of Dan on drums ... or it could be the Loch Ness Monster, either one.



It was pretty damn red and smokey for Barrow Wight's set as well. Here's Andrew!



Percussive action!



Akiva sings!



Flying V action!



Occult action!



Metalian brought the night to an end with a killer set - as always! Here's Ian!



Bass action with Andres!



Tippy-tappy action!



Percussive action with Tony!



Flying V action with Simon!



A fantastic night of Canadian metal.