Canadians live in igloos

Good day to the first day of school yesterday. All my teachers seem ok- my painting teacher seems pretty laid back (I hope), my thesis teacher is firm but she seems like she’s looking out for the students’ best interests, and my business teacher is hilarious, I think she’ll make business class more interesting haha. It seems like I’ll be taking away a lot from this semester. Still really nervous about hearing the verdict on my thesis statements, but that’ll have to wait until next Tuesday. At least I get two days off during the week, no school until Friday each week :D

The Wittr show w/ Thou,Thantifaxath & Gates was beyond my expectations, and a really good way to end a long day of school. The ‘venue’ (Soybomb) wasn’t really much of a venue at all, it was more part of someone’s home or something, located above a bicycle shop. The stage was setup on a half-pipe, and the place was made to look like a forest, coolest setup ever. I wish Thou had played longer, but I was happy to see them in the first place, never thought I would see them live. Wittr was even better then the last time I had seen them, their new material sounds really good. I didn’t take many pictures (and the ones I did manage to get didn’t turn out too well because wittr asked that nobody in the audience use flash on their cameras), but I’ll remember it for a while. It was a really unique and memorable show, a good start to the shows coming up this fall. I also got to see some people I haven’t seen in a while so that was a plus too.

This is a good start to fall, here’s to hoping it stays this way.

Thantifaxath demo available here

deathrituals:

http://www.mediafire.com/?wjvm8788veyaxcy

Listen to it, share it with others, submit it to blogs, whatever.

Purchase the cassette, printed on pro tape, here:

http://www.darkdescentrecords.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=988

Tomorrow

Selling art at the Parkdale Bazaar for a bit, then seeing the Menace Ruine show in the evening! :D

This past weekend really was one of the best ever

I really enjoyed my weekend in Montréal. Good music and good people= amazing weekend.

Mountains of Might turned out to be a better set of concerts than I had expected. On the 13th, Ensorcelor, Thantifaxath, and The Body played their sets.

I had already seen Ensorcelor and Thantifxath a few times before, so I knew that I’d like their music. Ensorcelor is a sludge/doom metal band from Montreal, and they only have two songs to their name so far….but they’re around 20 minutes in length each. Personally I think the band might be better with a different lead vocalist, but the instrumentation is likeable.

Thantifaxath was enjoyable as usual, and it seemed like the audience thought so too. My friends from Montreal had never heard of them before, but said they were really good; one of them described their music as ‘crazy’….but a good crazy, haha.

The Body was the loudest set of the weekend, and the loudest band I’ve seen live so far. The drummer had the strangest drum kit I’ve seen, and he seemed to be quite the charismatic person, smiling the whole time he was playing. I don’t really like the vocals, but I can overlook them because I like the overall sound of their music. However, the band did have some sound difficulties when the guitar kept cutting out. The drummer tried to keep the momentum going, but his drumming isn’t too complex….hence one person in the audience shouting out ‘This is the worst drum solo ever!’, and someone else proceeding to contribute guitar sounds. Anyways, after turning down the amp a bit (which didn’t make much of a difference sound wise, it was still very loud), the band continued to play on. Kudos to them for getting through the set.

On the 14th, Velnias, Gates, and Monarch! would play shows.

I was really looking forward to seeing Velnias, and they were as good as I hoped they would be. I knew they were going to be playing first when I saw the candles, deer leg, and deer bones on stage. I don’t remember what songs they played but I’d love to see them again.

Gates was probably my least favourite act, but they were better than the last time I saw them in Toronto. They just played around 40 minutes of drone.

Monarch! was the final act of the mini-fest, and I was also looking forward to them because I had never heard their music before. I had heard really good things about the though, so my expectations were pretty high. Monarch! really impressed me, the vocalist is a beast, haha. The drummer was quite expressive, he was literally jumping out of his seat and with each movement it almost looked like he was in pain, just because of the force he was hitting the drums with. Monarch! was also really loud, so I’m glad I had a pair of earplugs. It really helped to distinguish the different sounds- without the earplugs, it might have sounded like a muffled mess.

10/10, it really was an all-around awesome set of shows. The only downside was the length it took for everyone to set up, but shows always run later than expected at Casa Del Popolo.

Other than the shows, I did the most walking around I’ve done….I’m lucky I don’t drive or anything, or else I might not have been used to the lengthy amounts of time spent walking. On Saturday I ended up exploring the city with some friends, going to some record shops like Cheap Thrills (which has an excellent selection, but I didn’t end up buying anything because I have to budget for MDF…next time), and some other shops I can’t remember.

I also went to the top of Mont Royal, which was the most tiring hike I’ve been on. The hills in Montreal are extremely steep, so after walking up hills and several flights of stairs for a while, you begin to feel like you have no legs, haha. The climb was worth it though- the last time I had been to the top of Mont Royal was in January, so seeing it in the spring (in the rain and fog) was a much different experience. It literally rained the whole weekend! At the top you couldn’t see much of anything because of the fog, but it was still beautiful. Afterwards we ended up going to L’amère à boire to get some beer and food- I would really recommend going there and I’ll probably return there in August.

On Sunday, I had some time to myself so I walked around some streets to look at the different forms of architecture (there are a lot of Victorian-style homes there ^^), and also went to the Musée des beaux-arts to look at some art; I ended up seeing some really beautiful prints and Byzantine art there.

It kind of sucks to be home after having a fun weekend, but at least I know I’ll be returning in August! I really love that city, I have now been there seven times; that number will only continue to grow. i really love traveling for shows, and just traveling in general :)

Photos from the show coming up soon :D

All packed and ready to go for what might be one of the best weekends ever

I’m going to be in Montréal again, this time for the Mountains of Might music mini-fest that is happening at Casa del Popolo from the 13th-14th.

I’m really excited for this! I’m familiar with most of the bands on the bill, with the exception of Monarch (who I’ve heard really good things about).

Tomorrow I’ll get to see Thantifaxath, The Body, and Ensorcelor. The next evening, I’ll get to see Monarch, Velnias, and Gates.

I’m especially looking forward to Velnias and The Body. I think this is going to be an all-around good show!

Other than the show, I’ll probably be doing some mindless wandering around the city.

I’ll return late Sunday night.

Expect pictures for when I return :D