Sylvus gains its black metal bearings
Sylvus - photo Philip Miller
“Down with people.”
A fitting suggestion from Sylvus‘ singer-guitarist at the Hard Luck bar Thursday, though the Toronto metal outfit put on a tough front for a band just gearing up again.
A few years old, the band has experienced a new awakening since losing its keyboardist and acquiring a new bassist. And right on time. Just when the metal community is tiring of, as Metalsucks.net put so aptly, “music that sounds like three guys jamming it out in a broom closet in Brazil into an 8-track tape recorder”), a refreshing take on the black metal Bathory perfected is needed.
Black metal of today is varied from warm brass from Hungary to circus freakage from Japan, but there’s something to be said for minimalism.
In Sylvus’ case, black metal is stripped down to its basic elements: No make-up, no S&M outfits, no crazy keys solos. Just straight up dark riffage. They also have a young, and talented female guitarist (who works in an infamous local guitar shop and doesn’t give a shit what you think of her). This is a band to watch out for. The new songs Sylvus unveiled Thursday are true modernist, “of the forest” metal.
Sylvus - photo Philip Miller
Though they managed to draw a substantial crowd on a Thursday night, they’ll downplay their presence until they record their new material in coming months. Catch them live again at Hard Luck with celtic black metal locals Bolero Aug. 9.
Following Sylvus and an intense set from Villipend (in which frontman apologized to black metal fans for its lack of blast beats) the crowd thinned and a new fairly unknown band set up, and definitely delivered on the blast beasts front: Enter Toronto’s Thantifaxath.
Snickers were heard as the drummer took too long to set up his larger than life drum kit. Apparently the bigger the drum kit the less respect when playing smaller shows. Kinda like showing up to shoot ground hogs with a machine gun, when all your buddies use bee-bees. (This logic does not apply with amps. The bigger the better, at least in metal).
Thantifaxath - photo Philip Miller
As Thantifaxath stepped on stage, their skeletal bodies draped in burgundy cloaks, all Sun 0)))-like, we expected some intricate experimentation, and they definitely tried that, though not tightly.
The creepy scowls and harmonies on their last song showed promise; more practice and some stage presence beyond their wizard costumes, and we’d like to see them again.
- marsha casselman
The next show is actually August 9th for those who are interested ^^
fixed – sorry!
Horrible review.