In celebration of anti-oppressive queer vegan Canadian science-fiction metal
It’s thanks to my Kill Eat Exploit the Weak co-host – Hellbound photographer/web guy Adam Wills – that I first heard Vile Creature. We both have an affinity for doomy music. We’re always on the lookout for cool new Canadian metal for our show on CFMU 93.3FM, especially bands we can describe as “local”. And hell, a band that explicitly identifies as vegan, anti-oppressive and queer, and sound amazing? It’s like my musical utopia.
“surely there was more to their existence than existence itself?”
Vile Creature’s first release, A Steady Descent into the Soil, was very good. The next one, A Pessimistic Doomsayer, was even better. The band’s latest, Cast of Static and Smoke, demonstrates even more musical development but it’s also a more complete artistic creation. So listen to it, please. But don’t stop there.
vilecreature.bandcamp.com/album/cast-of-static-and-smoke
“that noise turned to static which turned to words”
After you’ve heard the four songs that comprise Cast of Static and Smoke – the crushing heaviness, the raw emotions and textures, the rich atmosphere… – check out the story that feeds into the songs. It’s a science-fictional tale of five mechanical beings, of oppression and freedom, co-existence and destruction. You can read the text yourself, or you can hear it (always my recommendation) as narrated by Erin Severson and scored by Vile Creature’s KW Campol.
And then, if you haven’t already, buy yourself a copy of the album, read through the lyrics and contemplate the artwork as you listen again.
www.halooffliesrecords.com/label-releases/halo108-vile-creature-cast-of-static-and-smoke-lp
www.drycoughrecords.com/product/vile-creature-cast-of-static-and-smoke-lp
“the silence suddenly turned again to static, which turned to white noise, and eventually became the wind rustling the leaves”
Now, I hope for your sakes that you already know all this and that you’ve already been out this month to experience Vile Creature live. If not, you have two more chances in the immediate future (at least you do as I write this).
Vile Creature is playing Gooski’s in Pittsburgh on Friday, March 23 with Left Cross, Outer Heaven and Ritual Mass.
And, even better for their local fans, Vile Creature will be wrapping up this tour at Doors Taco Joint + Metal Bar in Hamilton on Saturday, March 24 with Astral Witch, Lovelace and Greber. (See you there?)
“it was only then that they understood what freedom really was”
