BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition February 2019

CONAN
TOTAL CONQUEST CITY
CHRISTINE LEONARD
Liverpool, England, may be nicknamed “the
Pool of Life,” but it was the primordial ooze of a
million down-tuned guitars that gave birth to the
grinding sludge metal band Conan. Emerging from
the estuaries of Merseyside in 2006, the stoneshattering
three-piece has grown to become one
of the most revered and recognizable artists on the
photo by Matt Negus
Conan embrace a strong sense of altered reality, if not all-out fantasy on Existential Void Guardian.
Napalm Death record label.
Most recently, the lumbering fuzz giant
unleashed its fourth studio LP, Existential Void
Guardian. A melodic yet bludgeoning answer
to 2016’s Revengeance, Conan’s latest onslaught
continues to benefit from the grounding presence
of bassist/vocalist Chris Fielding. The producer of
several of the band’s previous recordings, Fielding
has been adding his gravitas to the sonic frenzy
generated by guitarist/vocalist Jon Davis and
drummer Johnny King. As Davis confirms, the
complex riffs and vexing grooves of Existential
Void Guardian foretell a new epoch in the history
of Conan.
“I think the main thing was how heavy it came
out and how the songs took shape in an almost
effortless manner. We had quite a disjointed 12
months leading up to the recording of the album
and there was a risk the album would suffer, but
I’m very happy that we put out a cool recording in
spite of it all.”
Rising above the din, Conan’s first recording
featuring drummer Johnny King (Dread Sovereign,
Malthusian) stands out from the crowd with Davis
delivering his bloodstained lyrics with a poetic
passion that runs hot and cold.
“I think my lyrics have usually been kind of
concise and I think it works, because it doesn’t give
too much away,” says Davis. “It helps the listener
use their imagination, which is absolutely what
we want them to do while listening to the music.
I ‘defo’ use colloquialisms in normal conversations
but try not to do it in the lyrics. I find that would
be a bit limiting for the tracks and I’d hate to make
myself cringe further down the line!”
One thing Existential Void Guardian has in
common with the trio’s earlier works is a strong
sense of altered reality, if not all-out fantasy. After
hours of exhaustive research, Davis concludes that
Conan’s back catalogue is best paired with the
following video games:
“Horseback Battle Hammer (2010 Throne
Records)–Rastan (Commodore 64 version),
Monnos (2012 Burning World Records)–Quake
(PC version), Blood Eagle (2014 Napalm Records)–
Skyrim (PS4 version), Revengeance (2016 Napalm
Records)–Renegade (Amiga version), Existential
Void Guardian (2018 Napalm Records)–Karateka
(C64 VERSION).”
It’s only a matter of time before the industry
comes knocking, especially now that Robert E.
Howard’s beloved Conan character has returned to
Marvel Comics and the public eye.
“Hold on, I’m just about to put a down payment
on our new tour bus,” Davis jests, predicting an
upsurge of interest in the necromancer-smashing
barbarian and the band’s namesake. But seriously,
you just never know where the group’s doomy
Cimmerian sounds are going to turn up.
Conan performs February 28 at The Astoria..
IMONOLITH
SUPERGROUP’S HOMETOWN DEBUT
ANA KRUNIC
Despite its relatively small population, Vancouver
has spawned a surprising amount of internationally
acclaimed acts. It’s even more surprising when you
consider how many of them come from the metal
or alternative scene: Skinny Puppy, 3 Inches of
Blood, D.O.A., and, of course, Devin Townsend and
his insane genesis as Strapping Young Lad. When
Townsend announced that he was putting the
Devin Townsend Project (DTP) on hiatus last year,
his bandmates, drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen
and guitarist/bassist Brian Waddell, had time to
spend on something that had been brewing for
a while. Without the constraints of the relentless
tour schedule that the Devin Townsend Project
demanded, Imonolith sprung forth.
“Brian and I started writing material for
Imonolith back in 2015,” Van Poederooyen says.
“In between tours we just started jamming, since
we grew up on the same kind of music – Pantera,
Van Halen, that kind of stuff. We’d been writing
music for the past few years, and we thought, let’s
do this, now is the time. Let’s get some artists that
we’d truly love to write and play in a band with
and get it going. In February we made the calls,
we got in touch with everyone. We were already
kind of jamming with Byron [Stroud, of Fear
Factory and Strapping Young Lad] so he was the
first guy we added, then we got Jon [Howard, of
Threat Signal] and Kai [Huppunen, ex-Methods of
Mayhem]. And that’s Imonolith.”
The songwriting for this project is, so far, a joint
effort between Van Poederooyen and Waddell
since they already had a body of work together
before forming the supergroup.
“There’s guitar leads and stuff that’s been added,
but for a base sound everyone loved what Brian
and I had already written. As the band progresses
and everyone gets used to touring with it and
playing the music, we’re going to evolve much
more.”
Coming from that kind of musical background
creates preconceptions from fans who assume
they’re going to follow in Devin’s prog-metal
footsteps. But Imonolith is coming at their sound
from their own angle, as heard in their first single,
“Hollow,” which came out along with a music
video on January 18.
“Everyone in the band has different influences
and that’s how we want to present the music,”
he explains. “We don’t just want to come out
with crushing metal – we have a catchier radio
side to us, which the world’s going to hear with
‘Hollow.’ We don’t want to be a one trick pony. We
want to have our heavy side, our catchy side, our
experimental side and everything in between.”
The single is a precursor to a full-length album
they’re hoping to release this summer, with their
first-ever show happening in their hometown of
Vancouver.
“We’re excited. Brian and I have been touring
constantly for the past 10 years to the point where
if we got four or five months off, it was a long time.
And now, the last show I played was on December
photo by Dave Benedict
Imonolith has a lot of experience and broad influences that lend to their many sides and sounds.
31, 2017. So for me it’s like, holy shit, I need to get
out there, man. To play the first ever show with
this project in our hometown, especially after this
long, is amazing.”
Imonolith plays at the Red Room on February 23
with guests Touch the Sun.
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