Fuck the Facts - Desire Will Rot

By Matt Hinch. Canada’s Fuck the Facts have long been known for their intensity both in the live environment and on record. Having witnessed them perform in the most intimate of spaces (a living room) I can attest to that. Their ability to bring that energy into the studio is what has positioned FtF as one of Canada’s greatest current metal exports but also as a well respected entity outside those borders.

By Matt Hinch.

Artwork by Mel Mongeon

Canada’s Fuck the Facts have long been known for their intensity both in the live environment and on record. Having witnessed them perform in the most intimate of spaces (a living room) I can attest to that. Their ability to bring that energy into the studio is what has positioned FtF as one of Canada’s greatest current metal exports but also as a well respected entity outside those borders. While they haven't rested on their laurels, new album Desire Will Rot is the first time they've captured the magic on a full-length record since 2011’s Die Miserable. It seems like forever but the Ottawa-based grindcore quintet has lost none of the fire that made that album so good.

With a band like FtF one can never be too sure of what to expect. Desire Will Rot makes good on that statement adding some surprising elements to their potent mix of grind and death metal. But of course, save the nearly 8-minute ambient/noise track "Circle", the intensity rarely lets up ensuring maximum aural carnage.

From the opening track, "Everywhere Yet Nowhere" the fierceness of their grind slaps the listener right in the face. Vocalist Mel Mongeon and bassist/vocalist Marc Bourgon trade off his low growls with her feral screams, sending heartbeats racing as guitarists Topon Das and Johnny Ibay try keeping pace with drummer Mathieu Vilandre. This tornado of hateful emotion continues unchecked in one form or another throughout the album. Except the aforementioned (but still cool) "Circle".

Photos © John Mourlas. All rights reserved.

Fuck the Facts plunge headlong from one riff to another leaving a stream of twisted bodies in their wake. Much of the time the mood is just plain mean even though the members are anything but. However, they never stick to one mode for too long, shifting from grinding blasts to groovy death metal to powerful doom, often in the same, short song. That’s where they excel though.

Stitching together disparate elements, multitudes of riffs and moods as effortlessly as they do is what sets them apart. No matter how abrupt the change it always feels natural. Instead of alienating the listener by keeping them constantly off balance, they reward them with yet another intense section to sink their moshing teeth into.

"Storm of Silence" illustrates this point (and the unexpected element) perfectly. Ascendant guitars reach beyond the pummeling deathgrind loaded with vicious intent and intense blasts to compound the cathartic release through a series of stops and starts culminating in a very non-grind shredding solo from Das. It’s the kind of track (along with its follow-up "Solitude") that keeps the listener guessing but not waiting.

Photos © John Mourlas. All rights reserved.

Desire Will Rot just keeps getting stronger as it goes along. "False Hope" is just outstanding. Das weaves intricacies and temperate melody into the violence. The inertial reaction to the whipping shifts in direction is almost sickening. Blasting grind meets death metal with brief room to breathe and massive hauling doom all tied together with a melody that makes it all feel so cleansing. If the album stopped right there it would feel right but it’s not called "False Hope" for nothing.

After "Circle" the album closes out with "Nothing Changes". Chugging rhythms and quiet/loud dynamics punish with melody bubbling beneath the dark surface. Overall it’s a different turn from the grinding nature but they put no less into it. Each successive note feels like another nail in the coffin until it abruptly rises from that eternal sleep with an air of triumph and unstoppable determination shaded by revenge.

Fuck the Facts, through Desire Will Rot are all about the intensity, creativity and uncompromised savagery. The only concessions they make are the ones they choose to and not without good reason. Every grinding blast, every death metal charge, every vocal growl or shriek stabs deep unleashing a flurry of emotions from violent to mournful. But one thing is for certain, you won’t stand still. The desire to throw yourself head first into any and every obstacle will rot within until it is fulfilled. Desire Will Rot is the sort of grindcore album that takes you over, and works you over until the final note. It’s inescapable.

Dave’s Demo Roundup Vol. V

By Dave Schalek. Too much time has passed since I've been able to give a look at various demos and EPs appearing on Metal Bandcamp, so let’s waste no more and dive right in to a diverse range of releases for this incarnation of Dave’s Demo Roundup

By Dave Schalek.

Too much time has passed since I've been able to give a look at various demos and EPs appearing on Metal Bandcamp, so let’s waste no more and dive right in to a diverse range of releases for this incarnation of Dave’s Demo Roundup.


Not to be confused with the U.K.’s Cold Fell, a blackened doom metal band that I had given a look to awhile back (or with the band Black Breath, for that matter), New Jersey’s Coldfells play a melancholic form of traditional doom metal that seems to be making a comeback these days. Immediately, fans should take note that Black Breath, a two-song EP, is being released by Bindrune Recordings and Coldfells appears to be another project from vocalist Nechochwen.

Falling somewhere within the same niche of doom metal occupied by classic bands such as My Dying Bride, Katatonia, and so on, Coldfells mix up their doom with nods to melodies with mild keyboards, a generally slow pace that actually will go so far as to pick up to a blastbeat, and vocal styles ranging from low growls to a soaring, yet muted, clean style that is quite pleasing. Black Breath clocks in at about seventeen minutes and hints at possible greatness to come from Coldfells.




Here is a reissue from Svart Records of a classic demo from 1993 from Finland’s Rippikuolu. An obscure band, diehard fans of heavy doom/ death will probably already be familiar with Rippikuolu; for the rest of you, here’s the perfect opportunity to get acquainted.

Insanely heavy with guttural vocals and a crushing percussion, Musta Seremonia is chock full of gigantic riffs and a pace that varies from a glacial dirge to a mid-paced gallop to the occasional, very primitive sounding, blastbeat. Given that this is a demo from the days before Pro Tools and what have you, expect a very messy sound with hollow sounding drums, but the devastatingly heavy (I’m running out of adjectives) down tuned guitars and bass more than make up for such modern niceties that fans of the genre couldn’t care less about anyway

Artwork by Derek Setzer

A three song EP from Quebec’s Fuck the Facts, Abandoned is a short, all out blast of chaotic grindcore. Expertly played, Abandoned features Fuck The Facts’ penchant for bizarrely angular guitar leads, riffs, and wicked time changes. Fuck the Facts also nicely separate themselves from other grindcore bands by injecting an odd moment or two of quiet, almost soft, melody that serves as a pause before going for the throat once again. At times, the listener never quite knows what to expect next. The duo of frontwoman Mel Mongeon and bassist Marc Bourgon expertly delivers their gut wrenching vocals with power.

Fuck The Facts have a habit of releasing numerous short EPs in between albums; Abandoned is the latest such release in a string since the last proper full-length, Die Miserable from 2011. Here’s hoping that a new full-length is on the horizon.

Fuck the Facts - Amer

Review by Red.

Artwork by Mel Mongeon

If there's a takeaway from Fuck the Facts' new EP Amer, it's that these seven songs could easily be expanded into something even better.  Or they can remain as they are and just be awesome.  The EP runs for 17 minutes and there isn't really a dull moment included.

Mel Mongeon's familiar scream is joined by a lower-pitched death growl this time around.  I'm not sure if it was present on Die Miserable, their previous LP.  It's definitely welcome, as variety in the vocals never hurts.  Six of the seven tracks are in French, while the lone English track is a doomy little piece that could segue quite well into the band's slower, more contemplative material.

Photo by Distortionplus.

It sounds like the band is having fun here.  There is a vibrant quality to these tracks that is immediately audible.  And when the band is having fun or is excited by what they're playing (both of which are applicable here), the listener usually can't help but be taken along for the ride.  As reviewers and listeners, I think most of us underrate experience for the sake of concerning ourselves with innovation (or the lack thereof) when analyzing a piece of music.  Experience and professionalism serve Fuck the Facts quite well.

Are they reinventing the wheel?  Hardly.  Amer is enjoyable and that's the point of it all.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Fuck The Facts - Die Miserable - Misery

Review by Natalie Zina Walschots. Originally published here by Exclaim.


Canadian grindcore icons Fuck the Facts remain the sonic definition of iconoclasts. Their latest full-length, Die Miserable, is a veritable sonic laboratory. After well over a decade aggressively refusing to be confined to a single genre, they approach the complete demolishing of expectations and predictability with a grace and sophistication that would be comfortable were it not so weird. Individual moments on this album shine out, twisted, writhing and brilliant. The throbbing distortion in the titular "Die Miserable" could be mistaken for the sound of time bending. Next, "A Coward's Existence" opens with a mechanical squeal that sounds eerily organic, like a whale song rendered by guitar strings. Everything is broken, squeezed, torqued and under pressure, and the bent sound that's produced is at once distressing and completely engrossing.

Photo by Carmelo Española.

Coinciding with Die Miserable, Fuck the Facts are self-releasing an EP entitled Misery. This release takes a completely different approach to recording and songwriting, which shouldn't be surprising, considering the band. The production is much rawer, and the songs are shorter, focussed blasts of hot aggression. Guitarist and founding member Topon Das has said that Misery is composed of songs that didn't make the cut for the full-length, but the EP doesn't feel like a collection of leftovers. The approach is more relaxed ― less surgical precision in these experiments lead to more volatile results. On Die Miserable, Fuck the Facts play the role of mad scientists. On Misery, they become the monsters tearing the lab apart.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]