Running late, I walked into a show that was built for people with a love for Heavy Progressive Rock music. The band I walked into was Ephaisus. I knew I was going to be sorry for missing their full set because when I walked in, a single audience member was body surfing amongst his friends and doing a fine job. I think you’ll agree, these bands show that progressive rock is alive and well in Toronto.
Ephaisus
It was enough to tell me this band was worth paying attention to. The crushing prog riffs sucked me in, along with some decent head-banging and cheering from the packed crowd. This is a progressive power metal band – but without the cheese whiz that can be spread on the sound. This band was taking themselves seriously and doing one hell of a great job. I will have to show up earlier to give you a full report – I missed much of their set.
Spectra
Next up to bat was Spectra, who have recently released their new CD – “Places We Only Dream Of”.
I found out the drummer, Justin Ferrante, was doing double duty that night for Ephaisus and Spectra. I had to ask him what it was like to drum for two very different bands. Did he just drum in his particular style, or did he have to learn two different styles?
As it turns out, Ephaisus has a more technical aspect style to their sound and handed Jordan his parts to play. Spectra seemed a little looser and had room to explore how the drums would fit into each song. So, the short answer is that Jordan is a very versatile drummer.
When the band hit the stage the cacophony was a tirade of conglomerate energy. They started sounding like a Thrash metal band only to introduce an Irish jig to their sound. (Now that is progressive and a little funny when you hear it.) They went into a straightforward sonic attack only to bring it back to that head-banging leprechaun vibe. Oh, Lucky charms…
Their second song, “Meridian” was straightforward and simply rocked hard.
If you were’nt getting their sound by now, may I suggest you just go home and turn on your TV to watch Heartland?
“Aurora” came off as a monster eating a Crunchie bar. If you listen carefully, you can hear goblin noises that seems to be inspired by Devin Townsend who is yelling at his broken TV set unhappy that he cannot watch Heartland.
As it turned out, we had the artist of their CD cover, Mallory Chow in the audience, and it was her birthday. The band got together and gave her a few gifts to celebrate. One was a copy of their new CD. (That makes sense.) Then, they presented a Spectra T-shirt and a Netflix subscription to watch endless hours of Heartland.
This is a band that takes its music very seriously, but makes sure they have fun doing it. This should be rule #1 in the musicians’ playbook.
They continued their set with a piece called “Equinox”. This one felt like they were boiling up some spaghetti and then using them as pom-poms. This joyous noodling was brought to you by a mentally unstable Chef Boyardee.
They finished the evening with a pure progressive metal tune that was neither glorious nor frightening. It was just fabulous technical playing with a fantastic tactical landing that can only happen in Heartland.
Maitreya
The final band came on with a large smoky sound I can only describe as “progressive stoner metal”. You would think these two styles of music could not be combined well, but Maitreya found their way to make the fuzz and the buzz something special. They started off more melodic than technical and that is what made them stand out to fit into two musical genres at once.
They explained that their singer couldn’t make it out, so it was going to be an all-instrumental show. For me, I didn’t care because I had nothing to compare them to yet. I guess I will have to see if they can actually play or do they hide behind their vocalist. The fans that did show up supported them and it didn’t matter if they were missing a member. The show must go on. I once saw this happen to the band Accept, and the fans just sang the songs and had a great time.
Their musicianship was both loose enough to feel free to experiment a bit and tight enough to know these guys put in a lot of hours of practice to be at this level of professionalism. It has an aura of spaciness, but they don’t go for that “Faster than the speed of light” attitude. It was a universal experience as you can see the planets go by one by one.
I particularly like the Bass player because of his stage energy. His nightmarish bass riffs were just heavy enough to stomp on your head and the guitarist stood and drilled his unwelcome actions into your weary brain.
Once they have misaligned your though patterns and stuck you in the wheelchair with their smoking sounds, you are ready to take an aviary vacation that floats you through cumulus clouds.
Just when you thought there was nowhere else to go, they turned on their Psychedelic Reggae machine that chugged out garage can rock. Could this be the reason that Oscar the Grouch is all green and matted?
Maitreya finished off the evening with some great acid-induced funk like it was squeezed through a kaleidoscope. I guess I will have to return when I can hear the singer and see if he adds anything to this highly creative band discovering their sound.
It’s time for you, my readers, to discover your music. Here are each band’s Instagram accounts:
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