(Anciients / Bandcamp)
So Anciients have been making BIG waves recently. Their second Juno!! If you don’t know, now you know. Vancouver’s own heavy metal band Anciients have won their second Juno for best Metal/Hard Music Album. This is well-deserved and a great shout-out to the kinds of amazing musicians being cultivated here in Vancouver.
Anciients defines itself as progressive metal, which makes me think of trying to explain “progressive metal” to my Mom. A topic for another article.
My exposure to metal was very limited, if at all, growing up. “Punk” was the closest thing I understood to what is created in metal. That exposure to a type of emotion that is so uniquely human. A place to take out that emotion properly, whatever it may be. Metal is a fascinating dive once you go in…
If you’re someone who has never listened to metal but you’re still fascinated by the emotions like me, check out “Beyond the Reach of the Sun” by Anciients. The instrumentals are an interesting journey and the lyrics hold their own storytelling power. The vocals only take you slightly towards Satan. 😉
I had the pleasure of attending a progressive metal show. Meshuggah was playing at the UBC Thunderbird Stadium back in 2023. Meshuggah is a Swedish extreme metal band that formed in 1987. Their openers, Whitechapel, a death core band from Tennessee, USA. What an mix for my first live show. Our tickets were for arena side seating, but we started at the back of course. That way you get the full effect of the light-show and the best sound.
(Meshuggah)
After a while we moved to our scheduled seating and got an entirely new experience. I could see the hair and beards of Meshuggah blowing from the line of electric fans on stage. A couple steps back and a peak around the curtain… was the boss. The drummer with a long-flowing grey beard and pony-tail and a ring of fire surrounding him with electrical wind. It was majestic.
But also Satan.
From the side we also got this amazing view of the moshers in the centre arena. Chairs didn’t exist in their section, it was like a beautiful symbiotic school of fish moving and pushing off each other. Could you imagine a bird’s eye time-lapse of this? Mosh-pits are an interesting beauty, and I’d never seen one this big before.
This kind of music hits you in the ears in a way that makes you love how peculiar and awesome humans have become.
And Anciients represent the kind of music coming from Vancouver. Congratulations on your triumph Anciients, I’m excited to see what you’ll do next.
If you want to check out more of Anciients click the links below:
Written by Volante Matheson, Radio Arts & Entertainment at BCIT
Contact: vmatheson1@my.bcit.ca