Katö – Québec Gold
June 23rd, 2021
Doom Metal
Independently Released
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
If there’s one thing you’ll learn by frequenting the metal-leaning bars and venues in Montreal, Quebec it’s that of all the subgenres of heavy metal in existence, none are as vibrant and plentiful in this city as doom metal. That fact being what it is, it should come as no surprise that there are plenty of local bands who more or less sound the same. But Katö are not one of those bands. Are they doing anything outside of the box or wildly creative? Well, no. After all, what doom band does? But do they deliver badass riffs and heavy, chunky tunes that’ll give some of the genre’s heavyweights a run for their money? Yeah, I think so.
Québec Gold is Katö’s second full length album, following 2019’s M39. Though the band has also released a live album and an EP, I would name Québec Gold the best damn thing the band has done yet. These guys are a relatively new project. Having only existed since 2018, they’ve quickly risen to the top of the Montreal doom metal shit heap, and for good reason. This record kicks some serious ass.
When the album begins with “Nullepart Express”, and you hear the SFX of someone trying really hard to get a motor to start, coupled with the bluesy guitar noodling of frontman Bull Royce, you get a sense of exactly what you’re in for on this record. Then, when the rest of the band comes in, including the thick bass from Gringö and the loud, punching crash cymbals of drummer Yanick Bucci, those expectations are met. As an album opener, “Nullepart Express” does exactly what it needs to do, provides some of the heaviest riffing this side of the Saint Lawrence that are catchy enough to become lodged in your brain. This track will you absolutely banging your fucking head on the dashboard of the old, dusty, rusty 70’s pick-up truck that you should be driving while listening to this record.
The vocal performance from Royce is messy and scratchy, layered with reverb and kept chained in the bowels of a long-empty gasoline tanker. He always sounds like he’s transmitting his lyrics to you through an old, beaten up radio, or screaming from a loudspeaker across a mountain-and-valley landscape. Most of the lyrics are in French, and given my status as an anglophone who didn’t grow up in Quebec, I can’t say I fully understand all of them. Given the titles I can discern some of their meaning. “Nullepart Express” essentially means “Nowhere Express” so you can figure out what that means rather easily. “L’Hypnos” seems to be about a hypnotist, “Le Siffleux” is the French word for groundhog, and “L’Autoroute du Vice” means “Highway of Vice”, so they’re all pretty simple to figure out. But in all honesty the lyrics aren’t really that important. They’re just window dressing for the rough and gnarly vocal performance the Bull gives on this LP.
It’s not all gruff toughness though. There are moments of quiet and softness present on this album. “L’Hypnos” is a pretty laid back song for a chunk of its runtime before the heaviness kicks in. Meanwhile, the previously mentioned interlude “Le Siffleux” is a short acoustic ditty that actually has shades of Pink Floyd and Alice in Chains. Funny enough, the Alice in Chains is an apt comparison given that the song that follows, the short instrumental piece “14L de Gaz”, certainly has heavy, modern Alice in Chains vibes in the riffage. The album closer, which is also the title track, is also a fairly slow and laid back track for part of its runtime. It feels almost like a ballad, but the vocal performance lends the track more to a folk song comparison, as if the band conjured up an old folk tune from the province’s colonial days and “metalized” it.
I also think this record is wonderfully mixed. Engineered and produced by Jordan Barillaro (of Venomenon fame) at No Fun Audio, and mastered by Richard Addison at Trillium Sound Mastering, it’s clear that the minds behind the mixing board knew what they were doing with this record. Everything sounds full, clear, heavy and punchy. Every thud of the bass drum and every pluck of the bass strings hits you deep in the gut, like an underground rumbling straight out of Hell. The guitars sound so full and vibrant, with every riff washing over you like a rockslide that punches you right in the fuckin’ face. It’s a treat for the ears, in my opinion.
Make no bones about it, this isn’t only one of the best doom metal records to come out of Montreal in recent years, it’s one of the best records to come out of Montreal in recent years, period, regardless of genre. This album has received tons of rotation from me since its release, and I’ve enjoyed blasting it out the windows of my van throughout the course of the summer and fall in 2021. Much like some of the best material from bands like The Sword and Kvelertak, Québec Gold deserves to be blasted in your car at full volume while cruising down the highway in the summertime, especially when the absolute banger that is “Shotgun Ménard” comes on. My only real complaint is that I wish the album was a little bit longer. I really like the tracks “Le Siffleux” and “14L de Gaz”, but they do feel a little bit like filler in comparison to the other bangers present on this project. Besides that I love this album, and you should too.
Final Verdict: 9/10
Awesome
Favourite Tracks:
“Nullepart Express”
“L’Hypnos”
“Shotgun Ménard”
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 