Inspired by a recording session with long-time stoner metal stalwarts Sons of Otis, guitarist/producer Greg Dawson (Cunter, Grift, BWC Studios) began to handpick and assemble OLDE, emphasizing a powerful and economic approach to Doom music. Enlisting the help of drummer Ryan Aubin (Sons of Otis), bassist Cory McCallum (Five Knuckle Chuckle), guitarist Chris "Hippy" Hughes (Moneen) and vocalist Doug McLarty (Jaww) OLDE began to take form. The band came in to the studio one by one, having only heard Dawson's demos, having never laid eyes on anyone else in the band. Soon, the recording was complete and their debut full-length "I" was ready to terrorize the heavy metal countryside. The band eventually met in Dawson's driveway and everyone got along quite famously.
Eschewing the sometimes meandering mores of the genre, OLDE's "I", released by Toronto’s Hypaethral Records, is an exercise in force and restraint. There are no ten-minute guitar solos, space soundscapes, spritely psychedelics or vocal chanting freak-folk interludes. The album is somewhat of an anomaly: it is a Doom record without any one song topping five minutes. These calculated arrangements add to the single-minded and earnest nature of the music. OLDE wastes little time or effort. They are precise, efficient and heavy.
2016 saw OLDE return with their new 4-song independent EP, “Shallow Graves”. Acting as bridge between “I” and 2017’s “Temple” (July 1, 2017 on STB Records), “Shallow Graves” shows the band reaching out into more frantic, feral and frenzied territory while staying true to their heavy, bludgeoning roots. It has come out to very good reviews (Thy Demons be Scribblin, Metal Nexus, Hellbound, National Post, Toronto Sun), with much of the praise focusing on their still-massive sound and specifically lauding the band for their fresh take on Motorhead deep-cut “Limb from Limb”.
“Temple” will be released on Aug 11, 2017; digitally on Bandcamp, pre-sales on vinyl (in various packages/levels) by New Jersey’s innovative STB Records (and on cassette by Toronto’s Medusa Crush Recordings), quickly cultivating a reputation of putting out some of the best-looking and–sounding vinyl packages in the heavy scene. The album finds Olde putting society and personality in its crosshairs, attacking the traits that make people hide behind various masks in order to survive, and how the ranks of the disguised, with their ulterior motives, aren’t exacting worried about the average Joe in their quest for self-preservation and “progress”. Olde’s sound has also grown, encompassing more abstraction and harmony, whilst never forgetting to bludgeon their fans, as needed, with riff after riff, driven by the sophisticated-caveman drums of Aubin and the harsh, yet always clear, vocals of lyricist McLarty.
OLDE continues to plug away, playing on select weekends to appreciative audiences, writing and recording to please themselves and their fans. They are not a band worried about making it big. They are a band obsessed with making it THICK. They ramble on, always, not much concerned with whether or not they are loved or accepted, simply hoping to be heard. Which, considering their volume and intentions toward sheer speaker-and-ear destruction, might indeed happen, if given the chance.
Small D.I.Y. run boutique label of heavy and hard musics (plural), to heavy people. Located at this time in Toronto, On. Canada. Will be giving the North a touch of what it's missing.
Apart from being a near-legendary modern regular compilation of all metal/rock that's slow and heavy, D&S goes to England and has a fine spread of not just M.C.R. alumni, but other indie crusher acts Medusa Crush Recordings
How do you describe a contender for EP of the year 2019? By playing this one over and over again. In terms of extreme metal, very little competition to challenge this darkened jewel for that title. Medusa Crush Recordings
A crying shame that this now-defunct band from Rennes, France had composed (nay, forged) a missive of grandiose doom so captivating, it will be years before the greater masses realize it. Glorious! Medusa Crush Recordings
One of a few Goya releases I didn't already have. Picked up the cassette from the band/label at the best-named Big Cartel page on the interwebz. Download code redoomed. Heddbuzz (I.R. Puffinstuff)