Out from the night shade: Saskatchewan’s Nox Umbra
When you utter the name Saskatchewan to folks, certain images are conjured in the mind; endless fields of golden wheat and canola crop, deep, frigid winters, small town hockey, a pastoral way of life. One of the things that doesn’t materialize to the mind’s eye is a fierce Metal community, built on its boot straps by an ardent coexistent scene of fans and musicians that want to see the genre both survive and thrive here.
Yet, here we are, Saturday May 23rd, an evening so hot the breeze only sought to move hot air around, fellow Metalheads emblazoned with patches packed into Saskatoon’s Black Cat Tavern for a thunderous cacophony of Canadian Metal.
Left to right: Roque Andres Jr, Donny Pinay, Brandon Mayer
The house lights go down, an omnium gatherum of stalwarts of both the Saskatoon and Regina Metal scenes take the stage in the form of relatively recent band, Nox Umbra; introducing the crowd to a fresh take on Melodic Death Metal as they open the night. They’re here to open the night for Saskatoon-based headliner, Battle X.
What was the secret sauce that made this feel new? Melodic Death Metal often uses the same false chord and screamed vocals that appear in other arenas of the Death Metal sub-genre, with the occasional melodic or “clean” vocal sprinkled in here and there for good measure. In the case of Nox Umbra, however, Kaitlyn Abel takes the helm as the singer; performing purely clean vocals against a fast, unfettered attack of Melodeath.
Donny Pinay (left) delivers false chord (growled) vocals, while Kaitlyn Abel (right) sings in soaring clean vocals
Kaitlyn, for her part, states the decision for purely clean vocals on lead are a product of limitation and not one of choice, “For me, it’s all I can do. I wish I could be a bad ass Death Metal vocalist. It hasn’t been much of a journey, because it’s just what I’m stuck with; but it’s nice to have boys let me into this, to be something unique, I guess. It’s pretty cool.”
However, I would posit that Kaitlyn undersells the experience, her soaring clean vocals adds a new touch to a well-trodden experience in Melodic Death Metal; while the combined years of the guys lends the technicality on the instrumentation that the sub-genre often calls. Making for an overall experience that, while at first surprising, compliments its direction with its execution. And it seems like her band mates agree, “her [Kaitlyn’s] clean singing makes her a severe bad ass,” Roque Anders Jr (bass) confirms.
Roque (left) keeps the rhythm section pacing, while Brandon (right) blazes a solo
A name makes or breaks a first impression and a name like Nox Umbra certainly draws you in, out of intrigue if nothing more. “Originally, I just came up with the name,” says Donny Pinay (guitars and extreme vocals), “I just went through some Latin names, just threw some words together and paired them together. One of them happened to be Nox Umbra, which means dark shadow or night shade, roughly. I sent it to these guys, they seemed to lean towards that one, and we’ve been Nox Umbra ever since.”
The band’s collective experience, crossing paths as they have over their shared past, led to the creation of the group, “Most of us have been in the Regina scene for a number of years,” Donny states.
Roque chuckling, interjects, “A lot of years”.
Donny continues, “We’ve all met each other at shows, played shows together, and eventually we wanted to get a project together to do some Melodic Death Metal and this is how we’ve been.”
“Yeah, man, I’ve known these people – they’re my friends, and I’ve been playing music for the last thirty years,” Roque adds, “like, the Regina music scene is really, really tight and incestuous [the band laughs collectively]. Every band member has played with other band members in various forms or six degrees of separation in Regina, so I think it only makes sense that we kind of gravitate toward each other. Everyone’s chill in this band, so that’s a big thing. The music’s one thing, but it’s all about the hang as well.”
Justin Hoffman, drums, provides the full fury and speed of the double kick and blast beats expected from Melodic Death Metal
While the band freely admits that progress towards a recorded release has been slow going thus far, emphasis is placed on its impending arrival, “we’re slowly chipping away at recording and trying to release something out into the public,” Donny assures.
“This is our second time in Saskatoon too, so we’re trying to play a little more outside of Regina,” says Brandon Mayer (guitar).
Brad Korol blasts some punchy falsh chord vocals, while delivering keyboard accompaniment
“We’re all ‘adults’,” chuckles Roque when asked if touring further afield is on the books, “so, we can only do ‘weekends’. Everyone [but Roque, who’s a Saskatonian] is based out of Regina, so whatever’s within six or seven hours is probably the most feasible.”
Whatever the future holds for Nox Umbra, it seems that in spite of the name, we can expect it to be bright.
You can follow Nox Umbra’s journey on Facebook and Instagram.
Nox Umbra is:
Kaitlyn Abel – Lead vocals
Brandon Mayer – Guitars
Donny Pinay – Guitars and extreme vocals
Brad Korol – Keyboards and extreme vocals
Justin Hoffman – Drums
Roque Andres Jr - Bass