Thirty-five or so years ago, a little band from Montréal spoke from their high horse on the topic of killing technology. Granted, the artistic and conceptual driving force behind this sentiment was more about growing dependence on technology as opposed to literally killing technology because, as Voivod’s drummer Away so eloquently stated on Canadian TV back in 1987, “being anti-technology is like being anti-breathing.” However, even though I’m sure there have been thousands of times each and every one of us been frustrated by technology to the point we wanted to beat it with a stick then light it on fire, technology is as much a part of modern humanity as humanity is.
So yeah, technology has allowed for Maudiir, the one-man project helmed by fellow Montréaller Frédéric “F.” Bergeron, to exist. Known around the City of a Hundred Steeples as a past and present member of Trinity Blast, Deeply Confused and Tears for the Dead Gods, Bergeron stepped into the world of the solo artist last year with Maudiir’s Le Temps Peste EP, a quirky and proggy mix of black, thrash and death metal with upbeat punk and D-beat rudiments rounding out the conglomeration. Feel free to imagine Maudiir as a mix of early Metallica and Enslaved, Darkthrone, Diamond Head, Skeletonwitch, Martyrdöd, Skitsystem and fellow French Canadian technology users/abusers, Voivod.
Sitting at home with no shows to attend or play for a year has provided F. the opportunity to work in isolation and create the next chapter in the Maudiir story, La Part du Diable. The five songs within continue stirring the influence pot with the result being simultaneous sweet and sourness, light and darkness, uplift and despondency. Below you can check out “Spirit of Sulfur” from the EP and see for yourself. A man of few words, F. says the following about the track and record in question:
“I feel like ‘Spirit of Sulfur’ has an original sound to it; bending the rules a little between thrash, black, punk and prog/melodic metal. Kind of what I’m trying to do on the whole La Part du Diable EP, actually.”
Maudiir on Bandcamp, Facebook, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.
