Nurture
by Deviant Process
Lovdahl, Ian
Lovdahl, Ian
Horrifically underrated, it’s a sheer terror that publications, reviewers, and death metal fans aren’t falling over themselves in effulgent praise for Nurture. Stop overlooking this and buy it now.
Favorite track: In Worship, In Blood.
ewilt15
ewilt15
The scene is certainly over-saturated with tech-death, most of it good. That’s why it’s so exciting to stumble upon a standout like Nurture. The songs are well written and interesting, and the bass lines are every bit as fun as the guitar riffs. And just to save you the time, this is a Season of Mist album even though you’ll swear it’s Artisan.
Favorite track: The Hammer Of Dogma.
Dan Curhan
Dan Curhan
Intricate riffs intertwine with palpable Cynic influence on this proggy tech-death epic. Tons to digest in here, with decent dynamics and enjoyable arcs. Recommended for any fan of tech!
D.F.
D.F.
Nurture is just as good as Paroxysm! I wrote about it here: toiletovhell.com/tech-death-thursday-nurture-from-deviant-process/
Favorite track: The Hammer Of Dogma.
🤘
🤘
So good it makes me want to return my Archspire merch. This is arguably the best tech death album ever. Spawn of Possession, Death, Necrophagist, Gorguts, Dark Matter Secret, Beach Boys, and Beyond Creation all in one.
Favorite track: In Worship, In Blood.
David Fisher
locknar
Search_for_Survivors
nisthaed
jdjprimer19
Robin Mongeau
TsarFox
Maciej Starzyk
🐋💨🌊
49 Suns
baghead007
Aaron
Grinding_Metal
nick elliott
FullMetalJules
mrbungle1982
Chris Murray
Ray Brouwer
perennialquest
Schtroumpf Grognon
polaris_iv
screamo99
Sanity Theorist
olito1137
Contagion
D Duncil
Michal Pavlik
Rumpel Vim
thetodd91
Richard Tomsett
jtcwinchester
Mark Williams
eparent1982
PopeMemusLXIX
Nomar Strea
Wrapped In Skin, Folded In Autumn's Bosom
pongolfior
jiro_x
Etienne TB
Ben Miracle
fjoelsvind
Moonfog
William Bodily
JacobButcher
The Angry Cavemen
Lloyd James
Mattias Janebrink
bananasfourscale
progdolphin
Benoit Pierre
acidoceanic
Adam Andrade
Mathieu LePage
David Marteney
OliFant
mcep
KBRP
njorthur
gutsberserk
hellzora666
-
Streaming + DownloadIncludes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Purchasable with gift card
$9.99 USD or more
-
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumCD in Digipak with 18-page folded booklet/poster.
Includes unlimited streaming of Nurture via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 5 daysPurchasable with gift card$14 USD or more
-
-
Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumBlack heavy weight 12" vinyl (180 grams) in gatefold with 60cm x 60cm poster, first pressing 850 copies worldwide!
Includes unlimited streaming of Nurture via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 5 daysedition of 850 27 remainingPurchasable with gift card$26 USD or more
-
-
Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumEnantiodromia Shirt + Black heavy weight 12" vinyl in gatefold with 60cm x 60cm poster, first pressing 850 copies worldwide!
Includes unlimited streaming of Nurture via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 10 days$37.99 USD or more
-
-
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumEnantiodromia shirt + CD in Digipak with 18-page folded booklet/poster.
Includes unlimited streaming of Nurture via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 10 days$29.99 USD or more
-
-
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumCD in Digipak with 18-page folded booklet/poster.
Includes unlimited streaming of Nurture via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 10 days$11.99 USD
-
-
Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumBlack heavy weight 12" vinyl in gatefold with 60cm x 60cm poster, first pressing 850 copies worldwide!
Includes unlimited streaming of Nurture via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 10 daysedition of 50$23.99 USD
-
-
Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumSIGNED Black heavy weight 12" vinyl in gatefold with 60cm x 60cm poster, first pressing 850 copies worldwide!
Includes unlimited streaming of Nurture via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 10 days$23.99 USD or more
-
-
T-Shirt/ApparelCustom made to order direct to garment print on a black 100% cotton T-Shirt.
Also available on hoodies, tank tops, and more at shopusa.season-of-mist.com/merchandising/print-on-demandships out within 5 daysPurchasable with gift card$27 USD or more
-
-
T-Shirt/ApparelCustom made to order direct to garment print on a black 100% cotton T-Shirt.
Also available on hoodies, tank tops, and more at shopusa.season-of-mist.com/merchandising/print-on-demandships out within 5 daysPurchasable with gift card$27 USD or more
-
-
T-Shirt/ApparelCustom made to order direct to garment print on a black 100% cotton T-Shirt.
Also available on hoodies, tank tops, and more at shopusa.season-of-mist.com/merchandising/print-on-demandships out within 5 daysPurchasable with gift card$27 USD or more
-
1. |
In Worship, In Blood
07:31
|
|||
|
Deviant Process Nurture Lyrics
In Worship, In Blood
Atop Cithaeron lies
Amidst the lush of nature
Through an empyreal rhyme
Flows the words of the gods
He who's claimed as virtuous
Is beyond any mere assertion
Of malice, evil and transgression
Will be tempted
Tempted to climb
To reach the divine
To perform the ascension
Feel what is meant for those who indulge
An eternal bliss
A promise of no restraint
Will be tempted
Tempted to fall
To lie among his kin
Shed his purity and care
Soul thrown against the wave of pleasure
Be swept away
Pure silky hills of skin
Covered in grand passion
Pheromonic death grip
Eroding my resolve
Above those degenerates
I can’t allow
I can’t allow this procession to take place
And yet the voice of consciousness
Tells me to give into the vice
Give into the vice and join the ritual
O! Adore him
Wearing nothing but clear intentions
Desires masquerading as some Eve
Devouring the fruit
Humiliated in front of this great buffoon
Hoping to behold life
Life shine like it never has
As I enter in this sacred shrine
I know I have been unmasked
For what I truly am
The light through which he sees
Is now allowing me to witness
Truly what's standing before me right now
Seeing my own tear into me
Flesh against flesh
Blood against blood
I was not meant to see
As I was unmasked
|
||||
2. |
Emergence
05:20
|
|||
3. |
Asynchronous
05:42
|
|||
|
Deviant Process Nurture Lyrics
Asynchronous
Bound by a desire that is not mine
I find myself at the center of this most important
Most solemn ritual
A giving of the body
A giving of the soul
To the Great Beast
Visited by figures unknown to me
Men? Perhaps Homunculi themselves
Animated by a power
Which we both can't begin to grasp
Peons in this ceremony
Perennial torture
Magical
Mystic visions are pushed inside my mind
Hemoglobin unwillingly
Tasked to deliver the catalyst
My soul enters the Nether
A sea of consciousness
Rushed by visions and thoughts
That are not mine
As I absorb each and every strand of information
My body is probed
Invaded by forms I could not describe
Underground worlds etched in my Soul
Sudden shift
Blade deep
Entrails out
Fornication
Aeons have gone by
I am injected again
Woken up in a bed
A new person?
Consciousness takes care of the mangled Body
The Soul grows and promises
To take care of the Whole
Violence imposed upon every dimensions
A schism occurs and there I and I and I go forth
My body refuses to join me on my journey
The Golem has been given a mission
I ignore the nature of
Our separation's too great
The being we should have been
Born from the Womb of the Whore
Babalon! They have failed
Our existence forfeit
The ritual has failed
Our being is broken
Eternally out of sync
|
||||
4. |
The Hammer Of Dogma
05:49
|
|||
5. |
Syrtis Magna
05:57
|
|||
|
Deviant Process Nurture Lyrics
Syrtis Magna
Crawling out of a sea of slime
Every muscle burning from this effort
It’s seemingly endless to regain the horizon
It's seemingly endless to fill my lungs with air
Purity it seems wasn't meant for me
As I swim painfully
I reminisce the feeling of breathing
And what a loved one looks like
Oh, what a fool I was
Believing there was something for me
Up in their midst
I found myself in Pandaemonium
How I thought ambrosia elevated myself
Liberated me from apathy
A fiery river in an ice-cold chalice
Every feature of mine stripped
Standing became an herculean feat
Speech vile and indistinct
Cascading like a flood of mud
My body screamed for me to stop
The fire eating at my very life
The filth in me taking over
Spewing out, out of control
Sinking, reality blurring
I thought, I need more
More and more
Inching deeper in the muck
Exit the platitudes
The conspirators who brought my woes
Removing the cloaks to reveal
A myriad of doppelgangers
Laughing as I accept
Welcoming my deserved castigation
|
||||
6. |
Homo Homini Deus
04:37
|
|||
|
Deviant Process Nurture Lyrics
Homo Homini Deus
An individual, a single person
Atomic basis of the Machine
Walking towards Colosseum
Aggregator of souls
Cogs grinding against each other
Movement and friction translated to heat
Like Hyperion's son radial crown
Setting aflame the spirits of men
Blazing through the bonds
Which kept nuclei separate
Concerns of personal nature
Evaporate, mutate
Thousands form a single arm
Bringing down the scythe of the malcontent
Homo Homini Deus
Acting in self-preservation against itself
No time for contemplation
As the head of yet another divine being
Is split from its earthly body
Back to Nature, essence joining the mass
Tsunami of bodies under one mind
Pressure and density taking away individuality
Acting as one, embodiment of the True Will
A deflagration of divine expression
Casting away the chains of decency
Critical mass
A single direction
Until dispersion
Homo Homini Deus
Until critical mass again is reached
Homo Homini Deus
|
||||
7. |
||||
|
Deviant Process Nurture Lyrics
The Blessings Of Annihilation Infinite
I awake
Long past the First Impact
Which saw me come to existence
Initial blast of Life
The mingling of body and soul
Before either came to be
Standing amidst a world of loneliness
Densely populated
Infected by a monstrous affliction
Never alone
I am isolated
In a sea of my pointless kind
To navigate in this nightmarish mass
I find myself drawn to a force
Forbidden
Down in Cocytus
Within the bowels of the earth
Through a man-made labyrinth
Mystical temple
Holding a power infinite
I am awake now
Darkness surrounding me
I cast aside the curtains
That kept the light from reaching my mind
The Fruit of Life brings us the Blessings
Of Annihilation Infinite
Fruit of life
Bring us back
Bring us back before life
Please free us
Free us from this suffering
Fruit of life
Bring us back before and
Give us your
Give us your Blessings
|
||||
8. |
||||
about
Too often in metal, limits and boundaries are pushed at the expense of taste. Bands and fans alike can be found showering bursts of attention onto the latest hotshots redlining along at the fastest BPMs, at whose got the most unintelligibly guttural vocals, at who can generate the most indistinguishably chaotic guitar tone and/or how picture-perfect and sanitized rhythm sections can deliver their click-tracked wares. More often than not, all this comes at the expense of clarity, soul, groove and, most importantly, good songs. For Québec City’s Deviant Process, this sort of thing has been happening too much and for too long. And while the progressive tech-death quartet are tuned in to their surroundings, the band have made a conscious decision to drop out, but not before turning on those obsessed with the likes of classic Death, Cynic and Pestilence as well as contemporaries Obscura, Beyond Creation and Fractal Universe with Nurture, their second full-length and first for Season of Mist.
“We aren’t the kind of band where it’s ‘showing off first, music second,’” exclaims guitarist/vocalist Jean-Daniel Villeneuve. “We want to have great compositions with solid ideas and structures. We want the listener to be able to sing the song, to be able to remember every passage and every riff, not just thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’m surrounded by 11,000 notes a second.’ We didn’t want to check tech-death boxes about what BPM we needed to have blast beats at, using the same amps this big band used or how much shredding we needed to include. We don’t want to be a band that’s only about achievements in technical ability. We want great music and that’s been our goal since the beginning.”
“The container is more important than the contents,” guitarist Stéphane Simard sums up. “We take time to have really good structures first before adding all the harmonies, melodies and musicianship stuff.”
Deviant Process’ history goes back to 2008 with Villeneuve kicking out the one-man symphonic death metal jams under the guise of Psychic Pain. A self-produced demo caught the attention of fellow axe-swinger and musical soul mate, Simard, who together with bassist Pierre-Luc Beaulieu and drummer Olivier Genest, completed the band’s original lineup. In 2011, the foursome recorded two-track debut EP Narcissistic Rage after a common bond led to a shift in musical direction.
“Psychic Pain was a solo project,” remembers Villeneuve, “and when Steph and I came together, more brutal and technical death metal was the common ground between the two of us. So, we decided to go that way because that’s more how we thought about music together and it fit better.”
Following the release of Narcissistic Rage, Deviant Process honed their chops on local stages, opening for the likes of Cryptopsy and Revocation, and in rehearsal rooms, delving deeper into the ways and means of expanding technical death metal beyond jaw-dropping tempos and flashy fretboard finger gymnastics. Replacing Genest with drummer Antoine Baril (who produced and engineered Narcissistic Rage) introduced broader rhythmic elements to the new material, everything from rock-solid four-on-the-floor heavy metal pounding to side-winding jazz and hi-brow classical percussion. In the summer of 2013, the band entered Antoine Baril’s Hemisphere Studio with Chris Donaldson (Cryptopsy, Beneath the Massacre, Ingested, Ophidian I) to capture what would become debut album, Paroxysm. To say their first full-length endeavor was a challenge is an understatement. During what ended up being a three-year operation, producer François Fortin took over from Baril (as well as being the new band’s drummer), production work shifted studio locations from Hemisphere to La Boîte Noire, bassist/lyricist Philippe Cimon replaced Beaulieu after the production was done. Baril (who also plays in Augury, From Dying Suns and Contemplator and owns the studio in which Paroxysm was recorded) made the decision to leave the band during the mixing process.
“Antoine left because he had to make the decision whether to record the album or produce the album…” explains Simard.
“…He had a lack of time and too much stress going on in his life,” adds Villeneuve, synchronously finishing his band mate’s thought, “so he decided to part ways to focus only on the production instead of performing and producing. It was too much for him.”
Producer François Fortin took over the live drum duties for the next few years. Deviant Process may have been bruised and battered by the end of the process, but they emerged stronger, more intent and focused, with a new lease on life, a solid lineup and Paroxysm which was initially released by recently shuttered Canadian label, PRC Music. Paroxysm was supported by slots opening for the likes of Archspire, First Fragment, Beyond Creation and Gorod. But it was a mini-tour in the band’s home province opening for Gorguts and Dysrhythmia in 2017 that brought them to the attention of Season of Mist. The band and label felt each other out, went into negotiations and finalized a deal in 2018.
“We were a really small band with an album released on a really small label when [SoM label boss] Michael [Berberian] approached us…” begins Simard.
“…He said that some people in the US office told him about the band and the album,” finishes Villeneuve. “He liked it, made a proposal for the next album and then sent a contract. I still don’t know who told him about us, but that’s the story, as dull as it is!”
This brings us to the present and forthcoming second album, Nurture. Francois Fortin decided to left the band to focus on the production of the album. Michel Bélanger then replace him on the drum duties. Its seven songs (and one cover, of Obliveon’s “Cybervoid”) are an expansive marvel of not just technical death metal maturity, but the seamless inclusion of foreign elements like the tribal fusion middle-eight in “In Worship, In Blood,” the almost free-jazz chaos that introduces and drives “Emergence,” the Latin-folk-meets-British-prog acoustic flourishes in “Syrtis Magna” and tinges of ‘90s Rush weaved into the complex firestorm of “Asynchronous.” It’s a record that the guitar-slinging duo said they officially started working on in the autumn of 2017, so as to take advantage of the opportunity afforded to them by their new label, but one in which the material harkens back to 2008 as the band has been unafraid to dip into its extensive riff bank for the meticulously perfect idea that’ll connect this and that, old with new, brutal and delicate, and balls out with brains out.
“We know when it’s too much and are always thinking about what’s best for the song,” Villeneuve explains. “Some people might want to hear a million notes in a song, but sometimes all you need is a riff with two power chords that will stick in your head. But, we’ve also been known to spend a complete week working on a three-second transition…”
“…Or throwing out a couple minutes of music we’ve worked on because it doesn’t fit with the parts before or after it,” says Simard.
Nurture bobs and weaves like the sonic manifestation of a worryingly tall and fantastically ripped mathematics/quantum physics double-major who spends nights crunching noses and ear cartilage after spending days crunching numbers and calculating the size of the universe. Tidal layers of barbarous guitars engage in a baroque convergence/divergence dance and are bounced off prominent, fusion-inspired bass playing. The drumming stops and spins on a dime from ambient sparseness to clogging every artery of space while Villeneuve unleashes an insanely unholy barrage of black metal screams, death metal growls and full-throated, muscular bellowing, everything being put on display throughout dizzying album centerpiece “The Blessings of Annihilation Infinite.”
“On Nurture, we took a different direction during the writing,” the vocalist says, “to make it more articulate and instrumental. Death metal wasn’t our only guideline for writing music or even what we enjoy; we like jazz, old prog from the ‘70s, classical and we want to play the well-crafted music that we want to hear.”
Thematically, Nurture uses veiled lyrical references and far-reaching metaphors in the exploration of human experience commonalities. What’s being referenced may not be blatantly or entirely revealed, but spend enough time parsing and decoding Philippe Cimon’s lyrics and it’s clear that even if the dude is living in a perpetual game of 3-D chess, he empathizes with what we’re all dealing with and understands where we’re all coming from and where we’re all going.
Says the bassist: “There isn’t a central theme for the lyrics on Nurture. The songs were written over a certain period of time and different themes are explored. A common aspect to every song is the use of esoteric or mythological references to express a relation to a certain theme, be it substance abuse, trauma and its consequences, faith, solitude, or man’s lust for power. However, the themes are sometimes brought up in a way that is very unclear and lets the reader make up his own explanation of the text.”
“There’s no gory stuff or anything typically death metal in our lyrics,” adds Villeneuve. “Our goal is to have the listener be able to associate a lyrical idea to a song. We want the listener to create their own feeling and meaning for the songs. It’s an album where people can really feel the vibe throughout the whole thing, not just from listening to one song. There’s an energy you can feel from our effort and there’s a flow that goes from beginning to the end, a journey that’s speaking in the music.”
With Season of Mist having their backs, Deviant Process has quickly been thrust into an unfamiliar world of having to select and settle on variant vinyl colors, conjure up multiple t-shirt designs, tend to contractual and legal matters, PR responsibilities, out-of-province and international communication and all that fun behind-the-scenes business stuff. The band is still adjusting to industry demands and encountering stressful situations they hadn’t thought of, assumed they’d ever have to consider or even know existed. Ironically, what’s brought them to this point is their own boundless and borderless take on extreme metal. They may be “a small band that wants to be not small,” and Nurture has helped them get their collective foot in the door to a world populated by the stable of bands they blasted while growing up and still blast today when time away from rewriting the rules of technical death metal permit.
“All of my favorite bands since I was young seemed to be signed to Season of Mist,” laughs Simard, “so we are very appreciative of having the opportunity to be on the same label as our idols. We’re still getting used to what we have to do when we’re not playing our instruments…”
“…But we want to go against the grain,” says Villeneuve, again finishing his counterpart’s thought. “We don’t want to just fit in the tech-death box; we want to include anything that opens more possibilities, even if we’re just boring people from a small city in Québec that like and want to play really good music!”
“We aren’t the kind of band where it’s ‘showing off first, music second,’” exclaims guitarist/vocalist Jean-Daniel Villeneuve. “We want to have great compositions with solid ideas and structures. We want the listener to be able to sing the song, to be able to remember every passage and every riff, not just thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’m surrounded by 11,000 notes a second.’ We didn’t want to check tech-death boxes about what BPM we needed to have blast beats at, using the same amps this big band used or how much shredding we needed to include. We don’t want to be a band that’s only about achievements in technical ability. We want great music and that’s been our goal since the beginning.”
“The container is more important than the contents,” guitarist Stéphane Simard sums up. “We take time to have really good structures first before adding all the harmonies, melodies and musicianship stuff.”
Deviant Process’ history goes back to 2008 with Villeneuve kicking out the one-man symphonic death metal jams under the guise of Psychic Pain. A self-produced demo caught the attention of fellow axe-swinger and musical soul mate, Simard, who together with bassist Pierre-Luc Beaulieu and drummer Olivier Genest, completed the band’s original lineup. In 2011, the foursome recorded two-track debut EP Narcissistic Rage after a common bond led to a shift in musical direction.
“Psychic Pain was a solo project,” remembers Villeneuve, “and when Steph and I came together, more brutal and technical death metal was the common ground between the two of us. So, we decided to go that way because that’s more how we thought about music together and it fit better.”
Following the release of Narcissistic Rage, Deviant Process honed their chops on local stages, opening for the likes of Cryptopsy and Revocation, and in rehearsal rooms, delving deeper into the ways and means of expanding technical death metal beyond jaw-dropping tempos and flashy fretboard finger gymnastics. Replacing Genest with drummer Antoine Baril (who produced and engineered Narcissistic Rage) introduced broader rhythmic elements to the new material, everything from rock-solid four-on-the-floor heavy metal pounding to side-winding jazz and hi-brow classical percussion. In the summer of 2013, the band entered Antoine Baril’s Hemisphere Studio with Chris Donaldson (Cryptopsy, Beneath the Massacre, Ingested, Ophidian I) to capture what would become debut album, Paroxysm. To say their first full-length endeavor was a challenge is an understatement. During what ended up being a three-year operation, producer François Fortin took over from Baril (as well as being the new band’s drummer), production work shifted studio locations from Hemisphere to La Boîte Noire, bassist/lyricist Philippe Cimon replaced Beaulieu after the production was done. Baril (who also plays in Augury, From Dying Suns and Contemplator and owns the studio in which Paroxysm was recorded) made the decision to leave the band during the mixing process.
“Antoine left because he had to make the decision whether to record the album or produce the album…” explains Simard.
“…He had a lack of time and too much stress going on in his life,” adds Villeneuve, synchronously finishing his band mate’s thought, “so he decided to part ways to focus only on the production instead of performing and producing. It was too much for him.”
Producer François Fortin took over the live drum duties for the next few years. Deviant Process may have been bruised and battered by the end of the process, but they emerged stronger, more intent and focused, with a new lease on life, a solid lineup and Paroxysm which was initially released by recently shuttered Canadian label, PRC Music. Paroxysm was supported by slots opening for the likes of Archspire, First Fragment, Beyond Creation and Gorod. But it was a mini-tour in the band’s home province opening for Gorguts and Dysrhythmia in 2017 that brought them to the attention of Season of Mist. The band and label felt each other out, went into negotiations and finalized a deal in 2018.
“We were a really small band with an album released on a really small label when [SoM label boss] Michael [Berberian] approached us…” begins Simard.
“…He said that some people in the US office told him about the band and the album,” finishes Villeneuve. “He liked it, made a proposal for the next album and then sent a contract. I still don’t know who told him about us, but that’s the story, as dull as it is!”
This brings us to the present and forthcoming second album, Nurture. Francois Fortin decided to left the band to focus on the production of the album. Michel Bélanger then replace him on the drum duties. Its seven songs (and one cover, of Obliveon’s “Cybervoid”) are an expansive marvel of not just technical death metal maturity, but the seamless inclusion of foreign elements like the tribal fusion middle-eight in “In Worship, In Blood,” the almost free-jazz chaos that introduces and drives “Emergence,” the Latin-folk-meets-British-prog acoustic flourishes in “Syrtis Magna” and tinges of ‘90s Rush weaved into the complex firestorm of “Asynchronous.” It’s a record that the guitar-slinging duo said they officially started working on in the autumn of 2017, so as to take advantage of the opportunity afforded to them by their new label, but one in which the material harkens back to 2008 as the band has been unafraid to dip into its extensive riff bank for the meticulously perfect idea that’ll connect this and that, old with new, brutal and delicate, and balls out with brains out.
“We know when it’s too much and are always thinking about what’s best for the song,” Villeneuve explains. “Some people might want to hear a million notes in a song, but sometimes all you need is a riff with two power chords that will stick in your head. But, we’ve also been known to spend a complete week working on a three-second transition…”
“…Or throwing out a couple minutes of music we’ve worked on because it doesn’t fit with the parts before or after it,” says Simard.
Nurture bobs and weaves like the sonic manifestation of a worryingly tall and fantastically ripped mathematics/quantum physics double-major who spends nights crunching noses and ear cartilage after spending days crunching numbers and calculating the size of the universe. Tidal layers of barbarous guitars engage in a baroque convergence/divergence dance and are bounced off prominent, fusion-inspired bass playing. The drumming stops and spins on a dime from ambient sparseness to clogging every artery of space while Villeneuve unleashes an insanely unholy barrage of black metal screams, death metal growls and full-throated, muscular bellowing, everything being put on display throughout dizzying album centerpiece “The Blessings of Annihilation Infinite.”
“On Nurture, we took a different direction during the writing,” the vocalist says, “to make it more articulate and instrumental. Death metal wasn’t our only guideline for writing music or even what we enjoy; we like jazz, old prog from the ‘70s, classical and we want to play the well-crafted music that we want to hear.”
Thematically, Nurture uses veiled lyrical references and far-reaching metaphors in the exploration of human experience commonalities. What’s being referenced may not be blatantly or entirely revealed, but spend enough time parsing and decoding Philippe Cimon’s lyrics and it’s clear that even if the dude is living in a perpetual game of 3-D chess, he empathizes with what we’re all dealing with and understands where we’re all coming from and where we’re all going.
Says the bassist: “There isn’t a central theme for the lyrics on Nurture. The songs were written over a certain period of time and different themes are explored. A common aspect to every song is the use of esoteric or mythological references to express a relation to a certain theme, be it substance abuse, trauma and its consequences, faith, solitude, or man’s lust for power. However, the themes are sometimes brought up in a way that is very unclear and lets the reader make up his own explanation of the text.”
“There’s no gory stuff or anything typically death metal in our lyrics,” adds Villeneuve. “Our goal is to have the listener be able to associate a lyrical idea to a song. We want the listener to create their own feeling and meaning for the songs. It’s an album where people can really feel the vibe throughout the whole thing, not just from listening to one song. There’s an energy you can feel from our effort and there’s a flow that goes from beginning to the end, a journey that’s speaking in the music.”
With Season of Mist having their backs, Deviant Process has quickly been thrust into an unfamiliar world of having to select and settle on variant vinyl colors, conjure up multiple t-shirt designs, tend to contractual and legal matters, PR responsibilities, out-of-province and international communication and all that fun behind-the-scenes business stuff. The band is still adjusting to industry demands and encountering stressful situations they hadn’t thought of, assumed they’d ever have to consider or even know existed. Ironically, what’s brought them to this point is their own boundless and borderless take on extreme metal. They may be “a small band that wants to be not small,” and Nurture has helped them get their collective foot in the door to a world populated by the stable of bands they blasted while growing up and still blast today when time away from rewriting the rules of technical death metal permit.
“All of my favorite bands since I was young seemed to be signed to Season of Mist,” laughs Simard, “so we are very appreciative of having the opportunity to be on the same label as our idols. We’re still getting used to what we have to do when we’re not playing our instruments…”
“…But we want to go against the grain,” says Villeneuve, again finishing his counterpart’s thought. “We don’t want to just fit in the tech-death box; we want to include anything that opens more possibilities, even if we’re just boring people from a small city in Québec that like and want to play really good music!”
credits
released October 15, 2021
DEVIANT PROCESS is
Jean-Daniel Villeneuve : guitars, vocals
Stéphane Simard : guitars, backing vocals
Philippe Cimon : bass
Michel Bélanger: drums
Recording Studio: La Boite Noire
David Lizotte (vocals recordings only)
Produced, Engineered, Mixed and Mastered by François C. Fortin
Artwork by Sébastien Bouchard
Tracklist:
01. In Worship, In Blood (7:32)
02. Emergence (5:20)
03. Asynchronous (5:42)
04. The Hammer Of Dogma (5:50)
05. Syrtis Magna (5:57)
06. Homo Homini Deus (4:37)
07. The Blessings Of Annihilation Infinite (7:49)
08. Cybervoid (Obliveon cover) (3:56)
DEVIANT PROCESS is
Jean-Daniel Villeneuve : guitars, vocals
Stéphane Simard : guitars, backing vocals
Philippe Cimon : bass
Michel Bélanger: drums
Recording Studio: La Boite Noire
David Lizotte (vocals recordings only)
Produced, Engineered, Mixed and Mastered by François C. Fortin
Artwork by Sébastien Bouchard
Tracklist:
01. In Worship, In Blood (7:32)
02. Emergence (5:20)
03. Asynchronous (5:42)
04. The Hammer Of Dogma (5:50)
05. Syrtis Magna (5:57)
06. Homo Homini Deus (4:37)
07. The Blessings Of Annihilation Infinite (7:49)
08. Cybervoid (Obliveon cover) (3:56)
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
Deviant Process Québec City, Québec
From the the French Canadian metal scene, renowned for bands like Cryptopsy, Gorguts and Beyond Creation, emerges Deviant Process. Originating from downtown Québec City in 2008 and influenced by a plethora of genres, from jazz-fusion to extreme metal, the innovative quatuor is labelled as progressive death metal. ... more
discography
-
Oct 2021 -
Mar 2016 -
Jun 2011
contact / help
If you like Deviant Process, you may also like:
-
supported by 91 fans who also own “Nurture”
First WTF was google music actually throwing something good into my feed. Second WTF was everything every goddamn member of this band does. This and the previous album have been on repeat for weeks. All other music tastes like diet water. Help.
go to album -
Gloire Éternelle
by First Fragmentsupported by 81 fans who also own “Nurture”
Neoclassical tech death on high speed. FFO: Equipoise, Yngwie Malmsteen
go to album -
supported by 80 fans who also own “Nurture”
This album erupts with technical proficiency and head-swaying good melodies that kept me up for hours.
go to album -
Broken Archetypes
by CosmitoriumKnotty prog-death from Cosmitorium combines raw fury with head-spinning instrumentation.
go to album -
Shambhallic Vibrations
by Lunar Chamberfeatured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 28, 2023
go to album -
A Different Painting For A New World
by CatalystSkull-shattering tech death with split-second rhythm and chord changes designed to provoke whiplash.
go to album -
supported by 78 fans who also own “Nurture”
I dig this album so much, definitely a keeper. Subtly and masterfully mixing death metal subgenres, backed with an over the top production. They're true professionals. Can't wait for their next release!
go to album
