Artist: Caveau
Country: Canada
Label: Self-Released
Formats: Digital Demo
Year: 2025
Canada, to the outside world, always seems a country full of peaceful people doing smart things, keeping their country well-organised. But underneath that surface lies a rebellious character, at least that seems to be the case with the French-speaking part of Canada. The Quebecois Black Metal bands more often than not venture into separational themes and other subjects of patriotism. Such too is the case of Caveau, an apparently new Black Metal band digging into that trademark Canadian amalgam of Black Metal, Pagan Metal and Punk. ‘Demo 2025’ is the band’s first feat and was released independently through their Bandcamp page a few days ago.
Regardless of their ideological and controversial background, Caveau seems to have at least taken some musical inspiration from Absurd. These “German Tyrants” also have found a their niche in mixing the fundamentals of Black Metal with bits and pieces from (Oi!-) Punk and Pagan Metal. Nowadays it is largely dependant of which version of Absurd you run into, but at least, that is the musical basis from where the band came.
But if you really compare Caveau and Absurd, it’s quite easy to identify Caveau as the better of the two. Not only is this Canadian band way more professional and sounds far less clumsy, the main thing that sets Caveau apart from the Germans is that they have adopted the signature Canadian melodicism and dynamic song writing. That means that besides the Punk-inspired Black Metal we’re treated on some well-executed and typical Métal Noir Québécois melodies. This obviously emphasizes the pagan side of the band, especially towards the end of this nice and short 17-minute demo things start to get a bit more organic, leaving the more basic Punk-feel of the first track behind.
With this being the band’s first demo it is a fair thing to conclude that they have left a positive first impression, even though it sounds somewhat indecisive. It could also be part of the game, in which case the whole thing can be seen as a tasty mix of good ideas that just need a little extra cohesion.
