– Can you tell us a little about the formation of Confined to Oblivion?

The band was formed in early 2015 with our former vocalist and Yan(Lead Guitar) after the end of their previous project. After a couple of auditions for rhythm guitar player, Simon joined and brought in David(Drums) and Raphael(Bass) soon after. The lineup was officialized in August 2015 and started working on what became our first EP “The Cycle”.

-What were your main influences? I can hear a lot of old school melodic death metal in your music, did this genre play a big part in your style? 

Not really actually, we know and love some classic Melodic Death albums, but it wasn’t really our influences at the time. We were more into bands like Parkway Drive, Lamb of God and Slipknot. It’s really with the arrival of our new vocalist, Jean Charles, that we shifted towards death, black and progressive metal. With our strong melodic foundation, the blend of these genres happened naturally over the last 3 years.

-Do you write songs as a unit, or do you have one or two who write everything and then get feedback from the others?

We usually write songs as a unit, but most of the time we start from riffs or ideas brought by Simon or Yan. Before the pandemic we would jam together the riffs over and over again, bounce ideas off of each other, test new structures, etc. When Covid hit, we started sharing ideas online, giving feedback while iterating on the original ideas that were originally sent. About half of the album was composed that way.

-Where do you get lyric ideas from?

The lyrics are mainly coming from the different feelings of frustration, anger, and disappointment the life can reveal.

Most of the lyrics have been written during the pandemic in 2020.

JC our vocalist immigrated from France to Canada back in 2013. The song Lost in Lands is about his own personal questions of being an immigrant.

Even if the lyrics are very dark, our message is to learn from the obstacles in life, and persevere…

This is where the name of the album takes its sources: Resumption.

-What’s it like being a Canadian band these days? I know the scene used to be quite big, but I guess that Covid has wrecked things as it has all over the world. 

The current climate with Covid makes it difficult to find a promoter that’s comfortable booking a show. Before the pandemic there were shows on a small to large scale happening daily in the city and major international festivals in the summer. The DIY scene is even bigger, but right now it’s taking a forced break due to Covid. Hopefully it’ll come back stronger than ever, people are clearly excited to go see their favourite artists play. Promoters and venues want to re-open and offer entertainment again, it’s only a matter of time. 

-Any plans on touring in support of your awesome new album, Resumption?

Yes we plan to tour around Canada and expand to the USA and possibly Europe. Right now 2022 seems like the logical option to book a tour due to the ever changing situation regarding Covid.

-What does the future hold for Confined to Oblivion? 

We would love to bring the live CTO experience back to the crowd as soon as possible and we are stoked to perform the new album. We are looking forward to playing on bigger and better shows and in areas we’ve never played in yet. And for sure, a continuation of our musical evolution. We have already started talking about a follow up to the album, but it is too early to say what format this will take and in what kind of timespan.

-Great, I hope to see you on the road soon. Once again, great work on your album. Thanks for taking the time out to talk to me today. 

Formed in 2015, Confined to Oblivion have already toured with some of the most brutal bands that passed through Canada, opening for bands like The Agonist, Unearth and Beyond Creation.

The brutal, intense music conjured up by the Montreal based band is amongst the heaviest I have heard to be unleashed from Canada!

The new album is set to be released mid July 2021 and is entitled Resumption, eleven tracks of the upmost brutal blend of black, melodic and progressive death metal.

The opening track, In Abeyance, is a complex baseball bat to the ears. Slow start, but still batters through with immense ferocity. There are some interesting influences that shine through, some old school Swedish death metal almalgamated with a pinch of modern brutal death metal. All this combined creates probably the strongest opening track since I first heard Cannibal Corpse’s Torture opener Demented Aggression! Musically, the drummer is crushing, awesome grove and great style of playing, not too much blasting, but knows when to hit the gas when it is needed. The guitarists are very adept at using melodies and harmoics to enhance the feeling, and the bassist is from another planet holding the war machine on course to destroy. Vocally, I was expecting something completly different, as most “modern bands” have this annoying clean vocal/ guttural thing going on, but holy shit this guy nailed it big time! Brutal in both the mellower parts and transforms into EPIC in the brutal parts of the track.

Another track I have to metion, is A Line Has Been Crossed, it has a great harmonic passage throughout, which reminds me of when In Flames were at the top of their game, the masters of melodic death metal. A track that is going to be on repeat for some time on my phone. Although it is a mid-tempo track it still has more balls than King Kong!

For those who are wanting to cause some damage to their necks by the way of whiplash, then check out the track The Long Death of a Silent Tear, this is THE ultimate track to get the circle pit going and tear shit up to! Slow mo groove with a shit ton of aggression!

Confined to Oblivion have managed to rank number 2 of my albums of the year list for 2021, falling short to Benediction, only because I have been a massive fan of the Birmingham bashers since their formation. Awesome album heavily recommended to anyone who loves a lot of groove, melody and intelligent song writing!