Release Date July 1st, 2026
Format CD/MC/Digital
Genre Metal
Origin Canada
Metaladian is a Hamilton, Ontario band led by composer, drummer and vocalist Andrew Brophy. The lineup features Dan Brophy on rhythm, lead and classical guitars, Ruth Guetchal on rhythm guitars and Dustin Smith on bass, with all four members contributing vocals. Andrew and Dan have played metal together since their teenage years, Ruth is Dan’s wife, and the entire lineup also performs in 30 Immolated; 16 Returned. Formal classical training runs through the band.
Andrew studied classical guitar and music at Mohawk College, Dan and Ruth hold doctorates in composition, and all three teach music. The name Metaladian joins metalhead with Canadian, accompanied by a weapon shaped logo designed by Andrew. A 2020 demo of "Cure For Judgement" preceded "Deaditation", the band’s debut full length release and the result of more than two decades of writing. That history is stamped across the music through chromatic composition, layered guitar harmony, volatile rhythmic changes and several vocal registers.
"Deaditation" spans six songs, built on progressive extreme metal with thrash, death metal, sludge and classical composition folded into its architecture. Andrew Brophy’s production stacks twisted riffs, rapid arpeggios, mobile bass lines and highly active drumming across wide arrangements, while Dan Brophy’s mix and Andreas "Seidr Jonsson" Westholm’s mastering preserve
scale, though congested moments can bury the attack of individual ideas. Four vocalists alternate soaring lines, guttural lows, high screams and thrash shouts, creating an unusual signature through fast call and response exchanges; at times, the number of voices and guitar layers turns intensity into clutter.
The extended forms travel through sudden tempo shifts, chromatic climbs, doom laden drops and frantic accelerations, with most transitions retaining momentum, although a few long stretches drag past their dramatic peak. Lyrically, the album follows pain, retribution and redemption through abuse, despair, judgement, spiritual confrontation, revenge and eventual forgiveness, giving its six songs a coherent progression. Violent fantasy grants private trauma a grotesque outer shape, while blunt wording occasionally strips difficult subjects of nuance and makes certain emotional turns too literal.
Classical influence enters the harmony and construction through Ruth Guetchal’s arpeggiated guitar role, the intertwined movement of guitar and bass, and drumming closely aligned with vocal rhythm; this is compositional knowledge placed inside extreme metal, not decorative window dressing. "Deaditation" reaches high and often arrives there, especially in its rhythmic design and four voice interplay; congested production, oversized arrangements and overly literal lyrics stop it from climbing higher, leaving an ambitious debut with substantial musical depth and an individual character.
|7.5
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