Quo Vadis (band)
Encyclopedia
Quo Vadis is a technical
melodic death metal
band from Montreal
, Quebec
, Canada
, formed in 1992 by Bart Frydrychowicz, Yanic Bercier, and Arie Itman and is named after the novel
by Polish
writer Henryk Sienkiewicz
. Since its inception, the band has released three studio album
s, one compilation album
, one demo
, one live DVD
, one live album
and two videos
.
and Megadeth
covers. However, over time, the band began to write originals and incorporate them into their live shows. By 1995, the band had written several originals and wanted to record a demo. Bassist Remy Beauchamp was recruited as a permanent member after the band tried out 17 others and soprano vocalist Sebrina Lipari performed on certain songs live. The Quo Vadis Demo was released on cassette
on March 21, 1995 through VomiT Productions and helped the band establish themselves in the Montreal metal community.
was released on March 30, 2000 in Canada. However, due to logistical problems, the album was released to Europe in December. To promote the album a video for "Dysgenics" was made. Remy commented on the making of the video, "It was long! We did two days of shooting. It's not the most pleasant thing to do lipsing and pretend to be playing, but it's all worth it in the end. What's really fun is the editing, seeing the whole thing take shape. We did a video release in Music Plus studios in December, but what people saw that day wasn't the finished version. We changed it a lot since and it looks really cool." Day into Night also sold much more than Forever...; Bart compared them: "The reactions have been excellent, to give you an idea, we sold as many copies of the new album in the 6 months as of Forever... in 2 years."
The sound of the album was notably different than Forever as the female vocals and violins had disappeared and the band's focus had shifted away from melody towards more technicality and progressiveness, featuring more complex song structures and time signature changes. Remy Beauchamp elaborated, "Basically, it was over three years between the recordings of both albums so within that time, the music we listen to has changed. Also, we all improved on our instruments... The female vocals are just something we tried a long time ago. The song was actually written in 1994, and then every band started doing it so we decided to drop it. The violin is not out definitely though, we might be putting some on our next album but for 'Day Into Night', we wanted to have a good heavy album, no extras." Bart said that "the production is much better; we spent 3 months in the studio as opposed to a week and a half... Our budget helped as well - we basically spent ten times the amount that we spent on Forever..." He also said, "One thing that many fans asked about... was why there was no violin. At the time we wanted to distance ourselves from all the bands that filled space in their music with different instruments as opposed to writing good music that stood on its own. We did the violin thing five years ago when the idea was a new concept so we wanted to move in. In face, we did record a violin piece for the album but chose not to include it for the reason above. Too many bands with violins. We wanted Day into Night to be heavy and kick ass and not diluted by association."
In 2001, Quo Vadis released Passage in Time
, a compilation album, under Skyscraper Music. The compilation album featured the entire Quo Vadis Demo, two live tracks, two remixes, one new song and the "Dysgenics" video. Remy commented on the album, "The demo hasn't been available for over three years and many fans were asking for it so we decided we might as well do something special if we were to re-release it. There will be a whole multimedia-section with it too. It will be an interesting package."
, United States
for work but remained in the band, although not attending a single practice after August 2002. Bart asserted, "Yanic is one of the most solid and reliable people I've ever known... We are in touch multiple times a day and he participates in the band... Our rehearsals are at the live shows we play... Yanic makes great efforts to stay in touch, practice, to fly in for all the shows, mixing, mastering, etc."
In the same year, vocalist and guitarist Arie as well as bassist Remy quit the band. According to Bart this decision was influenced by several factors; "I had wanted to bring in someone into the band for vocals all the way back in 2001, this was not possible at the time as some ex-members of the band felt that it would diminish their importance or feel threatened." He added, "...you see, back in 2002, we weren't expecting all this to happen a month before recording - and to have to write the other half of the album in 4 weeks... if there had been no changes at all, we would have had to deal with similar issues anyway. That's because, little did we know at the time, the other guitarist had only one song ready a month before studio (despite telling us he had material for four songs) so either way we would have had four weeks to write the rest of the album. Maybe he chose to deal with it by leaving the band, I don't know and I don't really care."
Quo Vadis then recruited Cryptopsy
guitarist Alex Auburn
for the remainder of 2002 to take over Arie's guitar duties. Will Seghers saw the band perform at the Metropolis, their first show after the line-up changes. After about a year he joined the band temporarily, replacing Alex who had to leave due to his commitments with Cryptopsy.
Instead of searching for and auditioning bassists, Bart decided to opt for an already established name. In 2003, Bart emailed Steve DiGiorgio asking, "Would you be interested in doing session work in Canada?" Steve agreed and Bart sent him info on the band and their music. After Steve finished his tour with Testament
, he met with Bart for the first time in the Montreal Airport.
For vocals, Quo Vadis recruited Stéphane Paré to replace Arie. Bart praised his vocals, saying, "In any case, the most important issue was to fix the weak delivery of vocals live. And that's been addressed when Stéphane came in." This new line-up was completed by the addition of Roxanne Constantin, formerly of Negativa
, on keyboards, soprano and alto vocals.
was written much earlier. By 2002, the song structures had been finalized and the drums were recorded in September 2002, and the bass in August 2003 at Wildsound Studios with Pierre Rémillard as the sound engineer. Cellos were recorded in October 2003 by POJPOWJ. The guitars were recorded sporadically between September 2002 and January 2004 and the choir and the vocals were recorded in January 2004. By May 2004, the entire album had been mixed by Jim Morris and mastered by Bernard Belley between June and September 2004.
Because the drums were recorded prior to the guitars, Bart had to write his guitar riffs so that they would compliment the drums and not vice versa. Bart elaborated, "Following the September sessions I went back to work out the harmonies and write a whole new set of guitars trying to see them from a different point of view. The main challenge was to stay within the parameters of the drums - either that or we would have to re-record them again. So I had to be very creative to make the songs interesting without introducing new sections or tempo changes. This is why there are so many harmonies and counter melodies. It was challenging - often I would just jam to the recorded tracks for a long time trying to find a different vibe then that already recorded... this is best apparent on To the Bitter End or Tunnel Effect. If you listen to both guitars, they're doing widely different things yet compliment each other really well."
The title of the album was initially "To the Bitter End" as the band intended to "record, or mix, or master until we're [sic] 100% happy and NOT settle for compromises". Bart explained that the artwork did not fit with the title so the band thought of a newer title and decided upon Defiant Imagination.
, a triple DVD documenting a concert in Montreal
on 7 May 2005 was released. Produced by Bart and Roxy, the first two DVDs featured the concert, in which Defiant Imagination was performed in its entirety along with various other tracks from previous albums, and the third DVD contained drum footage of the entire show, focusing entirely on Yanic Bercier
. The mix was handled by Jean-Francois Dagenais (Kataklysm
, Misery Index
) and Bart. Several guest musicians were featured on the DVD including the famous Quebec cellist
Claude Lamothe, Alex Auburn of Cryptopsy
fame, bassist Dominique "Forest" Lapointe of Augury
/Atheretic/Negativa
, and a classical choir and violinist.
In early 2006, William Seghers left the band in order to concentrate on Neuraxis and local progressive metal guitarist Marc-André Gingras of the MAG project was brought in to replace him. In summer 2006, Bart built his own home studio, 40 West Studio, and began working as a producer there with Roxanne as the studio technician. In November 2006, the official Quo Vadis forum was launched. In January 2007, Quo Vadis, along with Kataklysm
, toured both Western Europe
and Eastern Europe
for the first time.
On May 12, 2007, Quo Vadis released Live in Montreal
, a live album containing the audio of the 2005 DVD Defiant Indoctrination. In November 2007, Bart released a guitar and bass tabulature book for Defiant Imagination and was sponsored by German amp manufacturer, ENGL
.
, at which Stéphane Paré confirmed that Yanic and him would be leaving the band, leaving Bart as the only original member still left in the band. Bart speculated that the distance between the band and Yanic contributed to his departure; "With regard to Yanic, I know it was a very difficult decision to make on his part. People change, priorities change, personal situations change and he's been flying in from Tennessee for all the shows so you can imagine with the recent developments in the US/gas prices/travel and the fact that we were working remotely on the new record had probably something to do with it. I guess sometimes you have to make difficult decisions and this one was Yanic's. For sure on my end I will miss him on stage and working with him because he's been like a brother to me for 15 years and we've been through so much together." At the same show, Bart's right knee, which had both ligaments torn away in a sports injury, gave in completely and he supported his entire weight on his left knee for the rest of the show. However, this was to no avail as eventually Rob "The Witch" from Necronomicon and Stephane from BCI had to carry Bart around for the rest of the set, eventually having him sit up on a chair for the remainder of the show. Stéphane proposed cutting the show short but Bart refused and played on till the end. In the following months, both his knees had to have surgery.
After the 6 September show, with Stéphane, Yanic and Forest now gone and Bart unable to walk, rumors began to surface on the internet about Quo Vadis being disbanded entirely. However, on 15 September Bart posted a video on YouTube confirming the departures and dismissing the rumors about the break-up, adding that "a new line-up is in place and we actually have some shows scheduled in October and November... I have been sitting on literally two albums worth of material for the past two years that we were not able to finish for various reasons."
This changed line-up consisted of Patrice Hamelin (of Martyr
) as drummer, Trevor Birnie (of Damascus & Annex Theory) as vocalist and Roxanne Constantin
(of Negativa
) as bassist and keyboardist. A rough mix of a new track, "Equilibrium", was released on the band's Myspace
page on 25 October 2008. In late 2009, Trevor Birnie left the band's line-up and was replaced with Matthew Sweeney in early 2010 on vocals.
Since then, Bart has confirmed that work is under way on the new Quo Vadis album, tentatively titled But Who Prays for Satan?, expected to be released in 2011 and accompanied by a tour.
and Megadeth
, since they started out by covering them, as well as Carcass
, Death, hard rock
, classical music
, thrash metal
. The Quo Vadis Demo and Forever... featured violin
interludes and female opera
tic vocals, but by the band abandoned these for Day into Night
as both those things had become prevalent in metal music, according to the band members. Day into Night was more aggressive and technical than the band's previous offerings, partially due to improved musicianship. Also, guitarist and vocalist Arie was taking guitar lessons from Alex Skolnick
of Testament
and as a result, he played a few solos on Day into Night and added a Testament influence to the band. One of Bart's biggest influences is Chuck Schuldiner
, and Gene Hoglan
's playing on Individual Thought Patterns
and Sean Reinert
's playing on Human are two of Yanic's biggest influences. The album Defiant Imagination
features two songs written about Chuck which are also dedicated to him. For bass duties on Defiant Imagination, Bart had contacted Steve DiGiorgio
who had played on Death's Individual Thought Patterns.
Technical death metal
Technical death metal is a musical subgenre of death metal that focuses on complex rhythms, riffs and song structures. Technical experimentation in death metal began in the late '80s and early '90s by bands such as Death, Atheist and Cynic...
melodic death metal
Melodic death metal
Melodic death metal is a heavy metal music style that combines elements from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with elements of death metal. The style was developed during the early and mid-1990s, primarily in England and Scandinavia...
band from Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, formed in 1992 by Bart Frydrychowicz, Yanic Bercier, and Arie Itman and is named after the novel
Quo Vadis (novel)
Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero, commonly known as Quo Vadis, is a historical novel written by Henryk Sienkiewicz in Polish. Quo vadis is Latin for "Where are you going?" and alludes to the apocryphal Acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he...
by Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
writer Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. A Polish szlachcic of the Oszyk coat of arms, he was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his...
. Since its inception, the band has released three studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
s, one compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, one demo
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, one live DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, one live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
and two videos
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
.
Formation, Quo Vadis Demo (1992–1995)
Quo Vadis was formed in 1992 by guitarists and vocalists Bart Frydrychowicz and Arie Itman and drummer Yanic Bercier. Initially the band's music consisted of MetallicaMetallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
and Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
covers. However, over time, the band began to write originals and incorporate them into their live shows. By 1995, the band had written several originals and wanted to record a demo. Bassist Remy Beauchamp was recruited as a permanent member after the band tried out 17 others and soprano vocalist Sebrina Lipari performed on certain songs live. The Quo Vadis Demo was released on cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
on March 21, 1995 through VomiT Productions and helped the band establish themselves in the Montreal metal community.
Forever... (1996–1998)
In early 1996, Quo Vadis headed back into the studio and recorded their debut album with Pierre Rémillard, who had previously worked with Cryptopsy, as producer. On April 10, 1996, Forever... was released and was received favorably by both fans and critics, leading Earth AD Records in Germany and Immortal Records in Poland to sign licensing deals with Quo Vadis. Bart said of the album, "We recorded a demo which was released as an EP on cassette last year. The reaction was very positive. We were still searching for direction at that time, experimenting with keyboards and femme vox. The music is much more focused now as we have found our sound. Forever... is much more aggressive then the EP was, it's much more melodic and intricate. That may sound like a contradiction but that is the case. I think we had more to say as musicians this time in the studio as well. Our objective was to keep the aggression and not to loose our edge. I think we captured that quite well, at the same time setting free our artistic side. It's pretty weird. You have to listen to both to really understand."Day into Night and Passage in Time (1999–2001)
After signing onto Hypnotic Records in 1999, Quo Vadis received a budget of around $20,000 to record their second album. Recorded at Victor Studios and produced again by Quo Vadis and Pierre Rémillard, Day into NightDay into Night
Day Into Night is the second full-length album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on March 30, 2000. The album was accompanied by a music video for the song "Dysgenics".-Track listing:-Quo Vadis:...
was released on March 30, 2000 in Canada. However, due to logistical problems, the album was released to Europe in December. To promote the album a video for "Dysgenics" was made. Remy commented on the making of the video, "It was long! We did two days of shooting. It's not the most pleasant thing to do lipsing and pretend to be playing, but it's all worth it in the end. What's really fun is the editing, seeing the whole thing take shape. We did a video release in Music Plus studios in December, but what people saw that day wasn't the finished version. We changed it a lot since and it looks really cool." Day into Night also sold much more than Forever...; Bart compared them: "The reactions have been excellent, to give you an idea, we sold as many copies of the new album in the 6 months as of Forever... in 2 years."
The sound of the album was notably different than Forever as the female vocals and violins had disappeared and the band's focus had shifted away from melody towards more technicality and progressiveness, featuring more complex song structures and time signature changes. Remy Beauchamp elaborated, "Basically, it was over three years between the recordings of both albums so within that time, the music we listen to has changed. Also, we all improved on our instruments... The female vocals are just something we tried a long time ago. The song was actually written in 1994, and then every band started doing it so we decided to drop it. The violin is not out definitely though, we might be putting some on our next album but for 'Day Into Night', we wanted to have a good heavy album, no extras." Bart said that "the production is much better; we spent 3 months in the studio as opposed to a week and a half... Our budget helped as well - we basically spent ten times the amount that we spent on Forever..." He also said, "One thing that many fans asked about... was why there was no violin. At the time we wanted to distance ourselves from all the bands that filled space in their music with different instruments as opposed to writing good music that stood on its own. We did the violin thing five years ago when the idea was a new concept so we wanted to move in. In face, we did record a violin piece for the album but chose not to include it for the reason above. Too many bands with violins. We wanted Day into Night to be heavy and kick ass and not diluted by association."
In 2001, Quo Vadis released Passage in Time
Passage in Time (album)
Passage in Time is a compilation album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis and was released in 2001 by Skyscraper Music. It contains their entire 1995 Demo, a rerecorded version of Vital Signs, a remixed version of the Hunted, and two live songs recorded at Foufounes Electriques in...
, a compilation album, under Skyscraper Music. The compilation album featured the entire Quo Vadis Demo, two live tracks, two remixes, one new song and the "Dysgenics" video. Remy commented on the album, "The demo hasn't been available for over three years and many fans were asking for it so we decided we might as well do something special if we were to re-release it. There will be a whole multimedia-section with it too. It will be an interesting package."
Line-up Changes (2002-2003)
In 2002, Yanic Bercier relocated to TennesseeTennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for work but remained in the band, although not attending a single practice after August 2002. Bart asserted, "Yanic is one of the most solid and reliable people I've ever known... We are in touch multiple times a day and he participates in the band... Our rehearsals are at the live shows we play... Yanic makes great efforts to stay in touch, practice, to fly in for all the shows, mixing, mastering, etc."
In the same year, vocalist and guitarist Arie as well as bassist Remy quit the band. According to Bart this decision was influenced by several factors; "I had wanted to bring in someone into the band for vocals all the way back in 2001, this was not possible at the time as some ex-members of the band felt that it would diminish their importance or feel threatened." He added, "...you see, back in 2002, we weren't expecting all this to happen a month before recording - and to have to write the other half of the album in 4 weeks... if there had been no changes at all, we would have had to deal with similar issues anyway. That's because, little did we know at the time, the other guitarist had only one song ready a month before studio (despite telling us he had material for four songs) so either way we would have had four weeks to write the rest of the album. Maybe he chose to deal with it by leaving the band, I don't know and I don't really care."
Quo Vadis then recruited Cryptopsy
Cryptopsy
Cryptopsy is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 1988. The band has sold over 300,000 records.-Necrosis :...
guitarist Alex Auburn
Cryptopsy
Cryptopsy is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 1988. The band has sold over 300,000 records.-Necrosis :...
for the remainder of 2002 to take over Arie's guitar duties. Will Seghers saw the band perform at the Metropolis, their first show after the line-up changes. After about a year he joined the band temporarily, replacing Alex who had to leave due to his commitments with Cryptopsy.
Instead of searching for and auditioning bassists, Bart decided to opt for an already established name. In 2003, Bart emailed Steve DiGiorgio asking, "Would you be interested in doing session work in Canada?" Steve agreed and Bart sent him info on the band and their music. After Steve finished his tour with Testament
Testament (band)
Testament is an American metal band from Berkeley, California, formed in 1983. They are often credited as one of the most popular bands of the 1980s thrash metal scene...
, he met with Bart for the first time in the Montreal Airport.
For vocals, Quo Vadis recruited Stéphane Paré to replace Arie. Bart praised his vocals, saying, "In any case, the most important issue was to fix the weak delivery of vocals live. And that's been addressed when Stéphane came in." This new line-up was completed by the addition of Roxanne Constantin, formerly of Negativa
Negativa
Negativa were a Canadian avant-garde technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec formed by Steeve Hurdle ex member of the technical death metal band Gorguts. It also includes musicians from Ion Dissonance and Augury. The band released their first three-song recording, a self-titled release...
, on keyboards, soprano and alto vocals.
Defiant Imagination (2004)
Although the album was released on November 4, 2004, Defiant ImaginationDefiant Imagination
Defiant Imagination is the third full-length album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on November 4, 2004 by Skyscraper Music.-Quo Vadis:*Stéphane Paré – vocals, guitar...
was written much earlier. By 2002, the song structures had been finalized and the drums were recorded in September 2002, and the bass in August 2003 at Wildsound Studios with Pierre Rémillard as the sound engineer. Cellos were recorded in October 2003 by POJPOWJ. The guitars were recorded sporadically between September 2002 and January 2004 and the choir and the vocals were recorded in January 2004. By May 2004, the entire album had been mixed by Jim Morris and mastered by Bernard Belley between June and September 2004.
Because the drums were recorded prior to the guitars, Bart had to write his guitar riffs so that they would compliment the drums and not vice versa. Bart elaborated, "Following the September sessions I went back to work out the harmonies and write a whole new set of guitars trying to see them from a different point of view. The main challenge was to stay within the parameters of the drums - either that or we would have to re-record them again. So I had to be very creative to make the songs interesting without introducing new sections or tempo changes. This is why there are so many harmonies and counter melodies. It was challenging - often I would just jam to the recorded tracks for a long time trying to find a different vibe then that already recorded... this is best apparent on To the Bitter End or Tunnel Effect. If you listen to both guitars, they're doing widely different things yet compliment each other really well."
The title of the album was initially "To the Bitter End" as the band intended to "record, or mix, or master until we're [sic] 100% happy and NOT settle for compromises". Bart explained that the artwork did not fit with the title so the band thought of a newer title and decided upon Defiant Imagination.
Defiant Indoctrination, Live in Montreal (2005-2007)
In 2005, Defiant IndoctrinationDefiant Indoctrination
Defiant Indoctrination is the first live album by Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It is also the first DVD released by the band...
, a triple DVD documenting a concert in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
on 7 May 2005 was released. Produced by Bart and Roxy, the first two DVDs featured the concert, in which Defiant Imagination was performed in its entirety along with various other tracks from previous albums, and the third DVD contained drum footage of the entire show, focusing entirely on Yanic Bercier
Yanic Bercier
Yanic Bercier Ph.D is a Canadian physicist and musician. Aside from being the former drummer for melodic technical death metal band Quo Vadis and the more traditional death metal band Violence Unleashed, he also sessions for other bands such as The Coalition, and Empyreal Dominion.-Biography:For...
. The mix was handled by Jean-Francois Dagenais (Kataklysm
Kataklysm
Kataklysm is a Canadian death metal band. They call their musical style "northern hyperblast" after an advertisement in M.E.A.T. magazine describing another band, Fear Factory, as "hyperblast". The term refers to the extremely fast blast beats that Kataklysm's drummer, Max Duhamel, fuses into the...
, Misery Index
Misery Index (band)
Misery Index is an American deathgrind band formed in 2001 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, by Jason Netherton on vocals and bass guitar, Mike Harrison on vocals and guitar, and Kevin Talley on drums. From 2006-2010, its line-up consisted of Netherton on vocals and bass guitar, Sparky Voyles...
) and Bart. Several guest musicians were featured on the DVD including the famous Quebec cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
Claude Lamothe, Alex Auburn of Cryptopsy
Cryptopsy
Cryptopsy is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 1988. The band has sold over 300,000 records.-Necrosis :...
fame, bassist Dominique "Forest" Lapointe of Augury
Augury (band)
Augury is a progressive death metal band from Montreal, Canada who released their debut album, Concealed in September 2004 on Galy Records, and a follow-up, Fragmentary Evidence, in July 2009 on Nuclear Blast Records.-History:...
/Atheretic/Negativa
Negativa
Negativa were a Canadian avant-garde technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec formed by Steeve Hurdle ex member of the technical death metal band Gorguts. It also includes musicians from Ion Dissonance and Augury. The band released their first three-song recording, a self-titled release...
, and a classical choir and violinist.
In early 2006, William Seghers left the band in order to concentrate on Neuraxis and local progressive metal guitarist Marc-André Gingras of the MAG project was brought in to replace him. In summer 2006, Bart built his own home studio, 40 West Studio, and began working as a producer there with Roxanne as the studio technician. In November 2006, the official Quo Vadis forum was launched. In January 2007, Quo Vadis, along with Kataklysm
Kataklysm
Kataklysm is a Canadian death metal band. They call their musical style "northern hyperblast" after an advertisement in M.E.A.T. magazine describing another band, Fear Factory, as "hyperblast". The term refers to the extremely fast blast beats that Kataklysm's drummer, Max Duhamel, fuses into the...
, toured both Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
for the first time.
On May 12, 2007, Quo Vadis released Live in Montreal
Live in Montreal
Live in Montreal is the second live album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on May 12, 2007.-Disc One:# "Quo Vadis Homine" – 1:30# "Silence Calls the Storm" – 4:58# "In Contempt" – 4:13...
, a live album containing the audio of the 2005 DVD Defiant Indoctrination. In November 2007, Bart released a guitar and bass tabulature book for Defiant Imagination and was sponsored by German amp manufacturer, ENGL
Engl
ENGL is a German company that makes high-end tube amplifiers for electric guitars. Over the years ENGL has succeeded in becoming a global player in this market...
.
Line-up Changes, But Who Prays for Satan? (2008-present)
On 6 September 2008, Quo Vadis played a concert at The Medley in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, at which Stéphane Paré confirmed that Yanic and him would be leaving the band, leaving Bart as the only original member still left in the band. Bart speculated that the distance between the band and Yanic contributed to his departure; "With regard to Yanic, I know it was a very difficult decision to make on his part. People change, priorities change, personal situations change and he's been flying in from Tennessee for all the shows so you can imagine with the recent developments in the US/gas prices/travel and the fact that we were working remotely on the new record had probably something to do with it. I guess sometimes you have to make difficult decisions and this one was Yanic's. For sure on my end I will miss him on stage and working with him because he's been like a brother to me for 15 years and we've been through so much together." At the same show, Bart's right knee, which had both ligaments torn away in a sports injury, gave in completely and he supported his entire weight on his left knee for the rest of the show. However, this was to no avail as eventually Rob "The Witch" from Necronomicon and Stephane from BCI had to carry Bart around for the rest of the set, eventually having him sit up on a chair for the remainder of the show. Stéphane proposed cutting the show short but Bart refused and played on till the end. In the following months, both his knees had to have surgery.
After the 6 September show, with Stéphane, Yanic and Forest now gone and Bart unable to walk, rumors began to surface on the internet about Quo Vadis being disbanded entirely. However, on 15 September Bart posted a video on YouTube confirming the departures and dismissing the rumors about the break-up, adding that "a new line-up is in place and we actually have some shows scheduled in October and November... I have been sitting on literally two albums worth of material for the past two years that we were not able to finish for various reasons."
This changed line-up consisted of Patrice Hamelin (of Martyr
Martyr (band)
Martyr is a Canadian death metal band from Trois-Rivières, Québec, founded in 1994 by brothers Daniel and François Mongrain.- History :Formed in 1994 by brothers Daniel and François Mongrain , along with Pier-Luc Lampron and François Richard , Martyr recorded a demo tape in September 1995...
) as drummer, Trevor Birnie (of Damascus & Annex Theory) as vocalist and Roxanne Constantin
Roxanne Constantin
Roxanne Constantin is a Canadian musician who is currently a member of the band Quo Vadis and formerly Negativa and Rostrum. She has a B.A. in piano performance from the Montreal Conservatory of Music.-Biography:...
(of Negativa
Negativa
Negativa were a Canadian avant-garde technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec formed by Steeve Hurdle ex member of the technical death metal band Gorguts. It also includes musicians from Ion Dissonance and Augury. The band released their first three-song recording, a self-titled release...
) as bassist and keyboardist. A rough mix of a new track, "Equilibrium", was released on the band's Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page on 25 October 2008. In late 2009, Trevor Birnie left the band's line-up and was replaced with Matthew Sweeney in early 2010 on vocals.
Since then, Bart has confirmed that work is under way on the new Quo Vadis album, tentatively titled But Who Prays for Satan?, expected to be released in 2011 and accompanied by a tour.
Musical style and influences
The band was heavily inspired by MetallicaMetallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
and Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
, since they started out by covering them, as well as Carcass
Carcass (band)
Carcass are an extreme metal band from England, who formed in 1985 and disbanded in 1995. A reunion was enacted in 2008 without one of its original members, drummer Ken Owen, due to health reasons....
, Death, hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
, classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
. The Quo Vadis Demo and Forever... featured violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
interludes and female opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic vocals, but by the band abandoned these for Day into Night
Day into Night
Day Into Night is the second full-length album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on March 30, 2000. The album was accompanied by a music video for the song "Dysgenics".-Track listing:-Quo Vadis:...
as both those things had become prevalent in metal music, according to the band members. Day into Night was more aggressive and technical than the band's previous offerings, partially due to improved musicianship. Also, guitarist and vocalist Arie was taking guitar lessons from Alex Skolnick
Alex Skolnick
Alexander Nathan Skolnick is an American jazz and metal guitarist. He was a member of the San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal band Testament from 1983 until his departure in 1993...
of Testament
Testament (band)
Testament is an American metal band from Berkeley, California, formed in 1983. They are often credited as one of the most popular bands of the 1980s thrash metal scene...
and as a result, he played a few solos on Day into Night and added a Testament influence to the band. One of Bart's biggest influences is Chuck Schuldiner
Chuck Schuldiner
Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.Schuldiner was the singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the band Death, which he founded in 1983, initially under the name Mantas. He also recorded as guitarist and songwriter with his other band, Control Denied...
, and Gene Hoglan
Gene Hoglan
Eugene "Gene" Victor Hoglan II is an American drummer. He is acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including usage of odd devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms...
's playing on Individual Thought Patterns
Individual Thought Patterns
Individual Thought Patterns is the fifth album by the death metal band Death, released in 1993. The album continues to expand on the technical, progressive style that began with Human, and incorporates elements of jazz as well...
and Sean Reinert
Sean Reinert
Sean Reinert is the drummer of Cynic and Æon Spoke. He is known for his technical, original and creative drumming technique....
's playing on Human are two of Yanic's biggest influences. The album Defiant Imagination
Defiant Imagination
Defiant Imagination is the third full-length album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on November 4, 2004 by Skyscraper Music.-Quo Vadis:*Stéphane Paré – vocals, guitar...
features two songs written about Chuck which are also dedicated to him. For bass duties on Defiant Imagination, Bart had contacted Steve DiGiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio is an American bassist and musician.DiGiorgio has played bass guitar in heavy metal bands such as Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Testament, Vintersorg, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Charred Walls of the Damned, Obituary, and is a founding member of Sadus. He is widely renowned for...
who had played on Death's Individual Thought Patterns.
Members
| (1992–1994) |
|
|---|---|
| (1995–2002) Quo Vadis (Demo) Forever... Day into Night Day into Night Day Into Night is the second full-length album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on March 30, 2000. The album was accompanied by a music video for the song "Dysgenics".-Track listing:-Quo Vadis:... Passage in Time Passage in Time (album) Passage in Time is a compilation album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis and was released in 2001 by Skyscraper Music. It contains their entire 1995 Demo, a rerecorded version of Vital Signs, a remixed version of the Hunted, and two live songs recorded at Foufounes Electriques in... |
|
| (2003) |
|
| (2004–2008) Defiant Imagination Defiant Imagination Defiant Imagination is the third full-length album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on November 4, 2004 by Skyscraper Music.-Quo Vadis:*Stéphane Paré – vocals, guitar... Defiant Indoctrination Defiant Indoctrination Defiant Indoctrination is the first live album by Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It is also the first DVD released by the band... Live in Montreal Live in Montreal Live in Montreal is the second live album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on May 12, 2007.-Disc One:# "Quo Vadis Homine" – 1:30# "Silence Calls the Storm" – 4:58# "In Contempt" – 4:13... |
|
| (2008–2009) |
|
| (2010 onward) But Who Prays for Satan? |
|
Current members
- Matthew Sweeney - vocals (2010–present)
- Bart Frydrychowicz - guitar (1992–present), vocals (1992–2002)
- Marc-André Gingras - guitar (2008–present)
- Roxanne ConstantinRoxanne ConstantinRoxanne Constantin is a Canadian musician who is currently a member of the band Quo Vadis and formerly Negativa and Rostrum. She has a B.A. in piano performance from the Montreal Conservatory of Music.-Biography:...
- bass (2008–present), keyboards (2003–2008) - Patrice Hamelin - drums (2008–present)
Former members
- Arie Itman - guitar, vocals, violin (1992–2002)
- Yanic BercierYanic BercierYanic Bercier Ph.D is a Canadian physicist and musician. Aside from being the former drummer for melodic technical death metal band Quo Vadis and the more traditional death metal band Violence Unleashed, he also sessions for other bands such as The Coalition, and Empyreal Dominion.-Biography:For...
- drums, vocals (1992–2008) - Remy Beauchamp - bass (1995–2002)
- Stéphane Paré - vocals (2003–2008)
- Trevor Birnie - vocals (2008–2009)
- Daniel Mongrain - guitar
Session and guest musicians
- Alex Auburn - guitar (2002, 2005)
- Steve DiGiorgioSteve DiGiorgioSteve DiGiorgio is an American bassist and musician.DiGiorgio has played bass guitar in heavy metal bands such as Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Testament, Vintersorg, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Charred Walls of the Damned, Obituary, and is a founding member of Sadus. He is widely renowned for...
- bass (2003) - Dominique "Forest" Lapointe - bass (2004–2008)
- Sebrina Lipari - vocals
- William Seghers - guitar (2003–2008)
Discography
- Quo Vadis Demo (1995)
- Forever... (1996)
- Day into NightDay into NightDay Into Night is the second full-length album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on March 30, 2000. The album was accompanied by a music video for the song "Dysgenics".-Track listing:-Quo Vadis:...
(2000) - Passage in TimePassage in Time (album)Passage in Time is a compilation album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis and was released in 2001 by Skyscraper Music. It contains their entire 1995 Demo, a rerecorded version of Vital Signs, a remixed version of the Hunted, and two live songs recorded at Foufounes Electriques in...
(2001) - Defiant ImaginationDefiant ImaginationDefiant Imagination is the third full-length album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on November 4, 2004 by Skyscraper Music.-Quo Vadis:*Stéphane Paré – vocals, guitar...
(2004) - Defiant IndoctrinationDefiant IndoctrinationDefiant Indoctrination is the first live album by Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It is also the first DVD released by the band...
(2005, DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
) - Live in MontrealLive in MontrealLive in Montreal is the second live album by the Canadian melodic death metal band Quo Vadis. It was released on May 12, 2007.-Disc One:# "Quo Vadis Homine" – 1:30# "Silence Calls the Storm" – 4:58# "In Contempt" – 4:13...
(2007) - But Who Prays For Satan? (2011)