In late 1995 three immortal beings, outcast from their divine purposes, formed an unholy artistic union on the material plane. Their manifestation first appeared in the frozen Western Canadian wastelends around the vicinity of a secluded city known as Saskatoon.
This alliance of poets, musicians and warlords would eventually expand it’s membership over the years and come to be known as THE NEW JACOBIN CLUB.
For the first three years, the group plotted and planned. With a still developing theme and sound reminiscent of early 80’s death rock greats (45 Grave, The Damned, Misfits,..), the NJC made sporadic live appearances around Saskatoon and recorded a multitude of demos that now enjoy a certain local notoriety. After several aborted attempts at maintaining a permanent band line-up, the NJC emerged strong and stable in 1998.
Axemeister, lead vocalist and founding fiend XerXes Praetorius Horde with bassist Lord Une and drummer Elvis Hellfire took to stage & studio around Saskatoon and neighbouring Canadian provinces. The release of the NJC’s studio debut (“A Lesson in Mortality”) on American splatter-core label Transparent Records was a small but significant victory. The band everybody loved to hate was now on limited edition red vinyl distributed all over...from the U.S. to continental Europe.
Their popularity with a newfound audience swelled and the NJC began to get mentions in independent music press and appearances on compilations. Most notable was their contribution to the Accused tribute album, a two record set that reportedly was the reason the legendary horror-thrash outfit re-united after nearly 12 years. Fresh off of successful concerts on the road, the trio enlisted extra help in late 2000 and expanded to a group of seven to record their first full-length cd. The resulting 13 track self-titled epic featured trash-rock sing-a-longs, metal chugs, eerie instrumentals, and electro-goth ambience courtesy of keyboard/synth collaborator Continuum Flux. It was a decidedly more decadent approach than the modest and minimalistic reverb-drenched creep-rock of their 1998 recordings.
The release of the self-titled album on their own Manticore Music Group label/promo company in the summer of 2001 caused a necessary re-structuring of personnel. Lord Une broke union with the group before the album even went to press, and it was The Swarm who picked up the bass for the band’s first shows after the cd’s release. Lead guitarist Vlad the Inhaler, a contributor on the newly pressed cd, joined the band full time to fill the second guitar spot at live shows. Vlad quickly became The Horde’s right hand man, providing the band with a new songwriter as well as a second lead vocalist (who can be heard on three tracks of the NJC’s 2003 album “Retake the Throne”). The 2001 line up was completed with a filthy creature called Eclipse on drums. Shortly thereafter, Lady Annabel Arkham stepped in to become the NJC’s first full-time keyboard player. Her organ, piano and string synth arrangements and accompaniments have since become an immediately distinguishable part of the NJC sound.
With an arsenal of newly written songs and a massive new sound, the NJC took to the road once more and left a definite impression on audiences wherever they appeared. Fresh from the excitement of successful live dates, the group again returned to the studio in early 2003 to lay down new tracks. The resulting effort is a grand collaboration of styles and sounds that at long last faithfully represented the live ferocity and attack of the five piece ensemble. The new album was to be named “Retake the Throne” after a powerful anthem of the same name appearing on the disc, and was released in July. Working with American distributors Sinbad Productions to promote the disc to a larger international audience, Canada’s gothic punk warlords are pushing onwards to achieve total conquest. Pity the survivors.
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