Blind Witness is a Canadian
deathcore
Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with met ...
band from
Granby,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
. Formed in 2005, the group was signed to
Mediaskare Records
Mediaskare Records is an American independent record label specializing in heavy metal music. The label was founded by Baron Bodnar, with its offices located in Los Angeles, California. The label's prominent artists include Volumes, Bury Your D ...
and released two full-length studio albums. The band broke up in 2012, but reformed in 2014.
History
Blind Witness was founded in 2005, by vocalist Jonathan Cabana in Granby, Quebec along with friends guitarist Pier-Luc Desroches and drummer Kevin Desroches. They later added guitarist/vocalist Maxime Lacroix and bassist Miguel Lepage to the roster. In 2005, the band began performing in Montreal.
In 2007, the band was signed by
Victory/Torque Records. Then in 2008, the band released their first full-length album: ''Silences Are Words''.
While writing their follow up album, the group signed to
Mediaskare Records
Mediaskare Records is an American independent record label specializing in heavy metal music. The label was founded by Baron Bodnar, with its offices located in Los Angeles, California. The label's prominent artists include Volumes, Bury Your D ...
and entered the studio to record ''Nightmare on Providence Street''. Released in 2010, the album was met with positive reviews, with
Absolute Punk
''AbsolutePunk'' was a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate (the most recent CEO). The website mainly focused on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it was known to feat ...
scoring it 84 percent and the reviewer stating that "metal core is one of the most hated genre's of metal. I believe that Blind Witness can prove that wrong to a lot of different metal fans."
In September 2011 it was announced that John Campbell, Maxime Lacroix, Miguel Lepage and Eric Morotti left the band. A few days later Campbell posted, "The band is not broken up. Myself, Miguel, Max and Eric have quit. The band could very well continue with a new line-up. I'm sure something will be posted soon in regards to the continuation of the band, but for now, 4 of the 5 members have quit, and that's that." Cabana wrote, "I'll keep everyone posted soon! We toured a lot and need some time home! I started this band in my basement. I changed a LOT of members through the time! Me and Max are they only original members; Max doesn't want to tour anymore but he still wants to write the new record! Only the people who play live will change, not the music!" A few months later Eric Morotti rejoined the band, along with new guitarist, Olivier Roy, and bassist Francis Beaupré. Lacroix played his last show with the band in October but continued to write and record the band's next record. Nicolas Doiron took the place as the second guitar player for the band.
On February 10, 2012, the band confirmed that they were going into the studio to record their next album in May. On May 25, 2012, they announced their break up. They played their last show in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on August 12 at the
Heavy Montréal 2012 festival.
On July 3, 2014, the band announced, "more songs in the making". In the following months, they confirmed that they would be recording and releasing their next album ''I Am Hell''. In June 2015, the released a five-song EP of that name.
Members
Current members
* Jonathan Cabana – lead vocals
(2005–2012, 2014–present)
* Maxime Lacroix – lead guitar, backing vocals
(2005–2011, 2014–present), studio songwriting
(2010-2012)
* Olivier Roy – guitars
(2011–2012, 2014–present)
* Francis "Frank the Tank" Beaupre – bass
(2011–2012, 2014–present)
* Pat Woods – drums
(2020–present)
Former members
* Samuel Langlois – guitar
(2005)
* Maxime Desroches – bass
(2005)
* Kevin Desroches – drums
(2005–2008)
* Sonny Tremblay – drums
(2008)
* Tim Burak – drums
(2008)
* Pier-Luc Desroches – guitar
(2005–2009)
* Mathieu Paquette – guitar
(2009)
* Miguel Lepage – bass
(2006–2011)
* John Campbell – guitar
(2009–2011)
* Nicolas Doiron – guitar
(2011-2012)
* Eric Morotti – drums
(2009–2012, 2014–2019)
* Tommy Henderson – drums
(2019–2020)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Silences Are Words'' (
Torque Records
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of t ...
, 2008)
* ''
Nightmare on Providence Street'' (
Mediaskare
Mediaskare Records is an American independent record label specializing in heavy metal music. The label was founded by Baron Bodnar, with its offices located in Los Angeles, California. The label's prominent artists include Volumes, Bury Your Dea ...
, 2010)
EPs
* ''Means/Blind Witness - Split EP'' (
Torque Records
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of t ...
, 2007)
* ''I Am Hell'' (independent, 2015)
Videography
*"Confessions" (2007)
*"Bleeding Blades" (2008)
*"Baby, One More Notch" (2010)
*"Force Fed" (2020)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blind Witness
Canadian death metal musical groups
Deathcore musical groups
Mediaskare Records artists
Musical groups established in 2005
English-language musical groups from Quebec
Granby, Quebec
Musical quintets