| A CD that compiles the two demos released by this old, obscure Canadian Death Metal band: "Ancestral" (1993) and "Forgotten Survivor" (1994). Ancestral was formed in the summer of 1991 in Montreal, QC, by two friends from high school, namely Marc-Antoine Papineau (drums) and Frédéric St-Marseille (guitar). At first, the two friends were just having fun jamming together, but the more time passed, the more their musical passion grew. They wanted to turn the band into a more serious project, therefore two other school friends joined the band, namely Martin Jetté (bass guitar) and Christian Pocetti (guitar). Shortly after, the lineup was completed with the addition of Daniel Collin (vocals). The band began to rehearse a few songs from other bands, and at the same time they started writing their own material. Being already greatly influenced by European acts such as Entombed, Pestilence and Dismember, but also keeping an eye out on certain U.S. influences (Suffocation among others), and already applying a rather technically sophisticated touch for young rookie musicians, they entered the studio to record their debut, eponymous demo, only a year after the band´s inception. From that moment on, the band gradually began to break into the local Death Metal scene, and shared the stage with acts such as Cryptopsy and Kataklysm, as well as some foreign bands such as Suffocation, Incantation and Macabre. A great friendship between the band members and those of Cryptopsy and Suffocation resulted from those shows, allowing Ancestral to find themselves performing alongside Cryptopsy and Suffocation very often. Keeping a lot of the same influences they displayed on their first demo, but adding the new touch of bands like Dark Tranquility and At The Gates, the band returned to the studio by the end of 1994 and recorded their second and last demo, titled "Forgotten Survivor". Ancestral split up in 1995 following the departure of Daniel Collin. |
