Doomed Confessionary: Nic Miquelon & Mike Berrigan (Rötual)
Hailing from the graveyard of Canada’s National Capital Region, Rötual is a new metal entity. The band garners the experience of well-known musicians in the Gatineau and Ottawa scene who, instead of adding their collective influences, chose to strip it down to the bones.
As a result, Rötual’s music could be associated with the slow riffs of doom metal, the heaviness and harsh vocals of death metal, melted into compact slabs of mid-pace (de)compositions. The band just released their three-track debut EP »Wörms« on May 31st, 2024.
Rötual are Nic Miquelon on vocals, Tom Hansen on guitar, Ben Bertrand on bass and Mike Berrigan on drums.
Can you say a few words about your band?
Nic: Hi Bojan, we are Rötual, a relatively new band from Canada. The band features musicians known for playing in other bands including Misshapen, Whispers In The Maze, Signs Of Chaos, Dead Culture Society, Norilsk and Pessimystic. We play slow heavy music with a death metal edge, in the spirit of the 90’s death-doom scene.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Nic: This band is actually one of the easiest ones to work with. Everyone has experience with various aspects of the music business, from composing songs to rehearsals, to booking shows, playing live, and promoting an album. I would say we haven’t met any big challenge yet, but maybe we can talk about that again in a future interview.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Nic: I am the most proud of our first EP, released on May 31st, 2024. It’s called »Wörms«, and it provides a good idea of what Rötual is about: tasty riffs, heavy tone, hard-hitting drums, and putrid vocals. We actually have a lyric video for our first single, featuring the fantastic artwork of Headsplit Design.
What was your biggest regret?
Nic: Seeing how easy-going this band is, my only regret is that we should have started it earlier.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Nic: We’ve been trying to play as much as we can, in order to get comfortable playing live with this lineup, and developing Rötual’s distinct personality on stage. We played a few cities in Canada so far, and my personal favourite was probably playing Montreal on May 18, with Burning Sanctum and Ashbreather. The complicity between the bands, along with the lights and sound were optimal.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Nic: I wasn’t sure how ‘slow death metal’ would be received by the local scene, given it’s not a trend currently. In our region, we tend to see a lot of new bands playing fast or very technical death metal, or new bands playing stoner rock/metal. But so far the response has been positive.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Mike: Daath, Vacant Eyes & Dawn Of Ouroboros – all new discoveries for me.
Nic: Blackflow, Tomb Of Finland, Dead Fields Of Woolwich, and Locusts and Honey.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Mike: Stay humble and always remain open to learning.
Nic: Support your local scene.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Mike: Starbucks.
Nic: Cheese.
Can you say something more about the music scene in Ontario?
Nic: Our metal scene in the Gatineau/Ottawa region is tightly knit. You’ll see a few musicians playing in different bands, however what makes our strength is the fact that a lot of musicians also support each others’ bands. Some of our local showgoers are the best in this country, showing up at each concert and supporting all touring and local bands alike, thus ensuring we have a vibrant metal scene.
Genre-wise, our metal scene changed significantly in the last few years, with many bands going on hiatus while new entities saw the light of day. We have a handful of institutions such as Fuck the Facts and Insurrection which we are proud of, bands like Gland and Lycanthro who have been touring abroad and representing our scene, and there are also a lot of promising new bands such as Acid Moth and Thalassophobia.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Nic: Our next show will be in Ottawa on August 24, at the Avant-Garde Bar with Dead Fields of Woolwich (Event page).
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Nic: Our first EP is being self-released on May 31st. With this EP in hand and hearing what people have to say about it, we intend to shop for labels as we have a full-length album we would like to release later this year.
How can people best support your band?
Nic: For people in the Quebec and Ontario provinces of Canada, the best way to support us is to attend our shows. Alternatively, you can support us via Bandcamp where we have our music and merch available: rotualdeathdoom.bandcamp.com.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Nic: Thank you for listening.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well