A Sin For A Prayer

With a two day festival celebrating everything metal happening this weekend, a wealth of talent comes from far and wide with a smattering of local, national and even north American metal bands converging in Hamilton. Two locally based bands, Abides and A Sin For A Prayer both release a CD each night as well.
Marc St. Laurent (guitars) and Graham Stirrett (lead vocals, guitars) started ASFAP back in 2006 but the current line up with Kyle ‘Tiny Basstank’ Clark (bass) and Nick Davey (drums) have been playing together since June of last year but recently hooked up with Threat Signal lead vocalist Jon Howard to record their debut CD, Conception.
“The band name is a representation of duality in life everywhere,” offers Stirrett. “Up, down. Left, right. Good, evil. Everyone has the ability to give all the love they have and also all the hate or anger. Beyond the band name you should know that A Sin For A Prayer will always deliver music that you cannot deny.
“The band name doesn't necessarily adhere to the writing process, the music depicts the creativity of the band,” notes St. Laurent. “The name stands for what exists in our society, it’s basically backwards of the bible’s ‘a prayer for a sin’. Only to me it seems as though our band name only represents what we see and hear about everyday.
“Hamilton is like our home,” assures Clark. “Out of the entire GTA we get the warmest welcome from the Burlington/ Hamilton area. Actually, I myself am an Oakvillian, Marc and Graham are Mississauganaughts and Nick is a Burlingtonian. Though I spend most of my free time in Burlington and Hamilton as I find the scene and the people are better out there — too many douches in Oakville for me.”
A Sin For A Prayer is mammoth riff rock that usually rides off the rails into extreme metal territory and while only an EP, Conception stakes their claim in metal soundly.
“We basically are all fed up with the millions of sub-genres of metal out there so we write music that we want to listen to, that we want to go see live,” says Clark. “And it does appear that many others want to hear it, too.” Clark recently caught word that Chaos Corp. Promotions, run and operated by Eric Camilleri, was organizing a two day metal festival in Hamilton, and he knew ASFAP had to be involved.
“I saw that he was planning a big two day fest in August and I wanted in,” smiles Clark. “I chose to release the CD at the Complete Chaos Metal Fest because there is a greater chance of making new fans, and new fans mean more merch sold — all of our fans will be there regardless. And it’s also better for the scene.
“The show is more of a celebration of the local scene, I mean if people will pay $150 plus to see heavy T.O. whats $22 to come see and support the local scene,” adds Clark. “It’s really good to feel the scene actually caring and helping each other again. The metal scene in Burlington and Hamilton is growing... every live music scene has had troubles the last 10 years actually getting people off the internet or away from video games and coming out to see live bands. I mean, who knows you could go to a show and see you next favourite band on stage before they are huge.”
With twenty plus bands from a variety of strains of metal, the Chaos Metal Festival offers something for virtually any headbanger. With their new CD in hand, ASFAP hope to approach many a new fan.
“Of course everyone should flock to the show,” says Clark. “Hell, metal fan or not you should come to the show and support the local scene, support the bands by buying the merch, and having a great time. I can’t say we put on the loudest or fastest show in the world, what I can say is that you won’t be disappointed when you come to see us play.”

A Sin For A Prayer plays as part of the first annual Complete Chaos Metal Festival this Friday August 17 at the Underground with Depths of Hatred, Immersed, That Boy Ain’t Right, Misguided Aggression, Assassinate The Following, Deterrence and Lazerpiss. The metal fest continues Saturday August 18 with Beheading Of A King, Abide, Heavyweight Division, As Oceans Burn, Mulletcorpse, Belie My Burial and more. Tickets are $15 at the door. - view magazine (ric Taylor)

BURNING THE DAY, ENDAST & A SIN FOR A PRAYER | LEE’S PALACE, TORONTO, ON
Thursday, September 5th,2013

Arriving to Lee’s Palace brought some serious winds of change and new things, both metaphorically and literally. Initially the fact that I had not attended a show at Lee’s Palace, and furthermore the element that there was a definite chill in the air that almost seemed to swallow Toronto and Southern Ontario overnight, dare I say bidding farewell to the summer.. Nonetheless onto one of the best ways to spend a Thursday night in Toronto!

The first of the three bands to play, A Sin For A Prayer, took the stage at Lee’s to an unfortunately meager initial audience attendance. Nevertheless these guys definitely made the best of it. A strong sounding four- piece band out of Mississauga, Ontario who know how to bring the metal. They launched this Thursday into overdrive with huge leads, chugging open riffing and driving drums. They brought many interesting elements to their performance with song composition that included contrasting interludes with droning guitar notes, ambient and dynamic bass lines, as well as ample dueling guitar shredding.

Second to perform, hailing from Montreal, Quebec, was Jagermeister metal titans, Endast. Whenever these fine gentlemen come into town, whether it be a known venue or a basement show, they unfailingly leave brains frayed from the awesome metal beating inflicted. Opening with an explosion of massive sound, Endast did not waste any time getting into their own channel. The resonance of vocalist Big James Arsenian’s growl brought any wandering ears and eyes immediately to attention. Endast drummer Blair Youngblut is always right on point and in the pocket with pulverizing rhythm. They had awesome stage energy, with an outward evident chemistry between band mates. Endast’s guiarists have an exceptional tone combined between the two of them (Chris Arsenian, and Pepe Poliquin) that could be blamed on the pair of Godin guitars- Pepe by the way, brings killer dive bombs. Hard. Endast packed their set with songs both old and new, encompassing soaring interludes, remorseless dense riffing, and persistent open chugging that you cannot help but bang your head to. Yours truly cannot resist from mentioning how virtuous of Big James it is to always leave the audience with something to reflect on during or after their performances, this time addressing the loss of excitement from audiences to bands coming through Toronto due to the fact there is always touring bands stopping in Toronto, and to not lose that spark, nor take such great performances for granted.

Last but most definitely not least to gear up and take the stage was the headliner of the night, Burning the Day. With roots in Toronto this was a self-declared “Welcome Home” show for the band, a noticeably strong following was in attendance to support, filling up the venue a great deal. Immediate impression of these guys; incredibly tight, and heavy in all the right places (if you know what I mean). Drummer Steve Mitchell has an astounding drum sound with a kick drum that has obviously been refined to perfection, continuously keeping feet and heads moving. Guitarists Matt Metcalfe and Maxim Shelkov have an indisputable harmony performing together with seamless transitions, dueling riffage and overlaying melodic grooves. Burning The Day brings vocal range in abundance, with extraordinary clean and screaming vocals out of front man Cesar Silva, as well as first rate stage banter, continuously praising fans for their continued support and for allowing them to keep doing what they love to do, perform. This was a very sincere expression of modesty from him. On a more metal note, these guys brought some tremendous technical playing to the stage at Lee’s with absolutely stomach shredding breakdowns, infectious leads, and some unreal tapping riffs. Burning The Day certainly got the crowd moving not leaving a head steady. They encouraged the crowd to party like it was a Friday, even though it was a “school night” as their vocalist declared it, and their performance as a band incontestably made everyone forget they had work the following day, and just to let loose and have a great time. Once their scheduled set had ended they briefly seemed to be leaving before an audience chant for just one more song inspired an encore song which brought a Killswitch-esque chorus, and plenty of head banging.

Overall a more than satisfying show, and outstanding performances were to be had Thursday night at Lee’s Palace and The Heavy Press could not have been happier to be there! - The Heavy Press (jeany leblanc)

BURNING THE DAY, ENDAST & A SIN FOR A PRAYER | LEE’S PALACE, TORONTO, ON
Thursday, September 5th,2013

Arriving to Lee’s Palace brought some serious winds of change and new things, both metaphorically and literally. Initially the fact that I had not attended a show at Lee’s Palace, and furthermore the element that there was a definite chill in the air that almost seemed to swallow Toronto and Southern Ontario overnight, dare I say bidding farewell to the summer.. Nonetheless onto one of the best ways to spend a Thursday night in Toronto!

The first of the three bands to play, A Sin For A Prayer, took the stage at Lee’s to an unfortunately meager initial audience attendance. Nevertheless these guys definitely made the best of it. A strong sounding four- piece band out of Mississauga, Ontario who know how to bring the metal. They launched this Thursday into overdrive with huge leads, chugging open riffing and driving drums. They brought many interesting elements to their performance with song composition that included contrasting interludes with droning guitar notes, ambient and dynamic bass lines, as well as ample dueling guitar shredding.

Second to perform, hailing from Montreal, Quebec, was Jagermeister metal titans, Endast. Whenever these fine gentlemen come into town, whether it be a known venue or a basement show, they unfailingly leave brains frayed from the awesome metal beating inflicted. Opening with an explosion of massive sound, Endast did not waste any time getting into their own channel. The resonance of vocalist Big James Arsenian’s growl brought any wandering ears and eyes immediately to attention. Endast drummer Blair Youngblut is always right on point and in the pocket with pulverizing rhythm. They had awesome stage energy, with an outward evident chemistry between band mates. Endast’s guiarists have an exceptional tone combined between the two of them (Chris Arsenian, and Pepe Poliquin) that could be blamed on the pair of Godin guitars- Pepe by the way, brings killer dive bombs. Hard. Endast packed their set with songs both old and new, encompassing soaring interludes, remorseless dense riffing, and persistent open chugging that you cannot help but bang your head to. Yours truly cannot resist from mentioning how virtuous of Big James it is to always leave the audience with something to reflect on during or after their performances, this time addressing the loss of excitement from audiences to bands coming through Toronto due to the fact there is always touring bands stopping in Toronto, and to not lose that spark, nor take such great performances for granted.

Last but most definitely not least to gear up and take the stage was the headliner of the night, Burning the Day. With roots in Toronto this was a self-declared “Welcome Home” show for the band, a noticeably strong following was in attendance to support, filling up the venue a great deal. Immediate impression of these guys; incredibly tight, and heavy in all the right places (if you know what I mean). Drummer Steve Mitchell has an astounding drum sound with a kick drum that has obviously been refined to perfection, continuously keeping feet and heads moving. Guitarists Matt Metcalfe and Maxim Shelkov have an indisputable harmony performing together with seamless transitions, dueling riffage and overlaying melodic grooves. Burning The Day brings vocal range in abundance, with extraordinary clean and screaming vocals out of front man Cesar Silva, as well as first rate stage banter, continuously praising fans for their continued support and for allowing them to keep doing what they love to do, perform. This was a very sincere expression of modesty from him. On a more metal note, these guys brought some tremendous technical playing to the stage at Lee’s with absolutely stomach shredding breakdowns, infectious leads, and some unreal tapping riffs. Burning The Day certainly got the crowd moving not leaving a head steady. They encouraged the crowd to party like it was a Friday, even though it was a “school night” as their vocalist declared it, and their performance as a band incontestably made everyone forget they had work the following day, and just to let loose and have a great time. Once their scheduled set had ended they briefly seemed to be leaving before an audience chant for just one more song inspired an encore song which brought a Killswitch-esque chorus, and plenty of head banging.

Overall a more than satisfying show, and outstanding performances were to be had Thursday night at Lee’s Palace and The Heavy Press could not have been happier to be there! - The Heavy Press (jeany leblanc)