Introducing: Killed By Sorrow

We’ve not met too many bands from the French-speaking part of Canada, but we’re putting that right in style with the thrilling sound of Quebecois hardcore meets metalcore collective Killed By Sorrow. The band, who hail from Granby, on the south shore of Montreal, combine catchy, intense vocals with powerful guitars in a delicious sound that they summarise as “gritty, raw and heavy.”

Killed By Sorrow first formed back in 2000 and made a name for themselves, including opening for Swedish legends Raised Fist. But after a lengthy break, the band returned with a new-look lineup during COVID, releasing its first EP Time Has Come in June 2022, followed by a second EP Careless Of This Sadness in June 2023.

The reformation was initiated by bassist Fred Lussier, who onboarded vocalist Sébastien Mailloux, guitarists Tommy Forand and Samuel Ham and drummer Martin Charbonneau. However, Fred left the band in August and was replaced by Martin Bersir-Carpentier.

On what to expect from the new-look band, Tommy told us: “We are all a bunch of metalheads that love playing together heavy riffs together. The band reunited during COVID. During this time of uncertainty, heavy music played a key role in keeping our minds at peace, we also had a private and secret place we could all reunite.”

To get a taste for this, the band sent us Time Has Come, the fifth track from their return EP of the same name. It opens up with stabbing guitars that are joined by driving drums and continue through an intense opening verse. The verse ends with a big scream that sets up a chorus with heavy repeats of “time has come,” which drops into huge drums and high-pitched guitars alongside vicious vocals. It picks up pace with more intense vocals, then chugging riffs and pounding drums support another quick chorus. The heavy guttural vocals continue, dropping into a slower section of wild high-pitched guitars setting up a brutal conclusion. Fittingly, on the track, Tommy simply said: “Listeners should expect brutality from start to finish.” Check it out in the lyric video here:

There’s much more where that came from on the band’s two EPs, including the vicious Master Of Yourself and Tribe on the debut EP. The second EP includes the excellent opener FOG, which you can check out in the video below, Old Friend and Anathema, which features a delicious guitar solo setting up a powerful conclusion, and intense closing track The Edge.

The Killed By Sorrow sound has been influenced by old-school bands like Poison the Well, Unearth, Trivium, Testament, Killswitch Engage and Pantera.

And on what inspires them to write music, Tommy told us: “Every day struggles that most of us can relate to. Songs can be very personal, like an ex-girlfriend, or we can also talk about problems in society, like overpopulation around the world. I feel that our gripping guitar riffs and up-front vocals would be our signature sound.”

Killed By Sorrow are one of the first bands we’ve covered from Quebec, so we asked them for their thoughts on the music scene in French-speaking Canada. Tommy told us: “The Metal scene is booming in Quebec. We still have many bars that showcase our style of music, and we also have The Festival au Lac, one of the biggest outdoor festivals in Canada. We actually opened up for Killswitch Engage two years ago and Slaughter to Prevail is closing the festival this year!”

Killed By Sorrow will be back in the studio in April, putting the final touches to a 10-track record that should be released in the summer.

You can follow Killed By Sorrow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.