History & Biography At one point in the late 1980s and early 1990s there were as many Oblivions on the metal scene as there were Massacres, Armageddons and Requiems. The founders of this particular one were Picard and Gagne. Like many other Canada-based bands the members adopted handles like Godzilla, Big Foot and so forth. These Canadian thrashers changed their monicker (a tad) in 1987 shortly after formation. Remillard joined in 1989. The band lasted until 2000 before disbanding, came back for 2007 and 2008 shows, went away and reformed in 2014. In the early 1990s, with Voivod having gone progressive rock, Obliveon was considered the mainstay of the French Canadian metal scene in the province of Quebec. Much to its detriment the band never paid much attention to anything outside its province touring-wise.
The band had two demos under its old name before switching to the new one and issuing a tape called Whimsical Uproar... This tape did quite well on the underground metal scene. Francis Giguère had left the drum stool. Fiction Of Veracity introduced the band’s new logo and the gang obtained a deal with London, UK-based Active Records. It demonstrated a thrash metal band with hints of originality and progressive technical ability. Active Records was run by the Metal Forces magazine gang of Bernard Doe and Dave Constable, but did not do much more than advertise some for the band and went bust. The band’s Nemesis demo/record was issued independently in 1993. At the same time, the band was hit by the death metal ascendancy and was in less favour. The group toured locally with DRI, Demolition Hammer and The Spudmonsters. Bruno Bernier stepped into the microphone slot. The band had an industry only demo in 1995 with songs like Cybervoid and a cover of B-52s’ Planet Claire. The band played a show with Groovy Aardvark in July. With lukewarm label interest the band re-entered the studio to record three more songs for labels. A label was not found and the group issued its own Cybervoid record in 1996. ASA/Cargo distributed it in Canada. The band’s Montreal show featured Snake of Voivod climbing the stage as a guest. The band played in Toronto with Solus and Blood Of Christ in 1997. Hypnotic Records would give this a whirl a year or so later however. The Canada-based label would release the band’s last record as well. Singer and bassist Picard would leave the act. Obliveon threw in the towel in 2000. Sick of getting no support from the labels they had worked with, and the industry in general, the band had fired its singer and wanted to work under a new name and with a new style in the future. The band reversed course two months later, stayed put and kept Picard. Remillard was busy producing bands at first out of a small closet near downtown Montreal, which was appropriately called Peter Pan Studio, before moving to Studio Victor. As such, he was engaged elsewhere. The act had a farewell concert on May 31st 2002. GWN released a compilation album entitled Greatest Pits.
Rockatak Productions (which in the past had managed Voivod, Obliveon and Cryptopsy) organized a three-day festival celebrating the 25th Anniversary of metal made in the Canadian province of Quebec in the summer of 2007. The group played one show at the Trois-Rivières Metalfest 8 in the town of the same name in Canada between November 7th and 9th 2008. It was also billed as the last show of Ghoulunatics. The band reunited for a show on June 21st 2014 at Amnesia Rockfest in Montebello. This became a permanent affair, but in effect the band went into slumber again until 2021.
The band was working on a new album as of 2023. The band launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund its first album in 25 years. New music was expected in 2024. Augury drummer Antoine Baril had joined on bass replacing Stéphane Picard.
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