Unleash the Archers is a Canadian

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band from

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, currently signed with

Napalm Records Napalm Records is an Austrian independent record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock. Originally, Napalm focused on black metal bands, such as Abigor and Summoning, and folk metal bands, such as Falkenbach and Vintersorg. The label later ...

. The band plays a fusion of traditional heavy metal with

and

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

History

2007–2015: Formation and indie years

Unleash the Archers was formed in late 2007 by vocalist Brittney Hayes (a.k.a. Brittney Slayes) and drummer Scott Buchanan with former member Brayden Dyczkowski on guitar, whom Scott had played with previously in an independent death metal project. Former member Mike Selman was brought on after his departure from Canadian death metal band Meatlocker Seven. The position of bass player was unfilled for the first few months of Unleash The Archers' career, until Zahk Hedstrom joined in October 2007 to complete the lineup. In late 2008 the band recorded a self-titled four song demo, which featured two songs they would end up re-recording for their first studio album. Their debut studio album Behold The Devastation was recorded with Jason Hywell Martin at Omega Mediacore Studios in Richmond, BC and was released independently in August 2009. This was the only album to feature the band's original lineup in its entirety. The band's second album Demons Of The AstroWaste was recorded with Nick Engwer and Stu McKillop at the Hive Soundlab in Burnaby, BC and was released independently in May 2011. This album included the first appearance of guitarist Grant Truesdell, who provided solos for their songs Battle in the Shadow (of the Mountain) and The Outlander. He would step in as the new guitar player later that same year after the departure of Mike Selman prior to the recording. The album was a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

based on the exploits of a mercenary in space and was set far into the future. In 2012 the band released Defy The Skies. This album was a three-song EP released solely on 7-inch

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

. A bonus fourth track titled ‘Arise’ was given to those that pre-ordered, but was later released on the band's

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

page in digital format only. This record also marked the departure of original bassist Zahk Hedstrom.

2015–present: Signing with Napalm Records

In February 2015 the band announced their signing with

, and soon after the title, track listing and release date for their upcoming studio album ''Time Stands Still'' were revealed. The album was released in Europe on June 26 and in North America on July 10. The album was originally slated for a late-Summer/early-Fall 2014 release, but the release was pushed back after the band was signed by Napalm Records. This album was the first without Brayden Dyczkowski, who had been one of the main songwriters up until his parting with the band in late 2013; this lineup change has affected the band's sound and driven it towards a more traditional heavy metal direction with the addition of Andrew Kingsley, who is also trained in jazz, on guitar. On May 26, 2015, the band released the "Tonight We Ride" video, inspired by ''

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome ''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'' is a 1985 Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie and written by Miller and Terry Hayes. It stars Mel Gibson and Tina Turner in a story of a lone roving warri ...

''. The video was filmed in the Nevada desert, using props from the Death Guild Thunderdome camp at

Burning Man Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred ...

. Since leaving for a tour of Europe in November 2016, Unleash the Archers mentioned they would be recording a new album at the end of 2016. This album would be the first to include then bassist, Nikko Whitworth. The first single, "Cleanse the Bloodlines" was released on April 8, 2017. ''

Apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics), a teenaged super villainess in the Marvel Universe * Ape-X, a super-intelligent ape in the Squadron Supreme universe *Apex ...

'' was released on June 2, 2017 through Napalm Records. The album debuted at No. 3 on iTunes metal charts, and became their first to make Billboard charts. The album debuted at No. 9 Heatseeker, No. 29 Top Hard Music Albums, No. 29 Record Label Independent Current Albums, No. 34 Top Current Rock Albums, No. 116 Overall Digital Albums, No. 119 Top Current Albums, and No. 197 Top Albums by Strata. It also debuted at No. 12 on Canadian Top Hard Music chart. The band announced they would be touring Europe, accompanying Orden Ogan, to promote the album in the fall of 2017, with a US tour to be announced. In end of January it was announced that bassist Nikko Witworth had decided to leave the band. Brittney Hayes gave interviews and tweeted saying that they are currently working on an EP of covers with a "bit of a UTA spin" on them. On August 30, 2019, the band released the first single off of the EP ''Explorers'', a cover of

Stan Rogers Stanley Allison Rogers (November 29, 1949 – June 2, 1983) was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter. Rogers was noted for his rich, baritone voice and his traditional-sounding songs which were frequently inspired by Canadian history and th ...

' "

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...

". The full EP was released October 11, 2019. In August 2020, they released their fifth full-length album, ''

Abyss Abyss may refer to: * Abyss (religion), a bottomless pit, or a passage to the underworld Film and television * ''The Abyss'' (1910 film), a Danish silent film starring Asta Nielsen * ''The Abyss'' (1988 film) (''L'Œuvre au noir''), a French- ...

'', continuing the story of ''Apex''. They also revealed they have plans to release a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

with the story told on both albums. On December 6, 2021 they announced via social media posts that bassist Nick Miller had become a full time member of the band. On May 3rd, 2022 the band announced via an Instagram post that they are in the writing phase of their next album. On November 11, 2022 Brittney Slayes commented during an Instagram livestream that their next album was also a concept album, this time with a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

setting, and that they were aiming for a Fall 2023 release.

Band members

Current *Brittney Hayes (a.k.a. Brittney Slayes) – clean vocals (2007–present) *Scott Buchanan – drums (2007–present) *Grant Truesdell – guitars,

unclean vocals A death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Death growl vocals are sometimes criticized for their ...

(2011–present) *Andrew Kingsley – guitars, clean vocals (2014–present) *Nick Miller – bass (2021-present, 2018–2021 touring musician) Previous *Mike Selman – guitars (2007–2011) *Zahk Hedstrom – bass (2007–2012) *Brad Kennedy – bass (2012–2014) *Brayden Dyczkowski – guitars, unclean vocals (2007–2014) *Kyle Sheppard – bass (2014–2016) *Nikko Whitworth – bass (2016–2018) Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

*2009: ''Behold the Devastation'' (independent) *2011: ''Demons of the AstroWaste'' (independent) *2015: ''Time Stands Still'' (Napalm Records) *2017: ''

'' (Napalm Records) *2020: ''

'' (Napalm Records)

EPs

*2012: ''Defy the Skies'' (Spread the Metal Records) *2019: ''Explorers'' (Napalm Records) *2020: ''Abysswave'' (''Abyss'' earbook; Napalm Records) *2022: ''Acoustipex'' (''Apex'' earbook; Napalm Records)

Demos

*2009: ''Unleash the Archers'' (Independent) *2014: ''Dreamcrusher'' (single; Independent)

Videography/singles

*2011: "Dawn of Ages", taken from ''Demons of the AstroWaste'' *2012: "General of the Dark Army" taken from ''Demons of the AstroWaste'' *2015: "Tonight We Ride", taken from ''Time Stands Still'' *2015: "Test Your Metal", taken from ''Time Stands Still'' *2016: "Time Stands Still", taken from ''Time Stands Still'' *2017: "Cleanse the Bloodlines", taken from ''Apex'' *2017: "Awakening", taken from ''Apex'' *2019: "Northwest Passage", taken from ''Explorers'' *2019: "Heartless World", taken from ''Explorers'' *2020: "Abyss", taken from ''Abyss'' *2020: "Soulbound", taken from ''Abyss'' *2020: "Faster Than Light", taken from ''Abyss'' *2020: "Legacy", taken from ''Abyss'' *2022: "Falsewave", taken from ''Apex (Deluxe Version)'' *2022: "Acoustipex", taken from ''Apex (Deluxe Version)''

Awards and nominations

Voted No. 6 in ''Exclaim Magazine''s Readers Choice Awards for Best Metal Albums 2009. Voted Best Metal Band at the Whammy Awards in Vancouver for 2015. Winners in the category of Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year in the 2021 Juno Awards.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Unleash The Archers Articles which contain graphical timelines Canadian death metal musical groups Canadian melodic death metal musical groups Canadian power metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2007 Musical groups from Vancouver Musical quintets Napalm Records artists Juno Award for Heavy Metal Album of the Year winners