Bloodrhine Let The Darkness Flow

The Vancouver thrash trio are keeping things heavy with new video single “Twice As Dark.”

by Johnny Das

Photo by Taylor Ferguson

Published on July 25, 2024

The auditory experience accompanying thrash and metal music is often associated with feelings of aggression and anger. It makes sense: the sonic assault of screaming guitars, guttural bass, and quaking drums have all the makings of destructive expressions, perhaps a way to bash out your inner demons while blowing off steam in the process. One might assume that the artists behind such catastrophic rhythms live these emotions day to day, but Vancouver thrashers Bloodrhine prove that isn’t always the case.

Consisting of bassist Adam Grant, drummer Eugene Parkomenko and guitarist Kent Law — most well-known locally in Western Canada as members of the stoner-metal quintet Black Wizard — Bloodrhine, while just as punishingly heavy as the Wiz, are simply focused on having a good time. As Grant and Law log onto their video interview with RANGE, their demeanor is relatively chill, most likely because they are, admittedly, a little stoned.

“We all got full time, busy jobs,” Grant says. “So coming to the jam space is where we can just let loose. Unplug from all that shit, right?”

“It’s just a great time to hang out,” Law adds. “We just sit there and laugh and play riffs.”

Bloodrhine released their debut self-titled EP in November 2023 and confirmed that even the band name itself was born through the boys hanging out together.

“About 10 years ago, Black Wizard did our first tour of Europe,” Parkomenko says. “On that trip we played a town called Basel, Switzerland, which the beautiful Rhine River runs through. We spent the day after the show hanging out, drinking and floating down the Rhine. It was a very memorable day. Shortly after, someone told me a story that sometime in the ‘80s there was a large chemical explosion at one of the factories based on the same river and it turned the water blood red in colour. Hence Bloodrhine. Nothing to do with music directly, but man, is it a cool metal band name.”

Taking influence from thrash, punk and stoner metal, Bloodrhine’s riff-centric sound is as heavy and thick as it is accelerative and hostile. Personality-wise, the trio’s fun-loving and goofy chemistry is undeniable in their latest music video “Twice As Dark.”

The video is a spoof on The Blair Witch Project. We follow the band as they embark on a journey to catch some sort of creature causing terror in the forest. Much to their comical surprise, this so-called “beast” turns out to be nothing more than a drunken bushdweller gallivanting in tighty-whitey underwear. The video ends with everyone partying as Bloodrhine performs the track.

While this video has a comedic twist, the members of Bloodrhine do admit to some belief in the paranormal. While Grant believes “things” could be out there, he chooses not to digress much further. Law and Parkomenko, however, are adamant that Sasquatch lurks in the forest. Paramenko also alludes to his belief in aliens, though he chooses to save that conversation for another time, over a bottle of whiskey. Grant and Law begin sharing a spooky story from a time they stayed at a shady Texas hotel while on tour.

“That was a weird vibe, I felt some ghost shit was going on there,” Law explains.

“We all kind of woke up at the same time in some weird sleep paralysis,” Grant adds. “It was a weird, creepy hotel off the side of the highway. It looked like a dump on the outside, but the room we stayed in was oddly, like, renovated. It looked completely brand new. It was definitely creepy.”

“In the immortal words of Mulder,” Paramenko concludes, “‘I want to believe…’”

Catch Bloodrhine on Thursday, July 25 at the Lido (Vancouver) and on Saturday, July 27 at Wheelies (Victoria)