Ablaze

Ablaze was a heavy metal band from Beloeil, Québec, whose music grew out of the flourishing Montréal-area hard-rock and metal culture of the early 1980s. Formed around brothers Martin Renaud and Bertrand ‘Bert’ Renaud, the group developed from youthful experiments with borrowed riffs and home-recorded cover songs into an ambitious original band whose lone contemporary single, ‘Psychopath’, became a sought-after Canadian underground-metal release. Ablaze operated from approximately 1984 until 1993, combining traditional heavy metal, power metal and emerging thrash influences.

The band’s roots stretched back to the brothers’ childhood in Beloeil. Martin and Bertrand received their first instruments as Christmas gifts when they were eleven and ten years old respectively: drums for Martin and a guitar for Bertrand. Their earliest playing consisted largely of enthusiastic imitations of Kiss, but their musical interests soon expanded as they attended concerts around Montréal and absorbed the work of Deep Purple, April Wine, The Kinks, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and AC/DC. Early compositions included ‘Spanish Fly’, ‘I’m a Devil in Fire’, ‘Pop Corn’, ‘Boomtown’ and ‘Evil Car’.

Their first performing lineup included bassist Marc Beauchemin and vocalist Claude René de Cotret, with whom the brothers entered a local battle of the bands. As Bertrand’s guitar playing developed, the Renauds began recording primitive demos on a Radio Shack mixer. These early tapes included material associated with Raven, Anvil and Quiet Riot and featured vocalists Stéphane Martin and Marc Davidson. Broadcasts over their high-school radio station helped connect the brothers with bassist Francois ‘Frank’ Gosselin, guitarist Jean Thibault and vocalist Frederick McNicoll, bringing the idea of a complete five-piece band closer to reality.

The name Ablaze was adopted after Martin heard an advance presentation of Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind on the Montréal radio program The Metal Files, broadcast late on Friday nights by CHOM-FM. While transcribing the lyrics to ‘Flight of Icarus’ and ‘Revelations’, he noticed that the word ‘ablaze’ appeared in both songs. Its meaning and visual force suited the young group, and the musicians agreed to use it as their name.

By the mid-1980s, Ablaze had settled into its best-documented early lineup: Steve ‘Damien’ Perron on vocals, Bertrand ‘Bert’ Renaud and Jean Thibault on guitars, Francois ‘Frank’ Gosselin on bass and Martin Renaud on drums. The band increasingly centred its performances on original material rather than covers, developing a raw but melodic heavy-metal sound marked by lengthy arrangements, twin guitars and Damien’s theatrical vocals.

On December 26 and 27, 1986, Ablaze entered Studio Works in Montréal to record ‘Psychopath’ and ‘Sadistic Dream’. The sessions were engineered by Mario Rubnikowich, with the band credited as producer and distributor. Released independently as the ‘Psychopath’ seven-inch single, the record presented more than twelve minutes of original music across its two sides. Contemporary cataloguing varies between 1986 and February 1987, but the band’s own anthology notes state that it was issued in February 1987 after being recorded during the final days of 1986. The original pressing carried the catalogue number UR-4590 and subsequently became recognized by collectors as a scarce privately released Canadian metal single.

The single’s title track was an extended, darkly narrative composition, while ‘Sadistic Dream’ pushed the band toward a faster and more aggressive form of metal. Both songs were composed by Bert Renaud, Frank Gosselin, Jean Thibault and Martin Renaud, with lyrics by Damien Perron. The release’s picture sleeve featured photography by Yvan Damphousse and graphic conception by Daniel Fecto.

Ablaze continued recording after the single. In May 1988, the band returned to Studio Works for a demo containing ‘First Murder’ and ‘Blood, Fear & Pain’. By this session, Jean Thibault was no longer included in the documented lineup, leaving Perron, Bertrand Renaud, Gosselin and Martin Renaud. A further pre-production demo was recorded at Studio 84 in Saint-Basile-le-Grand in 1989 and mixed by Patrice Audrain. The surviving anthology selections from this period, ‘Mr. Lord’ and ‘Crucified’, feature Bertrand Renaud handling both guitar and vocals alongside Gosselin and Martin Renaud.

In 1990, Ablaze entered another phase. Guitarist Jaime Dos Reis joined Bertrand Renaud, Gosselin and Martin Renaud for ‘Enter the Craze’, an original song built around a particularly direct and memorable metal refrain. A promotional video was filmed on 16mm in Beloeil by Fable Films Corporation. According to the band’s account, the video premiered during a live appearance on MusiquePlus’s Solid Rock, later appeared on MuchMusic’s unsigned-band program Indie Street and subsequently received exposure on The Power Hour.

Around the same time, management by METALSOUND Productions encouraged the group to capitalize on its command of Metallica material by presenting Ablaze partly as a Metallica tribute act. This did not entirely replace its original identity: the band continued to write and perform its own songs, with ‘Enter the Craze’ becoming one of its most visible compositions.

The lineup continued to change during the early 1990s. One configuration paired vocalist Robert ‘Bob’ Fontaine with guitarists Daniel St-Germain and Steve Lessard, bassist Francois Gosselin and drummer Martin Renaud. This version of the band is represented by the live recording ‘Shadowed on Purpose’, captured in Windsor, Ontario, on March 29, 1992. Other surviving material includes ‘Under Arrest’, taken from a 1990 rehearsal featuring Bertrand Renaud on guitar and vocals, Jaime Dos Reis on guitar, Gosselin on bass and Martin Renaud on drums.

Despite growing regional recognition, television exposure, merchandise and years of persistent rehearsal and recording, Ablaze did not complete a full-length album during its original existence. Internal and external pressures eventually brought the band to an end in 1993. What remained was a small but unusually well-documented body of privately produced recordings representing several stages of the group’s development—from the expansive traditional metal of the original single through increasingly forceful demo material, promotional video work, live performance and its later tribute-era lineup.

For decades, Ablaze’s reputation rested primarily upon the scarce ‘Psychopath’ single and recordings circulated among underground-metal collectors. The original release continued to appear in specialist metal discographies and collectors’ listings, while the title track circulated through archival uploads and retrospective interest in obscure Canadian heavy metal.

The group’s surviving work was finally assembled as Psychopath: The Ultimate Anthology (1984–1993), a nine-track collection issued by Cult Metal Classics/Sonic Age Records. Released on CD and vinyl, the anthology brings together both sides of the original single, the 1988 and 1989 demos, ‘Enter the Craze’, ‘Shadowed on Purpose’ and ‘Under Arrest’. The recordings were remastered by Nasos Nomikos at VU-Productions, while an illustrated booklet preserved the band’s history, photographs, lyrics and changing personnel.

The vinyl edition was manufactured in a total pressing of 300 copies: 100 copies on red vinyl and 200 copies on black vinyl. The red-vinyl edition visually complements the anthology’s black-and-red artwork and provides a particularly striking presentation of the band’s archival recordings.

More than three decades after Ablaze disbanded, the anthology transforms what had once been a fragmentary legacy into a coherent account of a determined young Québec metal band. Thanks in part to the preservation efforts and generosity of former members—including bassist Francois Gosselin, who personally supplied the Museum of Canadian Music with copies of both the limited red-vinyl anthology and the CD—the band’s recordings, images and story can now be documented together.

Ablaze may never have released the full album its members once envisioned, but the surviving music reveals a group that developed alongside Montréal’s 1980s metal underground, pursued its ambitions through changing lineups and musical directions, and left behind far more than its famously elusive seven-inch single.

-Robert Williston

Lineups

Early Beloeil Lineup
Claude René de Cotret: vocals
Bertrand ‘Bert’ Renaud: guitar
Marc Beauchemin: bass
Martin Renaud: drums

Early Demo Lineups
Stéphane Martin: vocals
Marc Davidson: vocals
Bertrand ‘Bert’ Renaud: guitar
Martin Renaud: drums

Formative Ablaze Lineup
Frederick McNicoll: vocals
Bertrand ‘Bert’ Renaud: guitar
Jean Thibault: guitar
Francois ‘Frank’ Gosselin: bass
Martin Renaud: drums

‘Psychopath’ Lineup, 1986–1987
Steve ‘Damien’ Perron: vocals
Bertrand ‘Bert’ Renaud: guitar
Jean Thibault: guitar
Francois ‘Frank’ Gosselin: bass
Martin Renaud: drums

‘Demo 1988’ Lineup
Steve ‘Damien’ Perron: vocals
Bertrand ‘Bert’ Renaud: guitar
Francois ‘Frank’ Gosselin: bass
Martin Renaud: drums

‘Demo 1989’ Lineup
Bertrand ‘Bert’ Renaud: guitar, vocals
Francois ‘Frank’ Gosselin: bass
Martin Renaud: drums

‘Enter the Craze’ Lineup, 1990
Bertrand ‘Bert’ Renaud: guitar, vocals
Jaime Dos Reis: guitar
Francois ‘Frank’ Gosselin: bass
Martin Renaud: drums

Later Lineup, 1990–1992
Robert ‘Bob’ Fontaine: vocals
Daniel St-Germain: guitar
Steve Lessard: guitar
Francois ‘Frank’ Gosselin: bass
Martin Renaud: drums

Known Members
Claude René de Cotret: vocals
Stéphane Martin: vocals
Marc Davidson: vocals
Frederick McNicoll: vocals
Steve ‘Damien’ Perron: vocals
Robert ‘Bob’ Fontaine: vocals
Bertrand ‘Bert’ Renaud: guitar, vocals
Jean Thibault: guitar
Jaime Dos Reis: guitar
Daniel St-Germain: guitar
Steve Lessard: guitar
Marc Beauchemin: bass
Francois ‘Frank’ Gosselin: bass
Martin Renaud: drums