Obliveon was formed in January 1987, Montreal, Québec, Canada under the almost same name of Oblivion. Martin Gagné and Stéphane Picard were the only original members from the first line-up, rounded up at the time by Francis Giguère. Two demos were recorded by the power trio in that year; the first one in March and the second one, Whimsical Uproar, in September.
In 1989, after the departure of Francis, the band upgraded the line-up to a quartet. New drummer Alain Demers and guitarist Pierre Rémillard (ex-A Perfect Murder) completed the line-up, which lasted for four years. They recorded the successful Fiction Of Veracity demo.
The year 1990 saw the release of the band's first full length album for Active Records, entitled From This Day Forward. Despite the fact that the album received good reviews and worldwide acclaim, the album suffered from a lack of promotion, which eventually led the band to part ways from that label. The album was distributed in Europe exclusively but it still helped the quartet to get further in their young career. This album was then re-released in Canada by Press Play Records. It had an entirely new lay-out and it was re-mastered.
In 1993, Obliveon released its second album entitled Nemesis, a self-financed success, selling around five thousand units without official distribution and without the support of a label. Rave reviews from around the world helped establish the band as one of the most professional band in Québec, with the likes of Voïvod and Gorguts. A video-clip of the crowd-favorite Dynamo was shot and played on a regular basis on canadian Much Music and Musique Plus music television channels. That album was also been picked up by Press Play Records.
Obliveon was upgraded to a quintet in 1994 with the addition of Bruno Bernier (ex-Sarkasm) on vocals. Stéphane Picard was then able to concentrate more on his bass playing, but he still wrote most of the lyrics and still had quite a few vocal parts to fill.
The band's third album, Cybervoid, was released in 1996 on A.S.A. (a division of Cargo Records). Just like Nemesis, this album was recorded, engineered and produced by guitarist Pierre Rémillard. After A.S.A. went bankrupt, Obliveon was free again and then signed a licensing deal with Hypnotic Records for the European release of Cybervoid. The Hypnotic version included an extra song entitled Psychomatrix as a bonus track.
In the early summer of 1998, the defunct label Soundscape Music Canada re-released the band's cult demo Whimsical Uproar on a mini-CD to commemorate the band's ten years of existence. This piece of retro Death/Thrash was restored and re-mastered and sounded even better than it did back in 1987.
A cover of the song Suicide Solution from the godfather of Metal himself, Ozzy Osbourne, has been recorded and appeared on Olympic Records' tribute album Legend Of A Madman.
1999 has seen the band record their second video-clip off the cover song Planet Claire from The B-52's. Meanwhile, the guys finished composing their fourth and final album, Carnivore Mothermouth. The energy and intensity of that album was awesome but once again, the band suffered poor promotion and bad distribution. That pretty much was the last drawback that band was able to endure and a few months later, Obliveon called it quits...
In 2002, after the band had made its farewell gig (on May 31st 2002), GNW released a "Best of" album entitled Greatest Pits, which sold-out in a heart beat!
For those who never had the chance to put their hands on some, or all of Obliveon's album, you will be pleased to know that PRODISK is ready to re-issue the band's entire catalog! Find out what the hype was all about and why they have made a big mark on the Canadian Metal scene and history, and why all their albums are considered as cults!
www.myspace.com/obliveonmusic
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