History

The year was 2008:

The concept of Arkayic Revolt began to grow in the minds of 3 individuals. Darryl Fletcher and Brett Swan, (formerly of Windsor metal veterans Lunacy), wanted to start a new band, with a more aggressive sound than their prior band. Long time friend Mike Hartigan, also found himself moving back to Windsor and was also interested in becoming part of this project.

The three started jamming on songs they had previously written, as well as working on new material. In the fall of that year, they went into Sound Foundry Studios, to record what was intended to be a demo. The band had yet to find a singer and were just going to lay down some rough "demo" type vocals, and use the recording to shop around for a singer. To the band's surprise, when Darryl went to record the "demo" vocals, they found the singer they were looking for was already in their band.

The entire recording ended up sounding better than the band had anticipated, and what was meant to be a demo, turned out to be the band's first E.P. 'Undead Man Walking'.

The year was 2009:

In the beginning of the year, the band had received the first pressing of 'Undead Man Walking'. They proceeded to make connections through the website Myspace, offering free copies of the CD to anybody who wanted to hear it. Over 200 copies of 'Undead Man Walking' were mailed out world-wide. This activity boosted the band's numbers online and caught the attention of Punishment 18 Records, a thrash and death metal label from Italy.

Again, in the fall, one year after the recording of 'Undead Man Walking', the band re-entered the studio to begin the recording of 'Death's River'. The brutal themes and unforgiving thrash sound to 'Death's River' would serve as foreshadowing for the band.

The year was 2010:

Like this year's predecessor, the band had received copies of their new recording early in the year. They were excited to start supporting their first album as a signed band. Until bad luck struck...

Founding member Brett Swan had to leave the city for an undetermined amount of time, due to work. After a few months, the band had decided they had to part ways with Brett in order to keep proceeding forward. After not being able to find a new drummer locally, the band extended their search to the internet, and found a drummer in Ingersoll, Ontario.

Darryl and Mike relocated Arkayic Revolt to London, Ontario (which was close to Ingersoll) and proceeded to work with their new drummer, rehearsing old songs as well as working on new material.

The year was 2011:

Early in the year, things were not working out with the new drummer. It had become apparent that he did not have enough time to drum for Arkayic Revolt, as well as his other band, and Arkayic Revolt found themselves without a drummer yet again. Hope was again fading, and it was starting to seem like death's river might actually swallow Arkayic Revolt.

With every glimmer of hope dying, Darryl and Mike had a plan. They were going to put every last bit of fight, into one song. The song would be recorded at world renowned Emac Studios in London, Ontario. The budget for this song would end up being close to the entire budget for 'Death's River'.

The vibe for the new recording was unprecidented. Every part of the recording process went unbelievably smooth. The band had hired session drummer Will Mulligan to record the drums for the track. As for the bass, Aaron Palmer, a long time friend of the band and founding Woods of Ypres member, had flown into London to record the bassline.

Shortly after finishing the recording, the band had a great recording on their hand, but were down a drummer and bass player. After "a Kijiji ad gone right", Pete W. and Brian Laine had joined the band. Pete and Brian have been friends for many years and have also played in many bands together. So with their knowing each other's playing styles inside and out, it has made Arkayic Revolt into a stronger machine than ever; quicker than anybody could have anticipated.

The band's first appearance with it's newly reformed line up, will be on August 22nd opening for Toxic Holocaust in London, Ontario. Stay tuned as we write more of our history.

(source: Arkayic Revolt, October 2012)

(discography updated in May 2010)