Vile Creature Explained

Vile Creature are a Canadian heavy metal band from Hamilton, Ontario.^[1] They are most noted for their 2020 album Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!, which received a Juno Award nomination for Heavy Metal Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2021.^[2]

The band consists of guitarist and vocalist KW Campol and drummer and vocalist Vic, a couple who both identify as queer and make music from a progressive activist perspective.^[3] In addition to their musical career, they operate the Coven Plant Based Marketplace, a vegan food store in Hamilton, and KW is part owner of a tattoo shop, Sleepy Bones.^[1]

The duo released their first album, A Steady Descent Into the Soil, in 2015, and followed up with the EP A Pessimistic Doomsayer in 2017^[4] and the album Cast of Static and Smoke in 2018.^[5] In 2019, after signing to Prosthetic Records, they released Preservation Rituals (2015-2018), a compilation album which combined all three of the earlier releases.

In 2022, Campol co-founded the Perpetual Flame Ministries record label alongside American musician Kristin Hayter.^[6]

Personnel

Members

• Vic – drums, vocals
• KW Campol – guitar, vocals, drums

Discography

Studio albums

• A Steady Descent into the Soil (2015)
• Cast of Static and Smoke (2018)
• Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm! (2020)
• A Hymn of Loss and Hope (collaboration with Bismuth) (2022)^[7]

Singles

• Harbinger Of Nothing (Metal Swim 2 Compilation) (2019)
• In Tenebris Lux (with Bismuth) (2020)
• Paperdoll (Kittie cover, Send the Pain Below compilation) (2021)

EPs

• A Pessimistic Doomsayer (2016)

Compilations

• Preservation Rituals (2015-2018) (2019)

Notes and References

1. Bradley Zorgdrager, "'It's Metal to Care': Hamilton's Vile Creature Are Bringing Radical Compassion to Heavy Music". Exclaim!, September 30, 2020.
2. Holly Gordon, "The Weeknd, JP Saxe, Jessie Reyez and Justin Bieber lead 2021 Juno Award nominations". CBC Music, March 9, 2021.
3. Luke Morton, "Vile Creature: 'The most metal thing that you can do is care about other people'". Kerrang!, July 20, 2020.
4. Philip Montoro, "Queer doom duo Vile Creature don’t have time for ‘melted dickwads’". Chicago Reader, June 15, 2017.
5. Mark Tremblay, "Vile Creature: Cast of Static and Smoke". Exclaim!, February 27, 2018.
6. Web site: 2022-12-06 . Lingua Ignota and Vile Creature's KW Campol Launch Chicago Arts Festival . 2024-04-11 . Pitchfork . en-US.
7. Web site: Vile Creature & Bismuth (2) – A Hymn Of Loss And Hope . Discogs . 3 November 2022.