Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Devastation of the Heavens

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! As always, this monthly feature series looks at one or two defunct/inactive metal bands from the Sault Ste. Marie region, including their local run, surviving material, and notable events and shows, and so on. This month's band was originally randomly selected in February for last month's two band profile, but after discovering more info than anticipated, I bumped them to this month for a solo profile (Sault Ontario was next in the rotation anyway), so read on below for this somewhat overdue defunct local band profile, and if anything's missing, please let me know! (Updated on August 28th, 2013)
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Devastation of the Heavens

Genre: Death Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics. This band's lineup may be incomplete. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you have any additions or corrections!)

Mike Ladouceur* (Skull After Betrayl, The Bear Hunters), vocals/guitar
Joe DelBasso (Quite Frankly), rhythm guitar
Jestin Ryan, rhythm guitar
Justin Lam (The Bear Hunters, Jack Spades), bass
Johnny Lowrie* (The Bear Hunters, Caveman Morrison), drums

Jayson Day, vocals/bass
Joe Bumbacco (RedD Monkey, The Fury), drums

(The * refers to band members whose last names have since changed. Mike's current last name is Vincent, while Johnny's last name is now Belanger.)

Audio/Video: Devastation of the Heavens (or D.O.T.H.) have a few examples of surviving media from their run, including one live video from July 2006. An instrumental jam session video featuring Mike, Jayson, and Joe Bumbacco loosely covering Slayer's "Raining Blood", it was filmed by former local concert promoter Aisha Day, but it's admittedly very rough (as the comments and rating for the video will tell you), so out of respect, I won't embed it here. D.O.T.H. drastically improved by their last show in April 2007, where their other two surviving media files (their proposed album's title track "Heaven's Final Apocalypse" & a cover of Metallica's "The Four Horsemen") came from, so hear their original below from their PureVolume page, and check out more at the above links, including both tracks on YouTube!



Info/Analysis: Devastation of the Heavens were a young Sault Ontario metal band that was active from roughly 2006-2007. Possibly evolving from the earlier Death Rise, D.O.T.H. notably opened for Gates of Winter at The Oddfellows Hall in 2006, before peaking early the next year with appearances at two battles of the bands, along with a few Bawating high school performances. D.O.T.H. quietly disbanded by the summer of 2007, with members moving on to newer projects, including local death metal quintet The Bear Hunters, who featured 3 D.O.T.H. members in their 2010-2011 lineup. D.O.T.H. showed some of the talents and success that many members had in later projects, but they work to do, especially if the comments for their 2006 video are any indication. There was clear improvement by their demise, with overall solid guitar & bass work, and increasing chemistry, but neither Mike nor Jayson had a great voice at the time, and there were some timing issues, especially in 2006. D.O.T.H. had the potential to make a larger impact if they'd kept at it, but at least most of their alumni have hit bigger heights in newer bands!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! Next month, we'll be looking at two bands for the second time in three months due to the first band we randomly selected having no media, but who's on tap for May? We have the defunct Sault Michigan metal project Cherubic Red lined up, along with the late 2000s Sault Ontario metal band Faithless Sin (featuring No Arrow, Gates of Winter, and Quite Frankly alumni), so watch out for all of this on or around May 10th, and stay tuned tomorrow for our recap of tonight's second night of this latest battle of the bands! Thanks everyone!