Following the disbanding of the Shawinigan-based Thrash Metal act Kherphren (1989-1991), Richard Harvey and I left the group firmly decided upon starting a new band, with new material – something which we had begun planning and working on since early winter of 1991.Little time later, we found new members to complete our outfit. They were: Steeve Daigle (guitars) and Sébastien Bussière (drums) – both were friends from Trois-Rivières. By May 1991, we were ready to rock. We soon found a place for us to practice at, located in a small space inside the building containing the Publi-Sac offices on Père-Daniel Street in Trois-Rivières Ouest.
It was I who came up with the name of the band: Apocalyptic Fear. It might have been difficult for some to pronounce, but I found it to be appropriately “Metal” and well suited for what sort of music we wanted to play: something with impact, something like the end of the world.
Only a month and a half later, we performed our very first live gig together at the notorious Princeville outdoor Tri-Fête festival. In May 1992, with help from the Jeunes Volontaires financial aid program, we were able to record our first demo entitled: “Decayed Existence”. It was recorded at the Peter Pan studios, in Montreal, by Pierre Rémillard.September 1992 saw a change to the band’s lineup when Sébastien Gagnon was called in to play bass, replacing Richard Harvey.
Over the years, we played many venues, around several cities within Québec: such as the Ritz, in Val-D’or. We also shared the stage with several noteworthy bands, the likes of Obliveon, Dead Horse, Last Breath, Genetic Error, Chronical Disturbance, Sarkasm and Martyr (who were just starting up at the time). Back at the Peter Pan studios with Pierre Rémillard in December of 1993, we began producing the four-track demo entitled “Dawn of the Ritual” which was released exclusively on audio cassette tape format in January 1994.
Apocalyptic Fear’s gears ground to a halt in September of 1994, and our last gig was played in Granby.