Hailing from Sherbrooke (Quebec), Liva combine the grace of European metal with the fierceness of the North American metal. Liva's current members are S?bastien Breton (drums), Catherine Elvira Chartier (soprano vocals and electric viola), Pier Carlo Liva (death and baritone vocals and guitar) and Simon Roy-Boucher (bass). Liva utilize a careful balance of death metal vocals, baritone and soprano voices and the subtle combinations of electric viola and real-time electronic manipulation, along with a solid core of bass, drums and guitar.
With a sound integrating early 90's British death/doom, Floridian death metal, operatic metal and touches of classical music, Liva creates their own unique brand of metal.
Liva was founded in Sherbrooke, in 1997. In 2001 the group released its self-titled 4-song demo. Those songs would later end up on its first album, Requiem, released in November 2002. In May, 2007, Liva released their second full length, De Insulis, inspired by the Latin writings of the French theologian and poet Alain de Lille.
Throughout the years, Liva has opened for many internationally-acclaimed bands such as Voivod (October 2000), Gorguts (September 2nd 2001), Nightwish (September 6th 2003) and Therion (September 11th and 12th 2005). The band also played on the night dedicated to metal's future in Quebec at the Week-end extr?me, on June 2nd 2002. On stage, the Liva experience offers a meeting between the age-old nobility of classical music and the contemporary urgency of metal.
Liva has been featured in reports, like the one for the program Bande-?-part on the Radio-Canada channel, aired in fall 2001 on the ARTV channel. As well as on the radio concert from March 8th 2002 with 13 guest musicians, recorded for Bande-?-part, which aired in April 2002.
On March 9th 2003, the quartet won the Mimi prize for the most avant-garde artist who ?most radically break with stereotypes and established criterions: language, musical style, artistic considerations.? The members of Liva have received this prize because "they have the capacity to harmonize classical music with metal.?
Discography:
*Liva (EP, 2000)
*Requiem (Full-length, 2002)
*De Insulis (Full-length, 2007)