Bloodshoteye are marking 25 years with a horror short film rather than a reunion. Founder and guitarist Shane Ivy unveiled the film, scored by “The Slaughterhouse Romance”, a track from the band’s 2010 album “Expect the Unexpected” on CDN Records. The band came from Leamington, Ontario, the southernmost point in Canada.
Ivy worked with HI Multimedia, a Windsor-based film production company, to turn a concept he had carried for more than a decade into a finished piece of narrative video. Revisiting the back catalogue as a fan rather than a musician chasing tours and deadlines is what set the project in motion.
A soundtrack that waited 15 years
The band broke up in 2010, before “Expect the Unexpected” could be properly promoted, and the song never got the exposure Ivy felt it deserved. In a statement, he said the track always sounded like a film score to him.
“The song ‘The Slaughterhouse Romance’ from the album ‘Expect the Unexpected’ always sounded in my head like a soundtrack to a film. The band broke up in 2010 before the album had a chance to be properly promoted, so the song never got the attention it deserved. Now, 15 years later, it has become the main soundtrack to a new short horror film I made to honour the Bloodshoteye legacy.”
- Shane Ivy, Bloodshoteye
The film carries a nod to the band’s own history: its closing scene mirrors the ending of Bloodshoteye’s first video, “Hitlist”, this time with Ivy’s and Jessica’s daughter Saidi in the iconic pose.
“Jessica Desjardins” gave the band its identity
Vocalist Jessica “jeSICKa” Desjardins joined in 2002, at which point the line-up settled into place. Her aggressive vocal personality gave Bloodshoteye a distinct identity in the early deathcore scene and shaped the direction of everything that followed. The rhythm section had already spent years honing its sound in the mid-1990s in bands such as Once Dead and Capital Punishment. On “Expect the Unexpected”, the recorded line-up is Desjardins on vocals, Ivy and Jamie Lembke on guitars, Jer Candusso on bass and Mike Wiebenga on drums.
Three albums and guest spots from Lamb of God
Across three full-lengths and extensive Canadian touring, Bloodshoteye opened for Dying Fetus, Cryptopsy, Misery Index and Cannae. “Without Any Remorse” (2004, Galy Records) featured guest vocals from D. Randall Blythe of Lamb of God. “An Un Relenting Assault” (2006, Galy Records) was produced by J-F Dagenais of Kataklysm and added guest vocals from Blythe and Alex Erian of Despised Icon. “Expect the Unexpected” was produced by “Glenn Fricker” at Spectre Sound Studio, mixed by “Chris Donaldson” of Cryptopsy and The Agonist, and mastered by “Pierre Rémillard”, who has worked with Cryptopsy, Ion Dissonance and Misery Index.
Ivy has described the anniversary release as a tribute rather than a reactivation, a look at what the band built and how the music keeps resonating after the final chapter. The record remains available on CD through the CDN Records shop and on streaming services.
