One Band to Rule Them All: Wacken Metal Battle Canada Finals 2016
The final round of this year’s Wacken Metal Battle Canada competition takes place at Toronto’s Opera House this Saturday, June 11. Whichever band emerges…
Crimson Shadows
Crimson Shadows: Ready to Take on the World
Hellbound is a Canadian-based metal site. That doesn’t determine our coverage – we can appreciate, evaluate and cover heavy tunes from anywhere in the…
Wacken Metal Battle Canada: Canucks winning their way to an international stage
Interview by Laura Wiebe
If you’re a metalhead you’ve heard of Wacken Open Air. Founded in 1990, the German festival is a mecca for metal pilgrims, a status immortalized in Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen’s Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey (2005). But Wacken is a desired destination for more than fans. For a band, playing Wacken must be a tremendous high – a chance to reach out directly to some of the scene’s largest crowds, gathered together from some of its farthest reaches.
Relatively few Canadian bands have had the chance to storm a Wacken stage. So far…
Dragonforce / Crimson Shadows @ The Opera House, Toronto ON, October 20, 2011
For all the impeccable skill, speed and flourish there was nothing hook-y or spellbinding about the performance. This was an incredibly safe show that felt more like a press conference combined with a a technical exercise — less about showmanship and more about showing off.
Týr/ Crimson Shadows/ Bolero @ Sneaky Dee’s, Toronto, ON, April 30, 2010
Everything else fell away, however, when TÝR took the stage. I seemed as though I had handed the band a checklist of everything I hoped to see in their performance, and they generously met every request. They played “Hail to the Hammer,” “Hold The Heathen Hammer High,” and “Sinklars Visa;” Heri and Terji performed shirtless; they took long swigs from a bottle of rum throughout the performance.