FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Holy Christ, the new songs Ion Dissonance played, which were about half their set, blew me away. Crazy, maniacal and with a heavy as an elephant low end, these guys use 8 string guitars and you can feel it in the stomach. Their performance was tight, to the point and they left it all on the field.
Fates Warning went out on a high note, however, in ending their set with “Through Different Eyes”, taken from 1989’s Perfect Symmetry. Though this was probably the only point in the set which mirrored the awesomeness of Parallels, the feeling of true disappointment never really set, and the audience—ourselves including—left the Webster Theatre on this night feeling fairly satisfied that we’d just witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime engagement.
San Francisco’s Hammers of Misfortune have recently signed to Metal Blade, and as a result, the label has reissued their entire back catalogue in hopes that it will get the due recognition it missed the first time around. With no expectation and no foreknowledge of the band, I tossed myself in at the deep end to review these four reissues and wound up discovering something completely fresh.
Kyle Harcott reviews the new Metal Blade reissues of the Hammers Of Misfortune back catalogue.
Helstar could have been a much bigger band if the songs had just been a bit stronger. Rising From The Grave is an enjoyable listen though and it’s easy to get carried away in Rivera and company’s enthusiasm and skill.
The awkwardly-named Charred Walls of the Damned delivered a solid headlining performance. While the other bands they shared the stage with has set a decidedly un-serious precedent, CWotD were much more straightforward and earnest in their presentation. Not to say that they were stuffy or stoic. They play unabashedly entertaining power/thrash metal, but choose not to caricature themselves to the point of complete cartoonification.
If All Empires Fall is meant to close a certain chapter of the band’s history, we have every reason to believe the next one will be even more exciting to witness.
If you like it mean, fast, crusty and hammering, check out Goner, it’s a housewrecker of a disc.
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
Find out what HELLBOUND’s contributors have been listening to during the month of May. Almost every writer has submitted their Top 5 list and have an option to list a book and a film they are into right now too.
There is something solid, straightforward, almost wholesome about 3 Inches of Blood’s brand of traditional heavy metal that is particularly satisfying. Cam Pipes sang about orcs and hammers while unleashing a series of throaty old-school wails—what was there not to love?
Natalie Zed reviews the May 13th Toronto performance by 3 Inches of Blood and Goatwhore at the Mod Club
Hellbound readers, we’re sure that by now you are all familiar with our Natalie Zed, right? Natalie was our big grand prize winner back in January, taking home more than 50 CDs + and shortly after she received her huge box ‘o CDs, Ms. Zed asked us over at Hellbound HQ if we’d be interested in running reviews of her winnings if she did postcard sized reviews of the albums. How could we say no?
So, without further adieu, here is Natalie’s third installment (reviews #21 – 30 for those keeping stats at home) in what Hellbound likes to refer to as “Postcards From Natalie Zed”…