Saskatoon

Shooting Guns – Born to Deal in Magic: 1952-1976

In the hands of a producer who specializes in this style of music (this band was born to work with Sanford Parker), these guys could be capable of a record that sounds even more massive. For now, though, we’re perfectly content listening to one hell of a fun debut, one of the very best Canadian metal/rock albums of 2011, singer or no singer. Besides, with grooves this contagious, who needs a singer, anyway?

Hellbound Staff Interrogation #1: Adrien Begrand

With today being the second anniversary of the launch of Hellbound.ca (yay us!), we have decided to do short interviews with the staff of Hellbound so that you the readers can find out more about us and where we come from. Justin M. Norton came up with a bunch of questions, which we will be asking all of our current staff over the next few weeks.

Adrien Begrand was the first writer to sign on with Sean when he decided to start Hellbound, so he is the first one to be interviewed. Here is his interview below. Please enjoy

70000 TONS OF METAL Cruise Recap Part 1

Last week the inaugural 70000 TONS OF METAL cruise sailed from Miami, FL to Cozumel, Mexico and back and featured live performances by forty-two metal bands. Hellbound.ca was lucky enough to have been able to send four of its contributors on the cruise and here is what they had to say about getting to Miami and the first evening’s performances.

Introduction by Sean Palmerston with live reviews by Adrien Begrand, Albert Mansour, Kevin Stewart-Panko and Sean Palmerston. All photography by Albert Mansour unless listed otherwise.

Children of Bodom/The Black Dahlia Murder/Skeletonwitch @ Odeon, Saskatoon, SK, October 1, 2009

If there’s one band that fully deserves a “victory lap” tour, it’s Children of Bodom, who after a good dozen years plying their distinct brand of melodic extreme metal, is finally experiencing some significant success in North America. For most fans who live in the smaller centres, they best they could manage before was to catch Alexi Laiho and his booze-fueled band of flashy Finns as part of a package tour, be it the Unholy Alliance or Gigantour, which usually meant a measly eight or nine songs, maximum, and when a band has six studio albums under their belts, it’s tough to get some variety. So the venue was packed with fans hoping to get a huge dose of the old stuff, and that’s exactly what Bodom gave them.

Adrien Begrand reviews the recent Saskatoon stop on the CoB/BDM/Skeletonwitch tour.

In Flames/Killswitch Engage/Protest the Hero/Between the Buried and Me @ Prairieland, Saskatoon, SK, September 13, 2009

Despite the fact that co-headliner In Flames was playing last on this night, the unforgiving concrete floor was packed with bodies in the moments before Killswitch took the stage, and the joint practically exploded when the five dudes kicked into the tasteful melodic metalcore of “My Last Serenade”, Jones and his rather flamboyant counterpart, guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, leading the charge.

Adrien Begrand reviews the recent Saskatoon stop on the current In Flames/Killswitch Engage tour. Howard Jones, we hope you are feeling better now!

Bison BC, Lazarus AD, Barn Burner @ Amigos, Saskatoon, SK, July 14, 2009

Bison BC, or simply “Bison” as they’re known round these parts, has become a live institution in Western Canada over the last year and a half, and the nice turnout on this Tuesday night reflected the band’s steadily growing grassroots fan base. Theirs is an easy sound to like, and one that translates exceptionally well to live settings, especially smaller venues