Author: Bill Adams
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Introducing the Melvins’ Grand New Evolution
King Buzzo and Dale Crover are joined by Butthole Surfers alumni Paul Leary and Jeff Pinkus to present a great new kind of weirdness. Buzz Osborne is excited. Actually, just saying that the Melvins singer/guitarist is excited undercuts the tone in his voice. He is buzzing with energy and anticipation because, with the release of…
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The Melvins – Hold It In
The problem which tends to spring up whenever two bands team up and pool their creative energy for an album is that neither band wants to be outshone and be seen as “the group who bent to [insert the name of other contributing act here].” It’s not exactly an ego trip, just that nobody wants…
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Staff playlists: the fall (and Canadian thanksgiving) edition
It’s staff playlist time again! Check out the most recent picks (though not necessarily for recent music) from Hellbound’s staff. Some are fall themed, or tuned in to the celebratory long weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving (perhaps even Oktoberfest). Others, well, we picked ’em just because we like ’em. Keep reading to get the scoop on…
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Life After Death From Above 1979
Up until pretty recently, the question “What the hell happened to Death From Above 1979” was a perfectly valid one. At one point, the band was huge; between 2001 and 2006, they played over five hundred shows around the world. Critics lined up to sing the band’s praises, appearances on shows like Late Night with Conan…
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Death From Above 1979 – The Physical World
In the name of complete disclosure, I must confess that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Death From Above 1979 on their first trip through the pop music ranks. What the band was playing at in their first go ’round was just too canny, calculated, competant and superficial for me; it played like punk geared…
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Gob – Apt. 13
As of this writing, it has been seven years since Gob‘s last album of new material came out. That’s a pretty long time to go with no new material for any band who likes to be seen as an enduring, creative entity but, for a pop-punk band like Gob, an absence so long might as…
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Bands In Tandem – A Flaming Lips Brainstorm Gives Birth to Electric Würms (so says Steven Drozd)
Steven Drozd has already had a very busy year. So far, 2014 has seen Flaming Lips begin recording a cover album focused on The Beatles’ work (With a Little Help from My Fwends, to be released on October 28, 2014). They’ve also embarked on a tour of the United States that has featured more than…
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Rise Against – The Black Market
After illustrating that they were more than capable of moving forward beyond their melodic hardcore foundations with Appeal To Reason and Endgame, The Black Market proves that Rise Against still has some more ground that they’d like to break and a few boundaries they still want to push. Such creative testing is always a dicey…
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Nick Oliveri’s Uncontrollable – Leave Me Alone
It sounds a little unlikely on its face, but sometimes you just know what you’re going to get from an album, even if it’s a band’s first record. That is certainly true of Leave Me Alone, billed as Nick Oliveri‘s first solo album. From top to bottom, listeners will be able to pick out familiar…
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Feeding Back – Conversations With Alternative Guitarists From Proto-Punk To Post-Rock
Read any book featuring a few world famous guitarists who have been asked to analyze both their instrument and how they play it, and the first thing you’ll be confronted with is how conflicted their opinions are – both about their instrument and how they play it. In conversation, guitarists will usually proclaim just how…