Author: Jonathan Smith
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Downfall of Gaia – Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay
Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay is in many ways similar to Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes, the last album from Germany’s Downfall of Gaia. It’s also heavier in sound and less immediately accessible. Thus, the record is less memorable and cohesive-sounding as a whole but as equally rewarding with repeated listens. The slight…
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Amon Amarth, Sabaton, and Skeletonwitch in Thunder Bay, October 7, 2014
Photos By Scott Hobbs The crowd for the October 7th Amon Amarth show in Thunder Bay was made up of the usual suspects. Whereas the folks who had come to see Lacuna Coil a few weeks earlier looked like an intersection of several different kinds of people and music fans, at this show there was…
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“We Fear Nothing!”: Lacuna Coil, September 27, 2014
Lacuna Coil, Starset, and Incura Saturday, September 27th, 2014 at Crocks, Thunder Bay, ON It’s 2014, but apparently bands’ buses are still breaking down and leaving musicians stranded on the side of the highway. Hence why I’ve got nothing to say here about The Devil You Know (otherwise known as that band that former Killswitch…
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Musk Ox – Woodfall
I’ve long been struck by the emotional heaviness that Nathanaël Larochette is able to wring from a single acoustic guitar. While Musk Ox’s genre classification is technically “neofolk,” I’ve always felt that this act in particular is an excellent aesthetic companion to extreme metal (quite similar, in fact, to the more minimalist offerings of bands…
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Lacuna Coil – Broken Crown Halo
It’s been a few years since I last paid serious attention to a Lacuna Coil record. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the band’s 2009 release Shallow Life, and as a result I almost completely ignored 2012’s Dark Adrenaline when it first came out. That latter record has grown on me over the years, and I’ve…
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Kuolemanlaakso – Tulijoutsen
The most obvious thing about Kuolemanlaakso’s Tulijoutsen is that it’s another collection of doomy, slow-moving metal from Finland, one that will certainly reinforce the stereotype that gloom is something that Finnish musicians do very well. This is not the first release from Kuolemanlaakso. Their first album, 2012’s Uljas Uusi Maailma, went completely under my radar. This…
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Alcest – Still the same stone, but what you see is different
January saw the release of Alcest’s latest album, Shelter. Even though I myself am not a big fan of this particular offering from the band, it’s clear to me that it is a proper culmination of gradual changes in Alcest’s sound and direction. As a long-time Alcest fan, I’ve read a number of interviews with…
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God Seed – I Begin
I Begin is an apt title for what is a new beginning of sorts, and like many beginnings it is not perfect. However, its lesser moments can be overlooked in favour of the enjoyable whole.
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Musk Ox: The Hellbound Interview
“I first saw Musk Ox perform in southern Ontario in the late spring of 2009. I was struck by the contrast between ambient acoustic music and a vibe that is perfectly resonate with that of many progressive, folk, and black metal bands. Musk Ox inhabits a place within two different styles of music, and gives…
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Delain – We Are The Others
To start, some context: it’s rare when an album from within the amorphous power/gothic/symphonic/what-have-you metal category manages to keep my attention these days. I barely noticed Delain‘s first two full-lengths, Lucidity and April Rain. Tied to (or tied down) via their previous connection with sub-genre staple Within Temptation, and frequently featuring guest appearances from such…