Author: Laura Wiebe

  • Voltang on Kill Eat Exploit the Weak

    Several of us Hellbound folk moonlight as radio hosts, producers, volunteers and so on. You may already know this, and you may have had the good sense and/or good fortune to catch Gruesome Greg’s Gruesome Tunes, Craig Hayes on the New Zealand airwaves, Kevi(metal) Stewart-Panko on INDI 101, or Adam and me hosting Kill Eat…

  • Amorphis throwback (rocking it like it’s 2001)

    Amorphis throwback (rocking it like it’s 2001)

    To mark the release of the latest Amorphis album, Under the Red Cloud, let’s go back to a more innocent time—April 2001, to be precise—when Hellbound editor Laura Wiebe interviewed the band before a show in Toronto. They were touring to promote Am Universum, and her freewheeling conversation with Esa (Holopainen, guitar) and Niclas (Etelävuori,…

  • Hellbound @ Heavy Montreal, Day 3: August 9, 2015

    Hellbound @ Heavy Montreal, Day 3: August 9, 2015

    Somehow I managed to get off to an even later start on Day 3, disappointingly missing both Omnium Gatherum and Insomnium, who I’d been looking forward to. By the time I arrived for the final day of Heavy Montreal 2015 I was just able to catch a couple of songs from Hamilton, Ontario’s Dead Tired before…

  • Hellbound @ Heavy Montreal, Day 2: August 8, 2015

    Hellbound @ Heavy Montreal, Day 2: August 8, 2015

    Day 2 of this year’s Heavy Montreal was hotter and sunnier and, for us, off to a slow, humid start. We arrived in time to catch Lita Ford rockin’ out. She looked to be having a good time and the crowd was too, singing along to classics like “Cherry Bomb” and “Kiss Me Deadly.” Abbath (ex-Immortal,…

  • Hellbound @ Heavy Montreal, Day 1: August 7, 2015

    Hellbound @ Heavy Montreal, Day 1: August 7, 2015

    It’s been a couple of years at least since my last Heavy Montreal (or Heavy MTL, as it was called then), but if the stars were aligned right I’d make it an annual trip. In terms of setting and organization this is one of my favourite festivals, and I’ve never had a less than stellar…

  • Recent recommendations (from a few metal-leaning scholars)

    Recent recommendations (from a few metal-leaning scholars)

    As a Hellbound reader, you may know (or not) that your friendly neighbourhood editor is also a university professor – one who makes no secret of her metallic musical taste. Around the university, I mostly encounter people who don’t know much about metal music, who are indifferent or, occasionally, who are outright hostile to the…

  • Fredericton: GREBER video premier and tour dates

    Fredericton: GREBER video premier and tour dates

    GREBER‘s latest full-length, Kiln Hardened Psalms, came out late last year but the momentum is still building. The newest result? A video for one of the most ferocious tracks on a seriously (but not too serious) ferocious record. Bassist Marc Bourgon took the time to answer a few questions: Why this song, “Fredericton”? Fredericton has been…

  • It’s Canada Day! (2015)

    It’s Canada Day! (2015)

    With Hellbound’s primary editorial and web resources overseas, we bring you a nostalgic retrospective of Canada Day features past. We have also declared it national Rush day in Finland.   Heavy Canada Day retrospective: The very first Hellbound Canada Day special (2009): STAFF PICKS: FAVOURITE CANADIAN METAL ALBUMS Canada Day – the sequel (2010): STAFF/GUEST PICKS: FAVOURITE RUSH ALBUM…

  • Leprous – The Congregation

    Leprous – The Congregation

    Their experience as the backing band for Ihsahn (of Emperor fame) may have given Leprous an advantage. I, for one, took extra notice of them once I became aware of the Ihsahn connection. But if an association with the ‘nobility’ of Norwegian metal has gained Leprous some extra attention, it is well deserved. The Congregation is…

  • Hellbound summer metal fest guide (staff picks for 2015)

    Hellbound summer metal fest guide (staff picks for 2015)

    TUSKA photo above by Aku-Axel Muukka. It’s been a couple of weeks now since Maryland Death Fest wrapped up for another year. Time to look ahead to what else the summer festival season has to offer the metal-inclined. Well, actually, our current staff picks for summer fest highlights look more like a June onslaught, a July…