Author: Matt Hinch
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Hawkeyes – Poison Slows You Down
Originally released digitally and on (sold out) cassette back in 2013, Poison Slows You Down by Kitchener sextet Hawkeyes is now seeing a vinyl release, the ideal format for these four tracks of dangerously psychedelic sludge/doom. With six people contributing to the noise you know the sonic landscapes they create are vast and multihued. Mind-bending…
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Monolord – Vaenir
If like me you didn’t think things could get any heavier than Monolord‘s debut, Empress Rising, you’d be wrong. Following up on last year’s titanic slab of earth-shattering doom, sophomore effort Vænir takes it to another level. The sound is even fuller with a dirty, reverbed distortion gnarling through overstressed amps. Yet contrary to how…
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Full Metal Parenting #8: GODS
A lot of metal fans will tell you that the genre has taken them on journeys to dark, unexpected, and wholly beautiful places, leading them to question nature, reality, and the meaning of existence. Well, welcome to parenthood! It’s pretty much the same, and often twice as loud. Parenting is livin’ after midnight by default…
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Idol of Fear – All Sights Affixed, Ablaze
All Sights Affixed, Ablaze from Barrie’s Idol of Fear impresses right from the get-go with “Vanquish.” It lays the foundation for the album with a black metal base. The lead guitars are fantastic. They cut through the heaviness and burrow deep in your head. Screaming and screeching, they are nonetheless nearly permanently imbedded in my…
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Visigoth – The Revenant King
I’m probably the last person I’d expect to see reviewing an album by a band such as Salt Lake City’s Visigoth. I’m usually the coward running the other way when “power metal” is mentioned but something about these traditionalists and their debut The Revenant King threw a bolas around my ankles and dragged me into…
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American Heritage – Prolapse
Another album that managed to slip through 2014 unreviewed by myself is Prolapse by American Heritage. Being as busy as I am is both a blessing and a curse. In this case more of a curse as I could have been listening to this bruiser for months. And on an even more distressing note, guitarist/vocalist…
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Anicon / Belus
In my feeble attempt to catch up on releases I want/was assigned to cover last year I’ve made my way to this split from a pair of New York bands. Released last July this collaboration between Anicon and Belus flew pretty much under the radar. Or mine at least. Which is rather surprising given some…
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Vintage Caravan – Voyage
I suppose it’s understandable that The Vintage Caravan‘s Voyage hasn’t garnered as much press as could be expected from a band on Nuclear Blast. The Swedish retro-rock movement continues to roll along, and beside releases from bands like Blues Pills and Spiders it’s easy to get overshadowed. But wait! The Vintage Caravan are from Iceland!…
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Monolord – Empress Rising
There are a number of things pulling me toward Sweden. Better government, a strong hockey program, blondes, Swedish death metal, the whole retro/stoner rock movement and more. But what has the greatest pull is the sheer sonic mass of Empress Rising, the debut from doom heavyweights Monolord. They’re so heavy they have a tidal influence.…
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Goya/Wounded Giant split
Less than a week into 2015 and what will likely be the year’s best – or at least heaviest – split has already sold out. The split LP from Goya and Wounded Giant sold out in less than eight hours upon its release January 3rd at noon. I had my eye on the Die Hard…