Sean Palmerston

Sean is the founder/publisher of Hellbound.ca; he has also written about metal for Exclaim!, Metal Maniacs, Roadburn, Unrestrained! and Vice.

SERAPHIM – S/T 7” / GLUTTONS – S/T 7”

The vinyl section of hellbound.ca is suffering a review shortage and while our discussion and review of these latest releases from Baltimore’s A389 Recordings won’t get this little bit of online real estate swinging like a 70s key party, it will at least take it off the proverbial life support of the past few months. Egads! There’s a certain amount of analogy in that metaphor as these two bands, as solid, serviceable and enjoyable as they both are, aren’t going to be the ones to set the world of extreme music alight.

Týr/ Crimson Shadows/ Bolero @ Sneaky Dee’s, Toronto, ON, April 30, 2010

Everything else fell away, however, when TÝR took the stage. I seemed as though I had handed the band a checklist of everything I hoped to see in their performance, and they generously met every request. They played “Hail to the Hammer,” “Hold The Heathen Hammer High,” and “Sinklars Visa;” Heri and Terji performed shirtless; they took long swigs from a bottle of rum throughout the performance.

Our Last Night – We Will All Evolve

Yet another case of toddlers ingesting the sick union between balls-out metal and does-it-have-any-balls screamo, We Will All Evolve suffers from insanely powerful heavy moments akin to metalcore’s more muscular contributors but quickly devolves into faltering bouts of off-kilter melodies striving to offer the album some semblance of sing-alongs.

Orphaned Land: The Hellbound Interview

“Israel is not an easy place for a normal life, but OL’s music can emerge only from a place such as the Holy Land. The multi cultural life here, being a spiritual center, a center of religious wars and conflicts and even being a Jewish back to his homeland after 2,000 years. I’m in a heaven of inspiration.

Being an artist is always a struggle, especially in a country where the army is needed much more than art. Sometimes it’s very hard for us to get support or any attention to what we have to say. It’s a sacrifice and a choice we took, so we don’t complain. At the end of the day, I feel lucky to have a band and to give people some hope and moments of happiness.”

Adam Wills in conversation with Orphaned Land mastermind Kobi Farhi about their latest album, The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR.

Barren Earth: When the Prog/Metal Fusion Works Out Right…

“We all listen to progressive rock, so it’s natural that it comes across in the music. It was clear from the start that progressive elements would be featured in the band’s sound. And that was the reason for me to join. I remember seeing Opeth in 2006, and being very impressed by not just the music, but the whole presentation, and the juxtaposition of metal and prog. I thought then that this is would be an interesting musical path to explore. And Barren Earth has provided me with that path.”

Laura Wiebe Taylor in conversation with Barren Earth keyboardist Kasper Mårtenson about the band’s creation, their debut full-length album and more, exclusively for Hellbound.ca

Infanticide – From Our Cold, Dead Heads

[Infanticide’s] Scott Hull-produced debut doesn’t traffic in grotesque songs that are the equivalent of dead baby jokes set to stale death metal riffs and pedestrian drumming. It’s more like a potent combination of the misanthropy of Weekend Nachos with the anarchist impulses of Leftover Crack

Brian Posehn: More funny than you

You can’t accuse Brian Posehn of being highbrow. You can however accuse him of being funny. Along with being funny, he’s also a giant metal head, rather a giant and a metal head. The six-foot-six comedian makes no secret of his passion for metal, and masturbation, farts and fake tits. With his latest CD, Fart and Weiner Jokes about to be released Posehn will let it all hang out.

Dave Sanders speaks with metalhead comedian supreme Brian Posehn about his new album, Fart and Weiner Jokes, released this week on Relapse Records and what is on his current playlist.