Author: Sean Palmerston

  • Cathedral – The Guessing Game

    Modestly experimental and incredibly grandiose by their standards, this double album (their first ever) clocks in at an ungodly 80-plus minutes, way more than it should but, hey, it’s Cathedral. You know the fuzz-pedals were particularly gritty one day and writing got out of hand.

  • Ludicra / Krallice / Empyrean Plague @ Rancho Relaxo, Toronto ON, April 14, 2010

    I don’t want to in any way cheapen Ludicra’s performance here by saying that they performed “admirably under the circumstances.” They flat-out fucking rocked. They are tough, tenacious, and have a mind-blowing stage presence. Their vocalist, Laurie Sue Shanaman, filled the meagre space with her otherworldly voice. Natalie Zed reviews the April 14th Toronto performance…

  • The Vision Bleak – Set Sail To Mystery

    Like a ghost ship emerging from a heavy fog, Germany’s gothic duo have returned with an album that, despite some occasional flat attempts towards invoking a playfully dark atmosphere, is a fun record well worth a listen.

  • Blood Cult – We Are the Cult of the Plains

    I hope that more people will find the time to check out We Are the Cult of the Plains, because after repeated listening, it’s totally grown on me – a fascinating, schizophrenic, Syd Barrett take on black metal.

  • Apostle of Solitude – Last Sunrise

    Last Sunrise is an Epicus Doomicus Metallicus opus in every sense, faux Latin be damned. One can only assume that the two gun-toting lovers on the cover were driven to their suicide pact after repeated listens on a cold February nite.

  • Umbah – Trilobeth

    Trilobeth doesn’t offer much of in terms of a focused style, but its seeming adaptability and multiplicity are its strengths. It’s a release that is a musical tribute to our technological and frenzied reality.

  • Baptized In Blood – Gutterbound

    Playing a thrash, metalcore infused style, the music is fun, dirty, rocking and has your head nodding from the get go. The album is chock full of big sounding melodic passages that work very well and suck you right back into the moment.

  • Buzzoven – Violence From The Vault

    Violence is somewhat reminiscent of the early Eyehategod demos gathered by Century Media on 2000’s 10 Years of Abuse…And Still Broke compilation, particularly in its transferred-from-cassette-tape sound quality

  • Finntroll – Nifelvind

    Combining world music sounds (steel drums, tubular bells, an orchestra, occasionally and a barge-load of goth-sounding synths) with giant and meticulously executed black/death/math metal guitars, Finntroll (literally, the translation is ‘Finn Troll,’ taken from an old Finnish folk legend) come off sounding like the most cinematic and archaic metal band of all time as songs…

  • Photo Gallery: Testament @ Town Ballroom, Buffalo NY, March 13, 2010

    Photo gallery by Albert Mansour On Saturday, March 13th I went down to Buffalo NY to see Megadeth, Testament and Exodus play at the Town Ballroom. Here are my pics of Testament, who were cool enough to let me shoot their set. By the way, all three bands were fantastic on this night. It was…