Sean Palmerston

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

Headline, Reviews, Reviews - Visual January 20, 2010

Film Review: Laid to Rest

Robert Hall’s Laid to Rest is a slasher film that doesn’t waste any time on story in order to get to its blood-soaked kill sequences. A young woman (Bobbi Sue Luther) awakens to find herself with amnesia and locked in a casket in a funeral home. After breaking out, she is almost immediately confronted by “Chrome Skull” (Nick Drincipe), a serial killer who records his torturing and killing of young women via a video recorder attached to his shoulder.

Jonathan Smith reviews the recently released straight-to-video slasher horror film Laid To Rest, directed by Robert Hall.

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Audio January 19, 2010

Ava Inferi: Blood Of Bacchus

Blood Of Bacchus is haunting and mysterious. It is graceful and desolate. Picture pure doom, lying under soft, almost operatic vocals and heavy guitars. Though it is very easy to develop a strong sense of what Ava Inferi sound like through this description, you will never fully understand the brilliance of this band until you give them a fervent listen.

Blogs, Featured, The Editor's Blog January 15, 2010

Reminder: Year End Contest Ends Tonight!

Just a little reminder to anyone that hasn’t voted that today (Friday, January 15th) is your LAST CHANCE to enter our bitchin’ year end contest. You have until midnight Eastern Standard Time tonight to win our fantastic prize, which has now grown to 50 CDs (many of them autographed), two (2) 7″s, two (2) shirts, three (3) autographed posters, a dog tag and a few more goodies too.

Headline, Reviews, Reviews - Audio January 15, 2010

Weapon: Drakonian Paradigm

Musically, what makes Weapon unique is its intricate sense of composition, its sinuous melodic leads, and the subtle accents that it uses in order to conjure a distinctive atmosphere. Conceptually (and, by extension, atmospherically), Drakonian Paradigm is uniquely syncretic in its left-hand-pathos, in turn using its music to menace several doctrines from a common ground.

Tate Bengston reviews the debut full-length album by Edmonton, Alberta-based black metal quartet Weapon, recently released on CD and LP by the AJNA Offensive.

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Audio January 15, 2010

FACE VALUE: Rode Hard, Put Away Wet

Where the forward-thinking hardcore bands of the time embarked upon a course of combining ‘core with metal riffing and mosh tempos, Face Value spit-balling together punk/hardcore’s fury and speed with classic rock sensibilities, jacked up rhythms and guitar hero soloing.

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Audio January 14, 2010

Epica: Design Your Universe

Epica’s fourth full-length Design Your Universe was the perfect opportunity for the Dutch band to make some serious artistic and commercial strides, but what we’re stuck with is a record that tries so hard to impress that its blind ambition completely gets in the way of tasteful songwriting.