Author: Sean Palmerston

  • The Legion: A Bliss To Suffer

    The third offering from Sweden’s The Legion, A Bliss To Suffer doesn’t wait to try and crush its listeners. Even with a sprinkling of instrumental spots here and an added sound effect there, the core black/death elements emerge from the beginning of opening track “Shining Redemption” and remain more or less consistent throughout the album…

  • Leif Edling: Songs of Torment, Songs of Joy

    A quick historical run down here: Leif Edling began his musical career in the Stockholm, Sweden based hard rock act Trilogy in the late 70s where he worked alongside drummer Håkan “Ian” Haugland, later of Europe. In 1985, Leif launched his groundbreaking doom metal band Candlemass who became well-known worldwide for its fresh pioneering sound

  • Gojira: Death Metal From the Soul

    Back in the day, the pounding, clanging and grinding sounds of Birmingham, England’s ubiquitous industrial work provided a great wealth of inspiration for the thunderous sounds of metal’s forefathers in Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. Similarly, having grown up in the southwest of France in Bayonne, the members of Gojira are very familiar with the…

  • Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know

    While Heaven & Hell has proved itself as formidable of a live act now as it was first time around in 1981, The Devil You Know is a decent album but unfortunately it isn’t as great as it possibly could have been.

  • Woods Of Ypres, Elevator 22, Will of the Ancients, Musk Ox, Seras @ Club Absinthe, Hamilton, ON (2nd review)

    With a Napalm Death concert happening nearby in Toronto on the same night, GTA concert goers were somewhat spoiled for choice on May 15th. Within that context, the crowd that came out to see Woods of Ypres’ debut Hamilton performance on May 15th was relatively small but dedicated to the Canadian group’s unique brand of…

  • Rumpelstiltskin Grinder: Living For Death, Destroying The Rest

    Contrary to their name, the bizarre album cover and the somewhat disturbing images of the quartet in the liner notes, Rumpelstilskin Grinder is a serious band – perhaps too serious.

  • Goatwhore, Abigail Williams, DÅÅTH, Abysmal Dawn, SWWAATS @ Walker’s, Saskatoon, SK, July 6, 2009

    It was already very cool to have one of the more interesting, eclectic metal tours of the summer run through my city, but to have the five-band Conquer & Curse Tour play a tiny place not much bigger than someone’s rumpus room made it all the more enjoyable.

  • Serpent Throne: The Battle Of Old Crow

    These guys bring the rock and announce themselves with killer riffs and well placed guitar solos. Tracks like “Snakecharmer” and “Rock Formation” are calibrated for maximum epic impact, true journeys in heaviness that end up on the mountaintop where rock gods dwell and mystic visions abound.

  • Judas Priest: Metal Gods Revisit British Steel

    “It’s Judas Priest, man. Judas-effing-Priest!” And really, that’s just about all that needs to be said. That name, it’s a ritual, a mating call, a summons to arms, a bonding focal point. When you hear a bunch of yahoos yelling out “Slaaaaayeeeeerrrrrr!” you know the chances are very good that a Slayer show has just…

  • Cripple Bastards: Two Decades of Provocative Grind

    Happy birthday, Cripple Bastards! My how you’ve grown. No, really. To the untrained ear, the 20-year-long list of releases that Asti, Italy’s long-standing provocative grindcore institution have comprising their discography may sound like short burst of noise after short burst of noise – and we’d be lying if we said everything that has followed since…