FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Zen Buddhism has always played a central role in Scheidt’s songwriting for YOB, especially on the two previous albums, 2004’s The Illusion of Motion and 2005’s great The Unreal Never Lived, but on The Great Cessation a considerably more blunt approach, which often seems to border on despair and even anger, permeates such tracks as “Burning the Altar” and “Breathing From the Shallows”.
With the passing of the once-great Milwaukee Metalfest, the Maryland Death Fest has become the premiere heavy metal festival in North America. Spanning 3 days, 2 stages and over 50 bands, there is no shortage of metal to more than fill the needs of any metal heads looking for a weekend of blast beats and head-banging.
Find out what HELLBOUND’s contributors are listening to going into the month of July. Each writer has submitted their Top 5 list and have an option to list a book and a film they are into right now too. We also have 3 special guest lists from members of the music industry that we like and that have supported HELLBOUND in some way.
With July 1st being our nation’s official birthday here in Canada, we thought we’d try to do something to pay honour to the many great bands and albums in the metal realm that our ten provinces and three territories have given birth to. We asked Hellbound’s regular contributors to write a paragraph or two about their favourite Canadian metal album of all time, the results of which follow below. All of the albums mentioned are indeed worthy of the nod and worth checking out if you have never heard them before.
Metal Fire From Hell is the second album from Japan’s Hellhound. It doesn’t offer anything off the beaten path, but there is no indication that the band has any intention of suggesting otherwise.
Filmed live at the Palladium in Worchester MA in April of 2007, this historic DVD document is a great snapshot of stalwart US indie label Metal Blade’s then-current roster.
This neat retrospective release revisits Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan’s early ’80s solo band at the height of their success.
Iceland’s Sólstafir have reemerged this year with Köld, a strong follow-up to 2005’s Master of Bitterness. It’s an eclectic album to say the least, bringing to mind everything from shoegazer black metal to ambient goth with a little alternative rock thrown in for good measure.
Ektomorf is a thrash metal band from Hungary started way back in 1994 by the brothers Zoltan (vocals, guitar) and Csaba Farkas (bass). Two years later in 1996 they released their debut album Hangok . They have remained a consistently busy band, ever since having just recently released their tenth CD What Doesn’t Kill Me…
With the use of traditional Nordic folk instruments such as the bouzouki, Swedish bagpipe, Jew’s harp, hurdy-gurdie, keyed fiddle, willow-pipe, the recorder and the cow antler, Storm is a cultured listen.