FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the official release of what I consider to be one of the greatest albums ever made, Black Sabbath’s fourth studio album Volume 4. While many consider the two albums previous (Paranoid and Master of Reality) to be the band’s high point, the progressiveness of Volume 4 made it my Sabbath album.
Western Canadian metal owes a lot to Terese Fleming. As the organizer of the Noctis festival, she has put our region on the map as far as heavy metal culture goes. Incredibly supportive of her local and regional scene, Terese has been putting on shows, from tiny community halls to the now multi-day Noctis extravaganza for years. I spoke to her over the phone to find out some history of her involvement with Noctis, what bands she’s into, and whether us attendees will really be eating bowls of ball bearings at the Noctis Metal Breakfast.
Interview by Kyle Harcott
“Director Tommy Jones captures the band’s stories of challenges and victories, both drunk and sober. Every. Single. One. You want an in-depth music documentary on a death metal band? This is it.”
Ola Mazzuca reviews Iron Will: 20 Years Determined, the new 2 DVD, 2CD compilation celebrating the first twenty years of Northern Hyperblast from Quebec death metal veterans Kataklysm.
“This weekend sees North America’s longest running progressive/power metal festival happen when ProgPower USA XIII kicks off Friday night in Atlanta. This year’s edition will be the thirteenth overall and the key to its success has always been the diversity of the acts that are asked to play each year. The 2012 edition has some excellent talent participating on both days of the festival, but here is my own personal top five reasons why I think this year’s edition is a must see, time and finances permitting”
By Sean Palmerston
By Matt Hinch Toronto’s Vilipend has been in the news a lot lately. Between bassist Mike Crossley’s apartment woes,the release of their critically acclaimed…
Blessed with a phenomenal level of skill and impressive forward thinking attitude, Monuments don’t deserve to be written off as trend-hoppers and “Gnosis” will have the naysayers eating their dust for a while to come.
Kyle Harcott is going to Calgary at the end of the month to the Noctis Valkyries V Metal Fest and is pretty excited about it. Not only does he get to see Venom, Pig Destroyer and Manilla Road, but he also gets to partake in the metal conference during the day. Here’s Kyle’s explanation about why he’s stoked to be going this year.
This isn’t the kind of album you’d listen to during a first date, but it’s great to do reading or studying to. I now feel ready to take a long nature hike on a chilly November day.
Right off the bat, you can tell this is one heavy vegetable; slow, punishing doomy riffs with deep-throated death metal growls. Winter is a definite reference here, albeit this record sounds thicker and sludgier, presumably because it wasn’t recorded in a basement.
Back again by popular demand, it’s the one, the only Kevi H Metal and his Rimshot reviews! A long standing Hellbound favourite returns.