Author: Sean Palmerston

  • Motörhead/ Clutch @ Vogue Theater, Vancouver BC, February 7, 2011

    “There’s nothing like the rush of adrenaline at a Motörhead show, and from my vantage point at the back of the room, watching the packed floor go off was half the fun. As soon as the song finishes, there’s barely a second’s respite, then Mikkey Dee’s giant fill tears open “Stay Clean” and the entire…

  • Eluveitie/ Death Angel/ 3 Inches of Blood/ Holy Grail/ Lazarus A.D./ System Divide @ The Opera House, Toronto, ON, February 6, 2011

    If the large crowd at The Opera House on Sunday night was any indication then it would be fair to assume that metal heads aren’t really into football. It’s either that or the allure of two very different tours meeting up for one show right here in T.O. was too intriguing to pass up, or…

  • Built For Speed: Motörhead Revisited, Volume Two

    Part two of Adrien Begrand’s comprehensive wrap up of Sanctuary’s deluxe Motörhead reissues, from 1983’s diamond in the rough Another Perfect Day to 1987’s not-so-great Rock N Roll.

  • Eastern Front – Blood on Snow

    While it’s not clear how educational their first full-length record might be, musically it’s entertaining enough. Blood on Snow is mostly black metal with some death metal influences thrown in, just enough to distinguish themselves from the pack of BM artists that are circulating right now.

  • Stratovarius – Elysium

    Unfortunately Elysium (the album) fails to meet the expectations that Polaris set out. I really wanted to love this album and gave it more listens than normal but I came out loving parts and feeling very ambiguous about others. The band has managed to create an awesome half record, while the rest is ‘okay’. That…

  • Motörhead – Overkill

    Overkill is the album that spawned all your favorite bands. Overkill is the album that gave way to the ‘Trick Question, Lemmy IS god!’ punch line. Overkill is the album that earned Motörhead their rightful, center-throne seat as one-third of the Holy Triumvirate of Rock’n’Roll. It goes without saying, but Overkill should be mandatory listening…

  • Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal by Jeff Wagner

    Mean Deviation is an amazing compendium of everything weird in the world of metal—a book as grand and unlikely as the music it documents.

  • Pounding Metal: Cauldron Seeks Burning Fortune

    “We’re real life. We are just fans of heavy metal that care more about the music we’re fond of than anything else. Times, change, dates (can) fuck off. In regards to the album overall, we just had more time to write this one, demo it, rehearse it as a band and to record it. All…

  • Motörhead – Rock ‘n’ Roll

    Rock ‘n’ Roll suffers from being pushed out too fast, but still has a handful of solid tracks on it. This is one of the few albums I’d advise getting as a CD reissue though, the two b-sides really push the quality way up.

  • Iron Man – The Passage

    After reissuing their debut album Black Night, Shadow Kingdom now brings us a new pressing of The Passage, the stellar sophomore album from Maryland doomsters Iron Man. Album number two was a huge step forward for the trad doom outfit, as it saw the welcoming of new singer Dan Michalak into the fold, along with…