Sean Palmerston

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

Articles, Features, Headline, Reviews - Live July 7, 2010

Iron Maiden @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, Toronto ON, July 3rd 2010

“Saturday’s show was a real Iron Maiden show, done with passion and vigour and integrity. It was a show made for their die hard, long-supporting fans. This was no greatest hits run-through, this was a band celebrating the fact that, after more than thirty years as a professional band, some of their greatest musical achievements have been on their past three studio albums.”

Natalie Zed and Sean Palmerston team up to give you two separate viewpoints on Saturday night`s Toronto performance by Iron Maiden and Dream Theater at Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Audio July 7, 2010

Delain – Lucidity

As for the bulk of the original album, it’s what you would expect from a former member of Within Temptation (Westerholt): soaring vocals, bombastic guitar solos, pounding drums, lush keyboard and symphonic string arrangements. All played with subtlety and an attention to contrast that it seems only those in power or progressive metal remember any more

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Vinyl July 7, 2010

Racebannon – Wrap The Body

Wrap the Body is a neat little experiment, but is likely only bound to be wholly accepted and tolerated by Racebannon die-hards, masochistic punishment gluttons and maybe even the occasional DJ. It’s probably a good thing that only 500 of these have been pressed.

Headline, Reviews, Reviews - Live July 6, 2010

The Big Four @ Silver City Mountain, Hamilton ON, June 22, 2010

It was a neat experience to see this concert in a movie theater. A few of my own pals hummed and hawed about going, wondering why it wasn’t made available as a Pay-Per-View event, but I personally liked it better seeing it at the movies. No home distractions, no interruptions from the outside world and being in those big, comfy Silver City chairs with all the legroom you could ask for made this a more enjoyable experience than it would be with ten of my friends crammed into my living room. And I didn’t have to clean up afterwards either.

Sean Palmerston reviews the June 22nd “Big Four” event that was shown at Cineplex theaters across Canada featuring Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax live in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Visual July 6, 2010

Black Sabbath – Classic Albums: Paranoid

That lack of needless hyperbole is exactly what makes Classic Albums – Paranoid so easy and interesting to watch. Here, viewers learn that Paranoid – the largest keystone recording in metal – was recorded recorded in two days, cut live off the floor with a minimal number of overdubs and mixed in an additional two. It was a matter of in, down and done, and then Black Sabbath left it to be mixed and released while they went to play in Europe.

Articles, Features, Headline, Staff Playlists July 5, 2010

HELLBOUND RADIO: July 4th, 2010 Playlist

I’m going to go out on a not-so-brittle limb and say that the radio show that is loosely associated with this website is probably one of the most diverse heavy/extreme music programs on the face of this ridiculous planet. This is due in large part of the tastes, collections, whims and tolerant attitudes of myself and my co-hosts. To prove it – and to finally start promoting the show we’ve been doing for four years now – we’re going to start posting our detailed playlists a day or two after each on-air stint. Take a listen sometime; I guaranteed you’ll be either surprised as shit, amazed, confused or totally pissed off at the massive scope of diversity our show delivers.

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Live July 5, 2010

Iron Maiden @ Rexall Place, Edmonton AB, June 26, 2010

The heavy metal road trip is a time-honoured tradition among metal heads. Making the trip from Calgary to Edmonton may not be the most grueling of drives, but as soon as you leave your city to see a band, your expectations instantly become higher for the experience to come. Then, add in the fact that it’s Iron Maiden that you’re seeing, and the expectations go through the roof.

Featured, Features, The Editor's Blog July 3, 2010

Hellbound Handshake Clip Of The Week: PUTRESCENCE Live at MDF 2010

Hello and welcome back to our newest running series, the Hellbound Handshake Clip of the Week! For our third installment, we are celebrating Canada’s birthday that happened yesterday (Happy Birthday Canada!) with a clip of a Canadian band doing their thing at Maryland Deathfest 2010.

This week’s clip is Winnipeg MB’s PUTRESCENCE, doing their filthy Carcass-inspired take at death/grind with a sweet little ditty entitled “Moonlight Illuminates Limbs Forced Into Impossible Directions”, taken from their 2008 Sledgehammer Holocaust.