FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Holy Christ, the new songs Ion Dissonance played, which were about half their set, blew me away. Crazy, maniacal and with a heavy as an elephant low end, these guys use 8 string guitars and you can feel it in the stomach. Their performance was tight, to the point and they left it all on the field.
Make no mistake, this is POWER metal. The songs on At The Edge of Time are arranged with a classical ear, the attention to detail on this album cannot be denied.
Jesus Christ…I go away for a month and everything goes to a shambles. The station from which we broadcast Hellbound Radio every Sunday has begun the process of being gutted in order to be moved to a still undetermined location sometime in the next nine months – nothing like planning ahead, eh? Half the college seems to be under construction as well, which makes getting to the actual station after hours a bit of a pain in the ass. Then, there are my esteemed co-hosts who failed to put up a single playlist while I was away. So, here you go, Sunday night’s goods.
“Next on the docket was Hamilton’s own Deathmarch. For reasons I’m not fully aware of they were without a drummer tonight, getting by with a drum track and Northern Storm Records label head Rob Cranny. By this I mean that Rob sat in the middle of the stage, shirtless with drum sticks in hand, phantom drumming throughout the entire set. Remember what I said about metal being fun?”
Renee Trotier reviews the August 18th performance by DEATHMARCH, ESOTERIC DOCTRINE, HALLOWS DIE and TWILIGHT CHILD at the Corktown Pub in Hamilton ON.
Although they aren’t too creative with the written word—all songs are entitled Acts I through VI, and the band name itself is cringe-worthy—Seattle’s Roareth does have something to offer musically with this, their debut album. Take Zoroaster circa Dog Magic, sprinkle in a few non-distorted slow passages a la Neurosis, and a handful of Cisneros bass grooves, and you’ve got a solid 45 minutes of slow-moving sludge.
Pairing Polaris with a 14 track live disc recorded around the world, is a great move on Armoury’s part. It is a chance for fans and detractors to hear the new guitar player (Matias Kupianinen) in live action, and he more than stands up to the challenge. Recording this over a few shows means the band can make sure it’s their best performances before it’s put out. Of course Stratovarius don’t have bad performances so I’m sure it was tough picking the tracks.
I bought into the Bills in Toronto series when it was first announced, opting for the three-game ticket package. Aside from a close, competitive exhibition game against the Steelers in ’08, the Bills hardly delivered on my somewhat-considerable investment. This season, sensing that the Toronto natives were getting restless, the organization threw us a bone by bringing Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts to town.
Unfortunately, it was another freakin’ exhibition game.
“I have no bone to pick with VOLBEAT at all. Their heavy metal/rockabilly/early rock’n’roll gangster aesthetic is fantastic. They’re greasy, twangy and a hell of a lot of fun to see live. Michael Poulsen embodies their sound: lean, punchy muscles, the lines of his brow and cheekbone just a little haggard from hard living, slicked back, dark hair and covered in old-school tattoos. His voice is surprisingly clean. Volbeat’s set was idiosyncratic and playful.”
Natalie Zed reviews the August 17th Toronto performance by VOLBEAT, THE SLEEPING and DOMMIN at the Mod Club. VOLBEAT live photos by Adam Wills.
The production and mix are crystal clear but there is a condensed and compressed feel to the overall sound. Killing Season had one of the best productions I’d heard in many years, organic and vibrant, and I think Relentless Retribution would have benefited from that same production. As would any record for that matter.
Natalie Zed reviews the August 6th performance of FATALITY, TERRORHORSE and HALLOWS DIE at the El Mocambo in Toronto, ON