Heathen – The Evolution of Chaos
The band’s energy is admirable, though, and as flawed as this album is, it’s still nice to hear them performing with passion once again.
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Nechochwen – Azimuths to the Otherworld
Azimuths to the Otherworld is an album that demands to be taken in from start to finish. It asks the listener to engage with its many atmospheric layers as they appear.
Destinity – XI Reasons To See
It might not be as de rigueur as Deathspell Omega, Gojira, or Hacride, but Destinity definitely deserves to be recognized as one of the stronger bands in this increasingly promising recent wave of French extreme metal.
Armour – s/t
File this one under holy shit: Finland’s Armour have just released one of the finest slabs of eighties fueled heavy metal to come across the desk over here at Chez Hellbound in quite some time.
GIMME AN R! – THE STORY OF BRIAN VOLLMER, LEAD VOCALIST OF HELIX
Gimme an R! is one of those books that’s so bad, it’s awesome.
Rotting Christ – Aealo
Listening to the new Rotting Christ over and over, I like it, but I want to like it more than I do. Aealo is powerful and dramatic, sometimes violent, eerie, complicated or just plain straight-ahead catchy – a black-death fusion of metal and eastern folk. But there’s something that doesn’t quite click, or at least hasn’t yet.
Helix – Vagabond Bones
One of Canada’s longest running hard rock/heavy metal bands, Vagabond Bones is Helix’s twelfth full-length studio album and twenty-first album release overall. I am very familiar with Helix’s work over the years, with eleven albums in my personal collection and I am glad to say that this one is a keeper.
I’ve pulled myself away from the Olympics to provide you with this piece of Canadian pride…
Alas, tis not a piece of VANOC-unapproved poetry by Vancouver poet laureate Brad Cran, but rather, a song from another B.C. artist that wouldn’t be allowed within shouting distance of the Games: the Dayglo Abortions.
Pure Fucking Mayhem: A film by Stefan Rydehed
Pure Fucking Mayhem is a film painted by various interviews of both the prominent and unknown, where much is discussed on the personalities of Mayhem’s infamous band members who have made a significant impact to Norwegian Black Metal.
Holy Grail – Improper Burial
Bottom line is this is fun metal played with over the top guitar shredding.