FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
While Hellbound.ca is definitely my main focus these days, every now and then I still write for other places when asked. Exclaim! put out a call last Friday looking for someone to review that night’s Obituary show in Toronto, which I was going to cover for Hellbound.ca with a full review, so I wrote up a review for Exclaim! instead.
Overall, there is stuff to appreciate on A Somber Wind from a Distant Shore, but one hopes that Canis Dirus will have lots of time to surprise us with their growth in the coming and changing seasons.
Metalwar is somewhat similar to an 80’s band called Leather Angel; this has the same sort of feel as their 1982 album We Came to Kill. I actually expected Hysterica to be another dreadful, typical, cheesy female band and all that. Luckily I was wrong, well at least somewhat wrong.
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Sleep, the quintessential stoner/doom band that kept the Sabbath dream alive throughout the 1990’s. While guitarist Matt Pike eventually decided to play faster with High on Fire, the other two thirds of the equation kept the stoner grooves going with OM. At least until recently. Drummer Chris Hakius left the band last year with little fanfare, and was replaced by little-known Emil Amos. Not much has changed, otherwise. Al Cisneros was the anchor holding Sleep together, and he continues to man the bass and vocal duties of the guitarless duo.
While Sean did an interview with Scott from Skeletonwitch at their Toronto show on Friday night that should be on Hellbound.ca sometime next week, I thought I’d post up some of the photos I shot of them at their Toronto show this past Saturday.
Controverso is the about to be released album from Incoming Cerebral Overdrive. This is the Italian band’s second full length album. The sound is mostly metalcore with prog rock and metal influences. Each song is heavy hitting and meant to get the listener moving.
The problem with The Sign of the Southern Cross becomes obvious quite early into the album – they’re too busy trying to sound like their influences that they really haven’t developed their own sound.
If you’ve been to a metal show in Toronto at anytime in the past 20 years, chances are you know or have seen Joe. None of us from Hellbound.ca know Joe personally, but we have been seeing him at shows since Sepultura in 1991. He has a fierce admiration for metal and, although he doesn’t have a computer, we asked him if we could take some pictures with him at Friday night’s Obituary show in Toronto to post on Hellbound.ca and he said sure. Albert snapped some shots of Joe with Rob Kachluba, Blitz and I and also got another shot of him at Stryper on Sunday night too.
Ladies and gentleman, Joe, a true Toronto scene supporter!
Although Back To The Noose is being called pirate metal, I have to say that I’ve never heard any combination like this type of thrash and death metal before. You’ll probably notice it right off the bat too.
About once a year we here in Saskabush are treated to a little variety by a reputable band that actually likes to sing every once in a while, and it’s always remarkable to witness the turnout. There’s a definite hunger for the melodic stuff out here, and judging by the big, lively crowd that packed the Odeon on this gorgeous early autumn night, yours truly wasn’t the only one who thought the double-bill of Guitar Heroes DragonForce and Finnish stars Sonata Arctica was a welcome deviation from the norm. Decked out in t-shirts that would otherwise be greeted with scorn at underground metal shows, these folks were out to get their wank on in a big way, and by night’s end, they sure got what they wanted.
Adrien Begrand reviews the recent Saskatoon stop of the current DragonForce/Sonata Arctica/Taking Dawn show – even after his promised reviewer’s pass wasn’t left at the door. Read the rest of this article to see if he got his $37 worth.