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In Flames/Killswitch Engage/Protest the Hero/Between the Buried and Me @ Prairieland, Saskatoon, SK, September 13, 2009

Despite the fact that co-headliner In Flames was playing last on this night, the unforgiving concrete floor was packed with bodies in the moments before Killswitch took the stage, and the joint practically exploded when the five dudes kicked into the tasteful melodic metalcore of “My Last Serenade”, Jones and his rather flamboyant counterpart, guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, leading the charge.

Adrien Begrand reviews the recent Saskatoon stop on the current In Flames/Killswitch Engage tour. Howard Jones, we hope you are feeling better now!

Motorhead/Reverend Horton Heat/Nashville Pussy @ The House Of Blues, Boston, MA., September 6th, 2009

As fitting as all three bands were to the evening’s lineup, the honest-to-England truth was that there was only ONE band which could unite every Bostonian degenerate ‘n dreg on this evening. “Hello, we are Motorhead, and we play rock ‘n roll,” was the rallying cry, and no sooner was it uttered by bass assassin Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister then the capacity crowd went absolutely—and predictably—bananas.

(Photo Copyright Mark Marek Photography ©2007)

The Bakerton Group: El Rojo

While Clutch traditionally is known for its forays into hard rock and metal, the all-instrumental Bakerton goes off onto other musical tangents that are also engaging although they can be very different from their main gig. El Rojo finds the group heading succinctly into jamband territory, creating an engaging mixture of funk, blues and classic rock that gives the musicians lots of room to breathe and let their musical chops shine.

Reconsidering MC5’s High Time

Struggling with drug addiction, interpersonal problems, and a dwindling fan base, MC5 cut High Time in 1971. The band which had ignited punk rock and upped the ante on rock ‘n roll’s protest ethic with a single live recording released its third album to lukewarm reviews and apathy from the record-buying public. High Time went down as the unsatisfying finale in the story of MC5’s meteoric rise and fall. The times had changed. Or had they? This article considers High Time not as the last gasp of MC5 but rather as a vital exploration of the then-fledgling heavy metal genre and its relationship to rock ‘n roll.

BLOG: Adam Wills: The Right Music For The Right Time

Music and atmosphere. A lot of the time, these go hand in hand, musically. But what about the listening environment? Listen to an album in one setting, and you may not think much of it. Listen to that same album in the right setting, and all of a sudden, things seem to make sense. Perhaps you were listening on an ipod in a busy subway station, and the subtleties of the album were drowned out over the hustle of the city – or maybe you were just preoccupied by surfing online, with music on as background noise, and not something to be fully taken in.