FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Glittertind is essentially a two-man band, which makes tracks such as the rollicking “Longships and Mead” interesting. The song reminds me of something The Pogues or our Canadian counterpart, Sprit of the West, might release – a blend of traditional Norwegian folk melodies with the addition of electric guitars, a slightly sped-up tempo and punk attitude…
Like the album Lorentzian Lineshaper, this performance dates from 2006 – Hansel’s first live appearance on Canadian soil (or a Torontonian basement bar, if you want to be more precise). The set list delves further back, delivering a (then) eight-year-old acoustic ditty alongside tracks from 2003’s Respond_Violence and some newer material.
Gulch is a salt-of-the-earth metal band. It does not adopt airs. It is not pretentious. It does not experiment. It just plays heavy rock. The guys in Gulch may not win awards for outstanding feats of musicianship, but they do play the kind of music that they would like to hear when they walk into a bar. It’s loud, heavy, and catchy with plenty of aggressive swagger and not a drop of sugary melody or limp-wristed balladeering.
Luna Mortis are predictable but nevertheless have some strong moments on this first Century Media outing.
Starkly contrasting the straight-to-business, wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am approach of the rest of the evening’s acts, with their short, quick and violent sets, headliners Hirax took the stage as though they were Judas Priest or Iron Maiden playing Madison Square Gardens. – by Jay H. Gorania
This week we had some special guests in for the first hour of Hellbound Radio. Jon, Travis and Adam from THREAT SIGNAL dropped by to spin some tracks from their upcoming new album Vigilance, which will be released by Nuclear Blast on September 8th. They also have a hometown CD release party in Hamilton at the Casbah on Friday, September 5th; if you are in the are don’t miss it. Here’s the whole playlist for the show.
The key to decoding the motivations behind God Dethroned’s latest album is its title: Passiondale is a concept album about a small site of tremendous struggle in World War One. Unsurprisingly, the subject matter works with the death metal ferocity running through most of the record
My Destiny is the most recent EP release from Leaves Eyes. The sound is symphonic metal with a dash of a Northern European folk sound. The overall feeling is to put on your crushed velvet frocks and watch the misty fog over an icy lake.
The breakdowns are so damn catchy I turned a baseball cap sideways and slammed danced by myself, right into a wall. My cat looked at me funny.
In The…All Together, although not quite as catchy as Semblance, is much more of a metal album and could have easily fit into their catalog amongst any of their 90’s albums. The majority of Skyclad’s signature sound from its genre defining beginnings is present: speedy, almost thrash riffing, with violin on top leading the way, and play-on-words, tongue in cheek lyrics to accompany the music.