FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Whether you’re a supporter or detractor, you have to feel for Dez Fafara and the big ol’ target on his back. No matter what he does, how long he grows his centre-parted hair out, how many bootleg Black Flag shirts he’s photographed wearing, how much ill-placed tattoo ink he coats his neck and face with or how often he spits out something approximating a death metal growl, he’ll forever been known as the guy who sang in Coal Chamber.
And in this corner, with 12 years, five albums, three EPs and countless tours under their belts, NEBULA!
And in the opposite corner, with 3 years as a trio, touring in support of their first album, The Entrance Band!
Two of the most important American bands of the early seventies were ALICE COOPER and BLUE OYSTER CULT. Both bands had a string of successful studio albums, sell-out tours and even hit singles on the radio. Some of the key members of the original versions of both these bands have joined force in a new live band called BLUE COUPE, who are playing some shows in Southern Ontario this week
Misery Index is a long running death/grind outfit from Baltimore, Maryland. This album, their debut full length, was recorded originally back in April 2003 at Wild Studio in St-Zenon, Quebec and it is one of the most blistering technical, speed shattering, deathgrind cds of all time.
Hey, it’s a contest. Check inside to see how you can win an autographed copy of the brand new AUGURY CD!
Todesbonden’s full-length album feels refreshing, which perhaps isn’t surprising given the images of breezy fields and mossy forests that Sleep Now, Quiet Forest conjures up within the listener’s mind.
This 1978 full length debut album by the Vancouver, British Columbia based artist known only as Thor was an original RCA vinyl release and it has never made too much impact on my heavy metal ears. I really don’t call Thor’s first album real metal, instead I’ve always considered it glam rock like the Sweet, New York Dolls and Slade
As New York’s Bloody Panda concluded their final note, and began to pack up, the small crowd, who had gathered for their awe-inspiring performance, wasn’t sure how to react to the intensity that was just laid out before them. So instead of applause, cheering, or even conversation, the room filled with an eerie silence that couldn’t have been more fitting.
Adam Wills documents the recent Toronto performance by NYC doom collective Bloody Panda.
Forget concept albums…..have you heard of concept bands? Sweden’s Axis Powers (whom I assume took their name from the military alliance of countries that formed in 1940….Hitler-run Germany being one of the strongest members….which if correct doesn’t sit with me that well) has dedicated themselves and their album “Marching Towards Destruction” to war.
The debut album from England’s Viatrophy offers an enjoyable collection of melodic death metal tracks that only get better as things progress.