Primal Rock Rebellion – Awoken Broken
Right off the top, before anything else is said here about Primal Rock Rebellion or their debut, Awoken Broken, it needs to be said that this record stands as proof that old dogs can indeed learn new tricks.
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An open letter, and challenge, to Tommy Lee and Mötley Crüe
I’m Jay H. Gorania, a long time fan from way back when. You might remember me. I wrote you a letter when I was in the second grade in the early ’80s. Your address was available in the pages of some metal magazine. At any rate, I have a bone to pick with y’all.
Not only did you fail to respond to a boy who loved your band’s music, but you didn’t even have the courtesy to have an assistant pretend that they were you with a response letter. Screw you.
All That is Heavy II: Ottawa is Doomed!
When they did the first edition of this event, a fundraiser for local college radio station CKCU, I remember thinking, “Damn, that’s a great lineup!” Featuring four of Southern Ontario’s finest–Electric Magma, Gypsy Chief Goliath, Blood Ceremony and Sons of OTIS–there was really no reason that show couldn’t have happened in Toronto, cept nobody had the initiative to book it. But when I saw the bill for the sequel this year… Well, let’s just say the organizers are kicking it up a notch, and I definitely plan on heading up to the nation’s capital for this one.
Desaster – The Arts of Destruction
With a few defeats and changes of members along the way, along with a fairly lengthy discography, Desaster are still campaigning like true survivors. Having never gained the sort of popularity or visibility of many of their German brethren, the band have remained a cult act, and their new album, The Arts of Destruction, isn’t likely to change that scenario any time soon.
Les Discrets – Ariettes Oubliées…
Without taking Les Discrets’ sound to a more adventurous place, Ariettes Oubliées… unfortunately ends up sounding like an adequate but less inspired version of the band’s debut.
Goatwhore – Blood For The Master
Blood For the Master isn’t a radical step forward, but nor, given its traditional metal underpinnings, is it a step back. It is exactly the album Goatwhore needed to make right now.
Section 302!? Damn you, Iron Maiden Fan Club!
Y’know, whenever I’ve seen Maiden at the ACC in the spring or the fall, I’ve always been able to get floors, but I’ve had no such luck at the Molson Ampitheatre. I was up on the Live Nation website as soon as the clock struck 10 this morning, and as a result of my efforts, I’m stuck up in Section 302, Row L–and it’s still costing me more than I ever paid for floors indoors!
Spirit Descent – Seven Chapters in Minor
if this band’s MO is to copy Candlemass and Argus as closely as they can, they’ve hit the mark. I gotta dock ‘em a couple points for originality, but full marks for execution are well-deserved.
Van Halen – A Different Kind of Truth
Against all the odds, the band has managed to believably make twenty-seven years of chasing its tail melt away and re-present themselves in such a way that implies they were never actually gone.
Cannibal Corpse – Torture
This album fucking destroys and I wouldn’t have expected or accepted anything less from my favorite Death Metal band of all time.