FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Earlier this year I was contacted by Scion AV to see if I would be interested in doing an interview for them with a Canadian label. The label in question, Moshpit Tragedy Records, is a Windsor, Ontario based label that works almost entirely on a “pay what you want” business plan.
Here is what became of my day interviewing Rayny Forster down in Windsor, ON
Sylosis have just unleashed their latest masterpiece Monolith through Nuclear Blast on October 5th. On this, their third album, the band has taken their blend of progressive thrash and moved things forward. While still a complete ‘shred fest’, Monolith has more feel to it, more ambience if you will. Taking the band to record where giants have tread before (Monnow Valley Studio, which has housed Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Rush to name a few) seems to have given Sylosis the ability to convey mood a little more, and dial back on the technicality of their songs. Monolith is a fantastic achievement for this young band, and I had the pleasure of speaking with founding member/guitarist/vocalist Josh Middleton a few days after the North American release of the album.
The long awaited second half of Jay H. Gorania’s tour diary highlight his summer sojourn with UK black metal enthusiasts DRAGGED IN SUNLIGHT. Live photos by Luna Duran.
“Sometimes album art can be misleading, but visual imagery is to some extent genre specific, so there’s usually a pretty good chance I can judge by an album cover if a band’s style is likely to be my kind of thing. Such was the case with Dark Forest’s Land of the Evening Star. What I can’t always predict is how good the music is going to be, but with Dark Forest’s third “Vinlandic pagan black metal” release, the tracks inside are not just well represented by the gloomy mountain and forest scene on the cover. They’re also very good. As impressed as I was with the recording I wanted to learn more about the band, so I went straight to the source.”
Interview by Laura Wiebe
Hellbound’s third preview of this month’s Noctis Fest in Calgary AB is a Q & A with ANCIIENTS guitarist Chris Dyck, as interrogated by Kyle Harcott
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the official release of what I consider to be one of the greatest albums ever made, Black Sabbath’s fourth studio album Volume 4. While many consider the two albums previous (Paranoid and Master of Reality) to be the band’s high point, the progressiveness of Volume 4 made it my Sabbath album.
Western Canadian metal owes a lot to Terese Fleming. As the organizer of the Noctis festival, she has put our region on the map as far as heavy metal culture goes. Incredibly supportive of her local and regional scene, Terese has been putting on shows, from tiny community halls to the now multi-day Noctis extravaganza for years. I spoke to her over the phone to find out some history of her involvement with Noctis, what bands she’s into, and whether us attendees will really be eating bowls of ball bearings at the Noctis Metal Breakfast.
Interview by Kyle Harcott
“Director Tommy Jones captures the band’s stories of challenges and victories, both drunk and sober. Every. Single. One. You want an in-depth music documentary on a death metal band? This is it.”
Ola Mazzuca reviews Iron Will: 20 Years Determined, the new 2 DVD, 2CD compilation celebrating the first twenty years of Northern Hyperblast from Quebec death metal veterans Kataklysm.
“This weekend sees North America’s longest running progressive/power metal festival happen when ProgPower USA XIII kicks off Friday night in Atlanta. This year’s edition will be the thirteenth overall and the key to its success has always been the diversity of the acts that are asked to play each year. The 2012 edition has some excellent talent participating on both days of the festival, but here is my own personal top five reasons why I think this year’s edition is a must see, time and finances permitting”
By Sean Palmerston
By Matt Hinch Toronto’s Vilipend has been in the news a lot lately. Between bassist Mike Crossley’s apartment woes,the release of their critically acclaimed…