STAFF PLAYLISTS: September 2009
Find out what HELLBOUND’s contributors are listening to going into the month of September. Each writer has submitted their Top 5 list and have an option to list a book and a film they are into right now too.
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Ophthalamia: A Journey in Darkness (reissue)
A Journey in Darkness is a truly singular work within the realm of Swedish metal. There really is nothing else like it. Recorded in 1993 at Unisound Studios, the pseudonymically-inclined all-star lineup consisted of It (aka. Tony Särkkä of Abruptum and Vondur), Mourning (aka. Robert Ivarsson of Pan Thy Monium), Winter (aka. Benny Larsson of Edge of Sanity and Pan Thy Monium) and, most famously, Shadow (aka. Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection).
Tate Bengston reviews the new Peaceville reissue of this long lost Swedish metal classic.
Megadeth: From Vic’s Garage To Endgame With Shawn Drover
The words “Megadeth” and “Dave Mustaine” are pretty much synonymous. In fact, we’d be willing to wager substantial sums of money that we don’t actually have that “Megadeth” and “Dave Mustaine” are far and away more synonymous with each other than “megadeath” and “Herman Kahn,” the gentleman who just happens to be the RAND military strategist who devised and first used the term in 1953 to describe one million deaths as a result of a thermonuclear war.
Kevin Stewart-Panko speaks to Megadeth’s Shawn Drover about their new studio, new guitarist and upcoming new album.
Blue Coupe, Bouchard’s Outrageous Canadians @ This Ain’t Hollywood, Hamilton ON, August 22, 2009
It was loud, it was sweaty and it was a hell of a rock and roll show from a band whose combined age is somewhere around 235. Three of the four may be of retirement age, but on this night the Blue Coupe rocked harder than most bands 1/3 of their age.
Classic Album Revisited: Sleep’s Holy Mountain
Now, Sleep is perhaps best known for Dopesmoker, the posthumous reissue of their Jerusalem record, with a more stoner-friendly title. Whether you
call it Jerusalem or Dopesmoker, the single-track, 52-minute platter is a noteworthy album. But Holy Mountain isn’t just an album, it’s a collection of SONGS, man!
The Gathering: The Next Chapter
When Anneke van Giersbergen announced her departure from The Gathering it was a shock – for many fans but for her bandmates as well. But shock doesn’t have to lead to death or paralysis, and in a sense The Gathering had been down this road before. Reinvention is a familiar enterprise for the Dutch alt rockers, who started out as a doomy metal band with male vocals in the early nineties. Van Giersbergen’s entry on lead vocals was merely one shift, the eventual transition from aggression to shoegazing another. Though Anneke was the voice and forward face of The Gathering for well over a decade, her decision to leave meant another change, not the end.
Bloody Panda @ Smiling Buddha, Toronto, ON, August 13, 2009
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.
Progressive Nation tour @ Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto ON, August 14, 2009
This past Friday marked the Toronto stop of this year’s Progressive Nation tour, the now-annual summer festival curated by and starring Dream Theater as headliners – basically their chance to take out some of their favourite bands on tour with them across North America playing outdoor amphitheaters.
Sean Palmerston reviews the recent Toronto stop of this year’s traveling Progressive Nation festival.
Divine Heresy: Bringer of Plagues
For all the hype it received in 2007, Divine Heresy’s debut Bleed the Fifth was a major disappointment. Somewhere along the way, though, band leader Dino Cazares righted the ship, for the follow-up Bringer of Plagues turns out to be one of the more pleasant surprises of the summer.
Adrien Begrand reviews the new sophomore release by Dino Cazares’s new band Divine Heresy and, much to the surprise of many of us over here at Hellbound HQ, he digs it.
Melissa Auf der Maur @ Anticipation, WorldCon 67, Montreal QC, August 6,2009
Besides being metal junkies, we’re also science fiction geeks (if you’ve glanced at our Hellbound playlists, you might know this already). Turns out Melissa Auf der Maur (Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, MAdM) has a soft spot for sf as well, which her new multimedia project, Out of Our Minds makes blatantly clear. Auf der Maur appeared as a special guest at the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Montreal this past weekend, where she was promoting her new multimedia project, Out of Our Minds.
Laura Wiebe Taylor and Jonathan Smith discuss the Montreal premiere of Melissa Auf der Maur’s new project Out of Our Minds.