Lychgate – s/t
Hellbound Metal: “Lychgate is a harrowing experience not for the faint of heart guaranteed to shrivel your soul into a black mass with its dense sonics and disorienting vocal ministrations.”
Reviews
Iggy and The Stooges – Ready To Die
Hellbound Metal: “Some may curse and call that contention a soft option, but wasn’t the dichotomy that Iggy and The Stooges – and The Stooges before them – always straddled? Weren’t they they band who rocked like hell, even as they were shooting themselves in the foot, rolling in broken glass or setting themselves on fire? Wasn’t it all as fun, silly, stupid and lighthearted as it ws dark and dangerous? Yeah – it was. Ready To Die is too”
Inter Arma – Sky Burial
Hellbound Metal: “Beneath the roiling black clouds thundering amid the highest peaks, the process of death’s bodily finality plays out its bloody and peaceful last act. Sky Burial is an intensely powerful, emotional album best enjoyed as a whole.”
Opeth / Katatonia @ Guelph Concert Theater, Guelph ON, April 26, 2013
Hellbound Metal: “I was delighted when they opened the set with an excellent rendition of “The Devil’s Orchard”, but I was absolutely over the moon when they followed it up immediately with “Ghost of Perdition” and, this was a real shocker, “White Cluster” off Still Life. I wasn’t expecting anything that old to be played at all, so witnessing this live was a wonderful thing.”
Live review by Sean Palmerston; Special concert photos courtesy of Mike Bax / lithiummagazine.com
Death to All / Anciients @ Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto ON, April 28, 2013
“Though revisiting Schuldiner’s musical legacy meant the sense of collective loss was strong, the sense of fellowship was stronger. In the end it was less for sadness than a cause for celebration.”
Laura Wiebe reviews the April 28th Toronto performance by Death To All and Anciients. Concert photography by Adam Wills.
La Chinga – self-titled
Hellbound Metal: These guys may not be reinventing the wheel, but as practitioners of the world’s oldest profession, I can dig their modern take on classic rock… ¡Chinga tu madre!
Altar of Plagues – Teethed Glory and Injury
If Teethed Glory and Injury has a central flaw, it is that the vignette-like nature of its individual songs and transitions means that it also lacks the cohesiveness of their previous full-lengths. It is thus much less of a smooth listen from start to finish.
Hypocrisy – End of Disclosure
Hypocrisy aren’t zombies, but their decade-plus career has spawned fantastic music for the Swedish melodic scene.
Old Corpse Road – ‘Tis Witching Hour…As Spectres We Haunt This Kingdom’
Hellbound Metal: The best new British band since The Meads of Asphodel, I can give no higher praise!
Devil to Pay – Fate is Your Muse
Hellbound Metal: In any case, they might have flown under the radar for some time, but this album proves that if you sleep on this Indy outfit, well, payback is a bitch. 😉