Turisas – Stand Up and Fight
Thematically, Turisas sustain their mostly historical bent with eyes turned toward Byzantium, though any storytelling takes back seat to the triumphant tone and exultant crusade invoked by the music itself.
Reviews
Red Fang – Murder the Mountains
Back in the day, Sea of Green moved the mountains on their Northern Lights EP, but Red Fang takes things one step further, putting a gun to those mountains’ heads, and making them beg for their lives before pulling the trigger.
Cynthesis-DeEvolution
This album makes for perfect headphone action. A great well rounded production allows each instrument to be heard which enhances the listening enjoyment. You can easily lump this album in the prog/tech section but its so much more than just that. It is almost a prog rock groove laden album with atmosphere and movie soundtrack vibes with killer chops.
Indian – Guiltless
These guys play slow, dirty swamp metal, buried deep under several layers of distortion. Much better suited for the bleakest, darkest days of winter than an early spring release.
Thin Lizzy @ The Sound Academy, Toronto ON, March 30, 2011
“Starting the show off with a seamless segue from set opener “Are You Ready” straight into “Waiting For An Alibi”, it became clear right away that this wasn’t some thrown together slapdash attempt at cashing in on the band’s previous glories. This six piece band is tight as hell and know the material inside out.”
Sean Palmerston reviews the March 30th concert by Thin Lizzy at Toronto’s Sound Academy. Photos by Albert Mansour.
Anacrusis – Hindsight:Suffering Hour & Reason Revisited
Little bits of guitar have been added and subtracted, some parts given more prominence and studio effects exist where studio effects never existed previous, but all-in-all Reason redux is a faithful rendition of one of the greatest collection of metal songs ever to be presented in one place. Yeah, you heard me.
Across Tundras – Sage
Sometimes, the right music comes around at the right time, and as the last traces of winter give way to spring, Sage suits the season splendidly.
Hauntingly Epic: Agalloch, Worm Ouroboros, and Musk Ox @ London Music Hall, March 25th, 2011
“The stage set-up slowly began to take shape and the smell of woodsy incense filled the air. As the cello notes of a recorded ‘They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness‘ floated through the venue, the shapes of the men behind Agalloch could be seen readying their instruments through a smoky haze lit by pale lighting.”
Jonathan Smith encounters Portland, Oregon’s Agalloch, who recently stopped in London, Ontario along with Worm Ouroboros and Musk Ox. Photo evidence from Adam Wills.
Within Temptation – The Unforgiving
It might be considered blasphemy from a metal perspective, but from a purely pop-oriented point of view, where Within Temptation is concerned, “heavy” doesn’t necessarily equate “better”. They’ve always been a pop act at heart; whenever they’ve dragged out the heavy riffs or the goth clichés in the past, it’s felt a bit on the forced side. When they’re in full pop rock mode, though, they’re in their element, and The Unforgiving plays to those strengths, at times exceptionally well.
40 Watt Sun – The Inside Room
If you, like me, have spent time in the gloom cocoon of misery and even momentarily liked it there (for a little while, anyway), The Inside Room is both your ticket into and out of the darkness.