Dark Tranquillity – We Are The Void
The answer to whether or not a listener is satisfied by We Are The Void will boil down to individual taste; some will find it phenomenal and some will find the offering paltry and mawkish.
Reviews
Alcest/ Monarque/ Thantifaxath @ Hard Luck Bar, Toronto ON, April 23, 2010
For the first time in a great many shows, I actually sat down during a performance. I sat not because I was bored, not even because I was tired. I sat because the energy it took to operate my legs felt like energy I could be directing towards my ears. I sat on a table top with my eyes closed, rocking back and forth unconsciously, entirely consumed.
Natalie Zed reviews the April 23rd Toronto debut of France’s Alcest. Also sharing the bill were Quebec black metallers Monarque and Thantifaxath.
Warbeast – Krush The Enemy
rush The Enemy doesn’t just strive to be a part of the thrash metal resurgence. It’s comprised of dudes who eat, sleep and shit so much thrash, their assholes are rusting. Loud, aggressive, overbearing, sincere and full of great shred, Krush The Enemy is compelling from start to finish; a new high watermark in the ongoing saga of thrash.
The Pineapple Thief – 3000 Days
For those who are not familiar with The Pineapple Thief, this UK band is classified as a crossover progressive rock band. The four piece band’s most recent release is 3000 days, which is a double CD compilation which collects tracks off of The Pineapple Thief’s first few albums
Talbot – EOS
Listening to Talbot is like having your body hurtled into farthest godforsaken space, and then having it violently sucked back in, smashed down into the Earth to molecular level.
Harvestman/US Christmas/Minsk: Hawkwind Triad
There’s something about that hard-charging yet trancelike music, that psychedelic lyrical imagery, the occasional acoustic forays, and of course, those unmistakable swirls of oscillating electronic tones that sound wickedly cool on record and practically make you dizzy when heard at ear-bleed volume live; there’s something there to appeal to the freak folkers, the indie rockers, the prog rock nerds, and metalheads alike. And when you listen to Hawkwind’s seminal 1971-’75 period, including such albums as In Search of Space, Doremi Fasol Latido, Hall of the Mountain Grill, and the timeless Space Ritual, you can’t help but think that this stuff would sound absolutely amazing when reworked in the metal milieu.
Iggy And The Stooges – Raw Power (2010 Legacy Edition)
This reissue of Raw Power is satisfying because, unlike so many of the more “adventurous” re-workings of the material, this release stays true to the original; even leaving some of the noticeable flaws (like the clipping that might be from volume or from a little bit of tape left mangled in “Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell” intact) in place to imply the rough, warts-and-all initial recording process.
The Ocean – Heliocentric
This is an album that should truly be admired for its intelligent design. The band might get comparisons to Between The Buried and Me and I would agree with that except for the fact the The Ocean surpassed BTBAM in cohesive songwriting two albums ago. It’s a shame the scene kids won’t “get it”
Coheed And Cambria – Year Of The Black Rainbow
Ignoring the laughable title of the album, from note one of the album’s lead-off track, “One,” there’s nothing particularly original or attention grabbing about any aspect of the record.
Amon Amarth/Eluveitie/Holy Grail @ Odeon, Saskatoon, SK, April 16, 2010
As opposed to the combination of muscle and nuance that Eluveitie excels at live, Amon Amarth is always strictly about brute force. No frills at all, just five guys taking the stage and hammering out an hour and a half’s worth of rousing tunes. Led by the gregarious, downright jolly Johan Hegg, the band hunkered down and regaled the hot, sweaty crowd with a considerably longer set than their first North American tour, which was certainly a nice touch.