Category: Reviews
-
Staff Playlists, February 2019
This month, in honour of Valentine’s day, we’ve added an extra category to spread the love. We’ve also added a category for all you Anti-Valentiners out there. Come accompany the humans of Hellbound this time around for their picks, recommendations and hearts full of Metal. Hellbound recommends Bill Adams New release: Royal Trux – White…
-
Daniel Romano – Finally Free LP
After first appearing in front of a hardcore band about a decade ago, Daniel Romano has taken personal delight in jumping from music genre to music genre with an impunity, which proved to be incredibly infectious. From hardcore to folk to country to rock and innumerable hybrids of all those sounds, Romano has proven to…
-
Revolution: Underground Sounds of 1968
Various Artists – 3CD boxed set 1968 was a milestone year, both musically and socially (as evidenced by an excellent documentary series that recently aired on the History Channel). We very much live today in a world that is shaped by the events of 1968, such as the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther…
-
Royal Trux – White Stuff (vinyl LP)
Listening to White Stuff – Royal Trux‘ first album of new material since 2000’s Pound For Pound – I simply could not stop thinking about and drawing comparisons between it and Danny Boyle’s film T2 Trainspotting. In the film, all of the characters who survived the events which played out in Trainspotting had found life after…
-
Kings Destroy – Fantasma Nera
Kings Destroy has always offered an original take on melodic doom that can’t easily be pigeonholed – for instance, while their NYHC roots might have some influence on their chugging guitar riffs, they don’t sound anything remotely like sludge metal. Fantasma Nera, their fourth album, sees the band move at times away from “doom,” displaying…
-
Rancid – st (7″ EP)
At this stage of their career, it’s almost impossible to envision Rancid as anything other than the four-piece ska/punk powerhouse which has been responsible for songs like “Roots Radicals,” “Ruby Soho,” “Bloodclot,” “Fall Back Down” and “Last One To Die”; they are that punk-identified pop institution. At this point in their career, the band is…
-
Tangerine Dream – The Blue Years Studio Albums 1985-1987
I’ve only recently gotten into Tangerine Dream via their excellent soundtrack for the ‘Wages of Fear’ remake ‘Sorcerer’. So I really enjoyed reviewing this boxset. ‘The Blue Years’ is a value-for-money four-CD set comprising four albums released by Tangerine Dream between 1985 and 1987, a prolific period. The first, ‘Le Parc’, is excellent and includes…
-
WOORMS – Slake
This heavy trio hails from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, so suffice to say, they play low ‘n slow. But if you were expecting another Eyehategod or Crowbar clone, you might be mistaken. WOORMS offers up some shades of good ‘ol NOLA sludge, but it’s mixed in with noise rock and post-metal, with the end result having…
-
Supermansion – Solar Order
First heard about this Southern Ontario supergroup (of sorts) back in ’07, when they released their first, self-titled Supermansion album. They put out a second record five years later, unbeknownst to me, and now they’ve got five albums under their belt, with Solar Order being the latest, independent release. Not sure if this one is…
-
Gypsy Chief Goliath – Masters of Space and Time
Album number four from this long-running Southern Ontario heavy rock outfit sees Gypsy Chief Goliath take a slightly spacier approach. This sextet’s latest lineup includes three guitars as well as keyboards… just don’t call ‘em Hawkwind or anything. Masters… begins with “City of Ghosts,” and its melodic, bluesy, keyboard-accented riff that brings the likes of…