Category: Reviews
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The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole (2LP reissue)
… And then, with the release of Dig Your Own Hole, The Chemical Brothers became a pop culture phenomenon. Now, it could be contended that the arrival and immediate public embrace of Dig Your Own Hole was the result of several different factors intersecting. After grunge, Brit-Pop overtook both the charts and popular imagination thanks…
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Jupiter Hollow – Odyssey
I am very impressed by this EP on any level. Sounding, to my mind, like a cross between Rush, Zombi, and Mastodon, this is progressive metal as it should be. Grant MacKenzie and Kenny Parry, the two men that make up Jupiter Hollow, can be proud of this EP. It features strong playing, excellent song-writing, and…
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Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard – Noeth Ac Anoeth and Y Proffwyd Dwyll
Noeth Ac Anoeth It is increasingly rare to hear a band with their own unique sound, but the splendidly named Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard are just such a band. Wielding huge doom riffs and drums along with the astonishing vocals of Jessica Ball, they have a superb sound, aided by the sterling work of Conan…
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Sweat Lodge – Tokens for Hell
When Sweat Lodge opened for Monolord in Toronto last year, some people were saying these guys could be the next The Sword, i.e. the next big heavy-rock band from Texas. (Turns out that might actually be Mothership.) Alas, twas not to be, as this four-track, 16-minute effort marks the band’s swansong—their farewell EP, so to…
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Darkthrone – Arctic Thunder
There can be few musicians who have such a love of what is good in metal as do Ted (Nocturno Culto) and Fenriz of Darkthrone. Their previous album, The Underground Resistance, was my album of the year in the year of its release. As ever, with Darkthrone there can be few complaints. Arctic Thunder works well as a…
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In the Company of Serpents – Ain-Soph Aur
With everyone from Steven Tyler to Jimmy Bower to David “Morbid to the Core” Vincent gone country these days, I guess it was just a matter of time before country doom actually became a thing. In the Company of Serpents describe themselves as “between sludge metal and sprawling spaghetti western scores,” but if you came…
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Albert Bell’s Sancro Sanctus: Ad Aeternum and Deus Volt
Metal-On-Metal is the perfect label for Albert Bell’s excellent Sacro Sanctus, both sharing a love and commitment for properly crafted heavy metal. Metal needs to a physical reality whether that be cassette, CD or vinyl. A download is like a so-called ‘Facebook Friend’: quite unreal! There is also a shared commitment to the importance of…
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Godstopper/Grizzlor split 7”
It’s been a little while since Toronto noise-rock weirdos Godstopper have graced us with an album—and somehow, said record seems to have slipped my radar completely. But as I’m just getting caught up with their latest full-length, this tasty tidbit should tide us over in the meantime—a three-song, seven-inch split with Connecticut trio Grizzlor. Godstopper…
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Hark – Machinations
Hark now hear the second record from this heavy-ass Welsh outfit! They may not sound like a choir of angels, but these Swansea slammers bring the riffs for 47 minutes on the follow-up to their 2014 debut Crystalline. And hey, their lead singer’s name is Jimbob, and he used to be in a band called…
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3rd Machine – Quantified Self
Heavy metal fans really are a spoiled bunch. The diversity of sound and styles underneath the metal umbrella is so vast that there seems to be an unlimited amount of possibilities. From the brutality of death metal, the eclecticness of prog, or the embarrassment of Nu-metal, heavy metal has your particular poison ready and waiting…