Category: Reviews
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Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us
You Will Never Be One of Us is the latest album from power violence band Nails out on Nuclear Blast. The album title could have meant no other band will match the sheer ferocity that this album is soaked in. Vocalist Todd Jones and the band rage for 21 minutes almost non-stop. It reminds me…
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Foghound – The World Unseen
This Baltimore band can trace its lineage—and its rhythm section—back to stoner-rock outfit Sixty Watt Shaman, who put out a couple rippin’ records on Spitfire at the turn of the century. And like with most bands from Maryland, the riffs run deep on this, Foghound’s second record. “Above the Wake” starts things off in a more…
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Horror movie review: The Conjuring 2
The Conjuring was a pleasant surprise when it was released, shining like a diamond amongst endless remakes and found-footage films (how long before someone remakes The Blair Witch Project? No, please don’t, that would be truly horrible in all the worse ways!). For The Conjuring was a well-written, well-directed, well-acted film, with good production values,…
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Inter Arma – Paradise Gallows
Generally speaking, I like my coffee downtuned and doomy, just like my metal. Never been a big fan of the blackened stuff, but Inter Arma caught my ear with their 2013 Relapse debut Sky Burial, which owes about as much to Neurosis as it does to Emperor. Hailing from the same Richmond, Virginia scene as…
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Pentagram – First Daze Here
These days, when Bobby Liebling sings “These are gonna be my last days here…” he really means it. The dude looked like death warmed over when I saw ‘em down in Cleveland last year, and his touring troubles continued recently, with missed gigs and pissed-off openers on their last trek. The backing band behind him…
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Bum City Saints – Bum City Saints LP
While some critics may claim that an album or artist being “derivative” is a negative trait, that’s not always true – in the right context. Sometimes, the right sequence of sonic elements can align and instantly throw listeners back into the mindset thought to be long forgotten. It can be exhilarating and comforting all at the…
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Cheap Trick – At Budokan, The Complete Concert (2 LP reissue)
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day reissue of At Budokan – The Complete Concert 2-LP by Cheap Trick. The 1970s are known for lots of things which happened musically, like the break-up of The Beatles, the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, John Bonham and Elvis Presley,…
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Canadian metal playlist – Canada Day 2016
Hellbound is based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This year, on July 1st, 2016, Canada turns 149 years old. Canada’s first contribution to the pre-history of heavy metal was (according to Wikipedia)* a band called The Sparrows, which formed in 1964 and went on to become Steppenwolf. Canadian heavy metal band Anvil released the album Metal on Metal in 1982.…
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Fews – Means LP
Even at first sight – before a note of music is heard from the Means LP – those who happen upon Fews‘ debut full-length will get the sense that they’re about to bear witness to an important musical EVENT. The front cover poses a bunch of very tantalizing questions. On it, a camera captures a…
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Booze & Glory – Carry On
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the diecut Carry On single by Booze & Glory The catch about the genre that’s affectionately known as “street punk” is that those who make the music often do not make it for very long. The reason for that is simple: street punk is impoverished by nature…