Category: Reviews – Audio
Glorious metal in all its earthly forms, compressed onto shiny plastic discs or into digital files. Which ones will become the soundtrack to your life?
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Ufomammut – 8
What’s in a number? The eighth album from Ufomammut contains eight tracks clocking in just shy of 48 minutes. (OK, so it’s actually closer to 47). At this point, you probably know what you’re going to get from this Italian trio—a whole buncha heavy, experimental sludge—and in that regard, The Ocho delivers. We begin with…
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Pallbearer – Heartless
The clean, retro-looking cover of this record, Pallbearer’s third full length, perhaps belies a softer, more psychedelic sound within. Some had complained that they pulled an Opeth on this album, moving more toward prog and away from metal. To wit, when they recently performed in Toronto, their bassist asked the crowd if there was anyone…
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Anathema @ The Opera House, Toronto, 21 August 2017
The last time England’s atmospheric progressive rockers Anathema came to Toronto in 2013, visa issues cruelly skimmed the line up to just frontman Vincent Cavanagh, guitarist Danny Cavanagh and vocalist Lee Douglas. Now live in Toronto tonight, the whole line up is present and it the audience’s anticipation marks this show as long overdue. Starting…
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Iron Mountain – Unum
Occasionally, when reviewing records, I receive one that really exceeds my expectations. Such an album is Iron Mountain’s Unum. To give a soundbite description, it is post-metal meets Irish folk, psychedelic and prog, but that only begins the first steps on the journey to describe a band that have a huge, expansive, truly original and…
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Virulent Depravity – Fruit of the Poisoned Tree
Climbing, spiral riffs that seem to ascend into the heavens are what greets you, the listener, upon first hitting play on Virulent Depravity‘s latest output, the excellent and epic Fruit of the Poisoned Tree. Possibly the only band that is capable of being compared and contrasted against the sadly now-defunct Spawn of Possession, Virulent Depravity…
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Firebreather – self-titled EP
As you probably know, Gothenberg, Sweden is mostly known for death metal (In Flames, At the Gates, Dark Tranquility et al). Doom really isn’t on that city’s radar—not as far as I know, anyways. So when I hear about a young band from that neck of the woods who worships at the altar of Matt…
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Namazu – Works Cited
Although they built this city on blues ‘n BBQ, I can’t really think of any good music that’s come out of Memphis in the past 30 years or so. So when I heard about this heavy duo Namazu, I was certainly intrigued. Not to be confused with the Aussie drone duo (or the equally Aussie…
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Hands of Orlac / The Wandering Midget split
Cruz del Sur has established a solid reputation in power/epic doom circles, with several records from the likes of Argus, Atlantean Kodex, Slough Feg and While Heaven Wept under their belts. So when they put out a split between a couple bands I’ve never heard of, from Italy and Finland, respectively, I’ll at least give…
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Argus – From Fields of Fire
It’s been a while since we last heard from Argus. Their last album, Beyond the Martyrs, was released in 2013, and when combined with a lack of appearances on any notable U.S. underground doomfests lately, I wasn’t sure if this band was still a going concern. Fortunately, Pittsburgh’s premiere purveyors of power/doom metal have returned…
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Crafteon – Cosmic Reawakening
One of the best things about writing about music is the gems amongst the dross you come across. Such a shining multi-faceted jewel is Crafteon’s ‘Cosmic Reawakening’. Imagine a Dimmu Borgir inspired by the tales of a certain H.P Lovecraft, and you’re half-way there! The clue of course is in the band’s most original name. Musically, Crafteon…