FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Anvil: The Story of Anvil is such a compelling, amazing film that you don’t need to know anything about these dudes going into it to absolutely get sucked into it. Big time. And now that it is available on DVD as well, I really think that everyone that reads Hellbound.ca needs to get the fuck off their ass and go out and at least rent this for a night and watch it.
Sean Palmerston reviews the new DVD issue of the best rock and roll documentary of 2009.
With the recent release of their fourth studio album Here Waits Thy Doom early last month on Century Media, Vancouver’s true metal combo 3 Inches Of Blood have finally made the album many of us have been waiting for with baited breath. With the departure of second vocalist Jamie Hooper after the release of their previous album(2007’s Fire Up The Blades), a lot of the modern metal-core sentiments found in their music were dropped. The results of having Cam Pipes as the group’s main singer has brought his King Diamond-like vocals to the forefront – and pushed the band much more into a traditional metal sound that feels even more eighties inspired than anything they had ever done before.
In terms of metal fests, you’ve got your Milwaukees, your Maryland Deathfests, your Wackens, your Holes in the Sky, Dudefests, Hellfests, and so on—all of them well out of range of western Canadians. Thankfully, a new metallic mecca has sprung up in Alberta, at Calgary’s Noctis Festival. The third gathering (full title: Noctis III: Tritagonist) featured two days’ worth of gigs and a full-blown conference peppered with esteemed guests and international acts brought in exclusively for the event. The concert lineup, which included Slough Feg, Novembers Doom, Aura Noir, Destroyer 666, Suffocation and Cynic, was more than impressive enough to get me onto a WestJet flight from Vancouver to witness the carnage in Cowtown.
Rob Hughes gives a fascinating overview of last weekend’s Noctis III Metal Music Conference in Calgary, Alberta.
With considerably less than a packed house at The Kool Haus, Down took no notice, and put on one hell of a show for the rabid Down fans that were in attendance. Despite the small mountain of contraband booze (among other substances) that piled up outside the entrance, the crowd were treeated to a set list that would make any long time fan of the band drool, including a wide range of songs from their 1995 debut scattered with selections from their two more recent albums.
Adam Wills and Sean Palmerston discuss last Friday’s Toronto performances by Down and Voivod
All photos by Adam Wills. All photos are the property of Adam Wills and Hellbound.ca – do not copy without written consent.
In my opinion Doro is the best female heavy metal vocalist of all time; it was a real gift just to catch her for the first time back in June 2007 – that show was amazing but seeing her for the second time was like winning the metal lottery.
Albert Mansour reviews the recent Toronto performance by German metal goddess Doro.
Forget all of your cardboard cutout third division skidthrash bands that have been popping up all over the place in the last few years, Sacrifice has returned to show how it is done, period. These Canadian thrash icons have come back after sixteen years of hibernation to create what is possibly the best work of their career.
Rob Kachluba reviews the brand new, long-awaited return album by Canadian thrash legends Sacrifice.
Culted’s MySpace biography makes much of the fact that the band’s impressive first full-length album is a “truly collaborative effort across international lines.” One can only hope for more musical cooperation in the future from the jointly Canadian/Swedish band.
Even with all the feedback, distortion and weird sounds this is an album that anyone interested in droning, ambient sounding metal should have a listen to.
Now I know most of you will compare them to Dark Funeral, Vintersorg, Borknagar and the like, but Victoria BC’s Black Lotus is definitely one of Canada’s most surprising hidden gems