Tag: Canada

  • Týr/ Crimson Shadows/ Bolero @ Sneaky Dee’s, Toronto, ON, April 30, 2010

    Everything else fell away, however, when TÝR took the stage. I seemed as though I had handed the band a checklist of everything I hoped to see in their performance, and they generously met every request. They played “Hail to the Hammer,” “Hold The Heathen Hammer High,” and “Sinklars Visa;” Heri and Terji performed shirtless;…

  • Subhumans(Canada) – Same Thoughts Different Day

    Same Thoughts Different Day is an excellent reminder for fans that Subhumans were one of the first decent punk bands in Canada and could reignite hopes that the group will be able to do as well with fresh material next time.

  • Alcest/ Monarque/ Thantifaxath @ Hard Luck Bar, Toronto ON, April 23, 2010

    For the first time in a great many shows, I actually sat down during a performance. I sat not because I was bored, not even because I was tired. I sat because the energy it took to operate my legs felt like energy I could be directing towards my ears. I sat on a table…

  • Ludicra / Krallice / Empyrean Plague @ Rancho Relaxo, Toronto ON, April 14, 2010

    I don’t want to in any way cheapen Ludicra’s performance here by saying that they performed “admirably under the circumstances.” They flat-out fucking rocked. They are tough, tenacious, and have a mind-blowing stage presence. Their vocalist, Laurie Sue Shanaman, filled the meagre space with her otherworldly voice. Natalie Zed reviews the April 14th Toronto performance…

  • Skull Fist – Heavier Than Metal

    This album shows the real Toronto metal scene is sparkling with some great new bands.

  • Baptized In Blood – Gutterbound

    Playing a thrash, metalcore infused style, the music is fun, dirty, rocking and has your head nodding from the get go. The album is chock full of big sounding melodic passages that work very well and suck you right back into the moment.

  • KEVI METAL’S RIMSHOTS v.2 #3

    The music world is filled with similar smoke and mirrors acts. We’re told over and over and over again that so-and-so’s new album is the one that’ll re-define the genre. How many times have you heard in the last couple years that this-and-that’s “stunning” comeback album is “highly anticipated” and their best yet? Better than…

  • Woods Of Ypres – W4: The Green Album

    W4: The Green Album is a difficult journey. There is a great deal of darkness, and there are certainly wolves (and worse) in these particular Woods. But, as a listener, you are never without a guide. However difficult and painful it may be, this was David Gold’s journey before it was yours, and it is…

  • Bison BC – Dark Ages

    A lot of bands attempting to pull off the same thing simply wind up sounding too eclectic to get anything of substance across. But Dark Ages, varied though it is in influence, is still a focused and precise monster, and it’s likely to be another one of those records that will wind up on many…

  • Cancer Bats – Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones

    With a swinging and universally mean attack, Cancer Bats set fire to much of their own past as well as a significant number of the bands that would pretend to be their peers as they find the best possible middle ground between old school hardcore (like Black Flag) and Seventies/Eighties-era metal (think Judas Priest), and…