FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
In 1996, Hellbound’s Sean Palmerston was offered the chance to do the first ever in-person North American radio interview with Quorthon, leader and visionary behind legendary Swedish black metal act Bathory. They also went out for dinner together beforehand, and here are Sean’s memories of that fateful night some seventeen years ago, shared in public for the first time since.
“Converge are an overwhelming band to see live, vicious, visceral and breathtaking. The set quickly settled into a hard, driving rhythm, and the entire audience was carried along by it, compelled, possessed – taken. It can be difficult to talk about music and sexuality in a way that isn’t sensationalizing or reductive, but there is no question that the sheer aural force of Converge is an intense experience that borders on the erotic.”
Natalie Zed reviews the April 6th Toronto performance by Converge, Burning Love, Loma Prieta and Vilipend
“A Storm of Light provided a performance that felt more like a denouement than a revelation. Their set featured a heavy visual component, in the form of projected videos that drenched the stage in light. It was quite lovely, which is unsurprising considering that vocalist/guitarist Josh Graham is the visual artist for Neurosis.”
Natalie Zed reviews the June 11th Toronto performance by A STORM OF LIGHT and TOMBS at Toronto’s Sneaky Dee’s. Live photos by Laina Dawes
The beastly grit of doom. Grindcore’s fiery onslaught. Black metal’s confrontational excess. The jarring obtuseness of tech. Metal is founded on explosive, aggressive and often combative attitudes. Still, just when one feels remotely comfortable—possibly slightly expectant—as to what the genre’s next twist will be, something so dominant, furious and volatile comes along that it redefines the parameters of what makes a band extreme.
Keith Carman talks with Toronto’s Vilipend about their multifaceted and dangerous approach to music.