FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Typically, when the hottest band from the land of Japan comes to town, the gig’s a sell-out. They’ve always played Lee’s Palace, and it’s always been completely packed. Although I’d expect nothing less from tomorrow’s performance, it seems that tickets are still available, both from Ticketbastard, and at Rotate This, which’ll save ya $4.50 in service charges.
Take this posting about the new Pagan Altar/Mirror of Deception split 7″, for instance, in which PA bassist Manny Cooke reveals that the song his band contributes is a guide track–not the full lineup, just Al & Terry Jones with a drum machine. What happens next can only be described as a flame war of epic proportions, the best bit of doom drama not involving Bobby Liebling since Andy Beresky’s epiphany.
Sundays are somewhat of a strange day for a metal gig. Typically, it’s when you wind down from the weekend and get ready for the work week ahead. And wouldn’t you know it, there’s another gig this Sunday, as desert rockers Totimoshi take their strange sounds to Toronto on their tour for their latest, Avenger.
They might not be in the Guinness Book of Records alongside Manowar and Motorhead, but Georgian “black doomed sludge thrash” nomads Jucifer have been blowing the roofs offa tiny clubs for years. Tonite, they make their annual trip to Toronto, where, for the second year in a row, they’ll be playing the Bovine Sex Club.
I’m not one to mince words, nor to give perfect-10s, but I gotta say, last nite’s gig at the Courthouse was the best show I’ve seen in Toronto this year. The rock-solid triple-bill held its own with a coupla festival gigs I’ve seen elsewhere–and in terms of quality over quantity, it definitely takes the cake.
The word “aphotic” means lacking light, specifically outside of the range of sunlight, like the abyssal depths of the ocean floor. But there is light here, a strange, phosphorescent light — this album shines.
Highly recommended for fans of Sleep, YOB, Black Pyramid, and any other band with a legitimate claim in “stoner doom” territory.
This upcoming weekend marks the return of the biggest underground metal festival in North America, the Maryland Deathfest. Quite a few Hellbound contributors are making the pilgrimage down to Baltimore for the four day festival, which starts this Thursday and carries on through Sunday, so we have picked some of our most anticipated bands to see each day and will be running daily previews every day between now and Thursday.
Here are some bands that Sean and Adam are excited to see on Thursday night.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the trad-metal gallop of tunes like “Ice Worm” and “Iron Hammer,” but the new, slower TGOS on display on this album is right up my alley.
This twelve inch single is an awesome slab of doom, and that is as it should be, for this is work of Pentagram and Raven legend Joe Hasselvande