Darkest Era – The Last Caress of Light
An awesome debut which points towards even bigger things, I can’t recommend this album enough.
Metal Blade
Dear Ian Blurton…
When I saw you drag your tired, sorry-looking asses on stage last nite, I figured you guys were on tour. It looked like you’d been to Prince Edward Island and back. Correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I gather, the tour started last nite in Peterborough. I mean, the Pete’s the kinda place where you play a gig, drive home afterwards, and go to work the next day. If that’s what you actually did, I can sympathize, but I have a hard time believing you couldn’t grab a nap somewhere before a hometown show…
Maryland Deathfest 2011 Recap Day 3
Continuing on from our collected review of Thursday’s and Friday’s shows, here is what we thought of the bands we saw which played Saturday, Day three, of the 2011 Maryland Deathfest. Reviews by Adam Wills, Laura Wiebe and Sean Palmerston, with photography by Albert Mansour.
Happy 2nd Birthday HELLBOUND.CA!
Today is the second anniversary of the launch of HELLBOUND.CA! Two years ago on this day the site went live for the first time with a small staff of excellent, dedicated writers and hopeful plans that we’d be able to stick it out. Now (a sometimes astonishing) twenty-four months later we are still here with a cracking staff of writers, a pretty sizeable archive of reviews, interviews and features and a growing readership of some of the most fervent metal fans on the planet.
Hate Eternal – Phoenix Amongst the Ashes
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the casual death metal fan (if there really are any) will find Phoenix Amongst the Ashes hard to swallow. There isn’t anything cool or ‘hip’ to grab on to here, and it will make many of the mall metal fans run screaming from Hot Topic if it comes on during a shopping trip.
Pentagram – Last Rites
Last Rites is the album that many of us had hoped Pentagram would someday make but never thought they would. It is heavy, hooky and one of the nicest surprises of 2011.
Tonite’s your only chance to buy Blood Ceremony’s new album…
Fortunately, we won’t hafta wait as long this time around, since the band will be releasing its second opus tonite at The Garrison before heading off on a European tour with their ghastly label mates. Support comes from Blizaro–a psychedelic side-project of Rochester doom titans Orodruin–who’ve had their name misspelled on many a gig listing, including the venue’s.
Metal Blade’s Brian Slagel:The Audio Interview
Jason Wellwood in conversation with Metal Blade founder and owner Brian Slagel on March 27, 2011
Blood Ceremony – Living With The Ancients
Living With The Ancients is a strong step forward for a band that is definitely on its way to making its mark.
Victory or Death! An Interview With Amon Amarth
“One thing that strikes me is that I think this album is more even than the previous one. On Twilight of the Thunder God there were some songs that were instant hits, they stuck out from the other songs. But on this album, the songs have a higher level of quality to them, which doesn’t make any song stick out particularly. They’re all hits. [laughs]”
Adrien Begrand in conversation with Amon Amarth vocalist Johan Hegg