Tag: metal

  • Against the Grain – Cheated Death

    Against the Grain – Cheated Death

    Detroit Rock City road warriors Against the Grain are back with their fourth full-length album, and they’ll surely be coming to your town to help you party it down in the very near future. But in the meantime, we’ve got these 12 tracks of Motor City speed rock to tide us over, 40 minutes at…

  • Beldam – Pasung

    Beldam – Pasung

    For all the sludge metal oozing outta Vancouver, you don’t really hear much of that stuff from its sister city. The bands I know from Seattle lean more toward the Neurosis style of heavy progressive metal. But these recently relocated Virginia transplants bring a whole bunch of that southern-fried piss ‘n vinegar to the Pacific…

  • Hellbound staff picks, January 2018

    Hellbound staff picks, January 2018

    This year at Hellbound we’ve decided to revive an old tradition – our monthly staff picks/playlists! We’ve asked our regular and longtime contributors to weigh in on a few categories as follows (expect a few variations to our lists throughout the year, as well as some individual quirks and touches): Listening to – an album,…

  • Black Moth – Anatomical Venus

    Black Moth – Anatomical Venus

    Often reviews of an album consist of ‘this sounds like band x’, the singer sounds like ‘singer y’, and ‘this album sounds like album z’. But this is not the case with Black Moth: they are special; they sound like Black Moth, no one else. This in itself is a mighty achievement.Their song-writing and performances are…

  • Heave Blood and Die – Vol II

    Heave Blood and Die – Vol II

    Now, based on the band name you’re probably thinking I’m about to review a grindcore outfit, or maybe an uber-kvlt black metal brigade. Well no, not even close—although they are from Norway. But their sound is far removed from the grim, frostbitten forest. Instead, they’re more akin to the Georgia prog-sludge of early Baroness or…

  • Blackwülf – Sinister Sides

    Blackwülf – Sinister Sides

    You can tell Blackwülf is from Oakland right from the opening notes of this, their third album—the Bay Area quartet channels local legends like Sleep and Acid King in their stoner doom worship. Speaking of legends, Geof O’Keefe of Pentagram fame plays guest guitar on a cover of the proto-stoner Cream classic “Sunshine of Your…

  • Black Label Society w/COC & Eyehategod in Austin TX, January 2018

    Black Label Society w/COC & Eyehategod in Austin TX, January 2018

    Black Label Society / Corrosion of Conformity / Eyehategod @ Emo’s in Austin, Texas (Jan. 14, 2018) These bands have paid their dues for decades, so the packed houses for the Black Label Society/Corrosion of Conformity/Eyehategod tour have been well earned. The show at Emo’s in Austin was no different, but there is no question that…

  • Astrakhan – Without New Growth Process is Bloodshed

    Astrakhan – Without New Growth Process is Bloodshed

    When I finally sat down to get down to the business of writing this review I put each song on repeat separately for a number of spins while making notes on each one. That is the wrong way to listen to Without New Growth Process is Bloodshed. Astrakhan‘s latest (and last… I’ll get to that)…

  • Coffin Torture – Dismal Planet

    Coffin Torture – Dismal Planet

    This South Carolina sludge duo only had three indie EPs and a couple live-off-the-floor albums to their credit, but The Sludgelord liked them so much, they started a label just so they could sign ‘em. So that’s gotta count for something. Dismal Planet offers up seven tracks, most around the seven-minute range, on their full-length…