Natalie Zed

Headline, Reviews, Reviews - Live August 20, 2010

Volbeat/ The Sleeping/ Dommin @ the Mod Club, Toronto ON, August 17, 2010

“I have no bone to pick with VOLBEAT at all. Their heavy metal/rockabilly/early rock’n’roll gangster aesthetic is fantastic. They’re greasy, twangy and a hell of a lot of fun to see live. Michael Poulsen embodies their sound: lean, punchy muscles, the lines of his brow and cheekbone just a little haggard from hard living, slicked back, dark hair and covered in old-school tattoos. His voice is surprisingly clean. Volbeat’s set was idiosyncratic and playful.”

Natalie Zed reviews the August 17th Toronto performance by VOLBEAT, THE SLEEPING and DOMMIN at the Mod Club. VOLBEAT live photos by Adam Wills.

Headline, Reviews, Reviews - Live August 9, 2010

Cynic/ Intronaut/ Dysrhythmia @ The Opera House, Toronto ON, August 2, 2010

“Metal cannot often be defined as subtle. Every now and again, however, these is a show that serves as a sort of palate-cleanser, offering metalheads an opportunity to indulge in some of the more delicate flavours that this broad, strange genre of music has to offer. Cynic, Intronaut and Dysrhythmia performed just such a show, giving the audience at the Opera House an aural meal to be sipped and sampled as well as devoured.”

Natalie Zed reviews the August 2nd Toronto performance by CYNIC, INTRONAUT and DYSRHYTHMIA. Concert photography by Adam Wills

Headline, Reviews, Reviews - Live August 3, 2010

Slayer/ Megadeth/ Testament @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, Toronto ON, July 29, 2010

“Testament and Megadeth have both been around as long as I have been alive; Slayer is two years older than I am. These bands have been around for a very long time and have gotten exceptionally good at what they do. More that that, they have defined their genre. Watching Slayer perform, it suddenly hit me: this is what everyone else is going for. This is the aesthetic so many other bands attempt to emulate. Not just the sound, either, but the presence, the charisma of the band members.”

Natalie Zed reviews the July 29th performance by SLAYER, MEGADETH and TESTAMENT at Toronto’s Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Live July 21, 2010

Woods of Ypres/ Battlesoul/ The Great Collapse-The Womb @ The Blue Moon, Toronto ON, July 16 2010

“However long and difficult the journey, Woods of Ypres give themselves no breaks and indulge in no excuses. Every single member of the band poured all the heart and energy they had into their performance at the Blue Moon, led by the apparently indefatigable David Gold. They are incredibly generous performers in this regard, never giving less than their physical and emotional all on stage. Seeing them live remains, for me, a unique audience experience in this regard: no matter how much I put in, I can never seem to quite keep up with how much I receive from this band.”

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Live July 8, 2010

Charred Walls of the Damned/ Piledriver/ Ash Lee Blade @ The Opera House, Toronto ON July 4, 2010

The awkwardly-named Charred Walls of the Damned delivered a solid headlining performance. While the other bands they shared the stage with has set a decidedly un-serious precedent, CWotD were much more straightforward and earnest in their presentation. Not to say that they were stuffy or stoic. They play unabashedly entertaining power/thrash metal, but choose not to caricature themselves to the point of complete cartoonification.

Articles, Features, Headline, Reviews - Live July 7, 2010

Iron Maiden @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, Toronto ON, July 3rd 2010

“Saturday’s show was a real Iron Maiden show, done with passion and vigour and integrity. It was a show made for their die hard, long-supporting fans. This was no greatest hits run-through, this was a band celebrating the fact that, after more than thirty years as a professional band, some of their greatest musical achievements have been on their past three studio albums.”

Natalie Zed and Sean Palmerston team up to give you two separate viewpoints on Saturday night`s Toronto performance by Iron Maiden and Dream Theater at Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

Headline, Reviews, Reviews - Live June 25, 2010

Hellbound does NXNE 2010

Since NXNE decided to do some cool free shows at Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Sqaure we thought we’d go check out the most metal of the ones that happened. Actually, they weren’t very metal at all, but here are reviews of the three bands that any open-minded metal head would definitely enjoy…

Natalie Zed and Sean Palmerston offer a recap of the bands they saw for free at NXNE 2010 in Toronto, Ontario. Live photography by Albert Mansour