Mnemic – Sons of the System
The problems I have with this record can be summed up in a few simple words: I’ve heard this all before.
Nuclear Blast
Arch Enemy/Exodus/Arsis/Mutiny Within @ Phoenix Concert Theater, Toronto ON, January 27, 2010
Live review by Ola Mazzuca; Photos by Adam Wills There is a certain magic quality about metal shows; magic in which no matter what…
Announcing Our Year End Contest Winner!!!
You’ve been asking us by email, twitter, even a few people have called me on the phone to find out who won our big year end contest . Well, here is the information you’ve all been waiting for.
Arsis – Starve for the Devil
There will be some complaints that Starve for the Devil utilizes a more traditional rock/metal songwriting style, however, the riffs are still challenging and hook laden, and because the time changes are more restrained than before, the songs have an openness that lets you get into the riff and commence air guitaring.
Exodus: Shovel Headed Tour Machine-Live At Wacken
With their hardcore fans in mind, Exodus has put together their third DVD release, a three-disc extravaganza that tries to give the die-hards what they want, and in their own inimitable way, succeeds mightily.
Adrien Begrand reviews the massive new three disc DVD set by Bay Area thrash legends Exodus on the heels of their North American tour with Arch Enemy and Arsis.
Epica: Design Your Universe
Epica’s fourth full-length Design Your Universe was the perfect opportunity for the Dutch band to make some serious artistic and commercial strides, but what we’re stuck with is a record that tries so hard to impress that its blind ambition completely gets in the way of tasteful songwriting.
CONTEST: Blast Into 2010! Huge 40 CD+ Giveaway!
Let’s get 2010 underway with a bang! What better way to get your year off to a good start than with a contest. To help celebrate the end of 2009 and the beginning of both a new year and a new decade, we’ve asked some of our favourite labels to help us welcome 2010 and what a bang it is!
Sonata Arctica: The Days of Grays
This album has changed my entire perspective on power metal, as I have always viewed it as a cheesy and cliché attempt at applying emotion to music. If there are three things that Sonata Arctica have justified on The Days of Grays, it is that the genre is indeed epic, captivating and genuinely metal. And I don’t need an overly excited narrator to tell me so.
Ola Mazzuca reviews the new release by Finnish power metal experts Sonata Arctica
Marduk/Nachtmystium @ Annex Wreckroom, Toronto, ON, November 22, 2009
Late November seems as good a time as any to take in a performance by Swedish metal veterans Marduk. A concert centered around a black metal band known for its own distinct take on imagery and songs centering on everything from war machines to religious blasphemy to paganism seems strangely appropriate for a grey month squashed between the twin commercial juggernauts that are Halloween and Christmas.
Concert review by Jonathan Smith
STAFF PLAYLISTS: November 2009
Find out what HELLBOUND’s contributors are listening to going into the month of November. Each writer has submitted their Top 5 list and have an option to list a book and a film they are into right now too.