Tag: Roadrunner

  • Soilwork/ Death Angel/ Mutiny Within @ The Opera House, Toronto ON, July 19 2010

    “On this occasion, however, while I certainly felt overindulged, I enjoyed the sonic gluttony. Whereas Death Angel left me feeling like the insides of my ears had been coated in burning pitch, Soilwork brought a delicious coolness to the show. Their bluesy, melodic death metal proved to be an excellent foil to Death Angel’s performance.…

  • Cynic – Re-Traced

    This EP plays a lot with the dynamics of sound. The interplay between loud and quiet, digital and analog creates rich waves of tension and release. I was struck by the depth of each of the tracks, not just in terms of the layers of sound but also the thought and care that went into…

  • Delain – Lucidity

    As for the bulk of the original album, it’s what you would expect from a former member of Within Temptation (Westerholt): soaring vocals, bombastic guitar solos, pounding drums, lush keyboard and symphonic string arrangements. All played with subtlety and an attention to contrast that it seems only those in power or progressive metal remember any…

  • STAFF PLAYLISTS: May 2010

    BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Find out what HELLBOUND’s contributors have been listening to during the month of May. Almost every writer has submitted their Top 5 list and have an option to list a book and a film they are into right now too.

  • Soulfly – Omen

    The thing about Omen is that it feels like Soulfly is running through the motions in a lot of ways. The clue to that lies (again) in the Jeffrey Dahmer referencing; the cannibal was arrested and tossed in the can in 1992. He died in ’94; this was the best the band could do?

  • Porcupine Tree @ Sound Academy, Toronto, ON, May 8, 2010

    Were this simply an auditory barrage (which I am more than familiar with), I might have had more resistance. But it was much more than that. This show was a carefully orchestrated, beautifully curated performance. The video accompaniment interesting and tasteful, and varied enough that I was never able to settle fully into it or…

  • Classic Albums Revisited: Type O Negative’s October Rust

    We may have lost Petrus T. Ratajczyk due to heart failure, but his legacy with or without the band will live on for eternity. The heart is strongly, if not always associated with love, admiration and passion which leaves me wondering: did Peter Steele die to health related heart failure, or did he lucidly love…

  • Baptized In Blood – Gutterbound

    Playing a thrash, metalcore infused style, the music is fun, dirty, rocking and has your head nodding from the get go. The album is chock full of big sounding melodic passages that work very well and suck you right back into the moment.

  • Buzzoven – Violence From The Vault

    Violence is somewhat reminiscent of the early Eyehategod demos gathered by Century Media on 2000’s 10 Years of Abuse…And Still Broke compilation, particularly in its transferred-from-cassette-tape sound quality

  • Ratt – Infestation

    I wasn’t expecting much from this album but am mildly impressed with a lot of the songwriting – full of huge hooks, great guitar work and of course Pearcy’s voice. Ratt brings back the classic sound of the 80s with great songwriting and great guitar solos but still for the most part inject some modern…