Roadrunner

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Live July 28, 2010

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. These bands work exceedingly well together in this regard; the tour is well curated. Soilwork have matured well as a band, retaining all their punch and aggressiveness while becoming smoother and more balanced in their overall sound.”

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Audio July 27, 2010

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 crafting these alternate interpretations.

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Audio July 7, 2010

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 more

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Audio May 25, 2010

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?

Featured, Headline, Reviews, Reviews - Live May 12, 2010

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 anticipate what was coming next…

Natalie Zed reviews the Saturday, May 8th performance by UK prog rock veterans Porcupine Tree at Toronto’s Sound Academy. Concert photography by Adam Wills.

Headline, Reviews, Reviews - Audio April 19, 2010

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 to death?

Ola Mazzuca revisits the 1996 Type O Negative album “October Rust” in tribute of the late Peter Steele, who passed away on April 14th due to heart failure.

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Audio April 14, 2010

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.

Featured, Reviews, Reviews - Audio March 30, 2010

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 toughness to it. Now if they could just lose some of those cheeseball songs this would of been an absolute monster of an album.