FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
A capacity crowd came together at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre last week to witness France’s mighty Gojira, Canada’s own Devin Townsend Project, and Chicago’s critically acclaimed The Atlas Moth, and what a show it was. Hellbound’s Adam Wills was there to witness the whole thing.
Last week we ran our TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2011 list, as voted by the writers of Hellbound.ca. Here are the individual Top 10s that were submitted by our writers for your personal enjoyment…
We asked all of the contributing writers here at Hellbound.ca to submit their Top 10 albums of 2011, which we then compiled into a master list, assigning points to all their choices (10 points for #1, down to 1 point for #10). After tabulating the results, we have created Hellbound.ca’s Top 20 Albums of 2011. For part one of our continuing series, here is albums #20 through 16…
From the moment the ringing guitars kick in on the first track, “Coffin Varnish”, all the way through to the final noisescape of “Horse Thieves”, the band delights in kaleidoscopic twists and mind-expanding turns, plucking ideas and harnessing influences from across the musical spectrum.
As a whole, this self-titled offering is short and sweet, eight tracks weighing in at 20 and a half minutes. Nothing special, but if you like slowcore, it’s worth a shot.
Whereas other sludge bands who deal in cosmic themes, like Zoroaster and The Atlas Moth, use harsh black-metal vocals to get their message across, Abrams’ warm, clean tones give Blue Aside a big boost. Their deftly executed blending of sludgy doom grooves with spacy guitar (and occasional synth) passages provides the missing link between Sleep and Hawkwind, YOB and Captain Beyond, Sons of OTIS and Secret Saucer… You get the idea.
A band from Israel that sounds like Eyehategod!? Okay Relapse, you’ve piqued my curiosity…
While this is a pretty decent record in its own right, I’m somewhat saddened that Zoroaster has moved away from its own unique take on
southern sludge towards a sound that can be filed next to Farflung, The Atlas Moth, and countless other bands.
“During this performance, they behaved as though the stage was land they wanted to annex; they walked on as though their performance was an outright invasion. The crowd responded accordingly. While the vibe in the room had gradually ratcheted up from “polite and well-behaved” to “cheerfully aggressive” during the previous three sets, when Nachtmystium played, the crowd finally smelled blood.”
Natalie Zed reviews the Toronto visit from Nachtmystium, with support from Zoroaster, Dark Castle and The Atlas Moth. Photos by Albert Mansour
The Endless Blockade took over with an electronic-noise enhanced set that was a bit more varied, and was arguably even more unrelenting. Their singer constantly confronted the crowd, moving as deep into the sweaty mass as he could. Keep in mind, there wasn’t much floor space to work with, and there was no stage. Just like a basement show, they were sandwiched next to the crowd who was standing on the same floor. Even this guy felt the need to constantly engage with me, running directly into me at least five times.
Why does everyone always pick on me?
Jay Gorania recaps his take on this year’s SXSW Music Festival. In this second entry, he reviews the Profound Lore Records/20 Buck Spin showcase as well as sets by The Atlas Moth, Rwake and Weedeater.