Gnostic: Engineering the Rule
Gnostic is a great, enjoyable ride of a listen, and dare I say it, an effort for the Atheist members to get a bit more edgier without losing their signature sound.
USA
Doomriders: Darkness Come Alive
Four years after their debut effort Black Thunder—though they have a number of EPs and other releases—apocalyptic groove-metal brigade Doomriders unleash what is easily their most accomplished effort in sophomore affair Darkness Come Alive.
Hatebreed/Cannibal Corpse/Unearth/Born of Osiris/Hate Eternal @ Odeon, Saskatoon, SK, December 7, 2009
There’s never much to a Cannibal Corpse show, just five guys who never leave their marks, long, sweaty hair obscuring their faces, churning out that distinct death metal sound they’ve been doing for more than two decades. No frills whatsoever, just pure brutality, and it never fails to floor audiences.
Adrien Begrand recaps the recent Saskatoon stop of the current Hatebreed/Cannibal Corpse co-headline tour that is underway now in North America.
The Company Band : s/t
Generally speaking, a band should be greater than the sum of its parts. Keith Carman isn’t sure that is the case with US super group The Company Band (although assuredly it must be better than that awful new band John Paul Jones is in).
W.A.S.P.: Babylon
Being a huge fan of W.A.S.P. ever since I first saw the video clip for “I Wanna Be Somebody” from their self titled album back in the 80’s, it pains me to tell you that there’s not much new happening here, except for some recycled riffs and solos from previous albums.
Memory Driven: Relative Obscurity
Barely squeaking into the realms of bona fide metal, Oklahoma City’s Memory Driven seem more intent on crossing over between the worlds of radio-friendly hard music and the more lenient metallions than dedicating themselves to something of true merit.
Converge: Axe to Fall
Converge seem to be following a trend among veterans like Sacrifice, Suffocation, Asphyx and Brutal Truth who have released albums this year: offering music that despite the band’s longevity, are if not one, the best albums they have ever created, all while staying true to their original sound.
Pulling Teeth: Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions
In the end, Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions comes across as sort of extreme music opera where songs are movements and parts rather than isolated performances.
Between The Buried And Me: The Great Misdirect
Like some terrifying amoeba, Between The Buried And Me has absorbed and incorporated a wild variety of sounds into themselves and spat back something that exhibits them all, but only uses them as ingredients to work toward their own ends.
Advance Screening: Disgorge, Mexico – The Movie
I could simply describe Disgorge, Mexico – The Movie as visually stunning yet disturbing, as Hall definitely has an aesthetic and a well-formed point of view that matches the brutality and not-to-be dismissed splendor in the chaotic madness of Ottawa’s Fuck the Facts – and brilliant in not only the fact that similar to Hall and Cardoso’s previous film (based on Today is the Day’s Axis to Eden), it is clearly obvious that Hall knows the music and its nuances inside and out.
Laina Dawes sits down for an advance screening of Disgorge, Mexico – The Film, the upcoming new film by Handshake Inc. that is based on the Fuck the Facts album of the same name.