FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
If you want to hear passionate music played by dedicated musicians that have been reworked and reworked again and again into perfection (some of the tracks go back as far as 95), the final results are proof that this will be one of my absolute faves of 09 and possibly one of the greatest melodic doom metal albums of our time.
For this album, thirteen musicians weren’t just handed a single song and asked to artfully adorn it with electronics, they were handed as much source material from The Melvins’ songbook as they wanted and asked to get as creative as they wanted in creating something new from their source material selections; essentially being asked to create a series of sound collages from any and as much Melvins material as they liked.
Brooklyn, NY’s Merauder bring forth God Is I, a hardcore album that is not too extravagant or chaotic. With strong musicianship and relevant lyrics, the band still manages to produce something solid.
All of a sudden Slayer’s new album trades the metal in their thrash for a heavy dose of hardcore, the infusion of which makes Slayer sound exactly like Black Flag did around 1985.
By night’s end it was clear that the Harpo’s Halloween crowd had been treated to one of the strongest performances from Type O Negative in recent memory. What else other than perfection could one expect from a band whose set featured multiple songs about Halloween and fucking vampires?
Jonathan Smith recaps Type O Negative’s Halloween extravaganza at Detroit’s Harpo’s Concert Theater.
Originally released in 1989 by a Mexican based label called Avenzada Metalica, this eight-song effort is an absolute face-ripper that will appeal greatly to fans of Dark Angel, Kreator and especially late 80s Razor. The songs are well written, the riffs are lightning fast and they possessed a vocalist in singer Pat Lind that could have easily subbed in for Mille in Kreator if the need ever would have arisen.
With the completion of the second season of Metalocalypse, Dethklok took the road for a full North American tour with co-headliners Mastodon and strong support acts Converge and High on Fire. For a band that seems far from serious, they put together quite the heavyweight lineup, casting some of the top live talents to join them on their conquest for real-life world domination.
Adam Wills reviews the recent Toronto tour stop by Dethklok, Mastodon and friends.
Metallica may not be for everyone. You may love them or you may hate them. Some that attended the concert may have been there to accompany a family member or friend and others may have gone in large groups. Whatever the case may be, it was a damn good show. No matter what age, ethnicity or gender, the lyrics and music of Metallica have always been able to reach an endless amount of individuals.
Ola Mazzuca reviews the second of two recent Toronto stops by Metallica and entourage earlier this week.
Based on the merits of Here Waits Thy Doom and Accelerated Living, a pair of first-rate albums released this fall, 3 Inches of Blood and Saviours finally feel truly on top of their game. With two new records conveniently out at the same time, not to mention two very compatible sounds, the pairing of these acts for 3IOB’s cross-Canada tour was a no-brainer, and as they hit Saskatoon two weeks into their whopping 14 date run from Halifax to Revelstoke, everyone was firing on all cylinders.
Adrien Begrand recaps the recent Saskatoon stop by 3 Inches Of Blood and Saviours. Naysayers beware!
When it was announced that GWAR would be doing an in-store at London ON’s ZEUS CD Plus record store I asked my son Kieran if he’d like to go and get his photo taken with the band. I thought it would make for a neat little feature here on Hellbound.ca. Some photos of the event can be seen within.