Tag: USA

  • OM: God Is Good

    It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Sleep, the quintessential stoner/doom band that kept the Sabbath dream alive throughout the 1990’s. While guitarist Matt Pike eventually decided to play faster with High on Fire, the other two thirds of the equation kept the stoner grooves going with OM. At least until recently. Drummer…

  • The Sign of The Southern Cross: …Of Mountains and Moonshine

    The problem with The Sign of the Southern Cross becomes obvious quite early into the album – they’re too busy trying to sound like their influences that they really haven’t developed their own sound.

  • Swashbuckle: Back To The Noose

    Although Back To The Noose is being called pirate metal, I have to say that I’ve never heard any combination like this type of thrash and death metal before. You’ll probably notice it right off the bat too.

  • DragonForce/Sonata Arctica/Taking Dawn @ Odeon, Saskatoon, SK, September 25, 2009

    About once a year we here in Saskabush are treated to a little variety by a reputable band that actually likes to sing every once in a while, and it’s always remarkable to witness the turnout. There’s a definite hunger for the melodic stuff out here, and judging by the big, lively crowd that packed…

  • Quick VIEWs: Sept 25, 2009

    The following metal/hard rock reviews were published yesterday in both Hamilton’s VIEW Magazine and Guelph’s ECHO Weekly. While they are online, it is with a bunch of indie rock reviews so I decided to throw just the metal/hard rock-related ones up on Hellbound…

  • Laudanum: The Coronation

    The sophomore release from Oakland-based Laudanum is a fragmented collection of ambient doom-ish noise that only adequately reveals the band’s self-proclaimed “blackened instrument damage” when it’s listened to as a whole.

  • Down/Voivod @ Kool Haus, Toronto ON, Sept 18, 2009

    With considerably less than a packed house at The Kool Haus, Down took no notice, and put on one hell of a show for the rabid Down fans that were in attendance. Despite the small mountain of contraband booze (among other substances) that piled up outside the entrance, the crowd were treeated to a set…

  • Photo gallery: Down @ Koolhaus, Toronto ON, Sept 18, 2009

    All photos by Adam Wills. All photos are the property of Adam Wills and Hellbound.ca – do not copy without written consent.

  • Whiplash: Unborn Again

    Returning from the late-90s to capitalize on the continuing bear hug the metal world given to every thrash band that ever existed in the 80s is Whiplash. The difference being that for a short while back in 1985-86, Whiplash fucking ruled – well, fucking ruled my world, at the very least.

  • MGR y Destructo Swarmbots: Amigos de la Guitarra

    A little bit of background information: the record is a collaborative project between two Mikes — Mike Mare and Mike Gallager (of Isis fame). Amigos is a 40-plus minute single-track of ambient guitar textures and carefully pieced-together layers of sound that, just as they are on the verge of overstaying their welcome, shifts gears so…