A hard act to follow, but Terror is an intimidating live act regardless of how someone feels about their music. Frontman Scott Vogel, formerly of the legendary, now-defunct Buried Alive, was in fine more, ruling the crowd that already paid him the blind-eyed devotion that a preacher at church might receive.

Well, it looks like two of my Top 10 made our overall Top 20 this year, which seems to be more or less on par with last year, if I recall correctly. Still have not heard that 40 Watt Sun album (Metal Blade dropped the ball on distribution, or what?), and I can’t believe that Progpeth took the top spot, with Mastodon not far behind. And here I thought we had more discriminating tastes at Hellbound… At least Lulu was nowhere to be seen!

In this entry of Blasphemous Meals, Ola mazzuca covers three recipes from the Hellbent For Cooking book (Bazillion Points) that should not be considered junk food, but fun food that accomodates chill evenings or badass gatherings.

Photography by Frank Mazzuca

Pair wisely with an imported beer or exquisite wine.

Anyways, I was looking at Rotate This’ concert tickets page to check if they were selling tix for Deep Purple (negative!), when I saw something interesting. Apparently, Kyuss Lives! is doing a second show in Toronto this year–on New Year’s Eve, no less–at tiny Queen & Bathurst bar Cherry Cola’s. Aye, but here’s the rub. This “once in a lifetime opportunity” will set you back a cool 200 big ones.

So, before I get into my top albums of the year, it’s time for some Christmas cleaning. These reviews have been sitting on my hard drive for a while, and chances are you haven’t heard of most of these bands–but some of them are worth checking out.

By the time you read this, tickets for the Deep Purple gig at Massey Hall next year will have just gone on sale. The band will be spending the entire month of February in our country on a 17-date Canadian tour that includes not one, but two gigs in Newfoundland, five concerts in Ontario, and at least one show in every other province except PEI and Quebec. I could be wrong, but I don’t think that a major non-Canadian recording artist has embarked on a cross-country tour of this magnitude in decades. Too bad they couldn’t turn back the clock on those ticket prices…

Back in late October Hellbound Radio presented a show here in Hamilton by two great young thrash bands, Fatality and Untimely Demise. Here are some photos I took of both bands during their sets. Cheeeerz.

I gotta say, I’ve always been more of a Maiden man. Put it this way: I heard “2 Minutes to Midnight” before “Living After Midnight.” Well, maybe not, but the former made more of an impression on me. However, when Judas Priest announced their Epitaph farewell tour in the summertime, I didn’t think twice about getting a ticket–even though Kyuss Lives! went on sale the same day. Finally, after several months of waiting, the time has come for their final Toronto gig: Tuesday, November 22nd. I’ll be there with bells on.