“Importantly, the presentations often approached a generalized assumption that some group or groups of people hold about metal music or culture only to complexify the issue, demonstrating how research in particular locations, milieus, and demographics reveals the diversity in the ways people understand and engage with metal.”

Laura Wiebe reports back on the first North American academic heavy metal conference.

Our good friends over at Collective Concerts have given Hellbound 2 pairs of tickets to see Fear Factory on their Toronto stop of current their North American tour! As the show is NEXT Wednesday (April 24, 201), the contest will be open until Sunday, April 21st at Midnight, so make sure to enter now!

In 1996, Hellbound’s Sean Palmerston was offered the chance to do the first ever in-person North American radio interview with Quorthon, leader and visionary behind legendary Swedish black metal act Bathory. They also went out for dinner together beforehand, and here are Sean’s memories of that fateful night some seventeen years ago, shared in public for the first time since.

Originally published in VIEW Magazine in November 2006, this interview was with Warpig founding vocalist/guitarist Rick Donmoyer about the 2006 re-release of their self-titled album, originally released on Fonthill Records Canada on 1971

“I think they would see the band touring and we had a very solid touring fanbase and we would sell a consistent amount of records album to album. And I think the record label saw that and they’d get excited about that and they thought to themselves “Well surely this band can sell this many tickets and can sell 100,000 records. With any kind of help at all we can make this a gold band or even a platinum band.” It didn’t take them long to realize that it’s tough work to sell real music.”

Matt Hinch in conversation with J.P. Gaster, timekeeper for Maryland hard rockers Clutch.

Earlier this month Toronto’s Titan saw their latest album “Burn” make Hellbound’s Top 10 Canadian Albums of 2012 list. Here is Matt Hinch’s recent interview with band vocalist James M. and guitarist Chris W. about the making of the album, touring Europe last summer and what else lies ahead for this emerging Canadian hardcore/metal act.

“(Human) embodies much of metal’s concern for and obsession with material questions of existence. It remains special partly because of its historical importance for extreme metal, but also because it stands out as a prime example (out of many) that it is very possible to merge anger and aggression in extreme metal with a compassionate search for answers to social and philosophical questions.”

A revisitation and re-evaluation of the classic DEATH album Human by Jonathan Smith

Today we published the TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2012 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…