“While you could see that the artists were pressed for time, I was treated to a neat, precise, high energy performance with little waiting and no fat.”

Hellbound Metal’s own Natalie Zed was at The Mod Club in Toronto for the Cancer Bats, 3 Inches of Blood and Barn Burner on May 19, 2011. Here is her review of the evening.

This upcoming weekend marks the return of the biggest underground metal festival in North America, the Maryland Deathfest. Quite a few Hellbound contributors are making the pilgrimage down to Baltimore for the four day festival, which starts this Thursday and carries on through Sunday, so we have picked some of our most anticipated bands to see each day and will be running daily previews this week.

Here are some bands that Sean and Adam are excited to see on Friday night.

This upcoming weekend marks the return of the biggest underground metal festival in North America, the Maryland Deathfest. Quite a few Hellbound contributors are making the pilgrimage down to Baltimore for the four day festival, which starts this Thursday and carries on through Sunday, so we have picked some of our most anticipated bands to see each day and will be running daily previews every day between now and Thursday.

Here are some bands that Sean and Adam are excited to see on Thursday night.

“Anvil ended up onstage seven minutes earlier than their previously announced set time of eight PM. Quietly strolling on stage and taking their instruments, the trio gave a quick nod and got down to business. Much to my surprise, the band opened with an instrumental, the mighty “March of The Crabs”. The band was in fine form from the first note, with Robb Reiner comfortably holding the backbeat down like he always does. Playing on a sparsely set stage – just the band, their instruments and amps and a huge Anvil backdrop behind them, things really started to take shape with the evening’s second song, “Mothra”.”

Sean Palmerston reviews the May 17th performance by ANVIL and ALICE COOPER at Hamilton Place in Hamilton ON. Live photos by Albert Mansour

“Sabaton blend traditional metal with power metal and a bit of military pomp to create some truly catchy work. Naysayers will repeatedly bring up the fact that they are not Bolt Thrower so they shouldn’t try to do ‘military metal’ (something that the band started dabbling with on Primo Victoria, which quickly became their forte) however that’s a lot like telling As I Lay Dying that they shouldn’t do Christian Metal because they aren’t Stryper. I actually came to the Sabaton party a little late, I was introduced to the band with The Art of War (their 2008 release with Black Lodge) so these ‘Rearmed’ editions from Nuclear Blast (the bands new home) were a huge treat for me.”

Jason Wellwood reviews the new ReArmed Edition reissues of the first four SABATON albums on Nuclear Blast USA.

For her lucky number thirteen installment of her ongoing postcards series, Ms. Natalie Zed offers up five new reviews on bands such as Melechesh, Suidakra, TesseracT and Sylvus . So, without further adieu, here is another installment in her series of bite-sized critiques.

“Krallice play like a thunderstorm: merciless and drenching, with a primal, electrical force. There was an extra edge to their performance this night, however, as though each raindrop in that metaphorical storm was tipped with a feather-thin blade.”

Natalie Zed reviews the recent Toronto performance from NY’s Krallice, joined by Withered and other local support. Concert photos by Adam Wills.

Sylvus are a Toronto, ON-based band that have undergone significant transformations. After going on hiatus for a year, they returned to the stage with a completely new aesthetic, songs and bassist. They play black metal with tinges of pagan folk and almost otherworldly hints of psychedelic noise. Their music is by turns thunderous, tender and startling; it also happens to be produced by some lovely human beings.

Natalie Zed in conversation with Toronto blackened pagan metal quartet Sylvus.