Blowing Up The Lakehead Playlist For May 6th (and 13th) 2013

11-11:30 Slayer – Fight Till Death (Show No Mercy) Slayer – Die By The Sword (Show No Mercy) Slayer – Tormentor (Show No Mercy) Slayer – Hardening Of The Arteries (Hell Awaits) Slayer – Necrophiliac (Hell Awaits) Slayer – Angel Of Death (Reign In Blood) Slayer – Postmortem (Reign In Blood)

11:30-12 Slayer – Behind The Crooked Cross (South Of Heaven) Slayer – Spill The Blood (South Of Heaven) Slayer – War Ensemble (Seasons In The Abyss) Slayer – Death’s head (Diabolus in Musica) Slayer – Bitter peace (Diabolus in Musica) Slayer – Overt enemy (Diabolus in Musica)

12-12:30 Amon Amarth – Deceiver of the Gods (Deceiver of the Gods) U.D.O. – Metal Machine ( Anthrax – Anthem (Anthem) Byzantine – Soul Eraser (Byzantine) Coldsteel – Blood Secrets (American Idle) Flotsam and Jetsam – Rabbits Foot (Ugly Noise)

12:30-1 Gama Bomb – Legend Of Speed (The Terror Tapes) Hatchet – Fall From Grace (Dawn Of The End) Newsted – King Of The Underdogs (Metal EP) Philip H. Anselmo – Conflict (War of the Gargantu) SODOM – Epitome Of Torture (Epitome Of Torture) Voivod – Mechanical Mind (Target Earth)

1-1:30 Hexen – Defcon Rising (Being And Nothingness) M:PIRE OF EVIL – Kissing The Beast (Crucified) Mortillery – Creature Possessor (Origin of Extinction) Monsterworks – It’s Alive (Album of Man) Hatriot – Murder American Style (Heroes Of Origin) Lich King – Wage Slave (Born Of The Bomb) Deaflock – CLASH (Courage To Expose All) 1:30-2 Beatallica – Come Together (Abbey Load) Accuser – Cannibal Insanity (Diabolic) Birth AD – Burn L.A. (I Blame You) Blood Tsunami – The Brazen Bull (For Faen)

Iron Maple Playlist For May 7th (and 14th) 2013

10-10:30 Beyond Creation – Chromatic Horizon (The Aura) Beyond Creation – Omnipresent (The Aura) The Nautilus – Ol’ Mighty (The Nautilus EP) Display of Decay – Intestinal Intercourse (Display of Decay) The Unconscious Mind – Beyond The Black Star (Where Philosophers Fall) Black Pestilence – Uprising (In Defiance) Csejthe – Dorko, la malveillante (Reminiscence)

10:30-11 Cryptik Howling – Dead Trees (Synthetic Ascension Design) Northern Aggression – Duel with the Devil (Abducted by Jesus) Thrawsunblat – Goose River (Mourners’ March) (Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings) Thrawsunblat – Bones in the Undertow (Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings) Wilt – Empyrean (Wilt)

11-11:30 PITH – Baptisms Along the Acheron (Baptisms Along The Acheron) Teramobil – Molecular Spectometry (Multispectral Supercontinuum) Psychotic Pulse – Asylum (Psychotic Pulse) Baptists – Still Melt (Bushcraft) Greber – Twenty Nine Years Old (Split) KEN MODE – The Terror Pulse (Entrench)

11:30-12 Walk As Chaos-Impasse ( Orchid’s Curse – Provisions For A Journey (Words) Placate The Masses – New World (Conquer All) City Of Fire – Bad Motivator (Trial Through Fire) My Broken Hero – Man of Science (Man of Science, Man of Faith) Aquila – Memoria (Demo) (Valle Mortalitatis (Demo 2013)) The Northern – Circadian Effect (Imperium)

12-12:30 Transcend the Skies – Centauri (Paradigm) Vacant Eyes – Vacant Eyes (Vacant Eyes) Witch Of The Waste – Taking The Penguin For A Walk (All Other Voices (EP)) Take the Earth Beneath Us – Hookworm (2012 – Singles) Calculate – Apotheosis (Apotheosis) Semantic Saturation – Make Believe (Solipsistic) Pomegranate Tiger – Stars (Entities)

12:30-1 Edge of Attack – Demon (Of The Northern Seas) feat. Ivan Giannini (Edge of Attack) ECLIPSE PROPHECY – Through The Storm (Days of Judgement) Anciients – Falling in Line (Heart of Oak) Teethmarks – I Once Knew Slash ( Teethmarks – Rattler)

As usual you can find both shows for download (as well as some of the older shows) by going to: http://luradio-server.lakeheadu.ca/2013/Witchfinder%20Radio

By Bill Adams

As of this writing, it will have been about forty years since Iggy and The Stooges released their seminal 1973 album, Raw Power. More specifically, it has been 14685+ days since Iggy and The Stooges’ first album hit new release racks and started growing within the mainstream (underground or above ground is irrelevant); ultimately reshaping a portion of the pop music landscape in its own image. The album’s impact and influence on pop culture has been incredible and, as a result (combined with the fact that Raw Power was the last album of new material to bear The Stooges’ name in any capacity at all for thirty-four years), it has become an incredibly difficult act to follow. To this day, Raw Power is the standard by which new releases by The Stooges, by Iggy Pop in his solo career, by James Williamson and more (many, many more) have been judged. Those standards haven’t always made sense, but they’ve become the default setting because Raw Power is the sort of classic which deserves the appreciation it gets. It is timeless rock music and sounds as good in 2013 as it did in 1973.

Appreciating the name and legacy of Raw Power is all well and good – everybody does – but when Iggy and The Stooges announced that they’ve recorded a new album and it will be the follow-up to Raw Power (which, chronologically, it would be – Iggy and The Stooges featured James Williamson on guitar – a key sonic aspect to the group – and Ready To Die is the first album of new material to once again feature Iggy Pop, The Stooges and James Williamson), they had the have known that they’d be poking a very large critical beehive with a very large and pointy stick. So why’d they do it? Making such a claim is an instant attention-getter and conversation-starter; everyone who likes anything about The Stooges and the other semantic variables on the name and member lineup will have an opinion, so saying that Ready To Die is the long-awaited follow-up to Raw Power basically ensures that everybody with a potential opinion is going to be paying attention. Some will be waiting breathlessly because they want to hold the claim up, and others will be waiting breathlessly because they want to burn it down.

All of the above is just common sense right? More ridiculous would be to assume that invoking the name of Raw Power would somehow cause the pit of Lazarus to erupt from the ground and Iggy Pop to emerge from it, twenty-seven years old and ready to pick up precisely where Raw Power left off; ready to roll in glass and nearly impale himself on mic stand while out of his mind. It might be inconvenient for some readers to note that Iggy Pop is now sixty-six years old and, while he still has an incredible presence and still crowd surfs nightly at shows, he’s still sixty-six years old. Keeping that in mind as one listens to Ready To Die, it’s easy to hear that the raucous spirit of Iggy and The Stooges is alive and well here and James Williamson’s awesome guitar work drives these ten songs as it did on Raw Power too – but the unhinged, untamed, drug-addled and at least occasionally blathering fury and fervor of that album has been tempered and focused by time. Ready To Die is not a kamikaze run like Raw Power was; it is sleaker, more streamlined and more certain than its predecessor.

That Ready To Die is more streamlined, solid and certain doesn’t mean it starts strong though – the best that could be said of “Burn” is that it starts Ready To Die. Here, Iggy sticks more to his “crooner” vocal tone than his “rock singer” tone, and it really does coast on top of the “slightly too static” wall of guitars. There’s a general lack of fire and frenzy here that wouldn’t necessarily be seen as out of place on one of Iggy’s solo albums (an easy comparison would be “Preliminaires” off Avenue B), but it feels disconcertingly wrong for an Iggy and The Stooges album; it feels staid and sterile. “Sex & Money” (the song which follows “Burn”) is a bit of an improvement – the singer doesn’t seem as disconnected or outside the mix – but he’s still not in it yet either and, now two tracks in, fans who play the record sequentially on their first time through will be getting good and nervous that maybe the only thing they can hope for from Ready To Die is that it won’t just be the biggest farce they’ve ever heard.

Those unnerved by the questionable start of Ready To Die will start chastising themselves (I did) the second “Job” rolls over and locks into a fantastic stride. There, Iggy breaks off the croon and raises his register, Williamson ignites the venomous guitar tone that just can’t stop itself from seeming like it’s growling and Steve Mackay’s sax asserts some presence and starts searing a few senses. NOW – three songs in – it feels right, and Iggy and The Stooges are earning the right to call Ready To Die a return or a follow-up to Raw Power or whatever they like.

The band keeps earning that right regularly through the rest of Ready To Die’s runtime too. Very possibly the closest (in spirit, tone, vibe and Motor City drive) to Raw Power is “Gun,” where Iggy forgets about not being anti-social and starts waving a gun around (with bombs going off in Boston! It’s perfect from a ‘chaos of the times’ standpoint) while Williamson and bassist Mike Watt get a perfect Motor City swagger swinging in the rhythm guitar and bass parts of the song. After that, both the title track and “Dirty Deal” amp up the volume and get close to “Burn” again but, now, Iggy sounds right in the thick of the mix with the band – not riding on top of it – and the songs cut listeners just perfectly.

All that sounds pretty good right? It IS good – but there’s no denying that Ready To Die isn’t perfect. “Unfriendly World” and “Beat That Guy” aim to be the next emotionally stunted, acoustic and sombre answers to “Gimme Danger,” but both of them miss, and “DD’s” tries to get a little randy but fails to get it all the way up. Some detractors will point to those tracks and say, “SEE?! It’s not perfect! How dare anyone even attempt to call Ready To Die a followup to Raw Power?” but the truth is (and those who get it will understand) that no Stooges album has ever been perfect; in fact, one of their greatest charms is that they flaunt their imperfections as much as they wear their greatness on their sleeve. The flaws are what make it real and make the great songs that much better.

So who ultimately wins and was right then? Were the fans right to hope for a “follow-up to Raw Power” and did they get that, or were the detractors right that “there is no way to follow up Raw Power”? Well, this writer contends that this album serves both perfectly; Ready To Die has some great moments which live up to the standard of Raw Power, and some which fall so short it’s laughable. Some may curse and call that contention a soft option, but wasn’t the dichotomy that Iggy and The Stooges – and The Stooges before them – always straddled? Weren’t they they band who rocked like hell, even as they were shooting themselves in the foot, rolling in broken glass or setting themselves on fire? Wasn’t it all as fun, silly, stupid and lighthearted as it was dark and dangerous? Yeah – it was. Ready To Die is too – that’s why it’s the perfect follow-up to Raw Power, or the next in line after The Weirdness or even just the next chapter in the story of Iggy and The Stooges.

(Fat Possum)

Bill Adams is also the editor-in-chief of groundcontrolmag.com

By Matt Hinch

A sky burial is a Tibetan Buddhist practice in which the deceased’s body is left on a high plateau to be eaten by vultures and thus returning the body’s nutrients to nature. It sounds like a gruesome endeavor but since we Buddhists believe the “soul” has left the body leaving it an empty vessel, it is seen as basically no different than regular burial or cremation. (Although I might have a hard time convincing my non-Buddhist family to do this with my body when I take another.)

The concept of a sky burial aligns well with Sky Burial, the Relapse Records debut of Richmond, VA’s Inter Arma. While the sky burial may be a brutal and grotesque sight, there is an understanding and peace of finality in the ritual. Inter Arma’s Sky Burial can at times be brutal, in a monumental way, yet there is an underlying peace to be found within its frigid soundscapes as well.

Inter Arma’s strength is in the creation of mood and weight as referenced on opener “The Survival Fires”. Mammoth riffs rumble forth as if mired in tar, plodding ahead beneath a heavy burden of despair. Blackened, effect-laden vocals cry out with visceral anguish in hopes of an end to the torment. It’s an aural picture painted in varying forms throughout the album and gives the listener a feeling of monument, as if the gods themselves are responsible for the aggressive sounds and detached screams emanating from the sky. As all encompassing as they can be, Inter Arma often strips down to the acoustic level (“The Long Road Home (Iron Gate)”). This relays a decidedly Americana feel when accompanied by lap steel guitars. It’s not exactly melancholic so much as reflective and lamenting.

It all comes back to gigantic sludge in the end. The acoustics of “The Long Road Home” carry into its second part until the façade of acceptance ruptures into full-blown black metal destruction. Tortured screams of deep pain flay the skin from the bones after a soul rending passage which builds and builds upon stacked layers of guitars and desperately emotional soloing.

“Destroyer” is a reimagining of the same named track from their previous EP. Here though, that layering effect takes the track to a different level. Still droney and buzzing with energy, the track is extended giving the bellows and shrieks of a winged predator room to breath before a triumphant finish.

The most immediate track is “’sblood”. Intensely drum driven with straightforward riffing, it pounds the listener into submission. And when everything drops out leaving the guitar to its isolation, the effect is striking and possibly the best moment on the album.

The ominous sludge and slow-building doom of elephantine riffs that is the hallmark of Inter Arma continues with the stomp and easy sway of “Westward”. Acoustic serenity and haunting theremin embody “Love Absolute”, giving way to the album’s epitaph in “Sky Burial”. The closing track is packed with riffs. Steely, acoustic, massive, frantic and harried. The effect-heavy vocals cascade through the track as if from a distance, howling through the darkness. A myriad of emotion floods the listener in the form of the aforementioned pain and despair, trepidation and eventual catharsis.

At over and hour in length, it can be a challenge to get through but for those with the mental stamina to absorb all Sky Burial has to offer the reward is worth the effort. Beneath the roiling black clouds thundering amid the highest peaks, the process of death’s bodily finality plays out its bloody and peaceful last act. Sky Burial is an intensely powerful, emotional album best enjoyed as a whole. Open yourself to its pleasures and let it reside within you. Enlightenment is near.

(Relapse Records)

According to those who were there, the Milwaukee Metalfest was one of the premier events of its kind in the ’90s, not just in North America, but anywhere.  Sadly, it’s said to have taken a huge nosedive since the turn of the century, and there are all kinds of horror stories about shitty sound, pay-to-play schemes and lack of promotion that plagued the event to the point they had to pull the plug.  I won’t get into any of that here, but you’re more than welcome to read about it in your spare time.

In any case, a new metal festival has emerged in the Milwaukee suburbs, and while it’s much more subgenre-specfic, tis perfectly suited to a doom-metal elitist such as myself:

Dream Death and Penance and Victor Griffin?  Oh my!

Originating in the much-smaller city of Kenosha, the two-day doomfest moved to Milwaukee last year, mere miles from the airport.  Suffice to say it’s still somewhat small-scale–even I haven’t heard of some of these bands.  But if your idea of a good time is two days of downtuned, depressing despondency, I don’t doubt you’ll dig it.  Me, I’m especially stoked to see the reunion of not one, but two Pittsburgh cult acts (even if I already saw Dream Death in their hometown last year), and check out what Victor Griffin’s up to these days.  Not to mention that TGOS and Iron Man are always awesome, and catching Orodruin is always special, since they can no longer come to Canada.

I’m also pretty stoked to see Pale Divine for just the second time–it’s been four years–but my sleeper pick of the fest has gotta be King Giant.  The Virginia-based band made some noise with their debut Dismal Hollow, which combined civil-war themed lyrics with slow southern doom… oh, and zombies.  They’re set to take the stage just before dinnertime, at 5:15 on Saturday.  I’ll hafta skip dinner cuz there isn’t anybody worth skipping afterwards!

Days of the Doomed III @ The Blue Pig, Cudahy, WI, June 21st to 22nd.  Check out their website for more info.

Peace,

Greg

P.S.: Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter and check out my blog!

P.P.S.: My new radio show, Gruesome Tunes, airs Sunday nites from 6 till 8 (Eastern Time) on Grip of Delusion Radio.  Tune in and drop out!

Live review by Sean Palmerston; Concert photos by Mike Bax, lithiummagazine.com

It was a Friday night not to be missed: one of my favourite Swedish metal bands playing as close to my house as they’ve ever been. Again.

I kicked myself last time around when I opted out and decided against going to see Opeth and Katatonia play just up Highway 6 in Guelph at the Guelph Concert Theater. Having never been to the venue, I had been told it didn’t have great sightlines so I decided against it, only to regret my decision. My friends were raving for days afterwards about the venue being intimate and small with a decent view almost everywhere, so this time when it was announced both bands were coming back I figured I’d better go.

Katatonia has been a point of frustration with me for the past few albums. While I like what they have been doing since becoming a more melodic metal act, I have never clicked with any of their modern albums in the same way I did with Brave Murder Day and Discouraged Ones nearly fifteen years ago. A lot of that had to with the production on the new albums I discovered after seeing them play some of their newer tracks live. The newer songs seemed to take on a new life live, with the guitar tones exhibiting just enough grit that I’ve had to go back and revisit their most recent album this past week. A nice surprise.

After hearing mixed reviews of the previous Opeth show here at the beginning of the Heritage tour cycle, I was more than prepared for the possibility that this could have been a very mellow, more prog rock set than the other times I have seen them. This wasn’t really something that concerned me, for I have always been of the opinion that Heritage is a fantastic album. I was delighted when they opened the set with an excellent rendition of “The Devil’s Orchard”, but I was absolutely over the moon when they followed it up immediately with “Ghost of Perdition” and, this was a real shocker, “White Cluster” off Still Life. I wasn’t expecting anything that old to be played at all, so witnessing this live was a wonderful thing.

The set continued on with a few more gems as well: Damnation track “Hope Leaves” was a nice surprise, but hearing them do “Demon Of the Fall” in an acoustic format was simply stunning. It was something completely unexpected. The set ended with a rousing version of “Blackwater Park”, something I was hoping they’d do but didn’t actually imagine they would. Yes, for me personally this was a good night.

I’d feel amiss if I didn’t mention how Mr. Akerfeldt remains one of the funniest front men in metal music. His dry sense of humour is really very Scandinavian but it is also so hilarious. If someone were to put out a record of just his in-between banter I’d buy it! He had a few zingers this evening: making Axe play 12 bars of a Root song with him when a fan upfront yelled for “Freebird” (!), making his lead guitarist do the Rudolf Schenker backwards strut and claiming it as important as Chuck Berry’s duck walk or Abbath’s crab walk, and – the funniest part of the night to me – singling out my pal that I went to the show with for being from Gothenburg, Sweden. My pal Mikael had been yelling at them in Swedish all night, so just before “Haxprocess” Mr Akerfeldt says “the only person in here that will know what I am saying is the guy from Gothenburg who has been yelling at us all night, but this next song is called…”

On the way home my pal asked me if he heard him right, which I told him he did, and then he bitched to me about how Akerfeldt introduced everyone in the band in Swedish, but then called himself “Michael”. Ah, I guess you had to be there, and if you weren’t you missed out on a great show to boot!

All photos are used with permission of Mike Bax and lithiummagazine.com. Please check them out online!

Jeff Hanneman photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Last Thursday came the quite surprising announcement that Jeff Hanneman, longtime guitarist and founding member of Slayer, had passed away at only 49 years of age. The announcement sent shockwaves through the metal community: at first no one wanted to believe it was true. After all, this was a member of the mighty Slayer, a band most of us felt were eternal and would never die. But alas, Mr. Hanneman succumbed to liver disease, supposedly brought on because of a spider bite which took him out of the band’s touring line-up some two years ago, only to return for a few songs when The Big 4 tour made a few select US tour stops.

While we have all had the weekend to think about Hanneman’s passing, it truly will be months and months before his legacy will be properly documented. With that in mind, here are a few tributes from members of the Hellbound.ca writing staff:

ADRIEN BEGRAND

For years and years, no one Slayer guitarist was above the other in my mind. I never paid much attention to the songwriting credits as a teen because the liner notes in the cassettes were always so lousy, so as a result it was always “King and Hanneman” responsible for those towering riffs and atonal, dive-bombing solos. That all changed when I got a review copy of Slayer’s Soundtrack to the Apocalypse box set in 2003. On disc three were some home recordings by Jeff Hanneman of him working his way through early renditions of “Raining Blood” and “South of Heaven”. Wait a sec, I thought, as I started digging around to see which guitarist wrote which Slayer songs, and I was floored by what I found. Nearly every single classic Slayer track, with only the exception of very few, was written solely by Hanneman. That was the tipping point for me; no one member of Slayer was above the band, but without Hanneman’s creativity, Slayer would truly be nothing.

If I were to single out one song that Hanneman wrote himself, it would be “The Antichrist”, from 1983’s Show No Mercy, a song I first heard in 1984 on the Banzai Records release of the Haunting the Chapel EP. There’s not much to the track – structurally its blatantly indebted to Venom – but there’s such potency and pure evil in that deceptively playful descending, four-note riff, and Hanneman’s solo – the second one you hear, and the longest – has a musicality and structure to it that’s surprising these days, accustomed as we are to the more abstract soloing style he’d adopt in the years to come.

KYLE HARCOTT

Me at thirteen.
South Of Heaven:
“South Of Heaven”
“Ghosts Of War”
“Cleanse The Soul”

Most of all,
“Spill The Blood”.

Those fucking riffs.
All of them.
Hair stands up.

The whole thing:
Jeffrey John Hanneman.
Soul of Slayer.
Rest in peace.

ROB HUGHES

When I think about Jeff Hanneman, I can’t help thinking about the legendary guitar team of Hanneman/King. They were a devastating duo, up there with Smith/Murray and Tipton/Downing. Their playing worked in harmony, sure, when the riff required it. So many iconic Slayer moments came out of this—think of the opening of “Raining Blood” and that chilling, dramatic riff exploding between Lombardo’s thudding tom-toms. But there was the sense, especially early in their career, that it was an uneasy alliance. Each guitarist staked out his own territory, musically and visually. King had his studs, spikes and crimson BC Rich; Hanneman looked like a surfer dude gone bad, brandishing his classic black Les Paul. The lyric sheet in Hell Awaits noted, “LEADS – HANNEMAN, KING, HANNEMAN, KING, HANNEMAN, KING,” lest you mistake one for the other. There was always that back-and-forth tension fuelling Slayer’s dark power. That’s what audiences fed off of, and even though Slayer’s original twin guitar team won’t ever be seen on stage again, people are going to be losing their minds to that music for years and years to come.

LAURA WIEBE

I was never fortunate enough to cross paths with Jeff Hanneman directly but, like most metalheads, I can say that his work in Slayer had a dramatic impact on my musical experiences and taste. Back when I was still just discovering underground metal, I found a copy of Slayer’s Haunting the Chapel on vinyl – it turned out to be the heaviest album I’d heard up to that point in my life, and Hanneman song after Hanneman song made it on to my eternal playlist from there on out. I still remember the visceral exaltation of experiencing “Chemical Warfare” live when I first got a chance to see Hanneman and company in Toronto, before the release of Divine Intervention. As good as Jeff’s band mates are, it hasn’t been and won’t be the same without him.

SEAN PALMERSTON

The first time I remember seeing or hearing anything to do with Slayer was the late spring of 1985. A local stereo shop in the town I grew up in stocked all of the Banzai Records releases, which became the gateway for my friends and I to underground metal. I was 13 at the time, in grade eight at the local catholic school, and I would go down every Friday night and buy a different LP or cassette. On one spring Friday in particular I plopped down my $9 on the Banzai Axe compilation album, which we thought was a great deal because it came with a bonus 12″ for the same price. It was.

Shortly after Trouble’s Sabbath-worshipping “The Tempter” finished I got my first dose of (what was then) the lightning fast riffery of Slayer’s “Evil Has No Boundaries”. I remember being blown away by the fact there was a lead break almost as soon as the song started. I was intrigued and, as a 13 year old ex-altar boy, a little frightened by what I heard coming out of my speakers. I had only six months ago been introduced to Venom by another boy in my neighbourhood (hi, Rik Cudmore) and to my pre-ten ears Slayer was the most extreme, frightening and exciting thing I had ever heard. Of course, by the time they got to Reign In Blood about fifteen months later, they had upped the ante even more so and Mr. Jeff Hanneman was very responsible for that album’s ferocity.

Rest in Peace Mr. Hanneman, your influence on metal music will remain for decades to come.

Review by Laura Wiebe; Photos by Adam Wills

Last year some of the original members of Florida extreme metal pioneers Death got together with special guests to play some shows. The all-star metal entity they created, Death to All, served a three-part purpose: pay tribute to the work of Death founder Chuck Schuldiner, increase awareness about musicians’ lack of health care benefits in the U.S., and raise some funds for Sweet Relief, a charity that offers financial help to career musicians with medical problems.

Death to All regrouped in 2013 to continue this quest, performing just over a dozen shows in North America. Genre-defying Vancouver artists Anciients, who released their debut album Heart of Oak this April, joined Death to All for every date but the final tour-capping performance in Mexico City. Hellbound caught the bands’ last gig together at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto.

Anciients took to the stage at 8:15 with album opener “Raise the Sun.” The guys’ band shirts represented a mix of citations, with singer/guitarist Kenny Cook donning a Death tee, drummer Mike Hannay a Rush shirt, bassist Aaron “Boon” Gustafson offering a visual shout out to Barn Burner, and guitarist Chris Dyck displaying a Sacrifice logo. He later appreciatively dedicated “Faith and Oath” to Sacrifice, members of whom were in the room.

Anciients’ set was a mix of technical intricacy and heavy groove, intense and laid back. The continual shifts between styles gave their songs a persistent forward momentum and the mix of instrumental and vocal towns guaranteed a rich palette of textures. They played several other tracks off Heart of Oak, including “Falling in Line,” “Overthrone,” and “Giants,” with more emphasis on doomy progressive death metal than on some of the more psychedelic elements of their sound.

Although it was the band’s first time performing in Toronto, they clearly have a loyal fan base in development, even provoking the makings of a mosh pit. Their set was heavy and solid, the only real weak point a couple of solos veering off in odd directions. Before Anciients finished, their tourmates attacked them with silly string, ensuring their finale was both memorable and light-hearted.

Death to All’s set began just shy of 9:30, after a slideshow lead-in featuring snapshots of Schuldiner with various other folks and a gradual build-up of dark and heavy atmospheric sound. Like a time machine, the tour brought together members of Death’s Human line-up – drummer Sean Reinert, bassist Steve DiGiorgio, and guitarist Paul Masvidal – with Max Phelps (Exist/touring member of Cynic) stepping in on vocals and guitar.

Reinert was the first to appear on stage but was quickly joined by the others, and aside from the guys looking a little marked by the years, it was like stepping backwards more than two decades to revisit a tremendously formative era in the history of death metal. Crowd appreciation registered immediately, with a pit breaking out during the first song.

The set list pulled from the first four full-length Death albums: Scream Bloody Gore (1987), Leprosy (1988), Spiritual Healing (1990), and Human (1991) – punctuated by a few short speeches reminding us what the night was about. With tracks like “Suicide Machine,” the band delivered an incredibly heavy experience, performing death metal distilled to its essential components. Phelps eerily evoked Schuldiner’s aura visually and sonically, but DiGiorgio stole the show in terms of visual spectacle, coming off as both entertaining and imposing, both aspects only heightened by his bass solo midway through.

After nearly an hour the band stepped out of the spotlight to turn our attention to a memorial video featuring clips of Schuldiner and Death. After this short interlude, Death to All returned to the stage to end the night with a few more brutally heavy tracks and a reminder of Death’s contributed to the early death metal scene. Though revisiting Schuldiner’s musical legacy meant the sense of collective loss was strong, the sense of fellowship was stronger. In the end it was less for sadness than a cause for celebration.

By Gruesome Greg

Pretty sure this B.C. band’s name is Mexican slang for fucking, which means I like them already. They give us ten tracks of dirty, sleazy heavy petting rock on their debut album, which lasts for nearly 40 minutes—much longer than most chingadas.

“Early Grave” begins with could best be described as a hyper-sexualized wail, announcing the upcoming Led Zeppelin-influenced Rocky Mountain Hop in true Jimmy Page fashion. “Snake Eyes” keeps it going with a slow-rolling groove reminiscent of “Good Times Bad Times,” and actually includes the line “take it sleazy.” Don’t mind if I do…

“Catty!” is actually a little more laid-back, sort of a cross between Fu Manchu and substance-addled Aerosmith, particularly in the vocal department. “Loose My Mind” also offers up some desert-rock grooves, this number being substantially longer at a shade over six minutes, with more of a Kyuss vibe. Really dig the slow, bluesy breaks that have my head nodding in appreciation. This tune takes a pretty sweet psychedelic turn around the four-minute mark before returning to the heavy blues-based goodness. Great, great track.

After more of a southern, country-fried foray in the aptly-named “Country Mile,” which sorta sounds like a Joe Walsh solo cut, the title track brings back the rock at a more frantic pace, this one offering some decent chugging with a snake-like breakdown that lashes out like a Mexican bullwhip. The chorus really hits the upper register, a high-pitched wail that would make Axl Rose wince, but hey, it’s all good…

These guys may not be reinventing the wheel, but as practitioners of the world’s oldest profession, I can dig their modern take on classic rock… ¡Chinga tu madre!

(Self-released)

Alas, when I saw Ghost the first time around, they only had the debut album to draw from.  I was quite surprised at how many kids were both moshing and singing along to the likes of “Elizabeth” and “Satan’s Prayer,” but their performance didn’t strike such a chord with me.  While I wouldn’t say they’re all smoke and mirrors, they definitely used a lotta smoke.  And I thought they sounded rather wimpy in the live setting–a softer, more sensible sound is the last thing I wanna hear.

So no, I won’t be at the Opera House to see Ghost tomorrow, though I don’t doubt they’ll draw a decent crowd.  I’m hereby filing them next to KISS in the “bands I had to see once” folder, far from the “mandatory attendance at every opportunity” file.  And speaking of KISS, well, their hooded counterparts have come up with an exciting merchandise opportunity that’ll have Gene Simmons drooling with delight…

That’s right, it’s a Ghost dildo!  If you love the vocal strains of Papa Emeritus so much that you’d insert him into your anal orifice, do we have a screaming deal for you!  For the super-low price of $199.99, you’ll receive the following:

1 x Exclusive Papa Emeritus II Dildo Puppetmaster T-Shirt (only available with this item)
1 x Bible box case with Gold embossed artwork and red velvet lining.
1 x Divorce paper scroll with customised Ghost foil emblem.
1 x Ghost B.C. brushed metal logo charm.
1 x Bronze effect metal butt plug with moulded Grucifix logo base.
1 x Sculpted black silicone Papa Emeritus II dildo.

(Thanks, Backstreet-Merch.com!)

Interestingly enough, the t-shirts only come in men’s sizes.  I’m trying to figure out where the “Grucifix” buttplug would go, then…

Peace,

Greg

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P.P.S.: My new radio show, Gruesome Tunes, airs Sunday nites from 6 till 8 (Eastern Time) on Grip of Delusion Radio.  Tune in and drop out!

By Jonathan Smith

Altar of Plagues‘ Teethed Glory and Injury sounds like it owes much more to the band’s experimental split with Year of No Light than it does their last full-length album, 2011′s Mammal. This latest release comes off as a transitional album, one that offers a promise of things to come as well as retaining an organic connection to the band’s previous efforts. I choose the word “organic” to describe Altar of Plagues’ recent approaches to both sound and song-writing because the aesthetic transitions heard here are not smooth. For all that they make sense musically, they often come off as rough, messy, and at times even underdeveloped. The result is an exciting record with fantastic moments which potentially bode very well for the future. It is also an album that, because of its transitional sound and rough edges, is for me difficult to love as unconditionally as I loved Mammal.

In sharp contrast to Mammal‘s atmospheric and epic black metal sound, Teethed Glory and Injury is composed of shorter songs and demonstrates a wider musical pallet. The first track,”Mills,” is a dissonant opener that brings to mind the sound of a band arriving on stage, plugging in their instruments, and preparing to strike those opening cords. When they do, one can hear echoes of fellow acts Year of No Light and even Nadja. However, this association abruptly ends with the jarring transition into “God Alone,” a song which sound like a more jagged version of the Altar of Plagues listeners have come to know. “A Body Shrouded” is almost psychedelic in its relaxed pace. “Burnt Year” features rhythmic, stomping drums that give way to a frenetic black metal progression that features James Kelly‘s most shrill vocal performance on the album. Then there is “A Remedy and A Fever,” a song which mostly serves as an extended transition from the former track into “Twelve Was Ruin,” which ends on a more familiar but ferocious black metal note. It is throughout these three tracks that listeners are treated to the frequent use of electronic and ambient elements. These additions really work and are hopefully developed by the band in later releases. “Scald Scar of Water” mixes all the elements heard so far, and is solid even though it lacks the unexpected characteristics of previous tracks. “Found, Oval and Final” harkens back to “God Alone”; its groove is punctuated by well-placed drums and sharp power chords. “Refection Pulse Remains” ends the album on a (relatively) upbeat-sounding note before shifting into one last burst of industrial noise.

If Teethed Glory and Injury has a central flaw, it is that the vignette-like nature of its individual songs and transitions means that it also lacks the cohesiveness of their previous full-lengths. It is thus much less of a smooth listen from start to finish. At the same time, the songs do not stand alone enough to be completely separated from the whole. Whatever greater metamorphosis Alar of Plagues’ sound is undergoing, it does not feel complete at this point. Nevertheless Teethed Glory and Injury remains a strong release for the present, as well as a sign of more possible transitions to come.

(Profound Lore)