There’s nothing easy about the album; no chant-along moments that incite crowds and establish instant followers. Everything with this affair is begrudging and hard-won on both sides of the band/listener relationship. Yet those who stick around long enough will realize that sometimes it’s those things we fight hardest for which wind up being the most enduring. To that extent, You Are Beneath Me is case in point.

Fans of the hardcore spectrum yet consistently pegged as metalcore, Parkway Drive have never been considered an outright metal band. However, with latest endeavour Deep Blue, they just might be responsible for blurring that thin, thin line to an incredibly indiscernible extent.

Is this what happens when hardcore grows up?

If you like it mean, fast, crusty and hammering, check out Goner, it’s a housewrecker of a disc.

The vinyl section of hellbound.ca is suffering a review shortage and while our discussion and review of these latest releases from Baltimore’s A389 Recordings won’t get this little bit of online real estate swinging like a 70s key party, it will at least take it off the proverbial life support of the past few months. Egads! There’s a certain amount of analogy in that metaphor as these two bands, as solid, serviceable and enjoyable as they both are, aren’t going to be the ones to set the world of extreme music alight.

Overall, Our Circle Is Vicious is an amusing if not altogether convincing move; decidedly slower than it seems it should be and while that ensures faster tunes blind-side, it also means enduring some plodding, almost boring songs at the same time

Leaden and imposing while still agile and heated, Black Eye Blues isn’t redefining the world of hardcore overall but it’s still bold, inspired and original enough to be stunning.

Hellbound readers, please welcome aboard Natalie Zed! Natalie was our big grand prize winner back in January, taking home more than 50 CDs + and shortly after she received her huge box ‘o CDs, Ms. Zed asked us over at Hellbound HQ if we’d be interested in running reviews of her winnings if she did postcard sized reviews of the albums. How could we say no?

So, without further adieu, here is Natalie’s first installment in what Hellbound likes to refer to as “Postcards From Natalie Zed”…