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.

Listeners will find themselves enraptured by the textures and emotional weight, held in place by the sheer gravitas of the music; delighted by the beautiful contradiction of light and darkness.

“The full effect of the album is best when listening on a good stereo. The aura and dark undertones of Vessels must resonate through the room to connect with our human frequencies. Our flesh and blood are the vessels of light and decay.”

A capacity crowd came together at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre last week to witness France’s mighty Gojira, Canada’s own Devin Townsend Project, and Chicago’s critically acclaimed The Atlas Moth, and what a show it was. Hellbound’s Adam Wills was there to witness the whole thing.

Ritual of Passing is dirty, atmospheric, unsettling and cerebral. Turn down the lights, light some candles and really listen.

I’m not sure exactly what this list means – is this list any better than any of the individual lists? Probably not. Every list that comes out has their own personality, has albums that may be less obvious. But perhaps what this list does show is what the collective metal media thought was the “can’t miss” albums this year.

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…

Kyle Harcott is going to Calgary at the end of the month to the Noctis Valkyries V Metal Fest and is pretty excited about it. Not only does he get to see Venom, Pig Destroyer and Manilla Road, but he also gets to partake in the metal conference during the day. Here’s Kyle’s explanation about why he’s stoked to be going this year.