Grand Magus – Triumph and Power
When I first popped Triumph and Power, the 7th album from Swedish trio Grand Magus I was taken aback. It had been a long…
heavy metal
Slough Feg – Digital Resistance
By Danielle Griscti Even if, like me, you’re not exactly an expert on SLOUGH FEG, I’m willing to bet your face will hurt by…
Ashes of Ares – Ashes of Ares
By Jason Wellwood When Matt Barlow left Iced Earth the last time, I thought he had retired from music for good. Needless to say,…
Iced Earth – Plagues of Babylon
By Jason Wellwood Apparently Dystopia was a hard act to follow for Jon Schaffer and company if the reviews I’ve seen are to be…
Satyricon – Satyricon
Hellbound Metal: “Satyricon took a chance when they first ventured into black’n’roll territory on Volcano, and many of us were ecstatic. Nothing made more sense than the ceilingless fury of black metal put to driving, Motörhead pace. It made instant converts of many. Now Satyricon seek to further push that envelope, a phoenix once again reborn from its own ashes.”
My Dying Bride – The Manuscript EP
Hellbound Metal: “A wonderful soul-searching blast of heaviness from one of Britain’s greatest metal bands.”
Black Sabbath – 13
Hellbound Metal: “It sounds awful, but 13 is not a bad album – it’s simply not the Black Sabbath album that a lot of fans will accept as a rousing return.”
Sylosis – An Interview With Josh Middleton
Sylosis have just unleashed their latest masterpiece Monolith through Nuclear Blast on October 5th. On this, their third album, the band has taken their blend of progressive thrash and moved things forward. While still a complete ‘shred fest’, Monolith has more feel to it, more ambience if you will. Taking the band to record where giants have tread before (Monnow Valley Studio, which has housed Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Rush to name a few) seems to have given Sylosis the ability to convey mood a little more, and dial back on the technicality of their songs. Monolith is a fantastic achievement for this young band, and I had the pleasure of speaking with founding member/guitarist/vocalist Josh Middleton a few days after the North American release of the album.
Eluveitie – The Early Years
The Early Years is a decade of primal folk, and a document that has evidently shaped one of metal’s most extreme divisions today.
Interview with Yasin Hillborg, director of Så Jävla Metal
Currently set to celebrate its Canadian premiere at the NXNE festival in Toronto, Så Jävla Metal is a documentary about the evolution of heavy metal music in Sweden. The film traces the beginnings of heavy metal through hard rock, beginning with bands like Europe, and continuing to trace the development of the sound as the music became heavier. It contrasts the way that Swedish metal grew up in tandem with metal in North America and other places in Europe, specifically in Norway, where the violence of black metal is contrasted again Swedish death metal. Writer and director Yason Hillborg found the time to talk to Hellbound about the documentary, his vision for it and his experiences making it.