Venomous Maximus – Firewalker
Though I don’t consider Venomous Maximus to be doom—they’re a little too up-tempo, IMO—these guys definitely stole the show at the third installment of Days of the Doomed fest a couple years back. They...
View ArticleHelloween – My God-Given Right
There is indeed no happy medium with Euro-metal, either it is very good or very bad. Thankfully, on this album, Helloween are very good. Musically, we have some great Iron Maiden-esque songs. One thing...
View ArticleUnleash the Archers – Time Stands Still
Napalm made a very good decision in signing Unleash The Archers: they have all of metal’s strengths and none of it’s weaknesses. Time Stands Still is a very positive, very up album. In some respects,...
View ArticleProgPower 2015: Day 1 (Wed, Sep 9)
ProgPower XVI: Wednesday We arrived to Wednesday’s Midweek Mayhem show in time for Ashes of Ares just beginning their set. We missed out on local stalwarts Halcyon Way, because we arrived in Atlanta a...
View ArticleProgPower 2015: Day 2 (Thu, Sep 10)
ProgPower XVI: THURSDAY The Thursday Kick-Off Show originally featured Royal Hunt frontman DC Cooper performing a set that would span his career; that fell through. No big deal – just add heavy metal...
View ArticleBorealis – World of Silence MMXVII
It’s been nearly seven years since I reviewed an independently-released debut album from a power metal band out of Orangeville, Ontario. I liked the first Borealis record then, and unlike some of the...
View ArticlePounder – Heavy Metal Disaster
What can you say: Matt Harvey is one busy artist. If trying to juggle his other bands Dekapitator, Exhumed, and Gruesome wasn’t enough, he goes and offers us this new project entitled Pounder....
View ArticleArgus – From Fields of Fire
It’s been a while since we last heard from Argus. Their last album, Beyond the Martyrs, was released in 2013, and when combined with a lack of appearances on any notable U.S. underground doomfests...
View ArticleUnleash the Archers – Time Stands Still
Napalm made a very good decision in signing Unleash The Archers: they have all of metal’s strengths and none of it’s weaknesses. Time Stands Still is a very positive, very up album. In some respects,...
View ArticleProgPower 2015: Day 1 (Wed, Sep 9)
ProgPower XVI: Wednesday We arrived to Wednesday’s Midweek Mayhem show in time for Ashes of Ares just beginning their set. We missed out on local stalwarts Halcyon Way, because we arrived in Atlanta a...
View ArticleProgPower 2015: Day 2 (Thu, Sep 10)
ProgPower XVI: THURSDAY The Thursday Kick-Off Show originally featured Royal Hunt frontman DC Cooper performing a set that would span his career; that fell through. No big deal – just add heavy metal...
View ArticleBorealis – World of Silence MMXVII
It’s been nearly seven years since I reviewed an independently-released debut album from a power metal band out of Orangeville, Ontario. I liked the first Borealis record then, and unlike some of the...
View ArticlePounder – Heavy Metal Disaster
What can you say: Matt Harvey is one busy artist. If trying to juggle his other bands Dekapitator, Exhumed, and Gruesome wasn’t enough, he goes and offers us this new project entitled Pounder....
View ArticleArgus – From Fields of Fire
It’s been a while since we last heard from Argus. Their last album, Beyond the Martyrs, was released in 2013, and when combined with a lack of appearances on any notable U.S. underground doomfests...
View ArticleBlack Wizard – Livin’ Oblivion
Black Wizard’s last album, 2016’s New Waste, just narrowly missed our Hellbound Top 10 Canadian albums… and it’s probably my fault. I think I had it at Number 11 or 12 on my own list—not that there was...
View ArticleThe best uncelebrated metal of 2017
2017 was a solid year for metal, no doubt. I’ve noticed, while perusing “year end” lists, a lot of the same things coming in at the top. Credit where credit is due – some of the metal genre’s best...
View ArticleAge of Taurus – The Colony Slain
Age of Taurus, as I last remember them, were a doom band in the British tradition of the genre. Their debut album, 2013’s Desperate Souls of Tortured Times, was very much in the vein of Candlemass,...
View ArticleHoth – Astral Necromancy
Seattle’s Hoth released Oathbreaker back in 2014 and I was captivated. Extreme metal with a Star Wars angle? Sold. But on that album the concept was veiled and perhaps only people familiar with Star...
View ArticleKhemmis – Desolation
It’s not uncommon for a more traditional doom band to take a turn toward power metal—Argus first made strides in this direction with Boldly Strides the Doomed, while Age of Taurus is leaning much more...
View ArticleCloven Hoof in Toronto, September 2018
Cloven Hoof live @ Coalition T.O on Tuesday 18th September 2018 Make way for heavy metal royalty! New wave of British heavy metal veterans Cloven Hoof are making their debut in Canada, with Toronto...
View Article