canada

by Cosmo Lee It’s hard to believe that 3 Inches of Blood ever got tagged as “metalcore.” Minus vocals, they’ve always played traditional metal. The “metalcore” tag came from the fact that one of their two vocalists screamed. Also, perhaps people confused their Iron Maiden-inspired guitar harmonies with those of metalcore, which ripped off Swedish […]

Devin Townsend is one of the few exceptions I’ll make for over-production. His music almost requires it. I say “almost” because his recent album Ki has a relatively stripped down sound that fits its material. Otherwise, Townsend’s music and production are inseparable. An unabashed fan of Def Leppard’s Hysteria, he modernizes its “more is more” […]

Pictured: Let the Night Roar In metal, fast is glamorous, while slow is often overlooked. I get sent a lot of great slow stuff, so I’m starting this column to feature some of it. Doom, sludge, stoner, and post-metal are all fair game. Get off the lead foot, and get on those lead boots. Let […]

VaderPhotos by Chris Rowella With few exceptions, Connecticut’s metal scene lacks talent and cohesive support. People come out for Ozzfest and Emmure, but not much else. Thankfully, a variety of international bands temporarily buried that fact at Hartford’s Webster Underground last Friday. I arrived too late to see Rose Funeral, but their cookie-cutter deathcore holds […]

In the past two years, no label has pushed metal’s envelope more than Profound Lore. Proprietor Chris Bruni has diverse yet impeccable taste, resulting in a steady stream of critically acclaimed releases. (See this interview with him here.) Notables in 2009 include Saros (review, interview), Cobalt (review), Amesoeurs (review, review), YOB (review), and Crucifist (review). […]

Today Voivod’s Nothingface turns 20. I wonder if it was a kind of Black Album for Voivod’s fans. Its prog rock was such a change from the twisted thrash of previous albums. Also, it was the band’s first major label record. Did people cry “sellout”? Having discovered Voivod with 1991’s Angel Rat and not hearing […]

When Earache Records approached me about giving away a “football scarf,” I had to Google what that was. I am a fan of neither the American nor the international forms of football. In the former, men in tights run at each other in 10-second spurts interspersed by adverts. In the latter, men run around not […]

Stenchcore??? Evidently, that’s the name du jour for the mix of d-beat, crust punk, hardcore, grindcore, and metal that bands like Atakke and Hellbastard peddle. I won’t get into the subgenre soup that surrounds this stuff (stenchcore vs. crustcore vs. mincecore vs. grindcore, etc.). My general impression is “when crusties (hence the “stench,” perhaps) go […]

Catness Will Prevail I got Austin at a no-kill shelter. That doesn’t sound very metal, but it is true. When I got him, half his teeth were rotted and they had to be pulled out. (Ed. note: That sounds very metal.) I can only assume that being as hardcore as he is, he never had […]

Culted Moving time for me is fast approaching. To lighten my load, I’m giving away 25 sludge/stoner/doom metal CD’s. These subgenres have become independent scenes, but they overlap in sound enough for me to lump them together. “Slow and heavy” is all the “scene” one needs, no? These CD’s consist of demos, promos, and finished […]