METAL REVIEWS: Alaric/Atriarch SplitAs a counter/sub-culture, goth has suffered in recent years. Somewhere along the way, goth fused with the worst kind of Euro trance culture, anime nerd-dom and Victorian-era fetishism. The result has been the laughable and historically inept cybergoth and steampunk sub-cultures, neither of which...
METAL REVIEWS: Full of Hell / Code Orange Kids Full of Hell / Code Orange KidsBringing together Full of Hell and Code Orange Kids is a Nietzschean exercise in nihilism. It's scorched earth policy on this EP, as these two bands unleash a duelling ferocity that hasn't been seen since Alien vs. Predator. This is Full of Hell's first tracks since 2011's Roots of Earth...
METAL REVIEWS: Emmure Slave to the GameThe nu-metal phase of the early '00s left a bad taste in most people's mouths. There are a number of reasons most refer to that period and genre ― if it can even really be considered a sub-genre ― disparagingly, but the most well-known is likely the combination of rap and metal. For a...
CONCERT REVIEWS: Converge / Loma Prieta / Burning Love / Vilipend Mod Club, Toronto ON April 6Toronto's music scene occasionally features an anomaly known as the "early show." Starting at 6 p.m. and finishing by 10 p.m., the early show is what happens at the Mod Club before dance anthems take over on Friday nights. So, in a genre-bending lineup of hardcore and beyond, Converge and guests...
METAL REVIEWS: Pick Your Side Let Me Show You How Democracy WorksMost of the time, when people talk about Pick Your Side, they mention the connection to the band's other projects. Jeff Beckman was previously a member of Haymaker and Left For Dead, while Johnny Ibay plays with Canadian grind royalty Fuck The Facts. These connections are enough to get anyone...
METAL REVIEWS: Countdown to Oblivion DiscographyIf you were going to describe Toronto's punk scene today, two words inevitably come to mind: Fucked Up. Fucked Up have made the city (and country) proud with their unique brand of politicized, smart, genre-bending, punk-meets-everything music. However, way back in 1998, Countdown to Oblivion were...
METAL REVIEWS: Weregoat Unholy Exaltation of Fullmoon PerversityUpon first listen, it's hard to tell if Weregoat are performance art or just the metallic droning of a mentally deranged trio. After careful consideration, it's safe to say they're both. Only a band that have seriously considered and sought out fringe aesthetics and the limits of listenability...
METAL REVIEWS: Wretched Son of PerditionWretched are one of those groups you want to hate, but just can't. Everything they put out is so slickly produced and so full of Auto-Tune-y growls that you want to write them off as just another modern-deathcore-whatever band. The trouble, of course, is that they're just so good. Wretched make the...
METAL REVIEWS: Black Breath Sentenced to LifeFor some reason, Seattle, WA still brings to mind timid, sad Kurt Cobain types from the mid-'90s. You know the kind, with long, greasy hair hanging over their eyes. For many of us, that's the image of Seattle burned into our brains after growing up with Nirvana, forever marking the city. Sure, the...
METAL REVIEWS: Ministry RelapseWe're a long way from 1981, when Ministry first broke on the scene as a dark, goth-y, synth-pop, new wave band. Singles like "(Everyday is) Halloween" and "Over the Shoulder" kicked-off a generation of danceable industrial music that would influence industrial and metal bands in equal measure. As...
METAL REVIEWS: Junior Bruce The Headless KingJunior Bruce are like A389's fun cousins from down South ― while most of the label's releases are supercharged, shadowy black thrash punks from hell, Junior Bruce are the loud-mouthed guys who show up at a party with Southern Comfort and stories about fighting gators back home in Florida....
METAL REVIEWS: Unholy Majesty Unholy MajestyMargate is a sleepy town on England's East coast. If it sounds remotely familiar, it isn't because you've been there, but because T.S. Eliot included it in his tour de force poem, "The Waste Land." Eliot wrote part of his poem there while in the midst of a nervous breakdown and in the poem, Margate...
METAL REVIEWS: Young and in the Way Amen/I Am Not What I AmYoung and in the Way's new double-vinyl release are sort of a reissue, but also debut, since neither of the releases it contains has received a proper release previously. The band put out I Am Not What I Am independently last year, while 2010's Amen has never been available previously...
PUNK REVIEWS: Poison Idea Darby Crash Rides Again: The Early YearsThirty years ago seems like the span of time we should be using to refer to the days of the Beatles or Pink Floyd or some sort of nostalgia period from our parents' generation. Instead, it's the precise number of years since Poison Idea released their Darby Crash Rides Again demo in 1982. In...
METAL REVIEWS: Liberteer Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your KneesExperimentation is the lifeblood of any genre. For any cultural production to evolve, take on new meaning and become relevant to the march of history at a given point there must be some degree of movement away from the status quo. Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your Knees is...
METAL REVIEWS: Loma Prieta I.V.San Francisco, CA's Loma Prieta are one of the most exciting hardcore bands to come along in some time. Since 2005, they've managed to defy easy classification ― any label I could attach to them would instantly need qualification. Are they hardcore, screamo, post-hardcore or something else?...
METAL REVIEWS: Pact The Dragon Lineage of SatanPact (as in, "Hey, let's make a pact with Satan!") are dead serious about black metal, and they have the album art to prove it. A Satan goat with wings spread, gripping a chained priest and a nun by the head? Yeah, this is serious black metal territory. Now, Pennsylvania might not seem like a...
METAL REVIEWS: Integrity Kingdom of Heaven (The Araca Sessions)Integrity are one of those bands that have lived up to their name. Despite a tumultuous career, they've continued to release material with pretty much every hardcore label out there. Their discography is a daunting list of splits, singles, compilations and every inch of vinyl available. Kingdom...
METAL REVIEWS: Whores RuinerRuiner is the debut release from Atlanta, GA's Whores, bringing all the best elements of a big city band that also happen to hail from the South: slow, folk-y Southern drawl riffs mixed with the type of auditory violence that only comes to life in the bustle of an urban night. These guys...
METAL REVIEWS: Pale Creation Twilight HauntPale Creation's Twilight Haunt hasn't really seen the light of day since its original release in 1999, so A389's reissue is a welcome move for fans. It's also a welcome treat for anyone who might be titillated by something that can be described as a fusion of dark, brooding hardcore and...
HIP-HOP: El-P - Cancer For Cure
As a counter/sub-culture, goth has suffered in recent years. Somewhere along the way, goth fused with the worst kind of Euro trance culture, anime nerd-dom and Victorian-era fetishism. The result has been the laughable and historically inept cybergoth and steampunk sub-cultures, neither of which...
Bringing together Full of Hell and Code Orange Kids is a Nietzschean exercise in nihilism. It's scorched earth policy on this EP, as these two bands unleash a duelling ferocity that hasn't been seen since Alien vs. Predator. This is Full of Hell's first tracks since 2011's Roots of Earth...
The nu-metal phase of the early '00s left a bad taste in most people's mouths. There are a number of reasons most refer to that period and genre ― if it can even really be considered a sub-genre ― disparagingly, but the most well-known is likely the combination of rap and metal. For a...
Toronto's music scene occasionally features an anomaly known as the "early show." Starting at 6 p.m. and finishing by 10 p.m., the early show is what happens at the Mod Club before dance anthems take over on Friday nights. So, in a genre-bending lineup of hardcore and beyond, Converge and guests...
If you were going to describe Toronto's punk scene today, two words inevitably come to mind: Fucked Up. Fucked Up have made the city (and country) proud with their unique brand of politicized, smart, genre-bending, punk-meets-everything music. However, way back in 1998, Countdown to Oblivion were...
Upon first listen, it's hard to tell if Weregoat are performance art or just the metallic droning of a mentally deranged trio. After careful consideration, it's safe to say they're both. Only a band that have seriously considered and sought out fringe aesthetics and the limits of listenability...
Wretched are one of those groups you want to hate, but just can't. Everything they put out is so slickly produced and so full of Auto-Tune-y growls that you want to write them off as just another modern-deathcore-whatever band. The trouble, of course, is that they're just so good. Wretched make the...
For some reason, Seattle, WA still brings to mind timid, sad Kurt Cobain types from the mid-'90s. You know the kind, with long, greasy hair hanging over their eyes. For many of us, that's the image of Seattle burned into our brains after growing up with Nirvana, forever marking the city. Sure, the...
We're a long way from 1981, when Ministry first broke on the scene as a dark, goth-y, synth-pop, new wave band. Singles like "(Everyday is) Halloween" and "Over the Shoulder" kicked-off a generation of danceable industrial music that would influence industrial and metal bands in equal measure. As...
Junior Bruce are like A389's fun cousins from down South ― while most of the label's releases are supercharged, shadowy black thrash punks from hell, Junior Bruce are the loud-mouthed guys who show up at a party with Southern Comfort and stories about fighting gators back home in Florida....
Margate is a sleepy town on England's East coast. If it sounds remotely familiar, it isn't because you've been there, but because T.S. Eliot included it in his tour de force poem, "The Waste Land." Eliot wrote part of his poem there while in the midst of a nervous breakdown and in the poem, Margate...
Young and in the Way's new double-vinyl release are sort of a reissue, but also debut, since neither of the releases it contains has received a proper release previously. The band put out I Am Not What I Am independently last year, while 2010's Amen has never been available previously...
Thirty years ago seems like the span of time we should be using to refer to the days of the Beatles or Pink Floyd or some sort of nostalgia period from our parents' generation. Instead, it's the precise number of years since Poison Idea released their Darby Crash Rides Again demo in 1982. In...
Experimentation is the lifeblood of any genre. For any cultural production to evolve, take on new meaning and become relevant to the march of history at a given point there must be some degree of movement away from the status quo. Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your Knees is...
San Francisco, CA's Loma Prieta are one of the most exciting hardcore bands to come along in some time. Since 2005, they've managed to defy easy classification ― any label I could attach to them would instantly need qualification. Are they hardcore, screamo, post-hardcore or something else?...
Pact (as in, "Hey, let's make a pact with Satan!") are dead serious about black metal, and they have the album art to prove it. A Satan goat with wings spread, gripping a chained priest and a nun by the head? Yeah, this is serious black metal territory. Now, Pennsylvania might not seem like a...
Integrity are one of those bands that have lived up to their name. Despite a tumultuous career, they've continued to release material with pretty much every hardcore label out there. Their discography is a daunting list of splits, singles, compilations and every inch of vinyl available. Kingdom...
Ruiner is the debut release from Atlanta, GA's Whores, bringing all the best elements of a big city band that also happen to hail from the South: slow, folk-y Southern drawl riffs mixed with the type of auditory violence that only comes to life in the bustle of an urban night. These guys...
Pale Creation's Twilight Haunt hasn't really seen the light of day since its original release in 1999, so A389's reissue is a welcome move for fans. It's also a welcome treat for anyone who might be titillated by something that can be described as a fusion of dark, brooding hardcore and...
