Thursday, April 26 2007
Out of Shadows, Shining Ever-Bright
After catching the reunited '80s-era, Ronnie James Dio-helmed Black Sabbath on tour in Canada, Begrand looks back on an oft-neglected period in the metal titans' career.
Thursday, September 7 2006
Notes from Underground
Begrand hits the traveling metal show Sounds of the Underground for nine hours of mayhem, moshing, and merch. And though this town's put the kibosh on mosh, there's plenty of familiar sights and sounds, from Metallica wannabes to papier-mâché phalluses.
Tuesday, August 15 2006
Postmortem
Hallelujah, it's raining blood! The Unholy Alliance Tour, a veritable distillation of the current state of contemporary metal on wheels, descends upon Western Canada and finally ends Begrand's 22-year wait to witness Slayer in the flesh.
Thursday, July 13 2006
Complex Simplicity
Voivod vocalist Denis 'Snake' Belanger speaks candidly about the new Canadian Prime Minister, today's subordinate youth, and the 'emotional dimension' involved in creating a new album built around the guitar tracks of his deceased friend and bandmate, Denis 'Piggy' D'Amour.
Thursday, May 18 2006
The Great Beast Resurrected
The long, strange trip of seminal metal band Celtic Frost is unexpectedly outfitted with a new plot twist: a new record that redefines a career over 20 years after it began.
Monday, April 17 2006
The Time to Kill Is Now!
The least poetic of metal bands, Cannibal Corpse has gone to disturbing lengths to make gruesomeness its cold, calculated calling card.
Thursday, March 16 2006
The Queen Isn’t Dead
Fearing an embarrassing failure on the scale of the Star Wars prequels, Begrand braves Queensryche's new sequel to its 20-year-old masterpiece Operation: Mindcrime.
Wednesday, February 15 2006
The Profits of Doom
A once-uncool and admittedly limiting metal subgenre is poised to become the Next Big Thing in loud music -- that is, if the metal community lets it guard down long enough to accept it.
Friday, January 27 2006
Sweet Relief
What if you could have the majestic intensity of metal music without the overblown male bravado? One Dutch band's frontwoman sheds some light on goth-tinged rock and single-handedly alters the dimensions of doom.
Monday, December 19 2005
The Best Metal Albums of 2005
From metalcore to hardcore, guttural growls to soaring falsettos, and unabashedly sludgetastic to downright operatic, the cream of this year's metal crop is as eclectic as it is provocative.
