Love

The Magnetic Fields at The Sound Academy, March 30th 2012

Posted on Saturday, March 31st, 2012 at 11:47 pm.

“You can’t bring that in there.”

I resisted the urge to swear and turned around. The security guard shining her light into Dani Couture‘s bag was shaking her head. My ticket had already been scanned, but I turned and walked back to the doors. Despite the pleasant fog of four glasses of pinot grigio, which I’d downed during Prohibition’s “hooch hour” earlier in the evening, I accepted my responsibility for the trouble Dani was having getting in. It was at least half my fault.

“They’re chocolate chips. I was going to make cookies later.” Dani was trying to appeal to reason.

The security …

Tags: Live Review, Love, The Magnetic Fields

The Bond of Fuck The Facts

Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 12:33 am.

Originally written for Exclaim!

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“When things are down, I know that she is there, and because she’s there I knew we’re going to pull through,” says Fuck the Facts guitarist Topon Das on the relationship that drives the band and vice versa. “I don’t remember what it’s like without her.”

Canadian grindcore band Fuck The Facts create music as intelligent as it is aggressive, drawing on experimental noise and jazz. Die Miserable is their new full-length studio album alongside Misery, a self-recorded EP. Die Miserable is a hulking monster …

Tags: Interview, Love, Metal

Enslaved / Alcest / Junius @ The Opera House, Toronto ON, September 30, 2011

Posted on Monday, January 2nd, 2012 at 3:41 pm.

Originally written for Hellbound.

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There’s no doubt in my mind that when I look back on 2011, this show will stand out as one of my top concerts of the year. It was incredibly well curated and all the artists on the bill enhanced and challenged one another. I was initially disappointed that Ghost couldn’t make this show due to visa issues, and wondered how the substitution would affect the line-up. As it turns out, it was a non-issue. The flow of …

Tags: Live Review, Love, Metal

Mares of Thrace / Vilipend / Enabler / Godstopper @ The Shop, Toronto ON, August 12, 2011

Posted on Monday, January 2nd, 2012 at 12:15 am.

Originally written for Hellbound.

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I thought I hated the Shop below Parts & Labour; I have since discovered that I hated the Shop in the winter. There’s no way to stand comfortably with the bone-chill of frozen concrete all around you, burrowing into your joints. Even packed with people, sour and sweaty, nothing felt right. Now that summer is here, I’ve softened towards it somewhat. It’s well ventilated, for a basement, with decent bathrooms, and although it’s still a concrete bunker, the …

Tags: Live Review, Love, Metal

40 Watt Sun — The Inside Room

Posted on Saturday, December 17th, 2011 at 4:54 pm.

Originally written for About Heavy Metal

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The debut album by 40 Watt Sun, The Inside Room, is extraordinary. In a year already rich in excellent releases, The Inside Room shines much brighter than a 40-watt bulb. With all the emotiveness needed to cut a listener to the quick, and none of the drag that often mires the subgenre in muck, this album is nothing short of a doom metal triumph.40 Watt Sun are a lean three-piece featuring Patrick Walker (ex-Warning) on vocals and guitar, William Spong …

Tags: Album Review, Love, Metal

Hellbound Staff Interrogation #13: Natalie Zed

Posted on Friday, October 14th, 2011 at 2:08 pm.

My staff interview, originally published at Hellbound.ca

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Name and Location:
Alias: Natalie Zina Walschots a/k/a Natalie Zed

Base of operations: The Zed Lair, Toronto, Ontario

How did you start writing for Hellbound?
I’ve been a fan of Hellbound since it first came online in June 2009.

In January of 2010, Hellbound ran a contest and I was lucky enough to win. The prize was 50 CDs, many of them signed, as well as a boatload of other swag, all hand-delivered by Editor-in-Chief Sean Palmerston and his impetuous assistant Kieran Palmerston.

As I listened …

Tags: Love, Metal

Cake @ The Sound Academy, May 21st 2011

Posted on Monday, August 15th, 2011 at 4:49 pm.

Originally written for Canada Arts Connect.

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The vast majority of the concerts I go to feature huge, shirtless men with waist-length hair, wielding guitars like weapons and screaming out their inner torment. I like to be in venues that resemble the eighth circle of hell (by Dante’s reckoning) and prefer my percussion to sound like war drums.

But I have a softer side. Even the most calloused eardrums enjoy some tenderness, mine included. When I am in the mood for something with a little less brimstone, Cake are one of …

Tags: Live Review, Love

Gratitude

Posted on Friday, July 15th, 2011 at 11:29 am.

I really have no words to express how overjoyed I feel in the wake of The Wrecking Ball. The event was a grater success that I had ever hoped for.

Thank you to the poets: Dani Couture, Chris Doda, Damian Rogers, and angela rawlings, who performed their poetry brilliantly and got a room full of metalheads clapping and howling along. Thank you the bands: Ein Traum, Vilipend, and Sylvus, who inspired poets to headbang and scream and do the death metal boogie. Thank you to the photographers and reviewers who came, and to the publications who gave us press before the …

Tags: Love, Metal, Writing

Women in Metal: Article Roundup

Posted on Thursday, May 19th, 2011 at 2:14 pm.

I am attempting to put together a list of articles about women in aggressive music: the artists, journalists, and fans. Please let me know about any I may be missing.

“Hardcore Women Crash the Boys Club” by Liz Worth. Exclaim! March 2006.

“Women In Metal” by Julie Pinsonneault. Stylus, March 19th 2007.

“Women In Extreme Metal” by Sarah Kitteringham. BeatRoute, May 2009.

“Women in Metal” by Kristy Evans. East Bay Express, February 3rd 2010.

“No, Seriously, Women Play Metal Too: Thoughts on Revolver’s Golden Gods Awards” by Stabitha Christie. Metal Insider, April 14th 2010.

“Metal Etiquette: A Ladies’ Guide To Concert Going” by Kim Kelly. Metalsucks, October 18th …

Tags: Feminism, Love, Metal

Listening

Posted on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 at 11:52 am.

You can read the original version of this article here, on Canada Arts Connect Magazine.

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This Saturday, I interviewed Toronto metal band Sylvus. The interview itself is currently under construction, and will shortly appear on Hellbound.ca (Note: You can now read this interview here). I sat directly across from guitarist Anastasia Ikonnikova. Sylvus play a wonderfully peculiar kind of black metal, with folk and spacey-ambient influences. The other band members credit Ana’s guitar-playing for creating their sound’s strange, ethereal quality.

“So,” she says cheerfully, …

Tags: Feminism, Love, Metal

KEN Mode/ Purity Control/ Vilipend/ Black Faxes @ the Garrison, March 25th 2011

Posted on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 at 11:25 am.

You can read the original version of this review here, on Hellbound.ca.

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Caveat: I know, and like, many of the people in these bands; I consider them friends, allies and partners. They also deserve to be written about, so I’m going to write about them. Any bias you may accuse me of, I accept.

The night began with Black Faxes, who share vocalist Graham Christian with Teethmarks, a band I saw perform not a week prior. The proximity of these two shows made …

Tags: Live Review, Love, Metal

Your Bearshark and You: Foraging

Posted on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 at 1:58 pm.

While they are unquestionably apex predators, capable of bringing down large prey items with ease, Bearsharks are predominantly foragers. Their ingenuity, combined with their hearty appetite, dictates that they will range far and wide in search of suitable sustenance.

Here we see the BearShark attempting to eat a house cat.

While it’s true that your Bearshark is excellent at finding food and satisfying his hunger, the foodstuff they select for themselves may not always be what’s best for their health. It is entirely possible that your Bearshark, left to his own devices, will consume an entire box of Toffiffee, a bag …

Tags: Bearsharks, Love

Your BearShark and You: A Handler’s Guide. Part One.

Posted on Monday, February 28th, 2011 at 5:29 pm.

I am dating one of the loveliest people on the planet. He’s funny and warm and brilliant and talented, and treats me incredibly well. He is also a total weirdo with many emotions. In other words, he is perfect.

My boyfriend, you see, is not just a boyfriend. He is a Bearshark, one of those very rare and ferocious creatures that roam the wilds of Canada, (if by “roam,” you mean screaming in a band, watching MMA and copyediting). As one of the highly privileged few who has had the opportunity to be a Bearshark Handler, I have begun to put together …

Tags: Bearsharks, Love

Why You Should Go See Razor In Toronto on November 13th 2010

Posted on Saturday, January 22nd, 2011 at 2:52 pm.

You can read the original version of this blog post here.

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I am sitting on a train, travelling between Brussels, Belgium and Frankfurt, Germany. Before Belgium, I was in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, spending my time in coffee shops and sex museums, drinking the cheapest and most delicious beer I’ve ever encountered. And yet. And yet part of me can’t wait to be home. I can’t wait to step off the airplane, leave Pearson airport, and resume my schedule of …

Tags: Love, Metal

My Top Something of 2010

Posted on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 at 12:56 pm.

Everyone is doing these things, so here’s mine. Hellbound.ca has a collective top 20 we put together, but here are the albums I flat out enjoyed the most this year.

Top Ten Metal Albums of 2010

1. AGALLOCH – Marrow of the Spirit (Profound Lore)

2. ALCEST– Écailles de Lune (Prophesy Productions)

3. BLIND GUARDIAN – At The Edge of Time (Nuclear Blast)

4. ANATHEMA – We’re Here Because We’re Here (Kscope)

5. KAMELOT – Poetry for the Poisoned (KMG Recordings)

6. TRIPTYKON – Eparistera Daimones (Century Media)

7. LUDICRA – The Tenant (Profound Lore)

8. KVELERTAK – Kvelertak (Indie Recordings)

9. BORKNAGAR – Universal (Indie Recordings)

10. DANGERS – …

Tags: Love, Metal

A Response

Posted on Thursday, November 11th, 2010 at 4:11 pm.

On November 4th, a review of the Mares of Thrace album The Moulting, written by Erik Thomas, was published on Metal Review. You can read it here.

This review made me almost impossibly angry. It was the kind of red-hot magma flow anger that could not be assuaged by all the counting to ten, deep breaths and violent video games that I could muster. Despite the fact that what I am about to do is arguably very, very stupid, here it goes. I’ve decided to write a response.

This is not a rebuttal in the traditional sense. There’s a general consensus (certainly …

Tags: Love, Metal

Thantifaxath/ Vilipend/ Sylvus/ Eyeswithoutaface @ The Hard Luck Bar, July 22 2010

Posted on Friday, September 17th, 2010 at 6:52 pm.

This review is so strange to me now. It’s one of those pieces of writing that seems to have been done by another person, as an awful lot has happened and things have become much more wonderfully complicated since I attended this show and wrote this piece. Though I had no way of knowing it at the time, it was at this show that I met my mate.

After Sylvus’ set, I’d finished congratulating my friends on a fine show with the newest band line-up, when a young man walked up to me. I didn’t immediately notice how tall he was, …

Tags: Live Review, Love, Metal

Portal/ Krallice/ Bloody Panda @ The Mohawk (Buffalo NY), May 24 2010

Posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 11:30 pm.

Here is my review (originally for Hellbound.ca) of the Portal/ Krallice/ Bloody Panda show that took place at The Mohawk in Buffalo, NY on May 24, 2010. You can read the original here, and scope out some spine-tingling photos by Adam Wills.

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I always feel it is important to provide a little bit of context for my reviews. Every review that I write is profoundly coloured by the state I was in when I attended a particular show. Something as …

Tags: Live Review, Love, Metal

and good will toward

Posted on Saturday, June 12th, 2010 at 5:05 pm.

Damn it. My first real, non-archiving, blog-ish post here and it’s going to be about my feelings.

It’s been an excellent week in Poetry for Natalie Zed. Wednesday night, I read at the 7th installment of the NOW HEAR THIS! Hear/Hear reading series with Angela Szczepaniak and Elisabeth De Mariaffi. The back room we inhabited at the Free Times Cafe was filled with a happy, responsive crowd. Angela and Elisabeth read beautifully; both of them produce (very different) work that is disarmingly funny and devastating by turns. All our work dovetailed together into a performance that felt successful and coherent. I …

Tags: Love, Writing