POWERCHORD RADIO PODCASTS!!!

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Here is the link to all of the Powerchord radio podcasts. If you want to know what bands we are spinning or find out about awesome contests and request songs, like us on Powerchord radio on Facebook.

Some of my favourite shows so far:

Three full hours of CANADIAN METAL from 2014:

I spin my favourite albums of 2014:

An all DOOM/SLUDGE SPECIAL in anticipation for Sleep (I spin the whole Dopesmoker album) playing Vancouver:

I am joined by Cam Pipes from 3 Inches of Blood for a special 2 hour takeover:

Silliness ensues: I am joined by Erik, Coleman and Steve and we get drunk and sing along to random 90’s songs all while playing crushing metal:

I am joined by Chris, my partner in crime, as he spins some of his favourite new bands:

Fam-Jam special: I am joined by my mom, Debbie, and my sister, Katie and we play some of their favourite traditional blues/rock and roll as a family tribute to the roots of heavy metal:

Thanks for listening in and if you ever want to request songs, please do! We are always live on Saturdays from 1pm to 3pm on CITR or 101.9FM in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada!

Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth, Aeon, Tribulation at Commodore Ballroom – February 11th 2015

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VANCOUVER — Cannibal Corpse performed on a Wednesday night at the Commodore Ballroom and brought Behemoth as their co-headliner.

But first, Sweden’s Tribulation started the night off right with a mixture of old and new metal. It was kind of like a rock and roll/death metal/progressive mix and I dug it. The band played songs from their most recent album, The Formulas of Death.

Aeon, also from Sweden, was the second band up onstage, and they gave their dose of death metal to the crowd but not before a lengthy sound check. Aeon’s vocalist, Tommy Dahlstrom, jerked his mic off throughout the set between his depthless growls.

There are many bands that one wants to see throughout their lifetime and for me, Behemoth was one of them. Excitement grew within the crowd as the stage was outfitted with occult stage props. Vocalist Adam “Nergal” Darski graced the stage with two torches on fire and the band performed “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel”. Halfway through Behemoth’s set a surprise guest helped Zbigniew “Inferno” Prominski on the drums, and the two of them were getting their groove on. The Commodore Ballroom stunk of testosterone, body odour, weed and beer and then Behemoth played their popular “Ov Fire and Void” and the place went a little hazy. It was lovely.

Finally, Cannibal Corpse brought their standard dose of aggressive growls and death metal. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, or maybe it’s because I got thrown on my ass in the pit, or maybe it’s because my taste in metal has evolved but I wasn’t digging Cannibal this time around. They played their popular songs to the crowd’s delight and I sat back and watched the young folk have their time in the pit.

By Serena Navarro

Thanks to Beatroute for the opportunity to review this show.

First published article: Auroch’s Taman Shud stands alone.

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VANCOUVER — Music can be twisted and warped; what once was in pure form is now cut a million times over. Yet Auroch continue to strive towards an uncooked perfection with their new album, Taman Shud. “We don’t believe in cheating,” Auroch’s guitarist and songwriter Sebastian Montesi says against cut and paste methods of modern recording. “We want it to be authentic and genuine…and really struggle to get it done.”

After releasing their first record, From Forgotten Worlds, in October 2012 on Hellthrasher Records, Auroch were readied for change. Profound Lore Records, a Canadian label and home of Dead Congregation, Agalloch, Leviathan, and Mitochondrion, was a first choice for the band. Together they released Taman Shud, Auroch’s second full-length album, on June 24th.

Montesi and bassist Shawn Hache were joined by drummer Zack Chandler in 2010 inspiring a major change in the band. “We started to be more focused and cohesive as a unit,” Montesi recalls. “And our sound shifted towards death metal…we started to write material that wasn’t just throw away demo material.”

“I don’t have any problems with having a label or classification,” Montesi tells me about Auroch’s genre or sound, “but I will leave that to other people to figure out.”

Taman Shud is a fast-paced, no-fat kind of record, understandable since Auroch wrote it in six months and recorded it in 10 days. “The element of struggle or suffering is stripped from it if you take the time to do it over and over again…there should be the raw passion in it,” Montesi explains of the recording process.

Art and music can be about discovering that creation on your own terms, defining your own experiences and finding them in the music. “There are themes and stories, allegories and mysteries in [Taman Shud] that are there to be solved,” Montesi explains. “We don’t want people to solve them. Whether someone solves it is up to them, but it’s not really something that we’re going to go and spend all this time masking, all this time making sure that everything is meticulously done, and all the lyrics are exactly as they should, all the formulas precise, and then reveal it in an interview.”

Exploring Taman Shud might lead you into calculated chaos of dark and violent technical metal. If you like searching out the horrific then this album is for you.

Auroch kick off a European tour/album release party at the Biltmore Cabaret on August 22nd.

By Serena Navarro

Thanks to Beatroute for publishing my first article.

Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Black Crown Initiate, Necronomicon at Rickshaw Theatre – July 4th 2014

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VANCOUVER — Conquerors of the World Tour arrived at the Rickshaw lead by Septicflesh from Greece and Fleshgod Apocalypse from Italy. Black Crown Initiate, a progressive metal band from Reading, Pennsylvania, and Necronomicon, a blackened death metal band from Montreal started the night.

“Stench of the Iron Age,” a track from Black Crown Initiate’s first EP, was being played when I found my way to the stage. It began slowly with a beautiful guitar riff and clean vocals but surged into death growls and fast drums. This band knows how to create a balance and the crowd dug it.

Necronomicon brought the windmills, the noise and the makeup. The set consisted mostly of their new album, Rise of the Elder Ones, and a couple old songs as they have been active for over 25 years. Necronomicon had a clean, heavy sound with lots of double kick, which reminded me of Behemoth.

Fleshgod Apocalypse, a technical symphonic death metal band, began their set with soprano singer Veronica Bordaccini eerily walking onto the stage in a mask and a Victorian dress. They sounded grand and atmospheric which was extremely present in the song “Minotaur.” They ended their set with “The Forsaking,” with a piano driven melody and melodic drumbeat that infused the crowd and got heads swaying.

Suns, moons and skinless bodies adorned several white banners for Septicflesh’s arrival. This Greek symphonic death metal band played songs off their last three albums. Titan, their ninth studio album, has arrived faster and heavier than the ones that preceded it and the crowd wasn’t complaining as a circle pit arrived. The climax of the night came when “Persepolis” was played and the crowd arranged for a wall of death.

By Serena Navarro

Thanks to Beatroute for the opportunity to review this show.

I am really digging Black Crown Initiate