Traveler

Traveler – Prequel to Madness Review

By Kenstrosity on February 22, 2024 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, 16 comments

“Calgary heavy metal five-piece Traveler received consistently favorable coverage from our beloved Huck n Roll since their self-titled debut dropped in 2019. With Huck‘s retirement just over a year ago, somehow Traveler ended up in the land ov Ken. While the hands of Steel are primed to wield this kind of heavy metal with grace, poise, and POWERS, rest assured that I am versatile, strong, and more than capable of handling these wares. Thus, Traveler’s imminent third launch Prequel to Madness earns a session in my court.” Madness meets Kenness.

Kontact – Full Contact Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on January 19, 2024 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Occult Rock, 32 comments

“When a band draws so clearly on an aged aesthetic, the results can be hard to parse as pastiche, worship, or otherwise. Even moreso in niche corners like the epic heavy metal crowd, where soaring vocals of varying qualities—all hoping to stick in your mind regardless—triumph alongside thick kicks, thicker riffs, and battle-tested builds, worshippers of the riff conflict with worshippers of the riffers. Enter Kontact, a young Canadian troupe whose 2022 release, the cheeky-titled EP First Contact, played tightly on the ideas set forth by the idiosyncratic but ever-mountainous Manilla Road, but with enough of their space-bound palette to paint a few stripes of their own.” Bad touch.

Significant Point – Into the Storm Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on February 25, 2021 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, 72 comments

“Significant Point. This band name has caused some amount of controversy around the AMG beer cooler for its apparent strangeness. Alternative band names such as Topic Sentence and Eminent Predicate were tossed around with mirth and glee, and the sniggering appeared to drown out the thunder in the east, but I still heard the distant rumblings. Significant Point exists to make a significant point potent statement: heavy metal never dies.” Point taken.

Coronary – Sinbad Review

By Huck N Roll on February 17, 2021 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, 21 comments

“I first heard of Coronary when they did a split release with local heroes (and overall excellent band) Traveler a few years ago. While the cuts of the Traveler trio were more raw and old-school, the Coronary selection was more like the offspring of Accept and Judas Priest — and equally invigorating.” Strongbad.

El Cuervo’s and Diabolus in Muzaka’s Top Ten(ish) of 2020

By El Cuervo on December 30, 2020 in Blog Posts, Lists, 103 comments

El Cuervo and Diabolus in Muzaka want in on this whole Top Ten(ish) thing that’s going around. Let them have a turn.

White Magician – Dealers of Divinity Review

By Huck N Roll on November 20, 2020 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Retro Metal, 30 comments

“In the unhallowed halls of Angry Metal Guy World Headquarters, some of the thralls writers wax on about what a great year it has been for death metal. I would put forward that it’s also been pretty decent for traditional/epic/classic metal – or whatever you want to call it. Enter White Magician, a quartet of like-minded classic metal aficionados from Detroit, and their debut release, Dealers of Divinity. These guys hope to take their brand of classic rock and metal all the way to the top. Professing to be a blend of Mercyful Fate and Blue Öyster Cult, could the odds be stacked in their favor?” Mages wild.

Witchskull – A Driftwood Cross Review

By Huck N Roll on May 2, 2020 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Stoner Metal, 17 comments

“The April 24 release cycle is an interesting one for me: three bands I’ve reviewed before are dropping new albums. Since we usually review bands we’ve reviewed in the past, and we also usually review one release each per week, this is a conundrum. I’m too olde and slow to review three albums in a week, but I think I can pull off two. And that’s good news: it means I can avoid what is likely to be another travesty from Road Warrior. Instead I can focus on local up-and-comers Traveler and Aussie rockers Witchskull.” Witchy business.

Traveler – Termination Shock Review

By Huck N Roll on April 24, 2020 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Speed Metal, 44 comments

“We here in Calgary have the reputation of being a bunch of gas-guzzling, oil-loving, separatist-bent, racist rednecks (95% incorrect 92% of the time), but we also have some excellent bands. Woodhawk, Wake, Chron Goblin, and Gone Cosmic, to name a few. Local upstarts Traveler look to join this exalted pantheon of local heavy music gods, and their debut, last year’s Traveler, was a fine first step.” Olde trails.

Traveler – Traveler Review

By Huck N Roll on February 25, 2019 in 2019, Canadian Metal, Gates of Hell Records, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Proto-Metal, Retro Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Retro Metal, 52 comments

“Another month, another retro band dropping an album on our doorstep. Do we need more retro bands? Actually, we need more of every kind of band, if they’re capable of writing great songs. That will be the key here, as local (to me) boys Traveler aim to blow the lid off the retro/proto scene with eight songs of caffeine-injected, high-energy metallic romps down memory lane. In this case, if that lane had a name, it would be Manilla Road (see what I did there?).” Olde but still getting around.