Magazine

Independent, provocative, now! The CJLO Magazine is the resource for features, reviews, and interviews. Established in 2004, and run by dedicated CJLO volunteers, the magazine covers the latest and best in local and international music, art, theatre, film, festivals, and more!


Metal My Movie: Annette

Viewer discretion is advised before watching this film. Find out more information here.
 

Death Kult Over Black Congregation: The New Wave of Chinese Black Metal

In 2019 and 2020, Pest Productions, A black metal label from China, released two compilations of emerging Chinese black metal on Bandcamp. New bands with a diverse range of black metal subgenres were introduced in the compilations, including old school bm, blackened death, dsbm, nihilist bm, black/thrash, post bm/blackgaze, symphonic bm, as well as folk bm, which gave birth to the New Wave of Chinese Black Metal. This year in January, Pest Productions have returned with the third compilation, bringing more talented Chinese black metal bands to overseas metal fans (I posted links at the bottom of the article of the three compilations which are free to download on Bandcamp).


Underoath - Voyeurist Album Review

Are you ready for a hot take? I... am not a fan of COVID. I know, right now you're sitting there saying, "Andrew, what are you TALKING ABOUT?! COVID has made it so I know how to make bread during the upcoming climate disaster, AND I learned the very basics of a new language so I can trade as I wander the wastelands of our ruined society."


Try A Little Tenderness: Dark Folk Solo Artists As An Introduction to Metal

We get it. Not everyone loves metal like we do. The harsh vocals, heavy distorted guitars and blast beats can often be a turn off. But even the most hardened metalheads didn’t start their musical journey listening to the most brutal of death metal bands. We had to be slowly eased into the genre, beginning with something accessible before diving deep into pure aggression.


Sepultura and Sacred Reich Revive Thrash Metal at the Corona Theatre

The 2022 Sepultura/Sacred Reich tour made its Montreal stop yesterday – uniting metal fans across the city. This much needed gathering came in the wake of the province’s easing of COVID-19 restrictions, with concert venues only re-opening at full capacity five days beforehand.


Metal My Movie: The Velvet Underground

Let me start off with my first experience while listening to The Velvet Underground’s debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, (a collaboration between The Velvet Underground and German singer Nico) which I discovered during my college days after listening to Lou Reed’s Transformer. The album has the rockabilly aspect for sure and it’s nothing too jarring at first. Skip forward to the song “Heroin” - starts off fine but closes with the most chaotic jarring sounds of Lou Reed’s electric guitar and John Cale’s electric viola.

The Cannibalization of Nomenclature in Metal Music: Will We Ever Run Out of Band Names?

From a sociological perspective, music genres have completely plateaued. Analyzing any style of music, from psych rock, hip hop, folk, to metal, undoubtedly reveals a past point of origination and a list of artists who founded the genre within a scene. Easy examples of these historical points are psychedelic rock and the 1967 Summer of Love, disco sprawling out of urban nightclubs in the 1970s, goth rock and the UK scene of the same name in the 1980s… you get the idea.


​Making Films and Making Family: Rhayne Vermette on Ste. Anne

Content Warning: Mentions Indigenous children’s unmarked graves and residential schools

In the opening sequence of Ste. Anne, a lone figure slowly makes her way across a prairie field at dusk. A train whistles in the distance. It’s fall, and foreboding storm clouds have gathered just above the horizon. 

We learn that this is Renée (played by filmmaker Rhayne Vermette herself), a Métis woman whose family hasn’t seen or heard from her in four years, including her young daughter Athene (Isabelle d’Eschambault). 

Now, without a word of warning or explanation, she has decided to come home.


Metal My Movie: Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban

When the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special aired this January, I thought it was a great time to revisit the series as a whole. The first and second film (directed by Chris Columbus, who also directed the first two Home Alone films) saw the series as a fantasy adventure film for the family while staying true to the source material. However, the third instalment of the series shifted to a much darker tone with some of the new characters and the world aesthetics. Director Alfonso Cuarón took the reins from Chris Columbus. In my opinion, his vision created the best gothic lore the film series has to offer and one of the best instalments in the film series overall.

HEAVY METAL BOOK CLUB: Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion

Songs about getting reckless, getting wasted, and getting naked tend to fall in and out of fashion frequently, but for the better part of a decade, they absolutely dominated the airwaves. The hair was high, the clothes were tight, and the dudes looked like ladies, because hard rock ruled, the supply never ran dry, and it seemed like the party would never end. Of course, it did, as all good times do, and no matter how many bands have tried, a true hair metal revival has always been perpetually around the corner, and also forever out of reach. What that era left behind is a legion of true believers, semi-regular airplay in strip clubs and sports stadiums, and the stories. Holy shit, the stories.


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