Tag: Canada

• December 23, 2019

  Metal Monday

  Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs’ Method to the Madness

  Much (perhaps too much) has been written about the demise of heavy metal as a commercial force in the wake of grunge in the early 1990s. And certainly, a lot of 1980s cock-rock bands found themselves out in the cold in a post-Nirvana and Pearl Jam world. That was too bad for the Killer Dwarfs,…
• December 16, 2019

  Metal Monday

  Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs’ Dirty Weapons

  On Dirty Weapons, the Killer Dwarfs incorporate more range and diversity in their sound, and the album was a worthy follow-up to Big Deal. The image they portrayed was less goofball than on the previous two albums. But the seriousness that was always a part of their lyrics remained. The eponymous album opener, “Dirty Weapons,”…
• December 9, 2019

  Metal Monday

  Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs’ Big Deal

  Big Deal was, for the Killer Dwarfs, an apt title. The band had signed a contract with Sony for their third album, and had the chance to show that the video success of “Keep the Spirit Alive” was no fluke. That they were, in fact, a Big Deal. Given the video for their first single…
• December 2, 2019

  Metal Monday

  Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs’ Stand Tall

  Stand Tall was the breakout album for the Killer Dwarfs, and if you kept abreast of music videos in the winter of 1986-87, chances are you saw all or part of “Keep the Spirit Alive.” (Not that even such a successful video, played in heavy rotation on MuchMusic, MTV and network music video shows translated…
• November 25, 2019

  Metal Monday

  Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs / Killer Dwarfs

  Fans of early 1980s heavy metal are likely already familiar with the self-titled debut album from the Killer Dwarfs, but if you’re a fan of heavy riffs, soaring vocals and big, stomping shifts in tempo and haven’t heard it, it’s definitely worth a listen. Hailing from Oshawa, the Dwarfs (on this album, singer Russ Graham,…
• March 13, 2016

  Book review

  Canadian cli-fi: Harold Johnson’s Corvus

  Not too long ago I got the chance to interview Canadian author Harold Johnson about his new sci-fi novel Corvus. I loved the way it handled how different things might be by the end of the century, the way he portrayed different aspects of Canadian society — the haves, the have-nots, the differences between how Aboriginal…