RSS

I’m a “metal” (used in quotes here because I sometimes deviate from playing metal on my show because of my short attention span and my belief that - OH LOOK A SHINY THING!) DJ at a college/community station in Canada. This means I have a wide range of material that I can play. The only real guideline I have to meet is that a percentage of the music I play needs to be Canadian. Also, CJLO tells me that some of my show needs to be new music. Now I’m a person that likes efficiency, so if I can find something that is both Canadian and new, well, I just get “pleased as punch.” Here’s the trouble though: Canadian metal artists either aren't consistently releasing new stuff or aren’t sending it to us at CJLO (hint hint, nudge nudge). This means that I normally have to get either something Canadian or something new, which means I have less time to play things that are neither, which means I become sad.

So imagine my happiness when Kataklysm released their newest album, Heaven’s Venom. It was both new and Canadian, so naturally I went to it without hesitation, and was pretty happy with the results. Of course, I’ve been happy with their output in the past, so I had no reason to think I wouldn’t this time. I was happy to see that the band’s “northern hyperblast”, as they dub it, or “awesome” as I call it, was in full effect for this album.

Now I’ve been hard on death metal albums in the past, but for some reason this album didn’t force me into a state of boredom the way others have as of late. I can’t really explain it, because, really, if you like one Kataklysm album, the chances are that you’ll like all Kataklysm albums; they have a formula that works for them and they stick to it. This usually leads me to get bored with a band quickly (see Shadows Fall) or cause me to hate what they’re doing outright (see Linkin Park).

So does this sound like other Kataklysm albums? Yes. If you like death metal and blast beats and angry vocals, will you like this? Probably. Is it a huge genre defining album the likes of which has an originality all its own? Not so much. It borrows from pretty much all other cues of the genre, and for that matter other Kataklysm albums; but hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, am I right? The album sounds great, the song writing is aggressive, the blast beats are brutal, and basically everything is pretty damn great about it.

So, if you’re in need of some metal “comfort food”, check out this album. You won’t be blown away, but you’ll feel better, and sometimes that’s all you need.

-Andrew Wixq hosts Grade A Explosives on Thursdays from 3-5pm

A Quebec company is looking to launch a new pay by the minute car sharing service in Montreal.

Communauto is hoping the success of the Bixi bikes in Montreal will translate to a success in the car sharing business. The Bixi’s and the car sharing service work similarly.

The plan is to spread about 400 cars downtown in areas like the Bixi’s. These cars could be taken without reservation or limit. After they could be parked at one of many designated parking locations, or any legal parking spot. A smartphone then helps customers looking for the nearest available car.

While the cost has not been confirmed a company official has said the price would be around $0.50 a minute, or $14 an hour up to a maximum of $65 in one day.

The plan is still in the works though. Communauto is in talks with the city which would have to approve the idea. Problems such as what cars to use and insurance issues still remain.

Communauto’s plan would like to imitate the successful Car2Go service that started in Germany in 2008 and has since spread to the United States.

In a turn of events, Concordia’s Judicial Board has reversed the disqualification of Your Concordia from the CSU election. The team is now able to act as Concordia’s Student Union next year and is no longer banned from running for or holding office for two years, as prescribed in Chief Electoral Officer Oliver Cohen’s ruling. Action, however, was not so lucky. The board upheld their disqualification.

Both Action and Your Concordia appealed their disqualification Wednesday. Issues regarding postering and campaigning were discussed in both cases. Action was accused of campaigning during the polling period and Your Concordia was accused of fliering after the campaign period was over. For the most part, both teams used lack of evidence and unclear rules as their defence. Both teams also complained about lack of communication with Cohen, saying they were never informed of any of their violations during the action election. Cohen argued that both Khallil Haddad and Lex Gill, Presidential candidates, signed a form stating they knew the rules.

The two team’s election expenses became the focus of both hearings. In the end, neither team will have their election expenses reimbursed. There was some discrepancy over whether Action filed theirs in time. Cohen maintained he waited around all day and never heard from either team so he left his office around the time of the 5:00 deadline, but couldn’t be sure he was there until the last minute. Action President candidate Khalil Haddad said he was there before the deadline but Cohen wasn’t there. He says he slipped it under his office’s door, and that’s how it was found Monday morning. 

As for Your Concordia, Cohen cited multiple problems with their expenses. They did not submit them on the proper form, although Gill argued that it was not included in the election package. During his rebuttal, when Cohen reached the topic of Your Concordia’s election expenses, he began to get irate, even swearing at one point, saying candidates seem to think filing them is just a “mere formality” like, “Who cares about his regulations? We do what we want”. Cohen continued to accuse Your Concordia of filing false receipts, citing prices for printing that don’t match those of quotes he got, as well as incorrect taxes and accused the team of forging signatures because of apparently mismatching handwriting. Cohen also brought up the team’s “sophisticated” website and videos. Your Concordia did not make a claim for making these, as they said it was done for free. Cohen could not believe this and insisted they should have declared the costs. He called their expenses report the “worst [I’ve] ever seen in elections history”. 

Despite Cohen calling their behaviour “disgusting”, the elected Your Concordia candidates will take office as scheduled this summer. There will be a bi-election in the fall to fill the seats that Action candidates were elected to. These include all of the JMSB councillor seats, as well as a senate and ENCS seat. Action candidates will be allowed to run. It is possible that the current CSU will overturn the decision to disqualify Action at their next council meeting. A 4/5 majority vote is required. 

Although the hearings lasted well over eight hours, the proceedings run fairly smoothly. A petition asking the board to honour the results of the election was denied by the JB as they wanted to rule based on the facts, not the opinion of students. However, in a surprise twist, one of the board members, Yuri Kuczer, was forced to walk out after it was pointed out that he was no longer a student, since he did not register for any classes in the Spring semester. Members of the Judicial Board must be students.

In federal election news, the Liberal and NDP parties may need to consider merging the centre left, according to one Liberal senator. Sen. Larry Campbell told reporters in Vancouver Tuesday that this may be the only solution to beating conservative leader Stephen Harper.

Campbell said that when the Conservative party merged with the Canadian Alliance in 2003, they had little in common. However, he suggested that there is a lot of agreement in the major points of both Liberal and NDP parties.

While sen. Campbell's leader, Michael Ignatieff, calls the Liberal party the only party that can be a governing alternative to Harper,  recent polls show otherwise. A surge in NDP support shows the federal elections have turned into a three-way race. Without a merger, it's unsure if the Liberals can get the majority of the votes cast against Stephen Harper.