Machine Head – Catharsis
If it feels like another lifetime since Robb Flynn invited us all to let freedom ring with a shotgun blast that’s because, well, it is. In the intervening years, Flynn and his Machine Head bandmates...
View ArticleFuneral Shakes – Funeral Shakes
This eponymous début album from Watford’s Funeral Shakes (Silent Cult) is the sort of record that could be part of rebuilding your faith that your favourite rock’n’roll band can still be the last gang...
View ArticleBlack Moth – Anatomical Venus
Anatomical Venus (New Heavy Sounds), the third album from doomy Stoner Rock outfit Black Moth is the sort of album that can get those usually jaded rock critics very excited indeed. It has a number of...
View ArticleThe Dead Daisies – Burn it Down
In the ever-changing world of rock and metal, where scenes and trends seem to come and go as quickly as fashion seasons, there is an argument for reliability and consistency; a bolt hole for knowing...
View ArticleBetween The Buried And Me – Automata 1
Surpassing expectations is never an easy thing to do. In the case of North Carolina’s Between The Buried And Me, the speculation over what this most idiosyncratic of bands would do next has ranged from...
View ArticleIhsahn –Ámr
Confession time, part one. Ihsahn has been one of those artists that I have found much easier to admire than love. Whilst that admiration has been sincere and deeply held from his time in Black Metal...
View ArticleFive Finger Death Punch – And Justice for None
If there is one phrase that is certain to make your humble scribe’s blood boil, then it is that oft-used lazy epithet, “guilty pleasure”. This particular phrase became common currency at the start of...
View ArticleSvalbard – It’s Hard to Have Hope
When someone uses the words “It’s a grower”, it is invariably journalistic shorthand for a record that they wish they liked more than they did on first listen. There are lots of reasons for this: the...
View ArticleZeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit
It would be fair to say that Zeal & Ardor’s arrival in the conscious of the metal scene in the early part of 2017 was greeted with a combination of surprise, incredulity and excitement. There...
View ArticleLucifer – Lucifer II
Whilst there is no pre-requisite for nominative determinism in music, when you call your band Lucifer, you do set a bit of an expectation that your sound is going to, at the very least, a bit dark and...
View ArticleRise Against – The Ghost Note Symphonies Vol. 1
In a move that shouldn’t have surprised anyone given the band’s long standing modesty, the sudden appearance of new music from Rise Against still feels like it came out of nowhere. 'The Ghost Note...
View ArticleAlice In Chains – Rainier Fog
Even if F. Scott Fitzgerald’s maxim that “There are no second acts in American lives” has anything approaching a ring of truth, then, clearly, no-one told Seattle’s Alice in Chains. It is now sixteen...
View ArticleTherapy? – Cleave
'Cleave' (Marshall) marks a return to the sound that was perhaps best exemplified by their 1994 classic album 'Troublegum' (A&M). Songs as infectious as a cold on the first day of school and an...
View ArticleBlack Peaks – Bossk – Gold Key: Live at The Underworld
It’s a sell-out. This won’t come as any surprise to those who have followed the rapid, upward trajectory of Brighton’s Black Peaks but this is, as they say, a bit of a “moment” for a band that many...
View ArticleArchitects – Holy Hell
Well, prepare to buckle your swashes, gird your loins and grab yourself a massive thesaurus because you are about to go on the hunt for the lost superlative. 'Holy Hell' is a record of sublime fury; a...
View ArticleFever 333 – Strength in Numb333rs
Confession time: I came late to the letlive party. So late, in fact, that the band were just about to call it a day when I decided that they were, you know, more than just pretty good. Yes, that kind...
View ArticleArchitects: Live at Wembley Arena, London
And so, to Architects at Wembley Arena. You start off with one of those angel/devil on your shoulder conversations about how this could be a really great way to spend a Saturday night or, conversely,...
View ArticleIthaca – The Language Of Injury
Those of you with a keen ear to the underground Metal scene will doubtless already be familiar with Metallic Hardcore outfit Ithaca. Whilst it has been several years in its genesis, The Language Of...
View ArticleO.R.k. – Ramagehead
No, I have no idea what a Ramagehead is either, but this quixotic and enigmatic title seems entirely apposite for a third album of psychedelic Progressive Rock from this most discerning and intriguing...
View ArticleThe Finer Things In Life – An Interview With Talanas
One of the more promising metal bands from the UK is London-based Talanas. Mat Davies sat down with guitarist/vocalist Hal Sinden to discuss every Talanas, his appreciation for the finer things in life...
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