Twin Peaks On Opium – An Interview with Altaar
There’s something stirring in the Norwegian fjords. Norway has always been a major contributor in the extreme metal field; Audrey Horne, Kvelertak, Dunderbeist and Djerv are the most notable recent...
View ArticleThe Dillinger Escape Plan – One Of Us Is The Killer
Shall we start by getting the superlatives out of the way first? One Of Us Is The Killer is the finest record that The Dillinger Escape Plan have released. Period. It is a record so good you keep...
View ArticleWelcome To McDonalds, Can I Take Your Order? – Interview with the Melvins
The Melvins are without a doubt one of the most influential bands within the rock, grunge and metal scene. Their latest musical exploit is an album full of covers, entitled Everyone Loves Sausages. Mat...
View ArticleDesert Storm – Horizontal Life
Desert Storm‘s latest record, the alcohol soaked Horizontal Life is a slice of dirty rock n roll, served with plenty of chutzpah and a side order of filthy riff making. You do have to pinch yourself...
View ArticleChaostar- Anonima
When you write a review of a band and their latest work, where there has usually been at least a modicum of hard work put in, but you personally don’t like the fruits of the proverbial labour, an easy...
View ArticleKarnivool – Asymmetry
Progress. If there is one word to neatly sum up the implicit expectation we have of our bands and artists then it is surely progress. To hear a band grow, develop, reach and achieve is surely one of...
View ArticleNecronomicon – Rise Of The Elder Ones
Ok, let’s get any confusion out of the way before we begin. This is the latest album from the Canadian Necronomonicon, not the Brazilian one, nor the German one. Ok? Still with me? Great, you’ll be...
View ArticleArckanum – Fenris Kindir
Sweden’s Arckanum have been ploughing their particular black metal furrow for over twenty years now so the arrival of a new album gets greeted with something akin to a shrug of the shoulders rather...
View ArticleHaken – The Mountain
British progressive outfit Haken have slowly but most assuredly built themselves something of an avid following over the past couple of years. This might be stating the bleedin’ obvious but this is...
View ArticleProg From Down Under – An Interview With Karnivool
2013 is turning out to be quite a special year for Australian progressive metallers, Karnivool. A critically acclaimed new album Asymmetry adding significant numbers to an already burgeoning fan base,...
View ArticleLinkin Park – The Hunting Party
I’ve never been a fan of the phrase “guilty pleasure”. I think you either like something or you don’t, especially when it comes to music. Notwithstanding, admitting that you quite like Linkin Park is...
View ArticleBlues Pills – Blues Pills
Once in a while a record comes along that knocks you sideways. Once in a while a record comes along that isn't just about flailing around like dying fish, furiously howling at the injustice of having...
View ArticleLacuna Coil – Broken Crown Halo
There is an awfully thin line between dependability and predictability; a line that can drop you into the camp of much-loved or much-derided, dependent on where that line falls. Consider the latest...
View ArticleSteve Hackett – Genesis Revisited: Live at the Royal Albert Hall
Memory doesn't half play tricks on you, you know. I don’t think there was ever a time when the live album was an important part of the progression of an artist but I seem to remember from my own youth...
View ArticleAccept – Blind Rage
They say that you can’t keep a good man down. In the case of German Heavy Metal outfit Accept, that should probably read “you can’t keep good men down”, as their latest record, the considerably more...
View ArticleDownset- One Blood
Do you remember Downset? If you were around buying CDs and records back in the 1990s, then you will definitely remember them. They found themselves, probably unfairly, badged with the epithet “rap...
View ArticleDeathstars – The Perfect Cult
You know that feeling… The one when you've waited a long time for something and you soooo want it to be great but, when it arrives, it turns out to be less than great and, whilst it’s not terrible,...
View ArticleWovenwar – Empress AD: Live at Camden Barfly, London
If you’ve never been to Camden’s Barfly, the first thing that strikes you is just how tiny it is. Like, really tiny. You can stand right at the back of the room, by the bar and feel like you’re right...
View ArticleMaybeshewill – Fair Youth
Since c.2005, Leicester (UK)’s Maybeshewill have curated their art in that strange netherworld of post-rock with a sense of style, passion and insight that is to be applauded. Fair Youth (Superball),...
View ArticleSólstafir – Otta
Part of the role of a music critic is to separate the wheat from the chaff; the superlative from the humdrum; the lasting glory from the flash in the pan. Additionally, part of the role of music critic...
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