Black Star Riders/Michael Monroe/Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons The Tramshed, Cardiff, 21st Feb 2023 Review and photos Rob Wilkins Changing to self-employed has given me a lot more freedom to move work around to facilitate gigs, so tonight was set up to be the first of three gigs in …
Read More »Review: Bullet for My Valentine/Jinjer/Atreyu – Cambridge Corn Exchange
Opening nights are important to touring bands. They help set the tone for the shows to follow, as well as give bands the knowledge of what works and what they can improve on. With all that said, it’s to the surprise of literally no one that Bullet for My Valentine …
Read More »Review: Those Damn Crows – The Garage, Glasgow
For Bridgend’s famous sons Those Damn Crows, it’s a case of all roads leading southwest to the last date on their ‘Inhale/Exhale’ tour: a headline appearance at the brand-new Swansea Arena. To say that the band’s first Arena headline appearance will be an emotional evening is like saying that the …
Read More »Interview: Shane Greenhall – Those Damn Crows
The continued rise of people’s-champions Those Damn Crows has been one of the most heart-warming stories of the last few years. The Welsh five-piece has really struck a chord on so many fronts and the self-proclaimed Crowfamily grows stronger every day. Album number three ‘Inhale/Exhale’ is set to gatecrash the …
Read More »Interview: Oli Brown
Award-winning British guitarist and songwriter Oli Brown recently returned with his new band Oli Brown & The Dead Collective and their debut EP ‘Prelude’. The four-track offering is more organic and alternative-sounding than Oli’s previous outfit RavenEye, and with much-respected drummer Wayne Proctor alongside him, Oli has produced the most …
Read More »Review: Steve Steinman’s Vampires Rock – Perth Concert Hall
“Do you know where you are?” Perth Concert Hall, baby. The beautiful glass-fronted building is a welcome sight on a very windy Friday night. The foyer is very busy with a mixture of people smartly dressed for an evening at the theatre, and people dressed to rock vampire style in …
Read More »Review: Those Damn Crows: ‘Inhale/Exhale’
Metallica’s forthcoming studio album ‘72 Seasons’ is set to be one of the biggest albums of 2023 regardless of genre. It will undoubtedly be the biggest seller in terms of physical units sold and will be the biggest-selling rock or metal album of 2023. If you judge the importance of …
Read More »Review: Delain – ‘Dark Waters’
Pop quiz, hotshots. Who had Delain down on their 2023 bingo card for producing one of the strongest albums in the first few months of the year? Along with TV personality Carol Vorderman taking the UK government to task for the neverending list of scandals, the return of Delain with …
Read More »Review: Apocalyptica/Epica – O2 Academy, Glasgow
For fans of symphonic metal, the last few months must have seemed as if their lottery numbers came up and it was a triple-rollover. The tail end of 2022 saw both Within Temptation and Nightwish returning to the live arena, and 2023 shows zero sign of letting up on the …
Read More »Review: Tarja – The Garage, Glasgow
Given that Finnish Queen of Metal Tarja last played in Scotland as a member of Nightwish – the band that she departed in 2005 – it’s fair to say that her long-awaited (and delayed by you-know-what) appearance in Glasgow was a tad overdue. Named after 2019’s studio album ‘In The …
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