Album Reviews

With its grey skies and general gloomy demeanour – matched only by Scotland, Blackpool, and Manchester – Seattle is the perfect breeding ground for Punk Rock. The speedy, underground kind of Punk, not the hi-sheen, manufactured sound that tries to pass itself off as “punk” today: 1975 with their “punk” …

By now Canada’s Crown Lands should have made their UK debut opening for Larkin Poe on their UK/European tour, as well as stopping in at Ramblin’ Man Fair for their maiden UK festival appearance. But, shit happens, and in 2020, it sure as shit has happened. Thankfully the duo from …

Coming in at 15 tracks, and 52 minutes in length, no-one could accuse Cumbria’s finest export since the Cumberland sausage; Thirteen Stars, of cutting corners on their latest opus: ‘Finest Ramshackle Jam’. Living in the disposable age of skipping tracks if they don’t instantly grab within seconds, it’s always a …

Founded back in 2015, Smackbound is a new metal band from Finland, although some of the players might be familiar. Guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari treads the boards with Wintersun, Tuomas Yli-Jaskari was the brains behind Finnish metallers Tracedawn, which also featured keyboard player Vili Itäpelto, drummer Rolf Pilve ply’s his trade …

Buoyed by the success of their ‘Don’t Stop The Devil’ single, as well as subsequent music placements in programmes as varied as WWE, Lucifer, Marvel’s Jessica Jones and (ahem) Jack Whitehall’s Travels With My Father, L.A. based Dead Posey strike with sophomore effort: ‘Malfunction’. Expertly self-produced (in their home studio) …

Christmas has come early for fans of The Sword. After a period of inactivity, the acclaimed band from Austin, Texas have released not one, but two career-spanning collections. One of the most respected bands still around today, The Sword expertly meld together a heady brew of multiple genres, they are …

Upon scoring an opening slot on the Mötley Crüe/Def Leppard American stadium tour, ex-Biters frontman Tuk Smith must surely have done a little celebratory jig. No need to point out what happened next, but the good news is that Smith and his band The Restless Hearts are still scheduled to …

“Putting only our name on it is a statement – This is LAMB OF GOD. Here and now.” – D. Randall Blythe. Understatement of the year. Blythe does however perfectly sum up five years of studio silence from the outfit from Richmond, Virginia. What preceded studio album number eight, is …

Norfolk groove merchants Bad Touch return with album number four, ‘Kiss The Sky’. Although it will surely be a case of ‘Kiss The Ground’ when (fingers crossed) Bad Touch pull up outside The Waterfront Studio in Norwich on April 7th next year, for the opening night of a tour which …

With the release of ‘Misery, German symphonic metallers Beyond The Black knew that they were going to ruffle more than a few feathers. Hence it was the first new music from studio album number four; ‘Hørizøns’, to be released. Quite a bold statement of intent really. In essence ‘Misery’ is …