Ten reviews you might have missed

Reviews from Wednesday 29 March 2023

Samiam – ‘Stowaway’

Don’t call it a comeback. Call it an evolution, a rebirth, a continuation after twelve years of absence for the mostly forgotten cousins of the Gilman Street family, Samiam. After signing to a major in the nineties and touring across every inhabited continent with just about every big alt

Tuesday 28 March 2023

LIVE: Lamb of God / Kreator / Municipal Waste @ Academy, Manchester

Three long years, we’ve waited for this night. Originally scheduled for April 2020, Lamb of God have had to regretfully postpone their ‘State of Unrest’ tour time and time again.

Punk Rock Factory – ‘It’s Just A Stage We’re Going Through’

There’s always room in the punk scene for a little bit of silliness, be it Me First and The Gimme Gimmes belting out ‘Sweet Caroline’ to, well, anything P Paul Fenech from the Meteors has ever released in his solo career. Punk Rock Factory fits perfectly into this tradition,

Friday 24 March 2023

LIVE: Fall Out Boy @ Heaven, London

A slightly drab Thursday in Soho was descended upon by 1,500 eyeliner-clad fans, gearing up for an intimate evening with Fall Out Boy, a band who have been scene definers for the last two decades. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone disappointed at the opportunity to experience a

Fall Out Boy – ‘So Much (For) Stardust’

There are few bands that have such a huge grasp on an entire generational movement quite like Fall Out Boy does. If you were ever an emo kid, either way back in the 00’s or in the last decade, the likelihood of this band having been an uncontrollable obsession

BABYMETAL – ‘The Other One’

Since their inception, duo Su-Metal and Moametal, along with producer Kobametal and the ‘Kamiband’, have strived to meld the worlds of idol pop and metal into a glitter bomb of a genre. As a result, they’ve perhaps had to fight harder than most international acts to find

Thursday 23 March 2023

Bouncing Souls – ‘Ten Stories High’

Most bands pride themselves on a personal connection with their fans, but no-one can be closer to their supporters than the Bouncing Souls. During the dark and tedious pandemic years, the band started a Patreon, and the top tier reward for subscribers: a custom song written just for them.

Wednesday 22 March 2023

Codefendants – ‘This Is Crime Wave’

We all knew that Fat Mike wasn’t going to spend his time off after his run as NOFX’s frontman doing sudoku and baking banana bread. Before the band even ended their farewell tour, Fat Mike had already teamed up with hip hip artist Ceschi Ramos and Get Dead’s vocalist

Ov Sulfur – ‘The Burden Ov Faith’

When Ricky Hoover – he of Suffokate and extreme earlobe fame – revealed the logo for his new band Ov Sulfur, the reaction from across the deathcore scene was rabid. A sold out (and upgraded) debut show at the Freemont Country Club in their native Las Vegas

Friday 17 March 2023

Live: Hundred Reasons, Hell Is For Heroes, My Vitriol @ Eventim Apollo, London

Tonight’s line-up at the Hammersmith Apollo is testament to the power of a dedicated fan base. The three bands playing this evening emerged onto the scene at the turn of the millennium, and it’s clear from the already busy floor that the vast majority of the audience have stuck

Beyond Extinction – ‘Nothing More Wretched’

Beyond Extinction are on something of a tear of late. Having played Bloodstock Festival, toured with the likes of Cancer Bats, Osiah and Viscera, and now gearing up to release their second EP, ‘Nothing More Wretched’, with their very own headline tour across the length and breadth

Wednesday 15 March 2023

World Gone Cold – ‘WORLD GONE COLD’

Imagine the scene, you’re struggling to find a hook to hang your review on, it seems hopeless, but then, you take a swig of a sparkling beverage; it tastes pretty good, it has an unusual flavour, it’s quite refreshing, and then you discover the container is 100%

Monday 13 March 2023

Pop Evil – ‘Skeletons’

There’s something timeless about Pop Evil which is really very appealing. If we told you that they were contemporaries of Linkin Park in their baggy-trousered heyday, you might well believe it based on their sound alone. But this seventh outing for the Michigan group, the latest in a series

Thursday 09 March 2023

Periphery – ‘V: Djent Is Not A Genre’

Ever since their humble beginnings almost two decades ago, Periphery have been pushing, bending, stretching and smashing genre boundaries into a sound that is musically technical and seriously crushing, but also bright, colourful and at times, eclectic. As time progressed, that cocktail ended up being given a name –

Manchester Orchestra – ‘The Valley of Vision’

By now, it’s commonplace for Manchester Orchestra not to be a routine band. Ever since 2017’s ‘A Black Mile to the Surface’, frontman Andy Hull, lead guitarist Robert McDowell, bassist Andy Prince and drummer Tim Very, have branched out from their indie rock roots. ‘The Million Masks of

Wednesday 08 March 2023

LIVE: Mom Jeans, Oso Oso @ Electric Ballroom, London

It’s Saturday night, and the capital city is positively buzzing. There’s even more reasons than usual to pay London a visit on this particular weekend. Whether it was celebrating the football league cup final at Wembley, catching the rugby on the telly in the pub, or watching

Tuesday 07 March 2023

Story Of The Year – ‘Tear Me To Pieces’

Growing old isn’t easy, yet it’s something everyone must do. Time goes on and if you’re lucky you can make your mark, you can make something matters. Story Of The Year have been around a while, they have made some great records. Best described as pop punk

Monday 06 March 2023

LIVE: Enter Shikari @ Outernet

Being a relatively new venue certainly didn’t hold back Outernet as it readied itself to host Enter Shikari. Being three floors below street level does apparently have its advantages, most obviously being the astute absence of light we were plunged into, as silence enveloped the room and

Thursday 02 March 2023

LIVE: Dream Theater, Arion @ Eventim Apollo, London

It’s a chilly evening tonight in Hammersmith ahead of catching Dream Theater on their extensive European tour promoting their latest album, ‘A View From The Top Of The World’. The queue to get into the venue is already snaking its way around the building and theres an air of

Can’t Swim – ‘Thanks But No Thanks’

Since first raising eyebrows seven years ago with the release of their debut EP ‘Death Deserves a Name’, Can’t Swim have remained one of the scene’s most consistent bands. Bolstered by the constant support of Pure Noise Records, they have continued to deliver and impress with each