Ten reviews you might have missed

Reviews from Wednesday 06 May 2026

Basement – ‘WIRED’

Eight years ago, Basement released ‘Beside Myself’. The band took a break after this release, extended into uncertainty by successive lockdowns. In one world, this could have been the last anyone ever heard of Basement. Thankfully, driven by renewed perseverance and creativity, Basement have now found themselves reborn with

Tuesday 05 May 2026

Frozen Soul – ‘No Place Of Warmth’

“I invoke war” roars Frozen Soul’s powerhouse vocalist Chad Green on the second track of ‘No Place Of Warmth’, the band’s mammoth third full-length album. One can’t help but hear it as a battle cry, a statement of intent, one that aims to

Wednesday 29 April 2026

LIVE: Supersonic Festival 2026, Birmingham

Hidden within the increasingly gentrified confines of Digbeth, Birmingham, Supersonic Festival has been a sanctuary for underground and experimental music for over two decades. Now earlier in the year than usual and scaled-back to two days, the festival nonetheless continues to champion music and culture indiscriminately. It’s for this reason

Friday 24 April 2026

Portrayal Of Guilt – ‘…The Beginning Of The End’

Trying to pigeonhole Portrayal Of Guilt’s sound has always been a fruitless task. The Austin threepiece have been releasing their own brand of twisted darkness for nearly a decade now, effortlessly fusing influences as broad as black metal, death metal and noise rock to create their own

Wednesday 22 April 2026

Knife Bride – ‘SORRY ABOUT THE PLAGUE’

When the black death struck Europe in the mid-1300’s it was devastating. Maybe there was something in the air. Maybe it was punishment from an angry God. People died. They weren’t ready. They tried to protect themselves with sweet-smelling herbs, they held up charms, and they called

Friday 17 April 2026

Skindred – ‘You Got This’

A new Skindred record is always a cause for celebration, and doubly so when it’s as crammed with as much self-belief as ‘You Got This’. While their sound has mellowed of late, like on 2023’s ‘Smile’, their latest offering is somewhat of a return to fiery form: just as

Wednesday 15 April 2026

Teen Suicide – ‘Nude Descending A Staircase Headless’

The most immediately notable aspect of Teen Suicide’s latest offering – ‘Nude Descending A Staircase Headless’ – is that the production value is great. This is worth pointing out as the band initially made a name for themselves as a lo-fi project; ‘NDASH’ is the first time that Teen

Tuesday 14 April 2026

Tired Of Fighting – ‘AND THEN SUDDENLY IT HITS YOU’

You’re tired. We’re tired. Everyone is tired. Reading the news or comments from writers can make you ask yourself: Where did the malaise come from? Is it even real? Was everyone always this tired? Is now actually the tiredest part of history or have we just worn

Friday 10 April 2026

Palette Knife – ‘KEYFRAME’

Imagine an artist. A painter. Their work, their art, isn’t just about ideas. It’s about expression, the form, the way they paint the picture. Maybe they choose water colours, they might choose to work with oils or acrylic. They might use a brush to apply paint to

Love Rarely – ‘Pain Travels’

Covering themes of generational trauma and toxic familial relationships, ‘Pain Travels’ seems a particularly apt title for the debut album of Leeds-based mathcore/post-hardcore quintet Love Rarely. Written and recorded by the band over the course of a year, Love Rarely admit themselves that the album took a

Thursday 09 April 2026

Sugar Horse – ‘NOT A SOUND IN HEAVEN’

It’s time. That slow, creeping sense of dread. The feeling that plans were being made, that schemes were being hatched, and that something evil is brewing in the depths of Brighton. Yes, Sugar Horse are back with their third full-length record. If you’ve followed their career, you’ll

Wednesday 08 April 2026

As Everything Unfolds – ‘DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?’

Take the time to reflect. Sit a moment with your sadness. Watch a drop of condensation snake its way down a window pane. Imagine the route it will take, the direction it will travel, and observe its path. It seems to be going where you hoped. Until

Tuesday 07 April 2026

LIVE: Grade 2 @ O2 Islington Academy 2

Sandwiched between a Wagamamas and a Uniqlo is a little slice of old school punk heaven. It’s Grade 2’s album launch show and we’re here to celebrate the music of 1977 with the future of the old school scene. As a crowd, we’re a tight fit into the venue,

Friday 03 April 2026

SUNN O))) – ‘SUNN O)))’

For almost three decades, SUNN O))) have consistently left listeners struggling to describe the ineffable sounds that Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson create. Genre-wise, most reach for terms like “doom” or “drone” metal, but those are insufficient descriptors. It’s like saying that Dick Van Dyke has a Cockney accent

Wednesday 01 April 2026

Grade 2 – ‘Talk About It’

Grade 2 are the best kind of young punk heroes. Five albums into their quest from the Isle of Wight to the glittering heights of Campbell, California, the trio have somehow managed to sound more like Rancid than Rancid ever did. It’s more than that though; the trio give

Friday 27 March 2026

Don Broco – ‘Nightmare Tripping’

Don Broco are now on the Dark Side. Gone is the whimsy that punctuated their earlier albums. They’ve kept the electronic hints, of course, but taken their sound in a distinctly heavier direction on their latest offering, ‘Nightmare Tripping’. It’s hard to believe that ’T-Shirt Song’ was only a

Thursday 26 March 2026

Winterfylleth – ‘The Unyielding Season’

There’s a cold remoteness that resonates throughout black metal’s complex and not always pleasant history. It’s often the music of isolation, and many of the genre’s most identifiable characteristics – high-pitched screams, brisk tempos and coarse recording qualities – possess an innate relationship with absence; of light, company, temperature,

Wednesday 25 March 2026

The Casualties – ‘DETONATE’

You hear it all the time. That same phrase. ‘They don’t make music like that anymore.” Honestly, they do. Whatever it is, whatever you like, there is a band out there somewhere doing your thing, you just have to look for it. The Casualties are a hardcore

Tuesday 24 March 2026

Blush Puppy– ‘HERE YOU DREAM’

Names are important. You can tell a lot from a name. Butch conjures a very different mental picture to Clive. You’d imagine a band called Cannibal Corpse sounding very different to one called Floral Tattoo. Could you imagine REM making it big if they’d stuck with one

Monday 23 March 2026

Free Throw – ‘MOMENTS BEFORE THE WIND’

Honesty is a strange thing. It isn’t the same as lying, but it’s not the same as truth either. A song doesn’t need truth to feel honest, just like how honesty isn’t always true. One of the best things about music is that it’s so conflicting, so