Ten reviews you might have missed

Reviews from Friday 24 May 2019

LIVE: Chapter And Verse / Delaire The Liar @ Night People, Manchester

It doesn’t feel like an overstatement to say that British alternative music is in one of the best states it’s been in for years. While the big names – bands like The 1975, Don Broco and Nothing But Thieves come to mind – grow ever bigger, there is, more

New Found Glory – ‘From The Screen To Your Stereo Part 3’

In the tumultuous world of pop-punk, where bands lasting longer than a handful of years feels like a rarity, there is one thing that remains ever constant – our studded-belt-and-backpack lords and saviours, New Found Glory. The inspiration for many who’ve come (and gone) after, no rock night

Thursday 23 May 2019

LIVE: Employed To Serve / Devil Sold His Soul / Loathe @ The Garage, London

Album release shows are always a little more special than the average gig. The energy in the room is different, both from the crowd and from the band. The crowd are in attendance to see a band they love perform a brand new set, celebrating their first steps onto

Wednesday 22 May 2019

Petrol Girls – ‘Cut & Stitch’

In late-2018, Petrol Girls released new material for the first time in two years. The three-track ‘The Future Is Dark’ EP was a ferocious onslaught of pent-up anger. It was a raging 15 minutes which held one hand on your throat, clasped your eyes open and screamed

Tuesday 21 May 2019

Defeater – ‘Defeater’

Defeater have been gone a long time, and their absence left a void that was difficult to fill. A band loved and adored for their poetic lyrics and powerful, emotive music, their passionate storytelling burrowed deep into the minds of hardcore kids everywhere. Their last record ‘Abandoned’ was released

Friday 17 May 2019

LIVE: SOAK / Pillow Queens @ Band on the Wall, Manchester

When walking through the rain-sodden streets of Manchester on a supposed spring evening, it can be easy to see where the inspiration for an album entitled ‘Grim Town’ eminates from. Bridie Monds-Watson – aka SOAK – described the title of her 2019 album as being something

Harbinger – ‘Compelled To Suffer’

The definition of a harbinger is anything that foreshadows a future event. An omen or a sign of things to come, such as frost signalling winter or the presence of a robin showing the approach of spring. Harbinger is also the name

Knuckle – ‘Life Is Hard When You’re Soft Inside’

Whether you want to accept it or not, Yorkshire has some real musical pedigree. You’ve got Arctic Monkeys, Rolo Tomassi, and Bring Me The Horizon from Sheffield. From Leeds, there’s Kaiser Chiefs, Pulled Apart By Horses, and Dinosaur Pile-Up. And from Huddersfield, there’s very little – at least according

Thursday 16 May 2019

LIVE: Can’t Swim / Save Face / Coast To Coast @ The Borderline, London

It’s Tuesday night and the weather is dreary. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think it’s a write off… but you do and it isn’t, because tonight, Can’t Swim headline a sold-out Borderline. So you make your way down the stairs and into the already buzzing

Friday 10 May 2019

Charly Bliss – ‘Young Enough’

“The best emotional releases are crying and dancing, so it makes sense to me to marry the two.” It only needs one sentence from Charly Bliss’ Eva Hendricks to eloquently sum up the band’s sophomore record ‘Young Enough’. To some it may be seem like a

LIVE: Spanish Love Songs / Pkew Pkew Pkew @ The Hope And Ruin, Brighton

Starting at the bottom of Brighton’s West Street, heading north away from the sea, you’ll find some familiar names. Wetherspoons. Yates. Revolution. Head a bit further up that road and you’ll find The Hope And Ruin, a quintessential Brighton hipster dive bar. The kind of place that has weird

Thursday 09 May 2019

Employed To Serve – ‘Eternal Forward Motion’

Hardcore and metal are often seen hand in hand nowadays. Bands extract the best elements from both, blending the energy of hardcore with the sheer brutality of metal to form an all out sonic assault; what isn’t quite as common, though, is a band that manages to blend them

Monday 06 May 2019

Kurokuma – ‘Sheffield’s Best Metal Bands Vol.1’

This is a strange little release, to say the least. From the overly confident, compilation-like title, to the extremely varied musical content within, Sheffield psych-sludge trio Kurokuma seem to have one main aim; to confuse, bewilder, and overwhelm the listener. ‘RVN’ opens things up with a hypnotic, churning bassline that

Sunday 05 May 2019

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – ‘End Of Suffering’

As ‘Kitty Sucker’ starts with it’s fuzzy guitar line, Frank Carter declares that he’s a ‘Punk Rock Renegade’, something the British music media has known since he rose to prominence with Gallows. From the snotty, bloody face of British punk, to a one man juggernaut, Frank Carter is starting

Friday 03 May 2019

Bad Religion – ‘Age of Unreason’

There are not many bands that come close to wracking up a career spanning 40 years, there are almost no bands that last 40 years and yet still remain relevant. Bad Religion are not most bands, though, and there could not be a more relevant time for

Thursday 02 May 2019

LIVE: Captives / Cutting Teeth / Values / Foxhaunt @ The Key Club, Leeds

If ever there was a venue we feel like we should probably just move into permanently, Leeds favourite The Key Club is probably it (we’ll bring sleeping bags next time, OK?). Usually playing host to just about every rising band on the circuit from across the globe – we

LIVE: Papa Roach / Nothing More @ O2 Academy, Bristol

As music fans, we go to live gigs for one of two reasons: to make new memories, or to relive old ones. The sold out Nothing More / Papa Roach show at the O2 Academy in Bristol gave the fans the opportunity to experience both at the same time. Opening

Hot Milk – ‘Are You Feeling Alive?’

Every now and again, a new band will come along that demand immediate attention – a ‘no questions asked, drop everything and get listening on repeat immediately’ type of band. Manchester’s Hot Milk fell easily into that category when they appeared in January this year with debut single ‘Awful

Tacocat – ‘This Mess Is A Place’

Seattle has always been a place that spits out genre-defining musicians and bands. Nirvana. Hendrix. Modest Mouse. Ray Charles. But over the last 10 years or so, there’s been a rise in catchy feminist pop-punk – and part of that reason could be Seattle natives Tacocat. Back in 2007, Tacocat

Tuesday 30 April 2019

LIVE: Bloxx @ The Portland Arms, Cambridge

It’s the final night on Bloxx’s extensive UK tour, and The Portland Arms in Cambridge is uncomfortably warm before the band even takes to the stage. Some fans stand coolly with a beer in hand, while others bounce on the balls of their feet with their parents in pure