Ten reviews you might have missed

Reviews from Thursday 23 July 2026

LIVE: 2000Trees 2026 – Saturday

And now, the end is near, and so we face the final day of 2000Trees 2026. It’s been beyond a blast, but it’s not over yet: we’ve got new favourites, old friends and one heck of a headliner to mark the close of the biggest little festival in the

Wednesday 22 July 2026

LIVE: 2000Trees 2026 – Friday

It’s even hotter today, but we’re not throwing in the towel yet. 2000Trees Friday sees the return of the mighty Arcane Roots, gives us a chance to release our Cancer Bats, and kicks us into the heaviest day of the weekend! Words: Kate Allvey // Photos: Penny Bennett and Paul

Mimi Barks – ‘DREAMSTATE OF FEAR’

Trap, like rap and hip-hop, is largely a solo pursuit. The individual needs to stand out. Hence with each release Mimi Barks’ image changes, as does her sound. It’s a state of constant reinvention making it hard to pin down exactly who she is or what her music will

Monday 20 July 2026

LIVE: 2000Trees 2026 – Thursday

2000Trees weekend only comes once a year, and nothing as trifling as a heatwave is going to hold us back from the (other) Happiest Place On Earth. Today brings up last-minute line-up changes, a crowd of thousands who never knew they could love Mariachi music, and a whole lot

Friday 17 July 2026

Flesh Creep – ‘GLIMMER’

Someone, somewhere knows something. It’s not a secret, but they’re keeping it from you. They know it and you don’t. Earlier this year Music For Nations signed Flesh Creep and re-released their debut album ‘We Need You To Bleed’. It’s because they knew. Listening to new EP

Wednesday 15 July 2026

LIVE: Iron Maiden @ Knebworth

Iron Maiden are British metal titans, famous even to those who cower at the thought of distortion. Celebrating their fiftieth year as a band, the Run For Your Lives tour lands in Knebworth for one final extension of last year’s extensive UK performances. They’ve played here before, having previously

The Menzingers – ‘Everything I Ever Saw’

There’s a good chance a lot of reviews are going to slate the new Menzingers record. ‘Everything I Ever Saw’ is so different from their raging punk past, and that’s going to alienate the folk who want to slam their feelings away. With respect, those reviews are going to

Tuesday 14 July 2026

LIVE: My Chemical Romance @ Wembley Stadium

It’s Gerard Way’s World, and we just happen to live in it. Why else would ninety thousand of us be attempting to decipher cryptic messages flashed across the screens of Wembley Stadium in order to try and extract secret messages from our emo prophets mere hours before My Chemical

Friday 10 July 2026

Show Me The Body – ‘Alone Together’

Hardcore is starting to appear to encompass an ever increasing range of musical styles, but at its heart, hardcore remains more than just a sound; it’s an attitude, a community, a feeling. With their fourth full length release, ‘Alone Together’, Show Me The Body capture this spirit

Thursday 09 July 2026

LIVE: Outbreak Festival – Sunday

The final day of Outbreak 2026 brings with it the usual trudge of tired festival-goers, ready for one final day of moshing. It’s still warm, but the cooler breeze and semblance of cloud cover means that the sunburnt are at least unlikely to be any more so by the

Wednesday 08 July 2026

LIVE: SUNN O))) @ Project House, Leeds

Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson stand facing each other, their faces largely hidden by their familiar attire of black hooded robes. Behind them are a series of tombstone-like amplifiers, arranged in a horseshoe shape around the duo. As O’Malley and Anderson simultaneously strike their guitars, the entire building starts

Monday 06 July 2026

LIVE: Outbreak Festival 2026 – Saturday

Day two of Outbreak 2026 sees the opening of a larger outdoor stage, which subsequently becomes the festival’s main stage. It’s a mixed blessing given the blistering sun which reflects off the surrounding concrete into the melting eyes of an audience of punks. Nonetheless, with three stages and a

Friday 03 July 2026

LIVE: Outbreak Festival 2026 – Friday

Outbreak Festival 2026 is filled with nostalgia. There is of course the usual array of hardcore and metal bands – some of which are at the genres’ vanguard – but the occasion has an altogether retrospective feel. A staggering number of the weekend’s performances revolve around album(s) shows, with

Thursday 02 July 2026

LIVE: The Offspring @ Crystal Palace Park

Shows from older punks are a risky prospect. Will it be a nostalgia-fest, re-living the days when they could lace their boots without lower back pain, or will it be a chance to light the flame of rebellion once again? Our experience at the leafy, historic Crystal Palace Park

Wednesday 01 July 2026

LIVE: Alexisonfire + Billy Talent @ OVO Wembley Arena

It’s a hot day…wait, scratch that. It’s the hottest June day since records began. Where better to go to cool off than packing ourselves into a pit for The Only Band Ever? We’d get the Tube twice as far to catch Alexisonfire and Billy Talent’s UK album-in-full team up

Friday 26 June 2026

LIVE: Download Festival 2026 – Sunday

All good things must come to an end, but we’re not done yet. Who can even think about saying goodbye when Spencer Charnas is running around in a Joker costume, RØRY’s baring her soul and Linkin Park are making history in front of our eyes? Don’t forget your sunscreen

Thursday 25 June 2026

LIVE: Download Festival 2026 – Saturday

Clouds threaten, but the only inclement weather on Saturday is ‘November Rain’. Download Day Two sees us fighting for the Fox God with Babymetal, taking in the local Lvndmvrks and an evening with one of the most iconic rock acts of all time. We’ve brought our dogs for a

Wednesday 24 June 2026

LIVE: Download Festival 2026 – Friday

Nothing holds Download back. Not the mud that covers our boots long before the arena opens, not the 100-metre-long queue for the merch superstore, and definitely not our heavy heads the morning after 5ive’s completely unironic cameo at District X. Download XXIII kicks off with a Friday of wildcards

Tuesday 23 June 2026

Exploring Birdsong – ‘EVERY HOUSE WE BUILT’

The comedian Nick Revell once performed a show based on the premise of exploring birdsong. It was hilarious, funny enough to remember decades later. The premise was that beneath the beautiful songs were base emotions. If you understood what the songs were about you would be driven

Friday 19 June 2026

Warning – ‘Rituals Of Shame’

Arriving twenty years after 2006’s seminal, genre-defining ‘Watching From A Distance’, to describe ‘Rituals Of Shame’ as “much anticipated” would be the understatement of the century. As one of doom metal’s most emotionally affecting and resonant records, ‘Watching From A Distance’ was always going to be a