Ten reviews you might have missed

Reviews from Monday 14 August 2017

LIVE: Aversions Crown / Venom Prison @ Boston Music Room, London

Ahead of their performances at this year’s Ieperfest, Australia’s Aversions Crown have teamed up with one of the UK’s fastest rising bands, Venom Prison. The two bands have embarked on a six date tour across the UK and tonight sees them kick start their ‘Xenocidal

Hundred Suns – ‘The Prestaliis’

The problem with side projects and so-called supergroups is that they are almost always going to be compared to the members’ main endeavours, and this does not always look favourably upon the new project. The important thing is to be more than the sum of your parts, and many

Saturday 12 August 2017

Khmer – ‘Larga Sombra’

Music is often a direct product of its creators’ natural environment. It’s no coincidence that the snow-covered forests and mountains of Norway birthed the cold, bleak sonic landscapes of black metal; nor is it that the arid, sun-baked deserts of the United States produced the leading lights of the

Friday 11 August 2017

LIVE: Milk Teeth / Employed To Serve / Wallflower @ The Borderline, London

This tour is a real breath of fresh air for the scene. It provides punters with the rarity of a diverse lineup: rock, pop punk, and intense technical hardcore all in one night. All the bands are from our fair shores, and it works incredibly well. Wallflower are quite something

First Signs of Frost – ‘The Shape of Things to Come’

Having been dormant for seven years, First Signs of Frost re-emerge with their first new material since 2009’s ‘Atlantis’, as well as three new band members and a change in sound. In their previous incarnation, the band’s frontman was Dan Tompkins, now of Tesseract, and in the years between they’ve

Wednesday 09 August 2017

LIVE: Bad Religion / Gnarwolves @ O2 Forum Kentish Town

The term ‘heritage act’ has a lot of connotations — one being ‘old,’ another being ‘important yet no longer relevant.’ LA punk legends Bad Religion have been around for a while, so in theory the term could apply to them, but judging by the unpredictable demographic inside Kentish Town’s

Tuesday 08 August 2017

Pet Library – ‘Pity Party’

Formed in early 2016, the Hertfordshire twinkly emo duo have been making a name for themselves within the UK DIY community. Their debut LP ‘Pity Party’ is the magnum opus of all their hard work thus far. Both guitarist/vocalist Tim Andersson and drummer/vocalist George Milner are only 19, but

Monday 07 August 2017

Senior Discount – ‘And That’s Goodbye (Deluxe)’

Let us put this briefly: in track two, there is a harmonica. You can stop reading now if that’s enough information for you to make up your mind. ‘And That’s Goodbye (Deluxe)’ by Senior Discount is a self-indulgent EP release from a band who have never learnt when enough is

LIVE: Blink-182 / Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls @ The O2, London

The gods of pop punk, Blink-182 finally make their way to London Town some two years after Matt Skiba took over from the ever-present, founding member Tom DeLonge. It might seem like that happened a million years ago, but this tour is actually the first time the new line-up

Thursday 03 August 2017

Dayseeker – ‘Dreaming is Sinking /// Waking is Rising’

At the heart of Dayseeker’s third album ‘Dreaming is Sinking /// Waking is Rising’ is an engrossing story told from the perspective of a man put in a vegetative state after avenging his wife’s attackers. Our narrator is reduced to a comatose state while the world around him continues to

Wednesday 02 August 2017

Counterfeit Culture – ‘Deathwish’

Post-hardcore/metalcore newcomers Counterfeit Culture open their account with three-track EP ‘Deathwish’. In a genre where it can be hard for new bands to make an impression, Counterfeit Culture attempt to freshen things up with a tech-metal-style focus on musicianship and for the most part, it succeeds in giving them

Tuesday 01 August 2017

Various Artists – ‘Punk Goes Pop Volume 7’

There are many mysteries in this world that will never be solved. Does the Loch Ness Monster exist? What is the meaning of life? Are Jaffa Cakes biscuits or not? And most importantly, who buys this shit? Fearless Records has been scraping the bottom of the cover

LIVE: Grieved / Rough Hands / Watchcries @ Old Blue Last, London

Mid-week and tonight The Old Blue last plays host to one of our very own Punktastic events. Stockholm’s Grieved are performing their final London show before calling it quits. The quintet recently announced that they were “over it” and had decided to disband once they had completed their ‘farewell

Monday 31 July 2017

Abhorrent Decimation – ‘The Pardoner’

Mislabelling happens all the time. We’ve all experienced its wrath. Turns out the shoes you picked up weren’t on sale, the sandwich wasn’t part of the meal deal, and that local free hip hop gig was a Christian hip hop gig. While mislabelling is mostly harmless (apart from inflammable

LIVE: Tramlines Fringe Festival – Sheffield

Tramlines festival in Sheffield is a multi venue music festival displaying the best in pretty much every genre going, with the Saturday lineup giving punters the option of All Saints on one stage or Oathbreaker on another. Sadly our pass didn’t allow us entry to watch All Saints, so

Friday 28 July 2017

LIVE: Obey The Brave / Polar / Counting Days @ Boston Music Room, London

Hardcore like just about every other style of music has itself got a set of further sub-genres these days but despite the musical differences the core values tend to be very much the same. Tonight sees the London’s Boston Music Room playing host to a selection of hardcore bands

Prong – ‘Zero Days’

For many, Prong are to underground metal what Metallica are to mainstream metal: thirty-plus year old veterans who continue to play hard, and have influenced a vast number of bands spanning several notable genres. Tommy Victor and co came bounding back onto the scene a decade ago, after a

Thursday 27 July 2017

Wot Gorilla? – ‘Angel Numbers’

Since the release of their superb debut album ‘Kebnekaise’ in 2012 it’s been a little too quiet in the Wot Gorilla? camp. They’ve shown enough signs of life to reassure us they’re still a band with two-track release ‘…and then there were three…’ in 2016, as well as singles

LIVE: Full Of Hell / Unyielding Love / Grief Tourist / Weeping / Working Men’s Club @ Kamio, London

London’s extreme music fans are obviously a keen bunch because, despite an early billing, relative newcomers Working Men’s Club play to a sizeable crowd and their hardcore punk / thrash crossover wastes no time waking everyone up. Equal parts All Pigs Must Die and Cursed, their energy and aggression

Wednesday 26 July 2017

Oceans Ate Alaska – ‘Hikari’

Since 2014, Oceans Ate Alaska have been on an incredible journey. They’ve signed to the impressive Fearless Records, released their debut album ‘Lost Isles’ in 2015, played at festivals including the prestigious Warped Tour and Slam Dunk, and have headed out on countless headline and supporting tours. The best