Ten reviews you might have missed

Reviews from Thursday 10 September 2026

The Meffs – ‘Business’

If there was such a thing as a 2026 Punk Championship, The Meffs would be contenders for the heavyweight title… or gold medal, or trophy in the shape of John Lydon. It’s only been four years since they crashed onto the scene, and the diminutive duo are only growing

Wednesday 09 September 2026

LIVE: ArcTanGent 2026 – Saturday

ArcTanGent 2026 was always set to be an emotional one, with fans of the more niche end of the underground scene gracing the grounds of Fernhill Farm for the last time. Tickets sold out not long after the announcement that the festival would be moving to new pastures for

Scene Queen – ‘METALICIOUS’

Pink is the colour. Barbie pink, bubble-gum pink, it has so many connotations. Scene Queen, Hannah Collins to her friends, embraces them all. With her new EP ‘Metalicious’ she’s embracing something else too, metal. Over six tracks she’s exploring the heavier side of her sound; Bimbocore never

Tuesday 08 September 2026

Midnight Swim – ‘MIDNIGHT SWIM’

The heatwave never seems to end. Perhaps you’re lucky enough to live near an open body of water. You might know of the dangers. The air heats quickly but the water is cold. Leap in, and you might get a shock. You might have a cardiac arrest.

Monday 07 September 2026

LIVE: ArcTanGent 2026 – Friday

Saturday 05 September 2026

Showing Teeth – ‘A Fate Worse Than Loneliness’

It’s a dream, or maybe a nightmare. You’ve just spent your weekend at the dentist, resulting in an unforeseen, and rather painful repair that leaves you feeling under the weather. Then, you receive a call, it’s from your editor. You really must cover the debut EP from

Friday 04 September 2026

LIVE: ArcTanGent 2026 – Thursday

Chat Pile – ‘Who Loves The Sun’

There’s something innately American about Chat Pile. It helps that they’re based in Oklahoma. This is the Wild West, where the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye – Uncle Sam’s territory. But Chat Pile has seldom sought comfort in their hometown. Their debut album ‘God’s Country’ features

Thursday 03 September 2026

LIVE: AFI, TR/ST @ Manchester Academy 1

Sometimes, you become a fan of something, and are forced to wait YEARS for the next instalment. Euphoria season 3? Four years. Chinese Democracy? Fourteen years. Winds of Winter? Fifteen years and counting! And yet, AFI take the lead on all of those, as it’s been SIXTEEN YEARS

Russian Circles – ‘Nine’

For over two decades Chicago based trio Russian Circles have been releasing their own brand of dense instrumental post metal, and with this, their aptly titled ninth album ‘Nine’, they add another stellar addition to their already impressive catalogue. Undeniably consistent, over the years Russian Circles have

Tuesday 01 September 2026

LIVE: All Points East Presents Outbreak 2026

Weeks of drought might have turned London’s Victoria Park into Arrakis, but like the Spice, the heaviness must flow. Outbreak’s takeover of All Points East brings new acts, old favourites returning, and the headlining set that proves Deftones have transcended from a band to a full-on experience. Words: Kate

Beartooth – ‘Pure Ecstasy’

We might be tempted to call ‘Pure Ecstasy’ a return to form for Beartooth, but what even is the form we’re looking at? After years as the world’s premiere misery merchant, Caleb Shomo took a hard left turn with 2023’s ‘The Surface’ which was, dare we say it, optimistic

Friday 28 August 2026

Colorblind – ‘WHO SOLD YOU THIS TRUTH ++ WAS IT YOURS TO HOLD’

As the saying goes, there’s no ‘I’ in ‘Team’. Apparently there’s also no ‘U’ in Colorblind, but of course this is the name of a band, and they’re not British. Hailing from Austin, Texas the four-piece has been labouring away for almost a decade and, after having

Thursday 27 August 2026

Mastodon – ‘Marrow Deep’

Moving on after the exit of an integral band member is never an easy task, but for Mastodon the circumstances were infinitely harder. Five months after their friend and guitarist of twenty-five years Brent Hinds parted ways with the band, he tragically lost his life in a

Wednesday 26 August 2026

Dinosaur Jr. – ‘There Near’

There was always something retiring about Dinosaur Jr. Their name alone – appended with that suffix of inferiority, necessary to avoid legal action by way of ‘60s supergroup Dinosaur – was indicative of something slightly less than greatness. Seeing Dinosaur Jr. live is similarly lacking in

Tuesday 25 August 2026

LIVE: Bloodstock Open Air 2026 – Sunday

Sunday at Bloodstock always carries a different kind of energy to the rest of the weekend: equal parts triumphant and battered, like a boxer who’s still standing purely out of spite. Muddy boots, questionable hygiene and a healthy dose of Sunday-scaries mixed with the giddy realisation that this is

Monday 24 August 2026

LIVE: Bloodstock Open Air 2026 – Saturday

Saturday arrives, and the morning bathing options are either queuing up for 3-5 business days to take a shower, or deciding you don’t have all day to wait and instead opting for the lite version; baby wipes and prayers. A festival classic. Breakfast is continental – a selection of

Friday 21 August 2026

LIVE: Bloodstock Open Air 2026 – Friday

There’s an energetic first-day-of-the-main-festival kind of buzz on this sunny day in Walton on Trent. It can only mean one thing – Welcome to Bloodstock Open Air 2026. Tents have been pitched. Huge flags consisting of niche memes and references have now been hoisted (two massive flags

Thursday 20 August 2026

Chelsea Wolfe – ‘The Dark’

There are many types of Chelsea Wolfe; the doom folk poet, the goth overlord, the master of all things hypnogogic. Wolfe’s covered a vast landscape of mystery and occultism over the past two decades, distorting genre lines into uniquely amorphous collections of songs. ‘The Dark’ is her newest

Monday 17 August 2026

Karen Dió – ‘FUGAZ’

Brazil’s top exports include coffee, petroleum, iron ore, frozen bovine meat and now Karen Dió. Snapped up by Hopeless Records for her 2024 EP ‘My World’ EP, she now has to prove success wasn’t a fluke. The pressure is on. You’ve probably seen the slogan, with its