Ten reviews you might have missed

Reviews from 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

Friday 20 March 2026

Gaerea – ‘Loss’

Black metal is a genre that has an awful lot of stigma attached to it. Murder, arson, cults, more murder – it’s a pretty dark and dingy corner of the music world that seems perpetually incapable of detaching itself from those traits. Well, until you discover Gaerea, that is.

Thursday 19 March 2026

LIVE: Hot Mulligan, Delta Sleep @ Roundhouse

Something has quietly shifted for Hot Mulligan. The Michigan five-piece have spent the better part of a decade building one of the most devoted fanbases in modern emo, song by song and tour by tour; the kind of slow-burn ascent that tends to produce rooms that feel less like

Wednesday 18 March 2026

Poison The Well – ‘Peace In Place’

Poison The Well had a hand in establishing metalcore and its surge of popularity back in the early noughties. Though they never truly got their flowers or reached the same heights as some of their genre peers, their influence on its growth and the bands that it produced is

Tuesday 17 March 2026

Mclusky – ‘I SURE AM GETTING SICK OF THIS BOWLING ALLEY’

It’s always the same, isn’t it? You wait fifteen years for a band to release a record and then two turn up at once. After last year’s stunning comeback record, it’s time to hop aboard the Mclusky bus for their new EP – ‘I Sure Am Getting

Thursday 12 March 2026

Sweet Pill – ‘Still There’s A Glow’

Sweet Pill’s sophomore release comes four years after their debut album ‘Where the Heart Is’. These four years have seen the band tour alongside La Dispute and The Wonder Years, head out on their own headline tour, and pick up acclaim from artists across the board. The burnout

Wednesday 11 March 2026

LIVE: Less Than Jake + The Bouncing Souls @ O2 Academy Brixton

The thrill of entering Brixton Academy to the sound of The Bouncing Souls’ ‘Private Radio’ is unmatched, and that’s what Less Than Jake’s Winter Circus tour promises: iconic moments that take us right back to our punk rock past. They’re a band that mean so much to so many,

Wednesday 04 March 2026

Black Stone Cherry – ‘Celebrate’

Black Stone Cherry are determined to mark their successes in life, and the very literally named ‘Celebrate’ is seven tracks dedicated to just this. That said, don’t expect songs you can blow out your birthday candles to; ‘Celebrate’ represents just about making it through the day with your friends

Tuesday 03 March 2026

LIVE: Deftones / Denzel Curry / Drug Church @ The O2, London

Tonight marks Deftones’ second London gig in as many years, but the appetite is clearly still there — the arena is quickly filling up well before the first support slot begins. Bittersweet anticipation hangs thick inside The O2 Arena. Deftones are wrapping up their UK tour in support of

Friday 27 February 2026

The Gloom In The Corner – ‘ROYAL DISCORDANCE’

In 1976, astronomers at the Big Ear Telescope discovered a signal from space. The signal was so strong and unexpected that while reading the printout, astronomer Jerry Ehman circled it a wrote ‘Wow!’ in ballpoint pen. ‘Royal Discordance’, the third album from The Gloom In The Corner,

A Wilhelm Scream – ‘Cheap Heat’

A Wilhelm Scream have turned to the dark side, and it suits them. The Massachusetts punks’ sixth outing, ‘Cheap Heat’ sees them taking on the role of the heel, playing the villain as a foil to the John Cenas of this world, but while they’re taking a step away

Thursday 26 February 2026

Varials – ‘Where The Light Leaves’

Armed with a back catalogue of pit starters, blending hardcore energy with nu-metal groove and metalcore ferocity, Philadelphia’s Varials have been consistently, albeit tumultuously, churning out violent gems for the last decade. Even amidst changes in their personnel, their core sound has remained largely the same; spirited, venomous and

Thursday 19 February 2026

Mothica – ‘SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN’

The darkness closes in, the world seems just too hard, you wrap yourself up in the blankets, stay in bed and hope the world will go away, and then, the season changes, you pull away the covers and emerge as a different person entirely. Mothica has battled

Wednesday 18 February 2026

New Found Glory – ‘Listen Up!’

In a world full of uncertainty, a new record from pop punk staples New Found Glory feels like a comfort. Thoughts of nostalgia, friendship and living the good life make for a warm album focusing on the simple pleasures in life, and considering ‘Listen Up!’ was recorded while guitarist

Tuesday 17 February 2026

Bruise Control – ‘BRUISE CONTROL’

Some days you may feel a bit slow. Some days you might be as sharp as a tack. But not today. You may have said it at least three times out loud before you realise; Bruise Control’– it’s a pun. Thankfully, even if you’re feeling slow, the

Monday 16 February 2026

Atlas – ‘SUNDER’

Winter is the worst time of year. Christmas falls at its halfway point, a celebration of its ending, almost as though we’re saying “Thank god, the light is returning.” Things are different in Finland. Toward the arctic circle, the sun is shrouded by the horizon. For fifty

Friday 13 February 2026

Converge – ‘Love Is Not Enough’

Nine years have passed since the release of Converge’s last album, ‘The Dusk In Us’. While the more recent ‘Bloodmoon: I’ – the band’s admirably ambitious collaboration with Chelsea Wolfe – prevented the passing of a near-decade of Converge-less time, the wait for a new Converge album proper has

Thursday 12 February 2026

Mariachi El Bronx – ‘Mariachi El Bronx IV’

The absolutely beautiful thing about Mariachi El Bronx is that they were never a one-trick pony. For a band that could easily have fallen into parody, they’ve consistently been able to rise above their detractors with smart, sharp melodies that are practically scented with their love of mariachi culture,

Wednesday 11 February 2026

Story Of The Year – ‘A.R.S.O.N.’

Great art should speak for itself. There’s a good reason for this. Listening to an artist describe their work can be absolutely excruciating. Either you’re subjected to a sales pitch, or they describe something that bears no resemblance to the finished project or, worse still, they fail

Tuesday 10 February 2026

LIVE: Marmozets / Goo @ Dingwalls

Seven years is a long time to hold your breath. Dingwalls is packed to its sweat-slicked rafters with fans clutching £8 pints who’ve been waiting since 2018 for Marmozets to return, and the air crackles with the kind of nervous excitement that only comes when a beloved