LIVE: Hot Mulligan / Spanish Love Songs @ Kentish Town Forum

Tonight is one of those shows that reminds you why you do this. The tube was out of commission so we all had to re-route, it was twenty six degrees even after the sun had set, and the crowd had packed themselves in like Tetris cubes half an hour →

GALLERY: Hot Mulligan @ Pryzm, Kingston

LIVE: Reading Festival 2023 – Friday

Is Reading still a rock festival? The last half decade has seen a slow descent into pop acts. The teeth bared by previous headliners have definitely been blunted and worn down. However, while Reading’s no longer snarling in your face, there are more than enough vicious acts lurking among →

GALLERY: Leeds Festival 2023

3Teeth – ‘EndEx’

If you are looking for your pop industrial fix and you no longer want to listen to Rammstein or Marilyn Manson due to, uh, “reasons”, you need to mainline ‘EndEx’, 3Teeth’s first release in four years. They’re proudly flying the flag woven by Nine Inch Nails above a noisy, →

Annisokay – ‘Abyss Pt I’

The heavy music scene in Germany is something to behold: there’s a reason they get all the best dates on a European tour. With more artists breaking out into the international stage comes more eyes focused on the scene, and there’s never been a better time for bands both →

LIVE: Mutoid Man @ Oslo, London

Mutoid Man are not what they seem. Beneath layers of fuzz and noise there’s an intricacy, and a ferocious intelligence, in everything they touch. The four hundred people crammed into the sold-out Oslo in Hackney know that well. The crowd is overwhelmingly male (around ten women can be spotted →

Thirty Seconds To Mars – ‘It’s The End Of The World But It’s A Beautiful Day’

Crossing the borders between acting and music is risky business. For every Jack Black, Lady Gaga or Will Smith, there’s Bruce Willis or Kiefer Sutherland. But Jared Leto, the elegant spectre that he is, has once again managed to show he can keep →

Corey Taylor – ‘CMF2’

If there was ever a metal remake of ‘The Sound Of Music’, Corey Taylor’s new album ‘CMF2’ would surely get a song devoted to it in recognition of how he has used all of his ‘Favourite Things’ in it’s creation. Metallica solos and acoustic country, embracing →

LIVE: Chris Farren @ The Lexington, London

Chris Farren shows are less concerts and more emotional exhibitions. He takes us on a guided tour of his sincerity via gently cynical humour, dynamic animations and a bucketful of heart. Formerly the frontman of Fake Problems, Farren is now a cult sensation →

Kvelertak – ‘Endling’

It’s not all pentagrams and pessimism in the heavy music industry. Certainly Scandinavia does the dark art of metal like no one else, and the punk scene of the Nordic territories has had a significant impact on the rest of the world, with bands like Refused often cited as →

We Are Sovereign – ‘Step Out Your Comfort Zone’

Oh, the 2000’s, it’s finally your time to shine again. Although the Y2K fashion style was a questionable foray into the wide world of low-rise denim and peep-toe pumps, the explosion of emo, nu metal and scene music will undoubtedly bring a nostalgic tear to many eyes. While the →

CLT DRP – ‘NOTHING CLEVER, JUST FEELINGS’

If you’re hopelessly naïve or bad at hangman, there’s a chance you haven’t figured out how to say CLT DRP. Here’s a clue, their debut album is called ‘Without The Eyes’, and if you still haven’t worked it out, give it a listen. They think their name’s →

GALLERY: Magnolia Park, The Bottom Line @ Boston Music Room, London

LIVE: Magnolia Park @ Boston Music Room, London

Outside, the late summer sun drifts into autumn here in the year 2023. But inside the Boston Music Room, it’s springtime circa 2006. It’s the evening of Magnolia Park’s festival warmup show, some three days before they would take to the stage at Reading and Leeds, and it’s very →

Hawthorne Heights – ‘Lost Lights’

In the midst of the pandemic, Hawthorne Heights frontman and elder emo JT Woodruff needed some peace and quiet. He found a ‘crimson red cabin in rural Ohio’ and settled in for the night. Throwing another log into the fire, Woodruff stared deep into the flames and had an →

Polaris – ‘Fatalism’

As the last notes of ‘All In Vain’ hit with thundering closure, you begin to see how Australian metalcore outfit Polaris have so quickly made themselves a staple of the scene both at home and abroad. However ‘Fatalism’, their third record, is not a celebration of success, →

Rock Band From Hell – ‘Music For Late Night Activities’

Never has a band or album been more misleadingly named than Rock Band From Hell’s ‘Music For Late Night Activities’, aside for Led Zeppelin and their lack of songs about metal balloons. There’s nothing satanic or horrifying about the Finnish trio’s debut. On the other hand, it isn’t so →

GALLERY: Arctangent Festival 2023 – Saturday

LIVE: ArcTanGent Festival 2023 – Saturday

Saturday starts with the muddy remnants of the previous day’s rain still lingering, but with the weather looking slightly brighter. Everyone is dirty, sleepy, and exhausted but taps into their final stores of energy for another stacked bill of the best bands heavy music has to offer. Words: Ash Bebbington→