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From Thursday 20 April 2017

I Hate Sex – ‘World Of Grief’

If you ever think that heavy bands tend to lose a sense of ‘rawness’ or ‘grittiness’ when it comes to releasing their first album, ‘World Of Grief’ takes away all preconceptions of compromise. The Canadian skramz outfit previously released split EPs with the likes of fellow western screamo Algae

Maximo Park – ‘Risk To Exist’

How are Maximo Park still churning out albums? If you’ve seen the band live, you’ll know that front-man Paul Smith is energy personified. Usually donned in his signature hat, he’ll bound around the stage, leaping around and enticing the crowd at every opportunity. Why then on record have the

Wednesday 19 April 2017

While She Sleeps ‘You Are We’

The first thirty seconds of this incredible release not only sets the bar for the rest of the album but also gives credence for the exciting PR campaign that has been their return to the top. As Lawrence Taylor screams “You Are We”, there is a feeling that this

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Ghost Bath – ‘Starmourner’

No genre of music is so precious about its sound than black metal. Started as the antithesis of everything accessible and inviting, it was designed to shock, scare, and antagonise. While some purists refuse to accept anything that isn’t true black metal (or ‘trve’, if you will) the genre

Sunday 16 April 2017

Bear – ‘///’

Bear have timed their latest album to perfection. With Dillinger Escape Plan hanging up their hat for the foreseeable future, the market – and indeed the plinth for technically demanding math metal – is wide open for someone to carry the flag, and Bear’s latest album ‘///’ has all

Saturday 15 April 2017

Isotopes – ‘1994 World Series Champions’

Canadian baseball punks Isotopes return with their second album, aptly named ‘1994 World Series Champions’ and for want of a better term, they’ve knocked it out of the park. First of all ‘Baseball punk’ is a genre most of us had never heard of, and that’s because it never

Friday 14 April 2017

Hubris – ‘Apocryphal Gravity’

Just glancing at the track list of ‘Apocryphal Gravity’ is enough to put you in an otherworldly state of mind. References to ‘Aphrodite Terra’, ‘Doom Mons’ and ‘Deimos’ – the names of a region of Venus, a mountain range on Titan and a natural satellite of Mars respectively – set

Thursday 13 April 2017

No Zodiac – ‘Altars Of Impurity’

With only one original member left since their formation in 2009, the Chicago based hardcore group have ditched their beatdown sound for a more traditional death metal approach on their latest record. Unfortunately, for the most part, the overly clean production on ‘Altars Of Impurity’ means that some of

Sleepmakeswaves – ‘Made Of Breath Only’

It’s relatively easy to write songs that are negative. Significant other break up with you? Get fired from your job? Lose your favourite pair of novelty socks? Grab an instrument and hash out a sad/angry/raging song about it. It’s a little more of a challenge to write songs that

Wednesday 12 April 2017

Loathe – ‘The Cold Sun’

Music genres are very crowded market places with hundreds of bands fighting for your attention and post-hardcore is certainly no exception. In a genre that’s established a well-trodden formula, differentiation tends to simply come from bands who can execute it better than others. It’s a daunting prospect for any