LIVE: Burn it Down Festival 2025, Torquay

Down on the English Riviera, festival season is about to come to an abrupt end under a curtain of constant, swirling rain. However, inside Burn it Down’s intimate collection of harbourside venues, the only moisture to be found is blood, sweat and beers. Back for its seventh instalment, the festival

Soulkeeper – ‘JOIN US IN CREATING EXCELLENCE’

You’re walking down the road and a car whizzes past. They’re listening to music, loudly. They must be, you hear a blast of garbled noise and wonder what they’re actually listening to. Another car passes, a different noise, and another. The music is in different styles, heading

LIVE: Scene Queen @ O2 Forum Kentish Town

It’s practically an online cliché to mock “safe spaces” by now, but when you’re in one, especially at a metal show, it feels like a hug. Scene Queen has attracted a crowd who are overwhelmingly female, mostly channeling neon pink, and all of whom are absolutely comfortable being themselves.

Die Spitz – ‘Something To Consume’

Austin rockers Die Spitz’s debut album, ‘Teeth’, was released two years ago, as the band turned twenty. Filled with a blistering punk energy, ‘Teeth’ cemented the band’s sound as both deeply inspired by ‘90s grunge and distinctly contemporary; a post-Covid Hole. Their sophomore, ‘Something To Consume’ sees the

LIVE: Reading Festival 2025 – Sunday

The breakfast queues are grim. People stand around like extras from a zombie flick, clinging to their coffees as if they’re the only thing keeping them upright. But there’s a strange camaraderie to it too; we all know we look rough, we’re all exhausted, and we’re all pretending this

LIVE: Reading Festival 2025 – Saturday

Saturday morning arrives with all the grace of a brick through a window. The campsite looks like a bomb’s gone off – there are at least three gazebos in trees that definitely weren’t there yesterday, someone’s managed to lose both shoes AND their dignity, and everyone’s moving like they’re

LIVE: Reading Festival 2025 – Friday

Friday at Reading feels like potential energy about to explode. The sun beats down on freshly pitched tents, and there’s that familiar mixture of excitement and mild panic as people realise they’ve forgotten tent pegs again. The BBC iPlayer stage is already buzzing by mid-afternoon, and you can sense

La Dispute – ‘No One Was Driving the Car’

Post-hardcore legends La Dispute have released their first album in six years – or rather, they have just finished releasing it. ‘No One Was Driving the Car’, an exploration of social and psychological decay, has been steadily releasing over the past three months. The album is split into

Arctangent Festival 2025 – Saturday

Cheerbleederz – ‘(PROVE ME WRONG)’

You know the feeling, that creeping certainty that things are changing. The seasons are shifting, the summer is ending, you’re well on your way to toward winter. Cheerbleederz know it too well and with their new four-track EP ‘(Prove Me Wrong)’ they’ve captured it perfectly. A