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From Thursday 06 February 2025

Jinjer – ‘DuĂ©l’

If every time someone said a band tore up the rule book, we’d probably be facing a global shortage of reference guides to metal. But how often do we see a band writing their own story in the world of heavy music, with each song a narrative wrought in

Tuesday 28 January 2025

RØRY – ‘Restoration’

Success has been a long time coming for RØRY, but who else can channel four decades of hardship into a debut released at an age when many rockers are considering slowing down? The songwriter, social media activist, author and split-hair-aficionado channels a bared soul and unflinching honesty on ‘Restoration’

Wednesday 22 January 2025

Vukovi – ‘MY GOD HAS A GUN’

Vukovi pride themselves on walking the road less taken. They might be slightly disappointed to learn that their fourth album, ‘MY GOD HAS A GUN’, is perhaps their most accessible yet, it’s provocation open and inviting to those who seek just a little bit more from their heavy music.

Tuesday 21 January 2025

Pet Needs – ‘Kind Of Acoustic’

Pet Needs had a mission: to create “something warm, raw and organic. Something acoustic. Something that felt like the most true take as opposed to the most perfect” as frontman Johnny Marriott put it. The acoustic album that offers the other side of the coin on a band’s sound

Monday 23 December 2024

LIVE: Slipknot / Bleed From Within @ The O2

Never underestimate the power of the most magical time of the year to bring people together. Not Christmas, of course, but Slipknot’s first UK tour in four years which closes out tonight at London’s O2. You’d be mistaken if you believe that the band who’ve taken great pleasure over

Friday 20 December 2024

LIVE: The Menzingers @ The Underworld

People debate what constitutes ‘real punk’ all the time, but whatever that intangible quality is, it’s in the air for the Menzingers’ duo of anniversary shows celebrating ten years of ‘Rented World’s release at Camden’s Underworld. Guitars are piled on the balcony, and we wear our pit-hardened dedication on

Thursday 05 December 2024

LIVE: Alien Ant Farm @ O2 Forum Kentish Town, London

Back in the dawn of the new millennium, Alien Ant Farm were everywhere. Their cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’ went platinum and topped charts across the world in 2001, and mainstream success beckoned. After a series of dubious decisions including bootlegging their own fourth album, splitting in 2007

Wednesday 27 November 2024

LIVE: Black Stone Cherry @ Wembley Arena

Everything’s bigger in America, or so they say. Whoever coined the phrase must have been talking about Black Stone Cherry’s riffs too, because the boys from Kentucky know how to bring a UK tour to a close in style at Wembley Arena with their brand of straightforward southern rock.

Thursday 21 November 2024

LIVE: NOAHFINNCE @ Electric Ballroom, London

The queue for NOAHFINNCE stretches a good hundred metres around the block surrounding Camden’s Electric Ballroom, long before the doors even open. This would be an impressive achievement for an established act, let alone an artist with only a debut album and a string of singles to his name.

Thursday 14 November 2024

Less Than Jake – ‘Uncharted’ EP

Everyone loves Less Than Jake, but who’s really engaged with their music since ‘Hello Rockview’? The endlessly touring and effortlessly entertaining ska kids have found themselves as a reliable staple support band and festival afternoon fixture, becoming the musical equivalent of mozzarella sticks; no one’s sad to see them