Ten reviews you might have missed

Reviews from Thursday 23 November 2023

The Sleeping Souls – ‘Just Before The World Starts Burning’

It’s impossible to discuss the Sleeping Souls without considering Frank Turner. As they’re better known as the troubadour’s besties, we’ve all forgotten that they’re a band in their own right who are finally ready to release their debut under their own name. The questions needs to be asked –

Friday 17 November 2023

Post Profit – ‘SELF DEFEATER’

Every week hundreds of songs, albums, and EPs are released, your social media has been rendered unusable by sponsored posts from musicians desperately vying for your attention, and maybe your inbox is also clogged with near-identical press releases. It’s hard not to feel disaffected. And then you

Thursday 16 November 2023

LIVE: McFly @ Alexandra Palace

Sound is littering the vast, hollow workmanship of Alexandra Palace as McFly make their debut at the iconic London venue on their ‘Power To Play’ tour, celebrating the release of their latest album which shares the same name. The four piece were the reason that you wanted

Wednesday 08 November 2023

Lonely The Brave – ‘What We Do To Feel’

Lonely The Brave are determined to celebrate the small things on their new album, ‘What We Do To Feel’. After all, they deserve to enjoy themselves following a turbulent few years including a change in frontmen, recent fatherhood and day jobs pushing themselves to their forefront of their minds.

Friday 03 November 2023

Bad Wolves – ‘Die For It’

Bad Wolves should more aptly be named ‘Bad Chameleons’ – they blend in with any other group, from Papa Roach to Meshuggah to Asking Alexandria, the latter of which they’re touring with this autumn, with reptilian ease. They shed their skin with remarkable frequency, dropping on average an album

Spiritbox – ‘The Fear Of Fear’

Spiritbox are still the shiny new it kids on the block, but for excellent reason. ‘Eternal Blue’, their first full-length album, was a huge success and was absolutely devoured by fans and media alike. Then there was ‘Rotoscope’, which merely hinted at the talent that simmered behind Spiritbox .

Thursday 02 November 2023

LIVE: Kill, The Icon! @ Oslo, Hackney

Up-and-coming punks Benefits are being hailed by critics across the board as the new working class middle finger to the establishment, but what about their tour-mates Kill, the Icon!? Led by punk rock covid-accountability-activist Nishant Joshi, they’re writing songs which are completely unflinching in their accusations towards racism in

Wednesday 01 November 2023

Sadness & Complete Disappointment – ‘GBH’

It’s been a hot minute since Sadness & Complete Disappointment have brought us a nice helping of doom and gloom. The English prophets of everything plaintive have returned after two years with a line-up restructuring and a trio of new tracks that delve deep into self doubt and abject.

LIVE: Those Damn Crows @ O2 Forum, Kentish Town

Those Damn Crows, welsh rockers who add a twist of Black Stone Cherry to their cocktail of vintage interpretation, faced two challenges before they even got a chance to go on stage. Firstly, the crowd was static and had no desire to dance at all. Maybe it was because

Tuesday 31 October 2023

Sugar Horse – ‘TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO’

Anyone worrying about A.I. making music should take note; no computer is going to make anything like Sugar Horse. Built upon piles of effects pedals, their sound draws on post-rock, black metal, doom and that filth you find growing under the kitchen sink. It’s a challenging, exciting,

Saturday 28 October 2023

In This Moment – ‘GODMODE’

In This Moment are masters of reinvention and rebirth. Even their name demands you pay attention to who they are right now. On each album, there’s a marked shift in the tone, style and way they present themselves. Masterminded by guitarist Chris Howorth and vocalist Maria Brink,

Friday 27 October 2023

LIVE: blink-182 @ The O2 Arena

Eclectic thud clunking band blink-182 are embarking on an international tour with newly reinstated member – singer and guitarist Tom DeLonge. Getting the original lineup back together is enough for many fans to come out, but the reason to stay is quite different – where ironic quips

Taking Back Sunday – ‘152’

With seven studio albums and two decades in the music business already under their belt, where could Taking Back Sunday possibly go next? They’ve checked emo and post-hardcore off their subgenre to-do list in the intervening years after since their 2006 breakthrough, but their desire to make music that

Wednesday 25 October 2023

The Gaslight Anthem – ‘History Books’

A lot has happened since 2007, and the Gaslight Anthem are not the same men who sat down to write ‘Sink Or Swim’. The fifteen intervening years since their debut have sent the Alexes, Brian and Benny through a gauntlet of divorce and relentless touring, plus an eight year

Monday 23 October 2023

Magnolia Park – ‘Halloween Mixtape II’

“When did everything get so awful complicated?” Magnolia Park’s frontman, Joshua Roberts, opens this year’s Halloween Mixtape with this plaintive question. He makes a good point. When did Halloween become about more than just funneling a distressing amount of sugar or sugary alcohol (depending on your age and preference)

Friday 20 October 2023

Blink-182 – ‘One More Time’

There haven’t been many reunions that have been greeted with such fanfare as when images emerged of Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker back together again. A generation of millennials saw an opportunity to relive their adolescence one more time and three 40-somethings got to play the jester

Wednesday 18 October 2023

The Callous Daoboys – ‘God Smiles Upon the Callous Daoboys’

It probably goes without saying that The Callous Daoboys aren’t a band that demand to be taken completely seriously. Even if you’ve never heard a note of their music, their name alone – a spoonerised take on the NFL team the Dallas Cowboys – probably give you a bit

Tuesday 17 October 2023

LIVE: Manchester Orchestra @ Union Chapel

Never has a show fitted a venue more perfectly than Manchester Orchestra’s set at Union Chapel. From the moment that the opening lines of ‘I Know How To Speak’ open a chasm into our emotions and frontman Andy Hull’s falsetto notes swoop and soar up to the bare-boarded gothic

Friday 13 October 2023

Twin Temple – ‘God Is Dead’

Cast yourself back in time to the age of the Twilight Zone in black and white, grab yourself a martini and revel in the haunted retro reinvention of Twin Temple. Their satanic, sex-positive take on the late fifties vocal harmony sound has led to spots supporting Behemoth and Danzig,

Thursday 12 October 2023

Creeper – ‘Sanguivore’

If you arrive at a new Creeper record to be met with a 9-minute opener complete with a ‘Tubular Bells’ intro driving straight into a modern day ‘Bat Out of Hell’ and are taken by surprise, you must be new here. For those that have been following the band’s