I’ve written a lot of reviews over the years. This is the home of pretty much all of them since about 2003.
There were points over the weekend that perhaps, just maybe, I was thinking just how completely insane it was to fly a 6800 mile round-trip just to come to an industrial festival. And then there would be another moment that made it crystal clear that it was definitely the right thing to do. So, below […]
I first came across And So I Watch You From Afar at Damnation a couple of years ago – and even for the handful of songs played, I was one of a good number of people suitably blown away by this young and energetic band.
It’s always a tough one when a much-loved band split up. Such was the case when Interlock did so – on the verge of announcing the release of a second album. Their first album proper, after a long period of playing small venues and releasing the odd track and a split EP with Needleye, was […]
I’ve always been in two minds over whether Tim Skold is actually any good or not. He’s had his moments – some of his production work has been good (indeed his work with Marilyn Manson on The Golden Age of Grotesque resulted in MM’s best album in years), but then much of his work with […]
Matt Fanale’s rise through the ranks has been steady and impressive. From self-released/his own label early on, via some high-profile live slots, to this album being released on Metropolis. The steady change in styles has been notable, too. From early material having more of an industrial noise slant, to dabbling in what can only be […]
I think it's fair to say that I had begun to wonder if this album was ever going to appear. Endlessly delayed – 'Modern Ruin' was first revealed as the album title way back in 2009 at least – and seemingly with something of a difficult gestation, with various tracks debuted live and then not […]
Thursday night was something of a trip into the past. Although not for the venue – somehow despite my fifteen years or so of gig-going in London, I’ve never made it to the Purple Turtle until Thursday night (and of course, in the way these things go, I’m likely to be there at least two […]
Killing Joke are a band that, to many peoples surprise, I have never managed to see previously. So when the chance to go to this came up, there was no way I was going to miss it (even if it meant missing out on Paradise Lost playing all of Draconian Times across ‘town at The […]
It’s been a while since I’ve really hunted out any new extreme metal. Part of that is down to being a little bit detached from the scene nowadays, with it being a couple of years or more now since I ceased the three years of fun that was Stormblast. And to be honest, part of […]
Twelve years is a long, long time between visits to the UK for an American artist. Particularly one as loved in the metal scene as Rob Zombie. Or was that “did love”? Let’s be honest, much of his solo material has been, well, kinda half-assed on record, reaching a nadir on the dreadful Educated Horses, […]
Here’s a question for you. What is “urban” music? Is it really just hip-hop, rap, R&B and various forms of dance music? For me, urban music brings to mind music that could only be created in the environment fostered by living in a city – and that isn’t always music you can dance to. The […]
Nowadays – and perhaps as always during their twenty-five-year career – the release of a new Young Gods album is an event. A band of unusual standing, a band that don’t really fit in amongst the usual genre descriptions, and frankly have long since had the freedom to record what they like. Which has seen […]
I think it’s pretty fair to say that I wasn’t expecting a support act quite like Daniel Higgs. Having read up since, he’s an ex-member of an influential folk act called Lungfish, and looked initially like he may be as old as the total age of the members of Neurosis, and looking a little like […]
We got there late, and so only caught the second half of Coheed and Cambria‘s set. A band that I’ve never really got into, and having read up since I didn’t realise that all of their albums are concept albums based on sci-fi stories written by one of the band. Well, it explains the prog […]
Next time I do an all-dayer in a city 200 miles from where I live, I won’t be going out clubbing until 0300 the previous night.
My first visit to Koko in about eleven years last night saw me head there for the return to London of Swans, of which more in a moment. But as always, I feel it’s notable to mention the organisation. Doors at 1900 – fine, and they opened on time, not to mention being friendly security […]
There are few bands that could justifiably claim that as they pass thirty years of existence as an active and still-recording unit, they remain a source of reference and perhaps reverence to many music-lovers and indeed other artists. One band that certainly can is Einstürzende Neubauten, whose second stop on their “30th Anniversary tour” was […]
There has been a steady procession of reformations and/or long-awaited returns in the past couple of years, either bands returning for one last shot at success that perhaps eluded them in the first place, bands simply looking at making some (more) money on the back of previous success and a feeling of nostalgia, and then […]
I think it took until the dawn of this year’s Infest until I realised just how much I missed the festival in its year off last year. All it took was a few minutes of being back in (nearly) familiar surroundings, of which more in a moment, with various familiar faces of friends new and […]
I did wonder whether my evening was going to be cursed, after the heavens opened in biblical fashion while standing in the queue, with nowhere to shelter from the pouring rain. And then there was the poorly organised queue, with a lengthy wait to collect tickets that had been pre-booked. Surely, with all the technology […]
