Learning and growing from past mistakes has always been a running theme in rock music, and You Me At Six are clearly determined to follow that path on VI. Having felt they’d lost their way on last year’s Night People, and fully aware of how quickly the winds of fortune can change in the music business, YMAS decided to Read more…
Although Periphery are primarily worshipped as all-conquering djent overlords, they’ve never been the kind of band to go in for constant, unrelenting brutality. Even Insomnia, the opening track from their self-titled debut album, started off with clean, faded-in backward swells and electronic glitches before Read more…
Calling The Black Queen’s debut album Fever Daydream a masterpiece is not an act of taint-tonguing, banus-licking sycophancy. It’s merely a statement of plain and simple fact. It’s been more than two years since key tracks The End Where We Start, Ice To Never, Secret Scream, and That Death Cannot Touch saw the light of day, and those converted by Read more…
Very few bands make it through three and a half decades – but over the course of multiple lineup adjustments, creative direction changes, tragedies and triumphs, Voivod have kept the dream alive since the early 80s. Whether laying down 17-minute songs or covering the Batman theme, Voivod keep pushing their boundaries and stretching Read more…
Working under the Beartooth banner, Caleb Shomo has always been up for a fight. His opponent comes cloaked in shadow, has no concrete physical form, and has claimed far too many victims. Its name is depression, the Disease referred to by Read more…
Some bands are born special. I first came across Black Peaks (then known collectively as Shrine) back in 2014, within a year or so of their initial formation, and it was obvious even then that these guys would go on to achieve big things. Fast-forward past their Closer To The Sun EP, 2016’s beautifully batshit debut album Statues, massive amounts of touring, and more than a few Read more…
Since 2014, Monuments have managed to stay near the top of the tech-metal pile on the back of The Amanuensis, which happens to be one of the greatest albums to ever emerge from that particular scene Read more…
After a decade of slogging away as one of the most hated pop-punk bands of all time, Good Charlotte went on hiatus and returned with 2016’s Youth Authority. It was a decent effort, and recognised as such, a promising sign of lessons learnt and extra miles run while sweating blood in the name of self-improvement. At their best, Good Charlotte stood up for the world’s downtrodden misfits – and that positive stance is likely why Read more…
Thrice have always thrived on diverse creative approaches. Their on-record history has already taken in a set of post-hardcore classics (The Artist In The Ambulance), experimental compositional sorcery (Vheissu), and the all-encompassing masterwork The Alchemy Index. Since the latter epic saw the light of day, Thrice have never quite managed to Read more…
Here in the UK, two underground festivals stand far above the rest. Every July, 2000 Trees hosts a wealth of alternative bands whose music collectively tends towards the more commercial end of the non-mainstream spectrum, while a month or so later, ArcTanGent ushers about 5,000 people into its grounds for three days of niche acts – especially those fond of Read more…