While She Sleeps – ‘You Are We’ (Album Review)

We live in a divided world. Conflict is common, and even the smallest things can spark it off. Unity and respect are relatively rare.

With their new album You Are We, While She Sleeps are working to balance things out. Funded by fans via PledgeMusic, You Are We sees While She Sleeps push further in the experimental groove metal direction established on 2015’s Brainwashed. Metalcore remains at the core of While She Sleeps’ sound, but You Are We was recorded in a self-built Sheffield studio – and the resulting sense of newfound independence and freedom permeates every Read more…

Posted on 12 April 2017

Falling In Reverse – ‘Coming Home’ (Album Review)

Falling In Reverse have always been a divisive but diverse band. Everything they release leads to a massive debate about which parts are good, and which parts are bad. Even after five or six years, a general consensus has not been reached.

Having already experimented with emo, metalcore, hip-hop, and electronica, Falling In Reverse continue to expand their comfort zone on Coming Home. The opening title track is a bar-setting start, bringing in parts of 30 Seconds To Mars, Muse, and Angels And Airwaves. Driven by dirty, heavy synths and absolutely going for it, it is Read more…

Posted on 05 April 2017

Deez Nuts – ‘Binge & Purgatory’ (Album Review)

Deez Nuts are the ultimate hardcore party band. But what happens when the party’s over?

Deez Nuts first started exploring that question with 2015’s Word Is Bond. The result was a blistering barrage of metallic hardcore that took on mature themes such as addiction and identity. On Word Is Bond, Deez Nuts gave themselves plenty of room to expand, evolve, and get deeper.

Binge & Purgatory sees Deez Nuts get deeper still. It’s also compact and concise, finishing up after just 32 minutes. In that time, though, a lot gets said Read more…

Posted on 03 April 2017

Jamiroquai – ‘Automaton’ (Full Album Review)

Right now, you’re looking at a screen, and I’m writing these words on a computer – but we’re both being connected by technology. Jamiroquai’s new album Automaton is all about human connection in a digital world.

Jamiroquai have always been my go-to happy band. If I’m feeling crap, I just put them on – and within ten seconds or so, things are better. Shake It On is the kind of song where, if you’re listening to it while walking down the street, you’ll end up walking like a badass. There are so many layers to it, from pounding piano to immense clavs, sublime strings, Rob Harris’s super-tight guitar, and the Rhythm Section Of Doom Read more…

Posted on 29 March 2017

BEAR – ‘///’ (Album Review)

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Belgian math-metallers BEAR have made a name for themselves as Europe’s answer to The Dillinger Escape Plan.

With Dillinger set to split before the end of the year, the race is on to crown the new kings of mathcore. BEAR have already proven themselves as worthy contenders, and /// carves that fact in stone.

BEAR’s list of influences runs longer than just one band Read more…

Posted on 18 March 2017

Uneven Structure – ‘La Partition’ (Album Review)

Back in 2011, French progressive metallers Uneven Structure released Februus – a landmark album for the much-maligned genre, djent. Combining a wide range of influences from TesseracT to Karnivool and, of course, Meshuggah, Februus still stands the test of time six years later. Now Uneven Structure are back with La Partition, which marks another career milestone and is, frankly, fucking epic.

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La Partition is a real step up from Februus. Read more…

Posted on 18 March 2017

Ghost Iris – ‘Blind World’ (Review)

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In any saturated genre, you need a band to pop up and stir the pot from time to time, or you risk facing the inevitable downward drag of too much unchallenged mediocrity. Since Ion Dissonance and Animals As Leaders put out Cast The First Stone and The Madness Of Many back in November, I’ve not heard a lot of exciting new tech-metal – but now that Valentine’s Day is on the horizon, I’ve wound up falling in love with an album you need to get on the moment it sees the light of day.

Ghost Iris’s Blind World drops via Long Branch Records on February 17, and it is so fucking full of some of the best riffs I’ve ever heard, I can barely even believe it. I’m deadly serious, serious-as-cancer serious, so I’ll even repeat that bold but easily backed up statement.

Some of the best riffs I’ve ever heard.

Ever Read more…

Posted on 08 February 2017

Lupe Fiasco – ‘Drogas Light’ (Review)

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Lupe Fiasco knows how to make an impact. The Chicago-based rapper scored a Grammy early on in his life as a solo MC with the single Daydreamin’, and has racked up no fewer than twelve Grammy nominations over the course of a career he temporarily cut short late last year amid accusations of anti-Semitism. Throw in speculation-soaked struggles with former label Atlantic Records and the announcement of a farewell trilogy of albums – of which Drogas Light is the first, to be followed by Drogas and Skulls – and you get the idea Read more…

Posted on 06 February 2017

Once Human – ‘Evolution’ [Review]

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Metal is all about questioning, challenging, and ultimately overcoming limits. Listeners tend to find themselves drawn into heavier and less orthodox territory as they become acclimatised to the styles they already know. Meanwhile, metal musicians today are forced to expand their horizons or risk stagnating, boring themselves and ultimately succumbing to some formulaic approach that might please traditionalists, but few others.

The title of Once Human’s sophomore album – Evolution – is well-chosen. It sums up Read more…

Posted on 02 February 2017

Acres – ‘In Sickness & Health’ [Review]

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Musicians often struggle to sum their art up in a handful of words – or, equally often, simply refuse to. It’s understandable, given that creative people naturally tend to be too close to and involved in their work to be able to stand back and take an outsider’s perspective. But on rare occasions, a band manage to hit the nail on the head with impressive concision.

Acres define their music as “sad songs for sad dudes,” and it is definitely Read more…

Posted on 01 February 2017