In order to create, you sometimes have to destroy. Ripping everything up and starting again can be cathartic, reinvigorating, exciting, terrifying, relieving, overwhelming, and/or everything above all at once. Forcing yourself to confront the truly blank page takes a hell of a lot of heart, and Arcane Roots certainly have that.
Through their first album Left Fire, Arcane Roots became synonymous with air-guitar-inducing acrobatics and the kind of time changes that would make the world’s physicists weep with despair Read more…
Sleep Token split open not just one can of worms, but at least two.
The first concerns that most easily maligned approach to marketing music: The Gimmick. According to the press materials which landed in my download folder alongside Two, Sleep Token are “the mortal representatives of the ancient deity known only as ‘Sleep’, led by Read more…
When you spend your life immersed in music, it’s easy to assume that you’ve seen and heard it all. When I headed down to Brighton to watch The Dillinger Escape Plan tear the town a new one, then-support-act Ho99o9 immediately shredded said assumption. For more about that show, click here.
Ho99o9 (pronounced “Horror”) live up to their name on United States Of Horror. Focussing mainly on Read more…
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…
Just as you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, you shouldn’t judge a band by its name. When I first heard of Ocean Grove, I expected them to be a pop-punk outfit, a happy-go-lucky group of charming cheeky chaps writing songs about looking back nostalgically at teenage years full of good times, sunshine, girl problems, and probably either surfing or skating.
But, of course, expectations don’t always equal Read more…
How would you celebrate the dawn of the coming apocalypse?
Well, you probably wouldn’t celebrate it. First, you’d shit yourself – if not physically, then mentally at least. In a culture prone to panicking at the brief loss of a free 4G connection, the end of the world is not something we’d be likely to take lightly.
Donald Trump officially came into power yesterday – and last night also happened to be the night that Beardyman and the Dream Team took the stage at Camden’s Electric Ballroom Read more…
Leave all thoughts of Beardyman and the Dream Team aside for a second, and visualise instead a steaming, stinking shit sandwich. Picture it plopping onto your breakfast plate, unwanted, unloved and unlovable. Had the person who birthed that turd known what was coming, he’d have held it in out of pure terror and shame before scuttling away to quietly top himself.
That’s how all sane humans feel about 2016 Read more…
As the music industry slows down, its alternative end hibernating while the pop-enamoured mainstream hungrily ogles Christmas shoppers, the time has come to look back on a seriously strong year for organised soundwaves. For me, it’s been heavy, intense, and a hell of a lot of fun thanks to the releases listed below.
With so many exceptional contenders in the running for the top spot, the thought of ranking them in order of quality is plainly ridiculous. So instead, I’ve picked out three releases that had memorable impacts on me when I first heard them, and assembled the others in alphabetical order.
The Pretty Reckless’s Who You Selling For – along with previous effort Going To Hell – is conclusive proof (if it were honestly needed in 2016) that women belong in rock music, and are fully capable of kicking ass. The sexists of the music world are like Wile E. Coyote; they’ve run off the edge of the cliff, nothing surrounds them but empty air, they’ve looked down, and they’re panicking. Sonic Boom Six’s The F-Bomb picks up where that image leaves off – it’s cheeky, chirpy, happy and hard-hitting (sometimes simultaneously), addressing a wealth of gender-related issues and providing a great ska-fuelled party soundtrack as only Sonic Boom Six can.
Musically, Dissociation is The F-Bomb’s polar opposite. The Dillinger Escape Plan’s swan song is crammed with brutal and ultra-experimental mathcore – but it’s also Dillinger’s most delicate and diverse album. The Dillinger Escape Plan are living proof that you can achieve great things without compromise, by sticking to your guns and just going for it.
Beyond that point, you’re free to dive into an epic range of albums including solidly grooving rock sets, monolithic slabs of military-grade metal, and progressive masterpieces. Since I’ve not reviewed many EPs this year, I’ve also included a pair of extended-playing mind-blowers in the form of Dorje’s Centred And One and Toska’s Ode To The Author. Dorje specialise in utterly idiosyncratic rock tunes with added progressive spice, while to me, Toska (made up of Dorje’s backline, namely guitarist Rabea Massaad, drummer Ben Minal, and bassist Dave Hollingworth) represent the future of instrumental metal.
Both Dorje and Toska are bands on the rise – and they fully deserve to hit the same peaks enjoyed by the biggest names on this list.
There’s little more to say; for me, this list represents the top albums of 2016. Enjoy the full reviews linked below, follow TMMP on Twitter, subscribe to my brand new YouTube channel, and stay tuned for more world-class music next year!
Thomas Giles has a pretty cool day job. As Tommy Rogers, he fronts American prog metal outfit Between The Buried And Me, adding idiosyncratic touches to albums like Colors and Coma Ecliptic. During downtime, Thomas Giles emerges with fresh music that is itself unique and compelling.
Velcro Kid begins with Immersion Highway – a song that sounds like a Muse remix until Thomas Giles’ vocal enters. From that point on there’s no doubt as to who you’re listening to, although Read more…
Back in TMMP’s distant past, I never made a secret of my love for Princess Slayer’s music. From the night they first emerged onto the UK’s music scene, vocalist Casey Lim and drummer/producer Vince Welch obviously had what it takes to take them as far as they desire to go. Princess Slayer’s Living EP was golden, and they’ve become Glastonbury regulars in recent times as well as navigating live lineup changes that can and do cripple so many up and coming acts Read more…
