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…
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…
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…
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…
Weeknight gigs are normally low-energy affairs. The crowd is usually set on saving its energy for Friday, that one long last push needed to get work done and dusted before the weekend. Then, come Friday and Saturday night, it’s time to go the fuck off and spend the rest of the weekend in recovery.
Normally.
When The Dillinger Escape Plan are in town, it’s a different story – and when they have the likes of Primitive Weapons (92%) in tow…Jesus. Hailing from New York and clearly fired up by Read more…
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Eclectic punk godfathers AFI are the kings of keeping going, progressing over more than twenty-five years from outsiders to insiders to chart-topping legends. At this point, they have little to prove – but AFI are not yet ready to settle back on their laurels and fossilize into a nostalgia act. They still have plenty left to give – and more than a few fans hungry for more music.
AFI – also known as “The Blood Album” – is precision-engineered to Read more…
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In music as in life, perseverance is half the battle. With several struggle-filled years behind them, Saviour are intimately aware of this fact – and as Let Me Leave shows, they’re more than prepared to put in the 110% required to fight, survive, and ultimately win in a harsh and unforgiving world.
Let Me Leave is, in essence, music as martial art. It’s a finely Read more…
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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!
1) The Pretty Reckless – Who You Selling For
1) Sonic Boom Six – The F-Bomb
1) The Dillinger Escape Plan – Dissociation
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2) Read more…
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Everyone is angry right now. Not just angry, in fact – infuriated, livid, countless light years beyond merely “pissed off”. Whether you’re talking rejoicing extremists such as the KKK and Al Quaeda or the millions still compulsively facepalming themselves while trying to come to terms with the fact that Donald Trump, a minted and racist reality TV star, is now the world’s most powerful – and dangerous – man, everyone has anger in common no matter which side they’re on.
If there’s a bright side to one of the biggest political shitstorms in recent memory, it’s this: Read more…
Outside the Scala, London is wilting under a mid-September heatwave. Passers-by and queuing punters fan themselves with gig flyers, eagerly awaiting the welcome cool of air-conditioned surroundings. Within the Scala’s walls, mere minutes away, awaits an equally overwhelming experience.
Tiny Moving Parts (85%) do math-rock right, blending Read more…