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…
Since it first emerged at the turn of the 1970s, metal has been through so many evolutionary shifts that at this point, any given band has a vast wealth of influential options to cherry-pick from. Anything goes, and anything can happen. Only one rule remains: There are no fucking rules.
Betraying The Martyrs are the ultimate embodiment of that one and only rule. For their sophomore LP, 2014’s Phantom, these guys pulled out a fat and brutal cover of Let It Go – a key track from the soundtrack to Disney’s monster hit movie, Frozen. Naturally, Let It Go proved controversial and divisive – and so Read more…
Jamie Lenman is one of the UK’s greatest songwriters. The proof is already out there in the form of Muscle Memory, Racecar Is Racecar Backwards, Very Fast Very Dangerous, and In Nothing We Trust – the latter three released way back when Jamie Lenman fronted underground UK rock kings Reuben. Arriving post-Reuben, 2013’s Muscle Memory was a double album taking in everything from viciously intense mathcore to laid-back ukulele-driven folk Read more…
Last year, Haken’s latest LP Affinity blew my mind, effortlessly earning a place on my list of the best albums of 2016. Never ones to rest on their laurels, Haken are now set to celebrate their first decade in action with remastered re-releases of earliest efforts Aquarius and Visions – not to mention a headlining European tour in a couple of months’ time. I got talking to Haken founder and guitarist/keyboardist Richard Henshall about his band’s past, present, and future – and Kurt Russell… Read more…
Although it’s 2017, the question of whether or not women belong in rock and metal remains an emotional trigger point for many fans. Despite its status as an all-inclusive genre that provides shelter for those used to being excluded by others, heavy music still harbours a perhaps small but nonetheless extremely vocal element set on rabidly tearing down any musician in possession of big riffs, buckets of attitude, and non-phallic genitalia.
With She Rocks Vol. 1, Favored Nations – the record label run by world-renowned guitar wizard Steve Vai – has set out a resounding rebuke that should by rights silence sexists and provide more open minds with plenty of great music on which to feast. It’s pretty sad that this release will prove controversial in some quarters, but oh well. She Rocks isn’t the kind of album that’s going to meekly turn tail and flee, and we’re not about to turn back the clock and embrace the gender-related values of the 1950s again.
Progressive metal bands are frequently accused of being emotionally void, occupying a stone-faced genre rammed with mindlessly twiddling automatons.
Pain Of Salvation do not fit that stereotype.
In the six years since this set of Swedish legends last unleashed a proper studio album (in the form of 2011’s Road Salt Two), frontman Daniel Gildenlöw has overcome a close brush with death and emerged from a period of intense illness laser focused on Read more…
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…
Music is freedom. It has no limits bar the human imagination and a given musician’s physical ability – and over the course of history, many have challenged those limits to find still more territory to explore. If you’re looking for a contemporary example, look no further than Marco Minnemann.
True artists have their own voice, their own signature style. You can tell it’s them within a few bars at the most. In Marco Minnemann’s case, those bars are unlikely to fit some standardized 4/4 cookie cutter mould. Neither will his chords of choice be…shall we say…orthodox. The same, of course, goes for his melodies.
Schattenspiel – German for ‘shadow play’ – is an appropriately dark album that sees 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!
Tomoyasu Hotei is well on his way to becoming a household name across the world. He’s long been a superstar in his native Japan, and whether they realise it or not, Western music fans have already heard Hotei’s music – most notably the modern classic ‘Battle Without Honor Or Humanity’, which featured in the Tarantino double-bill Kill Bill. Slowly but surely, Hotei is gaining still more ground – and he deserves every inch of it.
With Hotei’s new single ‘Walking Through The Night’ making waves generated through his collaboration with Iggy Pop, we got talking about Hotei’s latest endeavours while touching on life advice, flying guitars, and David Bowie… Read more…
