Given that Marco Minnemann’s EEPS was TMMP’s #2 album of 2014, the fact that I love Culture Clash Live! to pieces is probably not that much of a surprise.
For the uninitiated, the Aristocrats are one of the fusion community’s hottest tickets right now. A power trio comprising lead drummist Minnemann, lead bassist Bryan Beller, and axe-wielding maniac Guthrie Govan, the Aristocrats’ collective moniker is synonymous with Read more…
Back in the glory days of alt-metal, Marilyn Manson was a massive deal. Nobody else has managed to combine over-the-top religious-Right-baiting showmanship with fierce intelligence and raging, in-your-face rock in the same manner Manson did around the turn of the millennium. But after 2003’s The Golden Age Of Grotesque, things took an awkward turn with a series of albums that Read more…
Hitting the eardrums like a boxer’s glove-free knuckles, Idle Hands pulls no punches. All biting cynicism and Read more…
Howls occupy the straight-ahead, no-nonsense end of the post-hardcore spectrum – and it won’t be long until they’ve carved out their own niche down there. Listening to No Living feels like riding an ancient rusty rollercoaster on the edge of falling apart; sophisticated, smooth, and genteel this is absolutely not. Read more…
Acoda have spent the last few years forging a real reputation for pushing themselves right to the edge of their abilities – and Truth Seeker sees that edge extended even further than before. Injecting a post-hardcore core with guttural guitar tones, syncopation aplenty, wickedly snaky grooves, and extra-strong songwriting chops, Acoda are going to make a serious mark on the rock world’s 2015 with this album. Read more…
Over 22 years since its release – and more than half a decade since Killing in the Name famously wiped the floor with X Factor pop puppet Joe McElderry – Rage Against The Machine’s ten-track debut remains as fierce and stirring as ever. This album is one of my very first musical loves – and it continues to be a regular soundtrack to my daily goings-on even in the face of the innumerable songs I’ve given time to while running TMMP.
At the start of 2015, Read more…
The “death of the album” has been declared many times in recent years – but nonetheless, musicians keep making them and are showing no signs of stopping (and thank God for that!). Almost a decade and a half into the twenty-first century, there still exist bands and artists capable of composing immersive, engaging, and fully satisfying collections of songs that stand up to repeated, unshuffled listens. Here are fifteen of them. Read more…
I have a very strong emotional attachment to many of the releases listed below. Choosing this list was exceptionally tough; I’ve been fortunate to discover some incredible bands and artists over the past year, and it’s safe to say that outside this list lie a great many immense tunes that can be found via a quick browse through TMMP’s archives when you’re done with this lot. However, the following choices are the cream of the crop. Read more…
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the metal side of the music business shuts down. Fans of heavy music across the world use the festive season to hibernate, nurse their bangovers, get drunk, and sharpen their skills on FIFA while the pop side of the music world excretes yet another warbling X Factor karaoke puppet and shoppers get smothered under a tidal wave of Now That’s What I Call Christmas! CDs. All goes quiet on the metal front until the new year hits.
Discovering new music often feels like dating: first impressions are usually okay, but you just know there’s something off-putting beneath the surface. Then, when you do find whatever-it-is, you can’t run for the hills fast enough and wind up looking back and wondering what the fuck you were thinking. Read more…