CKY – ‘The Phoenix’ (Album Review)

In recent years, it’s been fashionable to slag off turn-of-the-millennium alt-metal – but the trend-pandering critics of the music world tend to overlook one simple thing. At that point, metal grooved. Bands like CKY made people want to move – and for a short time alt-metal even managed to impact the mainstream, before it all went downhill and morphed into the mainly stagnant pool of same-old-same-old we see around us today.

CKY have not forgotten the importance of The Groove in the eight years since Carver City came out – and thanks to Read more…

Posted on 17 May 2017

Incubus – ‘8’ (Album Review)

Incubus are masters of the musical curveball. Ahead of every album they release, the unexpected is the only thing to be expected. Unpredictability and consistent reinvention have been Incubus constants from the day their major label debut SCIENCE dropped.

That day was close to two decades ago – and Incubus are still going strong on 8. To say they’ve been Read more…

Posted on 21 April 2017

Between The Buried And Me – ‘Coma Ecliptic Live’ (Album Review)

Between The Buried And Me are one of the best progressive bands in the world today. That is a fact challenged by few. Since 2007’s Colors, BTBAM’s impact has only increased with each new release.

Dropping two years ago, Coma Ecliptic saw Between The Buried And Me unleash an immensely ambitious body of work. A conceptual prog opera drawing heavily on Dream Theater’s undeniable influence, Coma Ecliptic narrowly missed the Billboard Top 10 while dividing BTBAM fans due to Read more…

Posted on 19 April 2017

All That Remains – ‘Madness’ (Album Review)

All That Remains have really stuck their necks out here.

My strongest music-related belief is that bands and artists should be allowed to play whatever the hell they like. Without the concept of creative freedom, music’s history would be very dull indeed. We’d probably still be banging rocks with sticks, or humming along to bone flute quartets, and there would be no rock ‘n’ roll, no Read more…

Posted on 16 April 2017

Deaf Havana – ‘All These Countless Nights’ [Review]

For Deaf Havana, the past few years have been nothing if not chaotic. With 2013’s Old Souls, the Norfolk alt-rockers broke into the UK Top Ten, hit a new level of success, and even found themselves supporting Bruce Springsteen. On the surface, Deaf Havana had achieved almost everything any given rock band could possibly hope to tick off on their bucket list.

As we tend to expect when dreaming of the future, life should have been all roses from then onwards. But financial and interpersonal communication issues came close to derailing Deaf Havana, before they made some major changes behind Read more…

Posted on 24 January 2017

Jamie Lenman – ‘Mississippi’ [Review]

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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…

Posted on 23 January 2017