As the largest Metal label in the world, Nuclear Blast and it’s subsidiaries (SharpTone and Arising Empires) has a conveyor belt of exceptional talent at their disposal. Joe Naan joined their PR team earlier in the year and has been a regular in our inbox ever since, representing their incredible roster.Continue reading
We have a LOT of time for UK Sludgey Hardcore/Metal act Allfather. Not only is their new album And All Will Be Desolation (Rotting Throne) a beast of a record, they also possess an arsenal of MASSIVE riffs, and those riffs also kill fascists. It’s true, it’s damn true! Staunchly political, and marrying this to a love of underground HEAVY music, spearheading a campaign to share and promote their contemporaries and those they love and share ideals with online, it only made sense to ask vocalist Tom Ballard to talk us through some of his favourite EPs of 2018. Continue reading
Minimal waffle, maximum music – I’m very aware that there is too much music and not enough time! I’ve had close to 1,000 albums pass through my inbox this year alone (I’ve probably only been able to listen to about a third of them), and what I’m presenting are my favourite albums of 2018, the albums that I’ve connected most with, that matter most to me, one way or another.
Hope you find something new to get into… Continue reading
I get a real kick not only out of reviewing a band from the UK, but also a band that are from the city I hold very dear. Irk are a Noise Rock trio from the bastion of Yorkshire, Leeds. It will never be the most commercial genre, but there is a lot about Irk that is worthy of note, and to show exactly what they’re all about, they have served up their self-released crowdfunded debut album, Recipes From The Bible.Continue reading
As the Ghost Cult Albums of the Year 2018 run-down approaches the business end, picking up where Part 1 left off, we invite you to peruse the albums that, democratically voted for by the entire crew, make our Top 25 and didn’t just prick up our ears, but smashed their way into our hearts and minds. Read on…
Not that there’s ever really been a moment of musical drought for Boston’s Unearth, but tracing back to 2014s Watchers of Rule the motive is a recommitment to brutality. On Extinction(s) (Century Media), the New Englanders are playing with more passion and vitriol than most of their younger contemporaries currently filling the Metal and Hardcore ranks.Continue reading
If the political and social swamp that is the United States in the year 2018 can have one positive, it is that it provides the perfect environment to create fierce extreme music or art. This isn’t lost on New York hardcore legends Sick Of It All who on Wake The Sleeping Dragon! (Century Media) tackle subjects ranging from the 1%, President Trump’s idiotic fucking wall and the institutionalized racism built into New York City’s infrastructure. One hell of a thesis.Continue reading
No airs, no graces, no gods, no masters; this is hitting hard, beating down, aggressive music. Armed with their seventh studio album, Total Retaliation (Nuclear Blast/Pure Noise) and bucket load of muscle and testosterone to palm-mute chug into your face, LA five-piece Terror, bastions of traditional Tough-guy Hardcore, bring the chants, the slams, the pit-anthems and the attack in their own inimitable and unmistakable approach.Continue reading
Three songs. Six minutes. Chaotic aggressive punked-up discordant post-hardcore with antagonistic, flesh-ripping hooks, more attitude than most style-over-substance poser acts can muster across a career and a mic drop of a release ahead of their upcoming tour with Stick To Your Guns, the Private Room EP (Pure Noise) is three previous B-sides that Canadian modern hardcore band Counterparts felt deserved more attention.Continue reading
Unless you have been living under a very heavy rock recently, you should have noticed a new breed of bands rising from the hardcore scene. Spearheaded by Code Orange and their future classic album Forever (Roadrunner) the floodgates are now well and truly open. This new movement is, frankly, irresistible with genre-defying records being released to great critical praise from the media and fans alike. This year has seen even more bands come through and make an impact, such as Harms Way, whose Posthuman (Metal Blade) record reached new levels of heavy.Continue reading