I’m an absolute sucker for any art form which tries to tell a story and has some form of concept to it. I just love to have my nerd string pulled on I find I get way more invested in something if the artist(s) has gone that extra mile in creating something. In line with this come The Uncharted with debut EP Perspectives (self-released) where the story behind this release is that the technicality and progressiveness of the music is paired with an unknown narrator looking for the meaning of life through various ideas and philosophies he encounters.Continue reading
Tag Archives: Kieran Mitchell
The Dirty Nil – Master Volume
The Dirty Nil’s debut album Higher Power (Dine Alone) felt like a genuine shot in the arm for both punk and rock alike and there was so much attitude and swagger on show the band garnered much deserved praise. Add to that the fact that the band’s live shows built upon the raucous foundations of the album, and the sky appeared to be the limit for them. Thus we come to that much talked about benchmark for many bands… that being the “difficult” follow up, and, interestingly, their second album Master Volume (Dine Alone) both improves and disappoints in equal measures.Continue reading
The Amity Affliction – Misery
There comes a point, it seems, for a lot of bands where they decide to go in a direction that would seem directly opposed to their core sound, or sound with which they are most associated with. Now, and this will not turn into a witch hunt or anything, but these creative directions often split fan bases and in turn lead to a lot of anger, comment, though in balance, often also acclaim. At one such crossroads are Aussie metalcore band The Amity Affliction, and their sixth album Misery (Roadrunner).Continue reading
Leeched – You Took The Sun When You Left
Lurching forth from the blackened sewers of Manchester (UK) come Leeched with their debut album You Took The Sun When You Left (Prosthetic). UK metal is in a frankly fantastic place now, whether large or small the sheer amount of genuinely exciting and vital bands is staggering. Leeched are hot the heels of UK luminaries Employed To Serve and Conjurer with their own monolithic take on the crushing doom/hardcore sound.Continue reading
Jesus Piece – Only Self
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
Dropout Kings – Audiodope
I’ve written a few times in reviews about the current resurgence of the Nu-Metal sound that was so popular and prevalent in the mid 90’s to early 2000’s. Ultimately the genre became so over saturated and watered down it imploded with only a handful bands surviving and progressing beyond it. Looking to pick up the nu-metal ball again are Arizona’s Dropout Kings who are about to release their debut album Audiodope (Napalm Records).
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Ultra-Violence – Operation Misdirection
Ah, thrash metal, perhaps the one sub-genre within metal that garners forth the most nostalgia and good feeling. Flashback to a couple of decades ago and this little offshoot contained some of the biggest bands on the planet. Goliath-sized acts such as Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax were so highly regarded they even had their own gimmick, that being ‘The Big Four’.Continue reading
Bury Tomorrow – Black Flame
It has been a slow but steady build for Southampton metalcore band Bury Tomorrow. They have been around for longer than most people might actually think, releasing debut album Portraits (Basick) way back in 2009 and they have always been just behind the forefront of the scene in the UK and indeed mainland Europe, where they have a sizeable following but never quite breaking through into that next echelon. Last album Earthbound (Nuclear Blast) was somewhat of a turning point ensuring a lot more eyes are now trained on them.Continue reading
Bullet For My Valentine – Gravity
What a ride Bullet For My Valentine (BFMV) have been on thus far, having gone from being part of a newly anointed ‘New Big 4 of Thrash’, and heralded in the same breaths of Metal’s greatest bands upon the release of their debut album The Poison (Visible Noise) to the flip side of the real lows felt after the release of their fourth record Temper, Temper (RCA) which saw creative levels dip to point where many wrote the band off completely. They attempted a return with 2015’s Venom (RCA) and seemed to be slowly kicking in the Metal cogs into motion again and saw a kind of spluttering rebirth. Continue reading
Jonathan Davis – Black Labyrinth
Korn is a band that needs no introduction, they speared headed the Nu-Metal genre back in the early nineties and have continued to be one of the best live bands on the planet whilst maintaining the quality of their recorded output. Frontman Jonathan Davis is a true modern day icon for metal whether it be for that signature voice or the lyrics that spoke to an entire generation. Having dabbled in various projects away from Korn, Davis is now ready to unleash his first solo offering, that being Black Labyrinth (Sumerian).Continue reading