Over the years Muse have become the masters of reinvention, seemingly able to transform between albums and constantly keeping their fan base guessing as to what direction they would go next. Even with this fluctuating history, their eighth studio output Simulation Theory (Warner Bros.) was a high-stakes gamble, even for Muse.Continue reading
It’s long past the time of day when Thomas Giles (aka Tommy Rogers of Between The Buried And Me) began being able to do whatever the hell he wanted. To be fair, to say his day job band has moments of eclecticism is like saying that Brexit negotiations have been a little bit difficult. And that diversity of spirit, of zig-zag, is absolutely at the core of fourth solo offering Don’t Touch The Outside (Sumerian Records), a record that is everything and nothing, and that is laissez-faire in respect of genre while being incredibly focused in trying to keep the listener moving.Continue reading
Normandie introduced themselves in 2016 with their impressive debut Inguz (InVogue) With follow-up White Flag due out on 26 October 2018 on EasyLife, vocalist Philip Strand of the progressive, anthemic Rock act talked us through his live experience of Muse, and their direct impact on his band…Continue reading
Woah! SHINING (the Norwegian BlackJazz Munke(b)ys) have got some balls. While Rock and Metal fans are often the most obsessive and loyal of supporters, woe betide a band who undergoes a misplaced style change; when heroes embark in a new direction that isn’t just left at the traffic lights but involves a radical transformation, it’s not unknown for a band to split and lose an audience, sometimes irretrievably. Make no mistake, Animal (Spinefarm) is one such move.Continue reading
It is refreshing to know that it is still possible for bands to make a genuine impression and progress on merit. Black Peaks have not arisen on wings of hot air belched from a hype machine based on market research, haircuts, stylists, or a neat-line in zeitgeist paraphernalia and right-here-right-now shallow bandwagonistic anthems, but as a collective who are on the cusp of succeeding, of truly making an impression on the alternative music landscape, due to the fact of being talented musicians with obvious chemistry, and the ability to craft great works of art distinctive to them alone.Continue reading
August 2018 saw the lives and times of UK bluesy rockers Massive Wagons change, perhaps irreversibly, as hot on the heels of a headline performance at SOS Festival that impressed punters and Ghost Cult alike, their fourth album Full Nelson not only hit the racks, but mounted a serious, and unexpected for the band, assault on the UK album charts, achieving a truly impressive week one position of #16.
With the band experiencing a step up in profile in the run-up to release, guitarist and founding member Adam Thistlethwaite took time out to shoot the breeze with Steve Tovey.Continue reading
In 2016 Tarja Turunen set off on yet another epic touring adventure that would last for eighteen months, taking in forty countries and seeing the chanteuse perform to over a million people, fully cementing her status as a solo artist of some solo. To celebrate this monumental achievement, as she had done in 2012 with Act I, Tarja is releasing a multi-DVD / 2 CD documentation of a couple of the highlights of the tour; an intimate London show at the Metropolis Studios to a handful of fans recorded prior to the release of The Shadow Self, and a full concert experience from the Teatro della Luna, Milan, titled Act II (all earMUSIC).Continue reading
Over the course of, up until now, nine studio albums Norwegian band Gazpacho have resided in a musical plane entirely of their own, and have consistently shown to be one of most captivating and spellbinding bands of today as a result. Trying to define their sound or vision aside from describing them as an art/avant-garde rock outfit is near impossible with each passing release giving different movements and colours; what is usually a definite however is that the music will be densely packed, complex and often shows an embrace for the dark and melancholic; either vividly or perhaps beneath the surface. Continue reading
Muse has released a new clip for their brand new track ‘Thought Contagion’. Running with a decidedly 1980’s theme, ‘Thought Contagion’ was produced by Rich Costey and Muse, mixed by Adam Hawkins.Continue reading
