Tag Archives: Vola

FESTIVAL REVIEW: Radar Festival 2024 – Part 2 Live at O2 Victoria Warehouse

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Sunday

The final day commences, and although there has been some hiccups in the form of bands dropping out (Oxymorrons and Siamese), this was fixed instantly with replacement acts Mike Dawese and Pintglass. Pintglass, who stepped up to the task having only performed the afterparty the night prior. Rock-influenced metalcore quintet, Ashen were first to take to the main stage. Displaying an eclectic mix of melodic metalcore tracks, with giant choruses. Whilst having only visited the UK once for their last tour, the French band were determined to leave a mark, performing a unique cover of Nirvana’s iconic single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” getting the early bird crowds to sing in unison, with Ashen’s frontman Clem Richard, who put on one of the best vocal performances of the weekend.Continue reading →


FESTIVAL REVIEW: Radar Festival 2024 – Part I Live at O2 Victoria Warehouse

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Back for its 4th iteration and 2nd time in Manchester’s own O2 Victoria Warehouse, Radar Festival has returned to provide a wide array of progressive rock and metal performances for the masses again. With no clashes between either of the 2 stages, this gave audiences the ability to see all of the acts on the bill.Continue reading →


INTERVIEW: Four Stroke Baron Talk “Data Diamond”

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Four Stroke Baron defy convention and boldly go where few bands have gone before with the smirking and cinematic future shock brilliance of Data Diamond. The falsetto and manipulated vocals on “1000 Threads” paired with heavy sci-fi Nu groove makes you feel adrift in space. It is a swan dive into embracing the chaos, mutating and adapting while trying to find yourself. Certain moments feel like the dark guitars of Korn, Once Human, or Gojira suddenly morphed into Massive Attack. 

There is so much here for repeated listens and it was cool to get to talk about the new album with the band. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Temic – Terror Management Theory

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With an expansive sound and members whose past jobs include Devin Townsend, Haken, Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress and The Neal Morse Band amongst others is Temic. The idea for this project was first suggested back in 2017, but various touring commitments and a pesky pandemic meant it came to naught until now. 

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Graspop Metal Meeting 2024 Books Tool, Machine Head, Alice Cooper, Bruce Dickinson, Corey Taylor, Deep Purple, Electric Callboy, Megadeth and More 

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Graspop Metal Meeting, one of the most acclaimed metal festivals in the world has finalized more names for their 2024 new lineup. Final headliner Alice Cooper has joined the bill with 83  other bands for year 27! Bruce Dickinson, Corey Taylor, Deep Purple, Electric Callboy and Megadeth as part of 130+ other bands. The fest takes place from Thursday 20 June through Sunday 23 June 2024 at Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, November 25th at the link below. 

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FESTIVAL REVIEW: ArcTanGent Festival 2023 Live at Fernhill Farm

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ArcTanGent Festival, a yearly outdoor four-day fixture at Fernhill Farm near Bristol, attracts a devoted following to its niche yet eclectic lineups of artists who generally have an association with post-rock, progressive metal, or experimental rock. It’s “sort of” a metal festival, but the range of acts it showcases steers towards the more left-field and eccentric end of heavy music and at times stretches beyond what could reasonably even be labelled as “rock”.

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Arctangent Festival 2023 Announces Their Final Main Stage Headliner Devin Townsend

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The mighty Arctangent Festival 2023 today announces their final main stage headliner for this year’s event, The incredible, truly one-of-a-kind Devin Townsend will be closing out the whole festival on the main stage, Saturday night. The festival will be taking place between August 16th through to August 19th, at Fernhill Farm, a short drive from Bristol City Centre. Also announced today include Haken, Yourcodenameis:Milo, Ashenspire, Clt Drp, The Guru Guru, and many more. Acts already announced include Heilung, Converge, Deafheaven (playing ‘Sunbather’ in full as a UK exclusive), Swans, Empire State Bastard, Sikth, The Fall Of Troy, Cave In, Igorrr, Pigs7, Elder, Russian Circles, Chat Pile, Svalbard, Jaga Jazzist, Brutus, Loathe, Rolo Tomassi, Svalbard, and many more.Continue reading →


Arctangent Festival 2023 Books Deafheaven, The Fall Of Troy, Cave In, Igorrr, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Elder, Russian Circles, Svalbard, Brutus, Jaga Jazzist, and More 

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Arctangent Festival has announced a second wave of bands for the 2023 event! Among the new names on the bill include Deafheaven (performing Sunbather, UK exclusive), The Fall Of Troy, Cave In, Igorrr, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Elder, Russian Circles, Svalbard, Brutus, Jaga Jazzist, And So I Watch You From Afar, and more. ATG dates are 16th,17th,18th,19th for August 2023 and tickets are on sale at the link below. The festival had already announced bands such as Bicurious, Conjurer, Dvne, Five the Hierophant, Hippotraktor, Scalping, and Skin Failure. 

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CONCERT REVIEW: VOLA – Voyager – Four Stroke Baron Live at Rebellion 

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VOLA playing at Rebellion Manchester Credit: Rich Price

Opening up tonight were Nevada three-piece Four Stroke Baron, a band who are difficult to classify. Heavy slabs of groove-laden prog smash funkily across a packed audience. The set is marred only by the fact that in a couple of songs the singer notably loses his voice and the band without missing a beat goes on to deliver their first instrumental set from the dark smoke-laden stage of Rebellion and its notoriously bad lighting. Handling an awkward situation very well indeed they still delivered a solid and enjoyable set that had the audience’s heads bobbing along in time. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Moon Tooth – Phototroph

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Bizarrely named Long Island quartet Moon Tooth’s new record Phototroph (Pure Noise Records) is a wonderfully eclectic one that mixes many disparate influences into one cohesive, and thoroughly absorbing, whole. From prog, rock, NWOBHM, and grunge to name but a few, Phototroph is a sprawling, unique and engaging offeringContinue reading →