LIVE: U-BAHN – 19/02/2020

-YES, MANCHESTER- For a band, travelling across the globe to new countries to play music can often be a daunting experience, however if bands did this with the confidence of Melbourne’s U-Bahn, no band would have to worry about anything again. Yet another rendition of Victoria’s seemingly endless supply of talent made itself heard in […]

There are many old sayings about perseverance – ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try try again’, ‘everyone loves a trier’ – at least one of these must have been lodged in the head of Rob Marshall. guitarist and songwriter for Humanist. After being in Exit Calm for nine years, when they disbanded in […]

ALBUM REVIEW: HUMANIST – HUMANIST (FEAT. MARK LANEGAN, DAVE GAHAN, JOHN ROBB AND MORE)

LIVE: DRY CLEANING / POZI – 12/02/2020

-GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER- For a band that as yet have only put out a handful of tracks across 2 EPs, Dry Cleaning have accrued a monstrous number of fans. Arriving early at the upstairs room of Gullivers, I am shocked that already I can barely get through the door. Manchester is the first stop on their […]

-YES, MANCHESTER- THREADS Replacing a support act on short notice, the quartet whose name almost rhymes with the breakfast cereal shreddies brings forth something you can distinguish with interesting guitar nuances and changes in tempo that you can almost spot prior. They play tracks from a recent EP (neat artwork) and alternate between duo vocalists […]

LIVE: DAMO SUZUKI / THREADS – 13/02/2020

EP REVIEW: BRAND NEW FRIEND – A CURE FOR LIVING

There are so many bands coming out of Ireland currently, with Fontaines D.C and Inhaler is there room for another Indie band out of Ireland? Brand New Friend is here with their new EP, ready to answer that question. The four-piece from Belfast made up of frontman Taylor Johnson along with his sister Lauren along […]

So, it’s fifty years since Black Sabbaths self-titled was release. Ozzy also had a serious life affirming 2019. So, what’s the best way to approach this? Release a new solo album that feels like a swansong. Well that sounded depressing and an excuse. But it isn’t! Not even close. ‘Ordinary Man’ is Ozzys best album […]

ALBUM REVIEW: OZZY OSBOURNE – ORDINARY MAN

ALBUM REVIEW: KVELERTAK – SPLID

Guess who’s back? Kvelertak. Kvelertak, tell a friend! (worked better in my head) Kvelertak had found themselves sailing to the unknown. Their last release ‘Nattesferd’ was a fine advancement in their sound, moving away from shorter bursts of fright, to a progressive, aggressive lengthier song run. Was great but didn’t quite catch on like previous […]

Ah the difficult second album, it’s something every artist either embraces or dreads, it usually goes one of a few ways, you either make something too similar to the first album or you go in a completely different direction and alienate your fan base. It is a difficult tightrope to walk for any artist, but […]

ALBUM REVIEW: SOCCER MOMMY – COLOR THEORY

ALBUM REVIEW: SUNFLOWERS – ENDLESS VOYAGE

The opening track (Prologue) to Endless Voyage is a minute-long keyboard instrumental consisting of one repeated chord change, gradually building to a brutal segue straight into another instrumental ‘Defective Machine’ – which sounds exactly like it is described: like the pained cries of a fax terminal as it is subjected to prolonged white-noise,-electrodes-and-sleep-deprivation torture. The […]

‘Kung Fu, do what you do to me. I haven’t been the same since my teenage lobotomy.’ It’s been twenty five years now since Ash released their first full album ‘1977’. The band have had some up’s and downs throughout their career so far. Although considering the three Northern Irish punks practically walked out of […]