Album Review: Porcupine Tree

Album: Nil Recurring
Label: Peaceville Records

Out of the ashes of last year’s recording sessions for their latest opus, ‘Fear Of A Black Planet’, rises a new mini-album, ‘Nil Recurring’, a self-contained work in its own right totaling just shy of a half-hour. Regarded as one of the most impressive experimental prog-rock bands ever to emerge from […]

Album Review: The Arcane Order

Album: In The Wake Of Collisions
Label: Metal Blade

So you want to be one of The Arcane Order. Well, you’d better suit up because these boys certainly have a nasty initiation ceremony in store for you. ‘In The Wake Of Collisions’ is simply a beast of an album. The guitars will batter into you whilst the […]

Album Review: Dead Meadow

Album: Old Growth
Label: Matador Records

For this, their fifth studio album, Dead Meadow have taken their brand of psychedelic stoner rock and stripped everything down to the barest bones and got right back to nature. Now just a three-piece the band flew out to rural Indiana and began recording in the same studio/farmhouse where they recorded […]

Interview: As I Lay Dying

San Diego’s Christian metal masters, As I Lay Dying, have been making all the right noises recently. Their new album, ‘An Ocean Between Us’ shows a new-found intensity and a crushingly heavy sound. It was released in August 2007 to rapturous acclaim, breaking into the top ten of America’s Billboard 200 and topping the rock […]

Gig Review: Darkest Hour + GOTK + Malefice

Venue: Barfly, Cambridge
Date: 23 January 2008

Malefice are one hell of a frightening support act and the lead singer, Dale Butler, is quite the monster showman. There has been a recent upsurge in decent US metalcore bands and these boys, hailing as they do from Reading, England, sound easily as fine as any of them. Think […]

Album Review: Saviours

Album: Into Abaddon
Label: Kemado Records

Saviours from Oakland, California come with a ‘U’ and a surprising mixture of influences ranging from NWOBHM to stoner rock. Think Iron Maiden jamming with High On Fire with Lemmy wailing from within an echo chamber.
‘Into Abaddon’ is their second long-player and despite its concise playing time this isn’t one you […]

Interview: Buster Bloodvessel

It’s Bad Manners 2007 Christmas Tour and instead of being festooned with festive decorations their dressing-room looks like a bomb has hit it. There are monkey nuts all over the floor, scattered beer cans have been left half-empty, and the band are slumped in various states of disarray. Buster Bloodvessel, the band’s iconic frontman, is […]

Album Review: Disfear

Album: Live The Storm
Label: Relapse Records

Sweden’s huge “dis” music scene, where the spiked drumbeat is king, has been headed for many years now by Disfear. With numerous albums and band line-ups behind them it’s been a long wait since their last album. They’ve added Entombed guitarist, Uffe Cederlund, who has brought with him a new […]

Album Review: Hayseed Dixie

Album: No Covers
Label: Pinnacle

This is Hayseed Dixie like you’ve never heard them before. It’s all original material and now with the added oomph of electrics and tub-thumping. Opening track, ‘Bouncing Betty Boogie’, is a fine example of the direction of this album. At first it appears to be an innocent number about chatting up a […]

Album Review: Bow Wow + Omarion

Album: Face/Off
Label: Sony

Here we have an album of apparently such importance that it has its own website and accompanying tour. “I’m not even calling it an album”, says Bow Wow, “it’s gonna be a special event, it’s gonna be crazy, something the people have been waiting on – the girls have been waiting on - […]