GALLERY: LIVE: PENGSHUi @ The Black Heart

The Black Heart is already close to boiling point by the time doors properly open. Camden on a Friday night is chaotic enough, but inside the venue there’s a different kind of anticipation: the sort that comes from a line-up built for noise, sweat and very little standing still. →

GALLERY: Harpy – ‘VII’

Harpy’s already taken on festival fields and pushed the limits of experimental goth-industrial-power-electronica, but now? Goth Metal Mommy’s embodying all seven sins in style. ‘VII’ takes in a sin with each track, and fans of blasphemy should get on their knees and rejoice; danceable electro-obscenity has never sounded quite →

GALLERY: LIVE: Malevolence / SPEED / Dying Wish / PSYCHOFRAME @ O2 Academy, Brixton

Watching Sheffield’s Malevolence close out their European tour at Brixton’s O2 Academy is something else entirely. The atmosphere builds from the moment the doors swing open, as bodies press towards the barrier, filling the venue with that particular brand of anticipation that only comes with a tour closer. The →

GALLERY: LIVE: Hot Milk / Cassyette @ the Roundhouse

We experienced the first pathetic snowfall of the year in the capital this morning, so naturally it felt apropos to round off the day with something fiery – the kind of music to make you emphatically aware of the blood coursing through your veins. Since Hot Milk entered their →

GALLERY: Downcast – ‘Nothing Left To Give’ EP

Downcast’s ‘Nothing Left To Give’ is a confident and compelling four-track statement from the Bristol emo up-and-comers, showcasing not only their growth as songwriters but also their willingness to push boundaries. Blending punchy originals with bold re-imaginings of well-loved tracks, the EP feels like a band joyfully stretching their →

GALLERY: LIVE: The Offspring @ the O2, London

From starting our as falsetto firebrands exposing social wrongs, the Offspring have settled into their niche as punk rock’s jolly uncles, cranking out jokes as readily as they drop an MTV era riff. Their staying power has resulted in possibly their most family-friendly incarnation yet, judging by the number →

GALLERY: Knives – ‘Reglitter I’

Bristol noise punks Knives have had a killer year. Their debut LP ‘Glitter’, released in April, is a churning powerhouse of nightmare rhythms; a personal favourite of 2025. They’ve taken their blistering live set on the road alongside noise rock icons Ditz, as well as bands like The →

GALLERY: Electric Callboy, Bury Tomorrow, Wargasm @ Alexandra Palace, London

GALLERY: LIVE: Electric Callboy @ Alexandra Palace

As one night stands go, there’s unlikely to be another bigger, or messier, evening than Electric Callboy’s only UK date on their Tanzneid World Tour. The irreverent electro-pop-metallers set the bar incredibly high at this year’s Slam Dunk Festival – so we’ve slathered ourselves in glitter, donned our finest →

GALLERY: Small Pond – ‘Emerging Volume V’

Small Pond, the independant label based in Brighton, are no strangers to championing their home town. There’s a reason Brighton has a history of churning out new and exciting music, and of the last decade, Small Pond have been a large part of that. Having previously started →

GALLERY: Vower – ‘A Storm Lined With Silver’

Vower really put themselves on the map in 2024 by bursting into the scene with a double whammy. Not only did they prove that they pack a punch live, debuting at 2000 Trees and blowing attendees minds with their blend of prog, metal and post-hardcore, but their debut EP →

GALLERY: The Hunna – ‘BLUE TRANSITIONS’

Here’s a trick – When a band catches your ear, seek out their early work first. Listen to those rough recordings, immerse yourself in the lo-fi sound of a band finding their way. You’ll hear their sound evolving, the craft sharpening, the money that success brings, the →

GALLERY: LIVE: Pendulum / Alt Blk Era @ O2 Academy Brixton

When the Pendulum lads want to celebrate, they head to Brixton. South London has embraced the Aussies – it’s where they recorded their live album, after all – and ‘Inertia’ is blaring from every graffitied corner on the walk from the Tube. More than that, tonight feels like the →

GALLERY: Indigo Blaze – ‘UTB’

Back in 1997, when Rage Against The Machine yelled ‘It’s coming back around again!’ they probably weren’t talking about rap metal, but here we are. It’s 2025 Nu-metal’s comeback is firmly established, Limp Bizkit are headlining next years Download and rap rock is very much in. Capitalising →

GALLERY: Pupil Slicer – Fleshwork

The world has changed a lot in the two years since Pupil Slicer’s last album. And given the band’s claim that “all of the worst things to happen to the human race have been caused by its own members,” the time that has passed wouldn’t appear to have incubated much →

GALLERY: LIVE: Common Threads Tour, London

Five cities, one week, twenty three bands and six stages: Common Thread Tour is a masterpiece of logistics as well as hardcore. For one day, the whole of Camden Town has been taken over by music as glorious as it is brutal, and we’re here to catch as much →

GALLERY: Give Up – ‘The Possibility That Love Is Not Enough’

Give Up have been peddling their emo wares across Brighton, and further afield, for a couple of years now, having released their debut EP ‘Laugh At Myself’ last autumn. With the release of their sophomore EP – ‘The Possibility That Love Is Not Enough’ – Give Up have →

GALLERY: LIVE: Mouth Culture / Beauty School @ The Garage, London

The Garage is rarely as civilised as it is before Mouth Culture come onstage. Sure, there seems to be a lot of crossover between the Ghost fandom and enjoyers of spiky alt sounds from Leicester, but this is a refined crowd that have sold out the venue tonight. There’s →

GALLERY: Top 25 Albums Of The Year

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GALLERY: Creeper – ‘Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death’

Of course ‘Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death’, Creeper’s song awaited fourth album, is released on Halloween. And the fact it’s centred loosely around a Lost Boys-esque story about a vampire rock band in their eighties is hardly a surprise either. If you’re already a fan of Will Gould and →