Ten reviews you might have missed

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1 LIVE: Knocked Loose / Basement / Harm’s Way / Pest Control @ O2 Academy Brixton

2 Bloodywood – ‘Nu Delhi’

3 LIVE: Touché Amoré @ Electric Ballroom, London

4 Spiritbox – ‘Tsunami Sea’

5 LIVE: Spiritbox / Periphery / Stray From The Path @ Alexandra Palace, London

6 LIVE: Better Lovers / Frontierer / Greyhaven @ Electric Brixton, London

7 Vukovi – ‘MY GOD HAS A GUN’

8 LIVE: Slipknot / Bleed From Within @ The O2

9 Hidden Mothers – ‘Erosion / Avulsion’

10 Polar – ‘Five Arrows’

Reviews from Friday 28 March 2025

Deafheaven – ‘Lonely People With Power’

What exactly do Deafheaven sound like? In 2020, this was a pretty easy question to answer. Back then, you could fairly describe them as a band that mixes elements of post-rock and shoegaze with black metal, often labelled as ‘blackgaze’. More specifically, the band created lush, sprawling soundscapes that

Thursday 27 March 2025

LIVE: Knocked Loose / Basement / Harm’s Way / Pest Control @ O2 Academy Brixton

If ever there was a way to get fans excited for your biggest UK show to date, Knocked Loose announcing a surprise gig taking place three days beforehand was one way to do it! 500 lucky souls got to pack out a sweaty Underworld to join the Kentucky hardcore

Monday 24 March 2025

Sicksense – ‘CROSS ME TWICE’

First time around, the Nu-metal era was all a bit embarrassing. Old music was dead, the weird kids were cool and there was a frenzied embrace of something new. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie, the scene was flooded and, once respectable bands started debasing themselves,

Friday 21 March 2025

A Day To Remember – ‘Big Ole Album, Vol. 1’

‘Big Ole Album, Vol. 1′ not only marks twenty years since A Day To Remember’s debut LP, ‘And Their Name Was Treason’ – it also marks a stylistic return to the blend of metalcore and pop-punk that defined the band until 2021’s ‘You’re Welcome’. Their second record put

Tuesday 18 March 2025

Imperial Triumphant – ‘Goldstar’

With extreme metal, theres a tendency to think that the apex of heaviness has been reached some time ago. After all, once you’ve got brain rattling blast beats, riffs that sound like they’ve been passed through a blender, and shrieked vocals that may as well have been laid down

Monday 17 March 2025

Bloodywood – ‘Nu Delhi’

Every part of the metal scene plays with the idea of being an outsider, so when we’re confronted with a voice that comes from a different race, continent and culture than we’re accustomed to, we embrace it into a bear hug. New Delhi’s own Bloodywood have taken on the

Friday 14 March 2025

Coheed and Cambria – ‘The Father Of Make Believe’

Examining a Coheed and Cambria album in isolation used to be the last thing that frontman Claudio Sanchez wanted. We were always supposed to take the music and lyrics he produced as one part of the increasingly-complex ‘Amory Wars’ saga, and by reading the comic books at the same

Wednesday 12 March 2025

LIVE: Touché Amoré @ Electric Ballroom, London

We might call Touché Amoré ‘hardcore’, but that’s only because a better word for their sound hasn’t been coined yet. They’ve only been in the UK for a week as part of one of their brief and sporadic appearances outside the US, and while seeing them headline is enough

Tuesday 11 March 2025

Michael Cera Palin – ‘We Could Be Brave’

With the release of their debut album, ‘We Could Be Brave’, the key word that personifies Michael Cera Palin is that last one. Having formed over a decade ago, taking a hiatus and reforming early 2020 (uh oh) and subsequently reemerging in 2022, “brave” really does sum them up.

Friday 07 March 2025

HotWax – Hot Shock

HotWax have been bubbling up under the radar since the release of their 2023 debut EP, ‘A Thousand Times’ and its follow-up, ‘Invite Me, Kindly’ later the same year. 2025 sees the release of their first LP, ‘Hot Shock’, through Marathon Artists. The tone of ‘Hot Shock’ is alternately

Spiritbox – ‘Tsunami Sea’

When Spiritbox announced ‘Tsunami Sea’, there was an anticipated hush across the music industry. Their debut ‘Eternal Blue’ was received to cries of adoration from fans and critics alike, with claims that the band was one to watch out for. It can be hard to live up to such

Wednesday 05 March 2025

Architects – ‘The Sky, The Earth & All Between’

It’s been a good couple of years since the release of Architects’ last offering, ‘the classic symptoms of a broken spirit’. Therefore, it’s no wonder that fans have been eagerly waiting to see (and hear) what has been conjured up this time, in the form of ‘The Sky, The

Tuesday 04 March 2025

Oversize – ‘VITAL SIGNS’

‘You remind me of my ex’ – are there any more hurtful words? The reference to you in relation to something else, something that came before, something, maybe, that you might not be. Was that initial interest driven by familiarity to something else? Something, better? Listening

Thursday 27 February 2025

LIVE: Green Lung / Unto Others @ O2 Forum Kentish Town

Nearly eight years on from their first ever gig at The Black Heart, London cult heroes Green Lung have turned the beloved Camden institution into a shrine for all things occult ahead of their biggest hometown show to date. From the “Goaty Boutique” pop-up shop with a queue stretching

LIVE: Spiritbox / Periphery / Stray From The Path @ Alexandra Palace, London

For one night only, Spiritbox are gracing the UK with their presence. We all knew they’d be back after their slot supporting Korn last year, but selling out the ten thousand strong Alexandra Palace is a whole different ball game for the Canadians. It’s all part of their quiet

Tuesday 18 February 2025

Anxious – ‘Bambi’

A sophomore album can be a tricky one for the artist, but for the listener? It holds the promise of vindication in your faith in a band. When Connecticut’s own Anxious dropped their debut back in 2022, we knew they were on to something special with their bubblegum-emo-with-hardcore-roots sound.

Church Tongue – ‘You’ll Know It Was Me’ EP

Metalcore is an incredibly exciting genre to be a fan of, especially in recent years. Bands like Chamber, Boundaries and God Complex are just some of the names that come to mind, all lending a hand to reignite the fire the genre had in its golden years and carving

Monday 17 February 2025

HANDS LIKE HOUSES – ‘A T M O S P H E R I C S’

Australia’s Hands Like Houses are back, ready to blaze into their new era with their latest offering ‘A T M O S P H E R I C S’. A sixteen track double album, the group have split this into four volumes – Tropo, Strato, Meso, and Thermo. Each

Wednesday 12 February 2025

Lacuna Coil – ‘SLEEPLESS EMPIRE’

Late one night, you can’t sleep, you’re flicking through the channels and you see a nature documentary. It triggers something; thinking about time. Thinking about life cycles. Mayflies famously live for less than 12 hours. Some cicadas appear every 17 years. Both types of creatures start out

Tuesday 11 February 2025

Dream Theater – ‘Parasomnia’

A lot can happen in fifteen years for the average person, but for Dream Theater, who float in their own dimensional bubble distant to the rest of us, the time can pass in the blink of an eye. Drummer Mike Portnoy is back after a three album absence for