Ten reviews you might have missed

Reviews from Friday 23 August 2024

Cassyette – ‘The World Fucking Sucks’

Cassyette has more sides than a fractal Rubik’s cube, and she’d probably appreciate the comparison. Two years on from ‘Sad Girl Mixtape’, and the ‘modern alternative icon’ is simultaneously cementing and diversifying her sound on her proper debut album. Of course, she’s crammed ‘The World Fucking Sucks’ with the

Friday 16 August 2024

Yours Truly– ‘TOXIC’

Everyone looks at their own image. It’s not just a case of mirrors, it’s endless videos and social media posts. Now more than ever people are aware of who they are. On their fantastic 2022 EP Australian pop-rock band Yours Truly dared to ask ‘Is This What

Thursday 15 August 2024

Wrex – ‘THIS HELL GOES A LONG WAY DOWN’

Let’s talk about birthday cake. It’s the ultimate party food, it’s exciting and it’s inherently special. ‘This Hell Goes A Long Way Down’. the debut from Wrex, has a tasty looking cake on its cover, and that implies a lot about its contents. First, some background.

Saturday 10 August 2024

Destroy Boys – ‘Funeral Soundtrack #4’

Forming just under a decade ago, Cali natives Destroy Boys have been churning out music on a pretty regular basis. In fact, with the release of their fourth album, you could say they’re dropping new music with consistency. The real question is whether they’re able to push and progress

Four Year Strong – ‘analysis paralysis’

What happens if a much loved, widely adored pop punk band goes into a studio with no finished material, going into the recording process relatively blind with one of heavy music’s finest producers at the helm? If that band is Four Year Strong and the producer is Will Putney,

Monday 05 August 2024

LIVE: Alkaline Trio / Slomosa @ O2 Ritz, Manchester

It’s a typically chilly July evening on the streets of Manchester, Alkaline Trio are in town tonight. The Paramount – a Wetherspoons within a stone’s throw of tonight’s venue – is already bustling with 30-somethings adorning faded skull and heart tattoos and stone-washed Bad Religion t-shirts. The Chicago three-piece have

Wednesday 31 July 2024

Millie Manders and the Shutup – ’Wake Up, Shut Up, Work’

“Things I did when I was seventeen still haunt me in my dreams,” sings Millie Manders, cross-genre punk firebrand, in an opening line which perfectly sets up the vulnerability and upfront attitude of her sophomore album with the Shutup, ’Wake Up, Shut Up, Work’. One of the leading lights

Monday 29 July 2024

LIVE: 2000 Trees 2024 – Saturday

It’s July, this year’s festival season is fully underway now, and we find ourselves back in scenic Cheltenham for the ever-wonderful 2000 Trees Festival. One of the alt world’s most beloved summer festivals, this year’s bill is crammed full of up and coming talent arena-filling giants, all gathering at

Saturday 27 July 2024

LIVE: 2000 Trees 2024 – Friday

Thursday 25 July 2024

LIVE: 2000 Trees 2024 – Thursday

Saturday 13 July 2024

Graphic Nature – ‘Who Are You When No One Is Watching?’

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, as the old adage goes. When Harvey Freeman, frontman for hardcore heroes Graphic Nature, was assaulted on a train in London last year, he was left with both physical injuries and more lasting damage to his mental health. What emerged from

Friday 12 July 2024

Northbound – ‘Juniper’

“I wanna play a big tune in a little room, I wanna fuck things up and kill the moon,” says Jonathon Fraser – AKA Northbound – on ‘Big Tune (Fuck Off Forever)’, and with a goal like that, you have to appreciate his ambition. He’s shared bills with Simple

LIVE: Download Festival 2024 – Sunday

As the final day of Download dawns, we remind ourselves that it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and we’re on the home stretch. With an abundance of tremendous music ahead of us and brightening skies above our heads, let’s celebrate the finest of the worlds rock and metal scene

Thursday 11 July 2024

VOWER – ‘Apricity’

VOWER’s EP ‘Apricity’ is an interesting prospect, a debut release that’s attracting considerable hype among some while barely registering among others. That’s because it is the new project by members of some of the most criminally underrated bands the UK has produced in recent years; Black Peaks, Palm Reader,

LIVE: Crosses ††† / VOWWS @ O2 Forum Kentish Town

After what was frankly a pretty miserable start to June, the season seemed to change rather suddenly with a mini-heatwave thrusting London into the familiar stickiness of British summertime in the city. Thankfully the notoriously hot O2 Forum Kentish Town feels just about bearable as the house lights dim

Tuesday 02 July 2024

Terminals – ‘BAPTISE’

The name Terminals implies a group reaching their end, but this is the beginning. After giving us a taste with last year’s ‘Capsize/Exist’ single, they are launching themselves properly with a debut EP. Fittingly, they’ve called it ‘Baptise’ because it really is an immersive experience. The

Monday 01 July 2024

Mt. Onsra – ‘SACRED TIME’

Lockdown was a strange time. A double-edged sword. Distress and isolation on the one side, connection and creativity on the other. Unable to go about their lives, two friends found themselves reconnecting. They found a spark. They founded Mt. Onsra. Multi-instrumentalists Simon Allen and Russell Cleave

LIVE: Download Festival 2024 – Saturday

Day Two of Download is the one you’ve probably heard most about by now from your mates; the endless downpours, fans face-planting into the mud outside the Avalanche Stage, and enough technical disruptions to make you grind your teeth in despair. But with a day jam-packed with acts as

Wednesday 26 June 2024

Scene Queen – ‘Hot Singles In Your Area’

We’ve had ‘don’t judge by appearances’ drilled into us since birth, and no one proves that to be true more aptly than Scene Queen. Maybe you caught her set at Download, saw the blonde with pigtails gyrating to songs about oral sex and thought you’d accidentally shown up to

LIVE: Download Festival 2024 – Friday

Download XXI, followup to last year’s anniversary spectacular, aims high. With Pantera’s return and Sum 41’s graceful exit on the cards, there’s plenty of huge names to make this a weekend for the history books, but the real action’s on the smaller stages. Download always manages to cram in