Reviews

Nothing to Lose is certainly striking. Stoner, doom, ‘classic’ heavy; there are so many styles of metal catered for here. What’s most astounding about Battalions’ proficiency is that this is a debut album. There’s the tarmac thick sludge of Remission-era Mastodon, the infectious licks of Tony Iommi, and topping it all off is Phil Wilkinson’s brutal voice. Rather than employing ...

Primus. Tool. Fantômas. There are bands that truly epitomise what it is to eclectic, and blend myriad influences without becoming convoluted or start to sound confused. Lethe comfortably sit in this category. Their second full-length album, The First Corpse on the Moon, blends avant-garde metal, trip-hop, electronica and pop – to name a few genres – in a glorious experiment ...

Ray Wilson’s Song For A Friend has proved to be one of my favourite albums of 2016. The former Stiltskin and Genesis frontman delivered an acoustic album of well-crafted personalised songs delivered with expressive emotion. He follows it swiftly with Makes Me Think of Home, a close musical partner that adds electrical instruments, albeit not brazenly, that mix rock, pop ...

The Mute Gods gave birth to a formidable debut album with last year’s Do Nothing Till Your Hear From Me. Critically appraised, presumably good sales, they’re back not only to show there’s still life in the old dogs but that they’re ready bark even more furiously at those things that annoy them. As before, it’s politics and religion mainly; the ...

Southampton’s metalcore heavyweights Our Hollow Our Home recently announced the release date for their long-awaited debut album, Hartsick. Fans had been left on tenterhooks for a full album since the release of 2015’s submersive Redefine EP, and have enjoyed the tantalising drip feeding of Hartsick singles over recent months. Now, the loyal and the steadfast have been rewarded with a ...

Everyone loves a chorus. There are few things better than a song which builds perfectly to that huge moment when everyone comes in together and screams the words back at the band. It’s music at its very best. It doesn’t matter whether it’s pop, rock or R’n’B, a good one makes everything better. However, it is possible to have too much ...

The idea that music has to be perfect is a plague on rock and roll. Over-produced and over-played albums have seen the genre lose its sense of freedom and in 2017 a lot of bands don’t even sound like bands. Instead, they are a selection of perfectly formed pieces slotted together. The flat pack furniture of the musical world. All ...

Progressive metal band Haken have re-released their second album, Visions, after working alongside Jens Bogren to reinvigorate and raise the standard up to the band’s current production, in which Bogren also worked on. Visions is eight tracks long with a total run time of nearly sixty-three minutes, a full eleven minutes shorter than their debut album Aquarius [which has had ...

Aquarius, Haken’s full debut album was released upon the world some seven years ago and now, has been released once again. You may ask yourself why a band would be so concerned about re-releasing an album after such a period of time and it’s a valid question. However, Haken are not your regular band who make an album and say ...

Note to oneself: do not have the volume above 11 or you are likely to end up in A&E! First track ‘Instinct to Defend’ rings true as you try and save your ears from bleeding out. The heavy metal just pumps to its hearts content and unleashes its cold harsh stabs of rhythms along with harmonies that are solid and ...