Still Evil After All These Years: Bidding Farewell With 10 Of The Best From Thrash Idols Slayer

Photo: Gene Ambo When it was announced back in January that Slayer would pack it in after one final world tour, metalheads across the globe lost the plot for a little while as anticipation swelled ahead of a historic send off. The most evil band of all time are currently packing out arenas in the UK and Ireland, providing a thrash metal experience like no other group can thanks to their ferocious reputation, a stack of crushing guitar riffs, breakneck tempo changes and Tom Araya’s grizzled vocals.

Written by: Jon Stickler | Date: Wednesday, 07 November 2018

Unheavenly Creatures: Coheed and Cambria Turn A New Page

Concept is sometimes a dirty word in rock ‘n’ roll but it’s one that’s impossible to avoid when you’re talking about New York prog heroes Coheed and Cambria, who have crafted a rich catalogue set against the science-fiction backdrop of The Amory Wars, a comic book written by frontman Claudio Sanchez.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Monday, 05 November 2018

If You Have Ghost: The Evolution of Metal's Satanic Disco Showstoppers

Illustration: Sam Davies There is a world of difference between Ghost today and the dark, shadowy group that emerged from an occult realm with the release of ‘Opus Eponymous’ at the turn of the decade. Once a band that disgorged Sabbathian doom metal splattered with gothic horror imagery, they have evolved into a rock spectacle that’s part pantomime, part musical and part Satanic disco.

Written by: Jon Stickler | Date: Friday, 26 October 2018

Antarctigo Vespucci Rides Again: Chris Farren and Jeff Rosenstock Get The Band Back Together

Photo: Andy De Santis I know Chris Farren and Jeff Rosenstock are friends. You know Chris Farren and Jeff Rosenstock are friends. But do Chris Farren and Jeff Rosenstock know that Chris Farren and Jeff Rosenstock are friends? “Hey,” Farren says from the stage at Bristol’s Exchange. “If you’re excited for Jeff Rosenstock, let me hear you say...‘CHRIS FARREN!’” When Rosenstock’s guitar packs up mid-set, his attempts to borrow Farren’s are met with silence until a member of his band suggests Tweeting him. Yeah, that’d probably do it, Jeff nods.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 24 October 2018

The Importance of Growth: Soccer Mommy Talks Life Leading Up To 'Clean'

Photo: Natalia Mantini At Thekla, Bristol’s famous floating venue, Soccer Mommy’s Your Dog gets the best reaction from the crowd. Its sentiments reach further than its three minutes of poppy guitar licks as Sophie Allison tells us: “I don't wanna be your fucking dog.”

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Monday, 22 October 2018

Standing Out From The Crowd: Introducing Adwaith And Their Debut Album 'Melyn'

Photo: The Shoot Adwaith have one of the most streamed Welsh language songs of all time, and Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield recently remixed one of their tracks. But there are still way too many people out there who’ve never heard of the Carmarthen trio. Why is that?

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 17 October 2018

One Step Back, Two Steps Forward: Mike Lindsay On Rekindling the Magic of Tunng

“Progressive folk… acid wonk pop?"

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Wednesday, 17 October 2018

Safe Hands: Cardiff's Sŵn Festival Starts Over With An Exciting Bill

Cardiff mainstay Sŵn Festival is back, so get ready to flex your musical muscles during four riotous days of gigs across various venues in the Welsh capital.

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Tuesday, 16 October 2018

Technical And Topical: Black Peaks' Guitarist Joe Gosney Discusses 'All That Divides'

Music critics are often guilty of presenting rock's history as linear. Progressive rock emerged out of pop music and psychedelia in the late 1960s but was ultimately killed off by punk in the late 1970s, so the narrative goes. Punk, with its raw sound and DIY ethic, was also a better vehicle for voicing social and political issues than prog, which was considered more escapist and lyrically concerned with “high culture”.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Friday, 12 October 2018

Boygenius: The Badass Supergroup We've All Been Waiting For

Photo: Lera Pentelute Earlier this summer, three like-minded indie-rock musicians began teasing their fans. Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus were pictured together, draped moodily on a sofa. Looking suspiciously like the sleeve image from Crosby, Stills and Nash’s self-titled bow, the word ‘Boygenius’ ran below them, as well as that all-important stamp of approval from Matador Records. Speculation bubbled. Rumours were whispered.

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Wednesday, 10 October 2018

Shameless Outsiders: El Ten Eleven's Tim Fogarty Talks 'Banker's Hill'

El Ten Eleven have never quite garnered the adulation they deserve, despite emerging from the noughties instrumental boom that spawned Explosions in the Sky, Russian Circles and countless others. It's a shame as their ambitious arrangements and daring songwriting approach have always marked them out as an interesting proposition. While other post-rockers focus on linear guitar progressions and reverb-driven crescendos, El Ten Eleven construct their unpredictable yet atmospheric sound with copious loops, vamps and pedal-led effects.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Monday, 08 October 2018

Poetry Versus Precision: Estrons Talk 'You Say I'm Too Much, I Say You're Not Enough'

Photo: Imogen Forte When Estrons vocalist Tali Källström played a test pressing of the band’s debut album to a friend, their response was easy to remember. “It sounds like you’ve dipped in and had sex with every genre,” they said. Well, they’re not wrong.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Friday, 05 October 2018

Cool With The Bargain Bin: Mike Pace Investigates The Pop Form On 'Smooth Sailing'

A few weekends ago there was a sale at a record shop in the next town over. Their stock list had ballooned, taking over a small warehouse space on a suburban street. Pretty much everything had to go, and it was going cheap. The bargain bin has no respect for reputation, so nestled among the trashy cock rock LPs were rough diamonds and certified gems; ambitious works that shifted serious units and ambitious works that were chalked up to folly back when labels were paying for things like that.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 04 October 2018

I Hope That People Can Find Catharsis In It: Tim Kasher Discusses Cursive's Powerful 'Vitriola'

Photo: Tony Bonacci “The United States President is currently buddying up with every dictator and shooing away anyone who looks remotely democratic and globalist. That’s weird. That’s weird and it’s upsetting,” Tim Kasher says, discussing the inspiration behind Cursive’s first album in six years, ‘Vitriola’.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Wednesday, 03 October 2018

We Got Lucky: Kevin Devine And Petal's Kiley Lotz Sculpt A Perfect Tribute To Tom Petty

It’s one year since we said we’d see Tom Petty somewhere along the road, and it’s still a bitter one to swallow. We’ve had time to accept that there’s a full stop to his story, and to understand our relationship with his music in a new context, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 02 October 2018

This Is Death Of The Ego: Dabbla Talks The Ambitious Cross Pollination of 'Death Moves'

The hip-hop industry can be pretty cut-throat at the best of times and it's a challenge for artists to keep the fires burning past a certain age, let alone remain at the top of their game. And yet, as he edges closer to 40, Dabbla is running rings around rappers half his age with swagger and conviction. Hailing from London, he has long held a reputation for being your favourite rapper's favourite rapper and in the last 12 months alone he's been endorsed by comedian Romesh Ranganathan and actor Ed Skrein, among others.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Tuesday, 02 October 2018

"I See Stuff For What It Really Is, And That's A Curse": Doe Discuss Second LP 'Grow Into It'

Photo: Andrew Northrop Earlier this year Doe celebrated their fifth birthday, while all three members of the London indie-rock band are either in their early 30s or about to step across the precipice. On their second LP, ‘Grow Into It’, they appropriately find themselves taking stock.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Monday, 01 October 2018

Light, Love and Lineage: Amy Helm Keeps Her Family's Fire Burning

Photo: Ebru Yildiz To some people music is much more than just a form of entertainment or artistic expression. On her latest solo album ‘This Too Shall Light’ Amy Helm, daughter of the Band’s legendary singing drummer Levon Helm and singer-songwriter Libby Titus, has not only crafted a beautiful collection of gospel-infused Americana gems, but also a record with a rich sense of heritage dripping from every note.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 27 September 2018

Making A Big Noise Is Fun: Inside The Weird And Wonderful World Of HMS Morris

Let’s start with some advice from Heledd Watkins and Sam Roberts, who are the backbone of the Welsh-speaking, genre-melding psych-pop band HMS Morris: “Expect the unexpected.”

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Wednesday, 26 September 2018

True Rockers Take Risks: Why Monster Truck Are Set To Explode

Armed with a bulldozing brand of stoner-infused, bluesy rock ‘n’ roll, Canada’s Monster Truck have steadily established themselves as a must see live act over the last decade. Having battered more and more eardrums into submission at progressively larger venues, particularly as a support act to Deep Purple, Alter Bridge and Black Stone Cherry, arena headlining status has increasingly seemed like it’s theirs for the taking. And if their relentlessly anthemic third album ‘True Rockers’ is anything to go by, heaven help anyone who tries to stop them.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 25 September 2018