Live Review : Hippotraktor + Cobra The Impaler + Abdicator @ Future Yard, Birkenhead on April 18th 2025

Sometimes you get the chance to attend a gig that throws up a new band for you to experience live. Sometimes it can be a couple of bands that you get to experience fresh. But rarely do you get to see two fantastic new bands in a brilliant new venue for ROCKFLESH. Tonight, we have the pleasure of not only catching the awesome Belgian prog-metal bands Hippotraktor and Cobra the Impaler - as well as getting to interview both bands (see here and here) - but also we get to cover the gig at the impressive Future Yard in Birkenhead.

Live Review : Boundaries + Varials + Dagger Threat + No Face No Case @ Rebellion, Manchester on April 11th 2025

There's a theme running through all the bands tonight, and it’s something revolving round the concepts of two-step dancing and jaggedly brutal hardcore. How else should you spend your Friday night than treating yourself to an early gig offering up such joy! Boundaries are the headliners and the undercard is packed with some equally exciting hardcore talent to wet the appetite.

Live Review : Catch Your Breath + Until I Wake + Of Virtue @ Rebellion, Manchester on April 10th 2025

Catch Your Breath are a modern melodic pop-metalcore band that you can’t sleep on. The venue is sold-out and packed before the first band have even started. Bands that speak to a variety of bases of interest across a wide span of fans are few and far between, but CYB have the tools and backing to be able to make it big. Very big.

Live Review : The Darkness + Ash @ O2 Apollo, Manchester on March 31st 2025

It's easy to attribute The Darkness’s recent return to cultural relevance to appearances on the Michael Mcintyre show and viral Taylor Swift videos. However, this overnight resurrection is actually 14 years in the making. You see, the rehabilitation of Justin Hawkins and his erstwhile bandmates is the product of hard graft. Since their illustrious return in 2011, they have worked their collective socks off to not only avoid the nostalgia treadmill but also to reclaim the street cred they briefly held aloft in the mid-noughties. Relentless touring has paid off, and here they are at the tail end of a sold-out trek that has seen them reclaim the venues that they last haunted nearly twenty years ago. To top it all, they are promoting a new record that has collectively out-sold everything between it and “Permission to Land” (though as Justin testifies later, it won't be number one due to going up against Mumford and Sons). By the sheer power of never actually going away, The Darkness are back.

Live Review : Opeth + Grand Magus @ Albert Hall, Manchester on March 1st 2025

There are shows where the venue plays an integral part in the beauty of the endeavour. It becomes an additional member of the band, adding to the ambience and the majestic nature of the performance. Tonight is one just instance. The Albert Hall is the jewel in Manchester's proliferation of venues. An abandoned Wesleyan Chapel, it had stood dormant for 40 years until it was rescued last decade and restored as a multi-purpose auditorium. It is a fantastic space, surrounded by large ornate stained-glass windows and dominated by an imposing organ. It provides the perfect setting for Opeth’s extraordinarily unique take on metal. There are some compromises to be made, Mikael Åkerfeldt recounts a Spinal Tap moment when they realised that the video screens that had been a focal point of the other shows on this tour were too big to fit and had to be left in the van, but all in all the Albert Hall provides an immaculate canvas for Opeth to unfurl their magic.

Live Review : Paleface Swiss + The Acacia Strain + Desolated @ New Century Hall, Manchester on February 28th 2025

Move over Slipknot because there are a Swiss band in town that know exactly how to entice your fans into turning up in Manchester on a cold night! Meet Paleface Swiss who fans of the afore mentioned mask-wearing crew and Five Finger Death Punch should check out immediately. Well…after you’ve read this review if you’d be kind.

Live Review : Kvelertak + Urne @ Academy 3, Manchester on February 23rd 2025

With even the greatest bands in the World, it is quite easy to forget just how good they are. It has been six years since Kvelertak last visited this country (Download 2019), eight years since they last played this city (supporting Metallica at the arena) and nine years since we got anything resembling a headline tour. Tonight is very much a case of "Hello! Remember us?" as they grab us by the lapels and forcefully remind us why they were the band on everybody's lips last decade. This evening also, inexplicably, gives us our first opportunity to witness “new” vocalist Ivor Nikolaisen up front and personal. We say “new” but he has actually been in the band since 2018, but as the stats above illustrate these are his first UK headline shows with the band. Replacing a “name” vocalist is always a Herculean task, but when it is in the colossally charismatic shape of Erlend Hjelvik, you would suspect it would be rather a hiding to nothing. However Ivar Nikolaisen sidesteps the need for comparisons by being a completely different school of frontman with his own energy, charisma and style.

Live Review : Hidden Mothers + Nylon + Pleiades + Wispmother @ EBGBS, Liverpool on February 21st 2025

Hidden Mothers are a band that really should be bigger than they are. Describing them as blackened post-hardcore is only to scratch the surface of what they deliver. It’s progressive, bluesy, expansive and emotive as much as anything else. Tonight we get to catch them playing songs of their debut album ‘Erosion/Avulsion’ on a bill with other northern bands in what is yet another coup for local promoters No Play.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser24 February 2025EBGBSHidden Mothers, Nylon, Pleiades, Wispmother, EBGBS, Liverpool, 2025, Live Review, Matt Fraser, Johann WierzbickiComment

Live Review : Tribulation + Livgone @ Rebellion, Manchester on February 18th 2025

In this austere times, we are all looking for value for money in our gigging experience. This would explain the rise in popularity of the package tour as the allure of four bands we have heard of is more of a financial incentive than one. Swedish Goth-metal pioneers Tribulation, have gone for a different approach. For their rather extensive jaunt around Europe and the UK they have bought only one support act with them and in the shape of French/Polish/Swedish hybrids Livgone, it is not particularly a household name. Where they are providing bang for our bucks, is in the length of the set. At a meaty one hour forty minutes hour it towers above the usual hour maximum fair that we are served by bands of our ilk in venues such as Rebellion. It is a luxuriously elongated tour de force, allowing them to effortlessly wander across most of their recorded output (only 2009 debut “the Horror” doesn’t get a look in).

Live Review : Countless Skies + As The Sun Falls + Opia @ Star and Garter, Manchester on February 14th 2025

Why do we do this? Its Valentine's night and we have left perpetually patient partners back at home to stand in the blistering cold of the upstairs room of a shitty pub (the owner's description, not ours). The reason is that we love this music, eternally, triumphantly and truly. The bands on show this evening love this music, it flows through their veins. The audience that has braved the hostility of a Mancunian winter to get here, love this music. Even the characteristically grumpy owner pumping out classic punk downstairs loves this music. It has enslaved us all and it demands both sacrifice and complete obedience.

Live Review : Tremonti + Florence Black @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on February 13th 2025

The O2 Ritz is rammed tonight to witness a solo outing from guitar superstar Mark Tremonti. Known as a founding member and songwriter of both Creed and Alter Bridge he also has a parallel solo career that spans some 14 years and six albums. So the question on everyone’s lips tonight isn’t “is he any good?” – that’s kind of a given. It’s more along the lines of “just how good is he?”

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby15 February 2025O2 RitzTremonti, Florence Black, O2 Ritz, Manchester, 2025, Live Review, Prints, Jo Crosby, Johann WierzbickiComment

Live Review : Siamese + Chaosbay + Cold Culture @ Rebellion, Manchester on February 5th 2025

The steady rise for Denmark’s tech-pop-metal maestros Siamese has been followed from the start by a couple of us at Rockflesh, and to see them finally explode to the heights of headlining with a stellar catalogue of tunes to choose from is a proud treat. Support bands Cold Culture and Chaosbay fit well on the bill with Siamese, sharing a similarly polished and modern approach to metal. The night is a testament to the ever-evolving landscape of metal, with Siamese standing firmly at the helm.

Live Review : Cattle Decapitation + Shadow Of Intent + Revocation + Vulvodynia @ New Century Hall, Manchester on February 1st 2025

Absence may well make the heart grow fonder but so seemingly does constant interaction. Neither Cattle Decapitation nor Shadows of Intent are strangers to this country and even to this fayre city. It is the formers third visit in as many years, whilst the latter last graced us with their presence twenty-four months ago to almost the day. With neither being a scarcity in the touring market, it is impressive they have managed to pull a capacity crowd into a venue that signals an ambitious jump in size for both of them. This is Death Metal graduating out of the underground and into grown-up venues. New Century Hall may feel a world away from the grubby subterranean delights of say Rebellion, but it offers all four acts the opportunity to do their thing on a gargantuan stage, a challenge they all accept with vim and vigour.

Live Review : H.E.A.T + Art Nation + Chez Kane @ Club Academy, Manchester on January 30th 2025

As we step into the gloomy confines of Manchester’s Club Academy the doorman welcomes us to his time machine and invites us to step into the latterdays of the eighties when hair was big, choruses expansive and egos overflatted.

Live Review : The Halo Effect + Pain + Bloodred Hourglass @ Club Academy, Manchester on January 24th 2025

You can tell the quality of something by how it ends. Usually shows grind to a halt in the same anodyne fashion. There are the habitual thank you’s, the obligatory picture for Facebook and then the un-ceremonial shuffle off stage to finish off the rider. Not tonight. Tonight is both extraordinary and quintessentially spontaneous. The Halo Effect’s final track of the evening, ‘Shadowmind’, shudders to a halt and something really quite special unfurls. For a good five minutes the band stay on the stage, faces plastered with gleeful emotion venerating the audience as much as the audience is venerating them.

Live Review : The Darkness @ Rough Trade, Liverpool on December 12th 2024

The Darkness have been a fixture in UK popular rock’n’roll circles for numerous years now. Known for their spandex, ludicrous videos and songs, and dynamic range of vocals from charismatic frontman Justin Hawkins. So, when we were given the chance to cover their super special, intimate and early promo gig for forthcoming album ‘Dreams on Toast’ it was an opportunity we couldn’t believe we’d been afforded.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser15 December 2024Rough TradeThe Darkness, Rough Trade, Liverpool, 2024, Live Review, Matt Fraser, Johann WierzbickiComment

Live Review : Baroness + Graveyard + Pallbearer @ New Century Hall, Manchester on November 22nd 2024

The Great trilogies. Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games books, Toy Story, the original Star Wars saga (yes we know, Ewoks, but Return of the Jedi is infinitely better than anything that came after). To that impressive lexicon, you can now add this tour of a holy Trinity of modern metal masters.

Pallbearer, Graveyard and Baroness are all doing something distinctly different in their individual musicality. They all reside in diverse corners of metal's grand and fertile landscape. What they do share and what makes this tour so appealing and also so cohesive, is a deep-seated seam of emotional intelligence. None of them trade in knuckle-dragging “beers and tits” brainless bravado. Instead, whilst the styles are varied and differential, they all sculpt music to make you think and in many cases music to make you cry. Put simply this is the wearing your heart on your sleeve tour.

Live Review : Anthrax + Kreator + Testament @ O2 Apollo, Manchester on November 21st 2024

Anthrax. Kreator. Testament. Whilst these three massive names in thrash might be lumped together by the uninitiated, they are in fact dramatically different takes on a genre that has always been a prime example of metal's ability to evolve. The question is though - is it a bit silly having three headliners starting from 6:30, or is it just damn good value for money?

Live Review : Wheel + Monosphere @ Rebellion, Manchester on November 19th 2024

On a freezing Tuesday night, fans of Wheel are treated to an extensive, value-packed set, rewarding those who braved the cold for the Finnish-based prog-metal band. For some, the dedication runs even deeper - like our Scottish mate, who made a 7-hour round trip from Scotland just to catch their performance!

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser21 November 2024RebellionWheel, Monosphere, Rebellion, Manchester, 2024, Live Review, Matt Fraser, Johann WierzbickiComment

Live Review : Xentrix + Damnation's Hammer + Lure In @ Club Academy, Manchester on november 15th 2024

Hailing from the heavy heartland of Northern England, Xentrix stands as a testament to the raw, relentless energy of thrash metal. Forged in the 80’s, this iconic band has terrorised the scene over many years, more than earning their place in the thrash metal pantheon, leaving an indelible mark with their distinctive sound, blistering riffs, provoking lyrics, and a commitment to pushing the boundaries of the genre.

Tonight in Manchester, Xentrix are set to perform their seminal album, “Shattered Existence”, in its entirety, for the final time, as the tour ends here.