Sometimes the line between music and pantomime is a very thin one. Steel Panther walk it like a tightrope – they manage to combine musical prowess with daft 80s-inspired costumes and a large splash of “your mum” gutter humour to provide a scintillating, titillating spectacle that is far more than just another rock gig. What do you get if you cross schoolboy humour, 80s hair metal and comedy ...
Read MoreLast year’s Back To The Beginning event helped to reaffirm what most of us already knew, that we, as a community, love Black Sabbath and that we cannot get enough of hearing those songs no matter who is playing them. Bat Sabbath aren’t just any tribute act, they’re the alter-ego of Canadian punk metallers Cancer Bats, who have a devoted following themselves, and whilst there are plenty of Cancer Bat
Read MoreHalfway through the show, Joe Elliott surveys the capacity 23,000 Co-op Live and declares that this country needed a room like this. In that moment, it becomes clear that these lads from Sheffield always thought big; it's just that their homeland has finally caught up with them. Tonight’s performance is the utter personification of big slick arena rock. In every atom, it is built to entertain, and …
Read MoreMidnight and Voivod make interesting bedfellows and at first glance they can be seen to be coming from two very distinct metallic camps. The former are about as stripped back and primal as you are going to get. They have no interest in expanding their mind or being transcendental, they just want to cause as much chaos with as few chords as possible. Voivod on the other hand are probably the ...
Read MoreIn our little corner of rock and metal, the 2 Promoters, 1 Pod podcast has been something of a success. A vehicle for festival promoters Gavin McInally (Damnation) and James Scarlett (ATG and 2000 Trees) to lift the lid on what goes on behind the scenes at festivals and the music industry in general, it has a dedicated fanbase. It also provides a platform for them to eulogise about bands they love …
Read MoreThe best bands are the ones that are unique, have a sound that is instantly recognisable, unmistakably them and hold a very special place in your mind and music collection from the first time you see and hear them. For me Karnivool are one such band. They have a signature sound that captures emotion alongside progressive technicality, a tender voice filled with power, and songs that have every ...
Read MoreOccult-themed metal playing nuns you say? Is that even a thing you say? Well tonight it is as Dogma come to visit Manchester as part of their first UK headline tour. We’re promised a night of curious lyrical themes, racy dance moves, guitar shredding and none of it without a pinch of theatre. Or should that be nun of it. Ahem. Support comes in the form of the ever-touring South of Salem ...
Read MoreTo have one successful band is an achievement; to have two is rather confounding. There is, of course, the plaudits involved in hitting the jackpot consecutively, but the dedication and devotion involved in keeping the wheels going in two separate units calls for plenty of tenacity and perhaps a dollop of self-adulation. Hypocrisy is no longer Peter Tägtgren’s sole day job. His industrial ...
Read MoreMetal has always been about extremities. For decades, it has vigorously pursued pushing boundaries, whether this be regarding volume, obscenity, speed or depravity. The point with extremities, though, is that there is always an endpoint, a summit, an apex of conclusion. If you push so far, you will reach the end of the envelope. Dragged into Sunlight feel like the pinnacle of metal's obsession ...
Read MoreThere are two frankly remarkable things about this evening. The first is the sheer popularity of this vulgar and distinctly unhouse-trained outpost of extreme metal. Rebellion is heaving, and there is a carnival atmosphere of expectant expectation. All three acts are treated with a level of euphoric adoration that is usually only reserved for Korean boy bands. This brings us neatly onto the second …
Read MoreOne of the wondrous things about this music, is that it keeps confounding expectations. It is easy to assume that a particular genre has run its course or has no further byways on which to travel. And then a new act will appear from nowhere and push the envelope in unimagined and unforeseen directions. This is the case of Blackbraid. At a juncture where many of us believed black metal had no ...
Read MoreThe way we discover new bands and fads has changed irrecoverably since us ageing dinosaurs, called the shots. Gone are the days when weekly publication like Kerrang, NME or Sounds would proclaim who was hot or not. Or of waiting for musical soothsayers like John Peel, Tommy Vance or Janice Long to rake through the entrails of never-ending demo cassettes in order to feed us with the tastiest ...
Read MoreIt is hard to imagine, but there was a time when Kreator were not the ubiquitous, imperious and omnipresent force of nature that they are today. This is their third appearance in this fair city in as many years, and their stature just keeps growing. Not bad for a band from the eighties that were practically written off during the nineties. The Apollo is completely sold out, and the crowd is an …
Read MoreManchester welcomes true New York hardcore royalty in the form of Madball and we're all in for it. The band were formed in the late 80s as an offshoot from the mighty Agnostic Front and haven't looked back since. Tonight they've got Dutch veterans Born From Pain and the UK's Tempers Fray in tow. Let's get ready to hardcore!
Read MoreIt’s always exciting to cover a gig that has a mixture of new and old bands, known and unknown bands, familiar tracks and fresh hits. And so, we find ourselves in such a situation down in Club Academy on a Friday night. A first look for us at Australia’s brutal Diesect, a reconnection with favourites Great American Ghost, a look at the new singer and tracks from Crystal Lake, and all topped off …
Read MoreTonight is a real treat as we get to watch one of my all-time favourite bands – Thrice. The Californian veterans, whose decades‑deep evolution has shaped them into one of post‑hardcore’s most inventive and emotionally resonant forces, are touring their new album which is a return to their earlier rawness. First up though it’s the singular support act of France’s Lysistrata, a jittery...
Read MoreSamy Elbanna used to be a very angry man. Lost Society started life in their native Finland as a fairly straightforward thrash metal band who enjoyed a party but here we are some 16 years later crammed into the tiny room at the Star & Garter to see how they have evolved and grown. The thrash roots remain, the vocals are often strident and indicative of a still barely repressed fury but the lyrics …
Read MoreRising from the ashes of Creed in 2004, Alter Bridge have the somewhat bizarre distinction of being an arena band who don’t like arenas and have also never had what you might call a hit to their name. They have won numerous awards over the last 22 years both as a band and individually, somewhat unusually kept the same original lineup, sold millions of albums, and are highly acclaimed as a live act ..
Read MoreIf you look at the posters for this year's Radar and ArcTanGent festivals, they are littered with performers that simply would not exist without Sikth. Call it mathcore, call it tech-metal or even call it, if you dare, djent. The simple fact is that Sikth birthed a sound and approach that now paths the more interesting of metal’s byways. Like all good innovators, they have been overtaken by ...
Read MoreRebellion is rammed tonight. Not in a passive “oh it’s busy” rammed, more like “can I not even stand at the back of the room by the merch” or “please stop breathing near me” rammed. It’s the busiest I’ve seen it in Rebellion for ages, and there’s a distinct hipster‑who‑doesn’t-go-to-gigs vibe in the room. I guess that’s what you get when you have genre-busting mainstream darlings like The Callous Daoboys headlining and an undercard of the excitingly novel Knives and Love Rarely. Let the games begin!
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