Reviews: The Pineapple Thief, Graveyard, Werewolves, Tenebra (Paul Hutchings, Matt Bladen, Mark Young & Keith Boswell)

The Pineapple Thief – Far And Wide (InsideOutMusic) [Paul Hutchings]

It’s been a while since I spent some time with these progressive masters. I’m no stranger to their music though; in a world of ever-increasing releases, sometimes albums slip past the net. You earmark them for later listening and then get distracted by something equally shiny.

The reassurance about the West County outfit is that wherever you pick up, you are guaranteed to listen to high-quality musicianship which takes time to absorb and enjoy. But technical excellence doesn’t always mean that the songs are also as good. 

Thankfully, Bruce Soord, Gavin Harrison, John Sykes and Steve Kitch are as tight a unit in so many ways that this is a home banker from the moment the music starts.

Newly signed to InsideOut Records, Far And Wide demonstrates that unity. With Harrison now nearly a decade in with the band, and the remaining members with well over twenty years’ service under their belts, there is a chemistry and organic quality that can only grow from years working together.

Soord’s vocals are still gentle, calm, almost dreamlike but with an incisive enunciation that delivers the message with crystal clarity. Harrison’s drums are focused, precise, and unpretentious. And there is a settled, more relaxed feel to the album. 

Opener New World Order is the immediate example. It’s instantly The Pineapple Thief, yet there is a simplicity to the song which suggests that there’s been some inner reflection. “We realised, for instance, that you don't need more than two guitar parts at any one time,” frontman/founder Bruce Soord says. 

“You know, ’why have we got four or five guitars? Why have we got six-part harmonies when there's only three of us singing?’ We deliberately created those constraints, because we thought, ‘we're a rock band, there's five of us on stage, this is what we should be about in the studio.’”

And whilst we always associate The Pineapple Thief with measured precision, the punch that comes in first single Hold the Ashes may even surprise a little. Informed by his time spent with his father in his last days in hospital, the track contains one of the most sinister edges that the band has ever delivered.

No acoustic guitars feature here either; something the band has never done before and whilst Soord often reveals a bit of imposter syndrome in his six-string playing, he clearly has been egged into doing a fine job by his bandmates. There are hidden depths still being revealed here, despite it being number 16.

Still Living is melancholic, temperate and balanced despite elements of it crossing a range of emotions and styles whilst there is a grunge feel to God Knows. Like most albums by this superlative band, there is plenty to enjoy and explore.

All with commentary and observations that span each member of the band’s interpretations on personal experience and worldwide events and situations. Scattering Like Flies for example, simply screams with social commentary whilst holding firm on the band’s typical textured and skilful delivery.

16 albums in and The Pineapple Thief continue to surprise, delight and reflect the world around us. Dive deep or slim it superficially, either works. What is sure is that by the time you get to closing track No Exceptions, you’ll want to press play again, for this is a band in their glorious prime, even after all this time. 10/10

Graveyard - Fever (Nuclear Blast Records) [Matt Bladen]

As we all know if you have a fever the only cure is chicken soup (or more cowbell) and rock n roll fever is spreading fast on Swedish retro rockers Graveyard's seventh studio album Fever. 

Coming three years after things took an introspective turn with Six, Fever sees them entering the fuzz boogie wonderland be it Saturday night or not! Fever is Graveyard doing it for themselves, no outside producer, no fancy tricks, no maudlin, just direct rocking that challenges the hopelessness in the world with a c'est la vie attitude and bag full of riffs.

Entrusting the mixing and mastering to Pelle Gunnerfeldt and Robin Schmidt respectively, this record captures Graveyard as they would be live, dripping with fuzzy, blues soaked riffs, some southern swamp swagger and Sabbath worship, the influence of Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill strong on A Better Cut (Note To Self).

Elsewhere in this absolute ranger of a record, Tongued Tied will bring you back from the dead with its deafening dose of garage rock, Year Of The Horse pushes CCR and Grand Funk together while Time To Tell slows down into a claustrophobic trip ala The Doors, before the pace picks back up on the left right punch of Don't Shoot and Room Tempered, both running hot and riffing hard.

Off the back of a more emotive, insular sixth record, with album number seven, Graveyard are letting it all hang loose with a nine tracks of chicken soup for the soul. Come catch a Fever from Graveyard. 9/10

Werewolves - You’re Weak And You Know You’re Weak (Back On Black) [Mark Young]

I’m not sure at what point they decided to embark on this mad journey of releasing one new full length album a year for a ten-year period. Just to recap that is the release of:

One fresh, brand spanking collection of new material.

Of prime death metal.

Death metal that must tick a certain set of admittedly narrowly focused ideals.

And: must absolutely not.slow.down.

Ever.

I reviewed their last one, 2025’s The Ugliest Of All, and scored them an 8. I think then, I wondered about how they are managing to pull this together and release what is a high level of extreme metal when it takes some bands years between releases who walk in the same lanes as these guys. 

Ok, by now if you have listened to any of the previous albums, you should know what you are going to get with this. It is going to be delivered without any airs or graces, without acoustic refrains or ‘heartfelt’ moments of reflection. 

This is going to be extreme metal delivered at speed with intensity to match. It may be termed (perhaps unfairly) as Caveman metal because of how direct it is. It has a purpose, and it won’t be shaken from that but there is nothing prehistoric about the riffola on display here. Its tight, sometimes technical, often brutal but never boring.

And that is the key here. Each song hurtles along and drags you with it, a relentless barrage that just boots the door in with Uroboric Fuckwit and decides its going to run at you until the Title Track drops in as the album closer. 

Its ferocious and at times self-deprecating, but then that should be expected, especially if you have listened to any of their previous albums, you should know what you are going to get. 

If anything for me, they have developed a sound that is like Morbid Angel hopped up on speed, with Sam Bean coming in like David Vincent. This is meant as high praise, Morbid Angel are one of my favourite bands.

So, this is a release for those who adore death metal played like it’s the end of the world. Fast, unrelenting and above all heavy. Its album number 7 in the bag for them, with no sign of fatigue or that they are running out of steam or ideas. 

Again, lets be honest here; the music won’t sit well with those that associate a certain production/sound and approach. This is stripped back of any emotive material, of anything that does not add to the end result. This is as straightforward as it gets. 8/10

Tenebra – Death Chant (New Heavy Sounds) [Keith Boswell]

Tenebra, originating from Bologna Italy will be releasing their new EP entitled Death Chant through the London located New Heavy Sounds Label. The EP consisting of three tracks with a combined length of 13:55 is framed by the band as a small taster from a new album due in 2027.

Previous work from Tenebra is most certainly fuller in intense, heavy guitar led loveliness. 

However, Death Chant is most certainly different and very avante garde in its approach on this occasion, seemingly tied into the telling of a story based upon the premise of finding a way through grieving for someone or something with each of the three songs providing a different route through the process.

Chapter One: The Death Chant, provides a musical descriptor of that moment immediately after death. 

I listened to this track many times and the arrangement never cease to amaze me in its quality and its musicality. The baseline is constantly moving and offering something different in tandem with the melodic support from guitars and keyboards floating in the track giving it the air of individuality.

Chapter Two: Drugs Are Overrated, provides a brief portrayal of what the confusion and sadness that one may feel following the of death could look like. 

This track is a lot grittier that the first and far more psychedelic, it’s almost a piece delivering a transition between one plane to another. Heavier guitars and considerable keyboards are very prominent and carry the track along to its conclusion.

Chapter Three: Tell Me What You See, follows the communication of the acceptance of loss and that the presence of scars is inevitable and ever present moving forward. The first song on the album with vocals sees the band really elevate their music to a different level of intensity following the first two chapters.

The quality of this EP is certainly of a high standard, if this is snapshot of a new direction for Tenebra then I look forward very much to the album in 2027. 9/10

Reviews: Temic, Sari Schorr, Speed Stroke, Axty (Matt Bladen, Keith Boswell, Rob Spark & GC)

Temic - Ceiba (Season Of Mist) [Matt Bladen]

Temic's debut album Terror Management Theory garnered a near perfect score from me when it was released in 2023, but that's with good reason as Temic is something of a prog supergroup.

Founded by keyboardist Diego Tejeida and guitarist Eric Gillette, who were both in Mike Portnoy's Shattered Fortress at the time but have played with many other prog band including Haken and Devin Townsend, they recruited drummer Simen Sandnes and Norwegian Idol contestant Fredrik Klemp and Temic was born as a homage to epic, emotive prog metal.

Inspired by Dream Theater (See; Myself), Devin Townsend, Pain Of Salvation and on this follow up, acts such as Evergrey (Broken) and Leprous (Ceased To Be), the introspection of these bands permeating through this follow up record and it's focus on mortality, with songs about loss, pain, anger, fear, blame, silence and ultimately resilience.

This concept record travels into proggier territory than their debut, though it never allows the virtuosity to take over from the entertainment value, each member contributed to the album, including new bassist Miguel Pereira, who makes his mark with some top level bass prowess, adding a lower end technically to what is already a virtuoso group.

Ceiba has Temic, easing into themselves as a band, allowing for more emotional resonance to sit behind the musical brilliance, it's an hour of music that has the balance between loss and acceptance at its heart and continues to see Temic evolve into one of prog metals shining stars. 9/10

Sari Schorr - Running Wild (Provogue Records) [Keith Boswell]

Sari Schorr's third album Running Wild, drops October, throughout the album Schorr displays a gritty down-to-earth vocal style that is supported by a blend of jazzy rock themes with a soft metal undertone.

This current offering opens up with hard hitting and catchy Mr. In The Middle which builds upon the sound of her previous album Never Say Never 2018. The song really embodies this album for me providing the listener with a very bluesy arrangement complete with an almost intimate vocal which really hits the spot.

More of the same is delivered over the next few tracks without never being repetitive or letting the listener down in anyway with tracks such as Running Wild and Monday Morning. Dropping in intensity Schorr shows her vocal versatility with a toe tapping Man On Fire and Better Day. Variety is indeed very apparent with the way in which guitar riffs are blended to deliver further songs such as Elevate and Finding My Way.

All in all, a good piece of work from Sari Schorr with great vocals and musicality to match, is a decent listen and thoroughly recommended. 7/10

Speed Stroke - Damage Control (Scarlet Records) [Rob Spark]

Speed Stroke's fourth album is a hard-rock record with Mötley Crüe in its genes. The Italian band look the part, and the label pitches it as Scandinavian sleaze meets 80s street metal, "all killers, no fillers". The mix by Erik Mårtensson of Eclipse is excellent. The songs are a more mixed experience.

Glorious Breakdown is Crüe with double-kick drums clicking away like a Duracell bunny on amphetamine, but it's far too repetitive. Heart Of The City bored me to sleep, an album track from Europe. The title track uses a plane crash as a metaphor for panic, which suits the cover, but with its close harmonies and Top Gun feel it's generic pop rock. State Of Shock builds into guitar noise before the chorus drowns in backing vocals, though its solo took me back to 1988.

Italian Coglione opens in Italian ("Who is this person, sorry?") and is then achingly slow and drab. As someone with Sicilian heritage, I know coglione is far ruder than "idiot", and the song doesn't live up to its insult. In Flames keeps trying to go somewhere but has no ticket for the bus ride.

Blessed By Misery is where the album finds its feet. Guest vocalist Giorgia Colleluori sounds divine, the harmonies are lush and the shredding finally fits. It's a great song that grows with every listen. All For The Weak End is slower hair metal, Skid Row meets Mötley Crüe, and Crüe fans might like it. Its swipe at gurus and ice-bath hustle culture is the album's sharpest lyric. Walls, a song about vampires, bored me. I lived through the 80s and it was awful, and this made me regress, badly.

Then Chain Reaction surprises. I feared Diana Ross in the 80s, but got plain, honest rock music that had me shaking my head and tapping my foot. Where has this been all album? An amazing ending. The mix is excellent, but in places the production is 80s-generic, the stock rock-radio sheen of the era the band are chasing.

Damage Control sounds great but plays it too safe. A guest vocal that shines, a song that grows with each listen and a cracking finale lift it above generic, and Crüe devotees will find enough to enjoy. The polish is there; the songs now need to match it. 6/10

Axty - The Pain Made Me Who I Am (Napalm Records) [GC]

It’s been a good while since I reviewed anything, so thought it might be best to ease myself back in with something familiar, metalcore, the description nowadays could mean anything as the way the sound has changed and morphed over the years is mind boggling, I have to say most of it has been for the worst with the odd shinning light making you not want to completely give up on the genre, so, is Axty’s new album The Pain Made Me Who I Am an new high or a new low??

It all gets going with Pain Made Me, which is an overly long intro really, and from this I am not getting metalcore, I’m getting if Slipknot started their career now, they would probably sound like this type of vibe, lots of electronics and scratching and a few riffs thrown onto for no good reason and its bit of a shit start if I am honest?! 

Who I Am has the full on nu-metal bounce within the structure of the guitars and has scatty electronics and weird atmospherics that just aren’t very good to listen to at all, the one thing I do like are the vocals, they have all the necessary anger when needed and a beautiful harmony when singing clean, which he should do more often as its certainly the highlight so far. 

Dismay does nothing different and sound like anything of any mid 00’s Roadrunner release you would care to think of, they try their best to be heavier that they are but it never really pays off, the lighter parts are always better and stand out a lot better for me. Selfish is really just a complete mess and just has no real body to it its just feels like a jumble of sounds mashed together and all fighting for the spotlight and nothing actually wins overall, certainly not my ears! 

Everything Is Beautiful is just dull and uninspiring as ever and has no selling points or memorable hooks that make you want to go back to it, everything is flat and boring, this vocalist REALLY deserves better because he is 100% the best bit of this band, shame. All I Love drags me past halfway and I’m still yet to really pick anything noteworthy out of this collection of random noises apart from the clean vocals which are superb as ever on this track and if there was the music to back it up this review could be so much different, but there isn’t so what can I do? 

Closer makes my eyes roll back so hard in my head they almost come out of my mouth, it has the hallmarks that made the second wave on nu-metal complete dogshit, stupid rapping, heavy electronics, scattergun vocals with chug chug guitars that have no feeling and then obligatory big verse that can’t save this mess, Fragile has me hanging on for dear life but not in a good way, in a more, is this still going and how many more track do I have to put up with sort of way! 

Every track has had the same sort of sound just in frequently messier ways, this just does nothing for me, it all feels so painfully misguided and un-sincere. Break ushers in the losing acts of the album and guess what? You could pick any of the other tracks and struggle to tell the difference between them, the one tone sound of this record is wearing on my last nerve now, I’m not sure how you can record an album of 12 tracks and everyone sounds completely alike? SIGH!! 

Of the last 3 tracks Nothing But Pain, With Me and End This, absoultley nothing changed, tired chugging guitars smashed together with noisy and annoying electronics and the pattern of the song always stays the same, chugg, noisy bit angry vocals, squeak squeak electro bit shout shout, quiet bit to lull you in, more chugg chugg, end.

I tried as long as I could but in the end The Pain Made Me Who I Am just wore me down, I didn’t like and of the music or how it was structured, the only saving grace were the vocals and even they wore off towards the end. If you liked nu-metal and think it has a place being revived in 2026 this is the record for you if you don’t, I wouldn’t bother with this. 3/10

Reviews: A Night In Texas, To The Grave, Untitled With Drums, Dissimulator (GC & Mateusz Stefanow)

A Night In Texas - The Darkest Side Of Humanity (Unique Leader Records) [GC]

Deathcore, death metal and hardcore mixed together, what is not to like? Well, sometimes a whole lot actually! When it’s done right its unrelenting and brutal as you could ever want but when it done wrong it just sounds boring and unnecessary, there really is a fine line between great and total dogshit, I’m a sucker for punishment so I’m about to find out where the latest A Night In Texas release, The Darkest Side Of Humanity fits into the picture!

It starts staggeringly well on Oblivions Dominion an ominous build up explodes into full blown carnage with drums smashing your skull into tiny pieces and guitars stabbing and pounding you in to shapes a human shouldn’t be able to make, you want to throw yourself around and destroy everything within a ten foot radius of you the second this hits, it is intense, brutally heavy and absolutely fucking glorious, one track in and I am sold! 

They have something for a little build up to brace yourself because it’s done again here and when Rot From Within kicks of in every way possible you just need to sit and take it all in, the guitars are punishing and non-stop violence with a side of horribleness for good measure to describe the drummer as inhuman seems unfair but the way they just keep crashing around and all over everything is just unbelievable really and the vocals are just fucking nasty, pure bile and viciousness.

Fed To Death isn’t obviously changing anything or re-writing any rulebooks and do I care? Not one bit, this is how real deathcore sounds, it never stops or slows down, never takes any prisoners and there is absolutely no room for any melody of any sort and honestly more bands should take note of this because its probably one of the best things I have heard this year, UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLY good! 

The punishment just keeps coming with Metastatic Misery which has a whiff of Soul Of A New Machine Fear Factory thrown in and this is not a slight in anyway, this is a compliment of the highest order, they don’t copy though they evolve and crush the sound and bring it directly into 2026 with such brutal force you almost feels sorry for any other deathcore bands who might want to release an album this year!! 

Evolved From Hate reminds me a little too much of a Whitechapel song, which again isn’t a bad thing in a way but as soon as I saw the title and heard the track I though hang on? Look, its fucking crushing still and pisses on a lot of stuff just needs to vary a little bit more maybe? 

As soon as I come up with one slight issue it is smashed away with When The Sun Burns Out remember that dirty word, I used before, melody? Wel here we have it in bucket loads, the first part is slow and tantalizingly beautiful but obviously this doesn’t last long before were back to business as usual and they also manage to shoehorn the melody back in without compromising the brutality and I’m all for it! 

A Primal Conditioning is a swift and disgusting reminder that when yes, we can do melody and all that type of stuff, but THIS is what we are about, pure, unbridled, disgusting heaviness, don’t like it? Oh well, go listen to Miss May I or whatever metalcore band is popular now! Sometimes if something just constantly pushes one type of sound it could get tedious or boring, not here, it just keeps improving and getting better!

The Chronicles Of Nihilism is just chaos is music form, everything comes at you from a different attack point and all hit at the same time in a wave of blistering savagery that never lets up, once you’re in, you are IN! the manage to drop in some keyboards again here but not in the melodic breakdown way in the background of the beating sort of way another breathtaking track! 

I feel like I am almost out of ways to explain how much I love this record, but then The Infinite Maw rockets into my skull with the subtlety of an elephant standing on your bollocks, twice! More furious drumming and sludgey, disgusting riffs that mix all the best bits of death meatal with the tones and drops of hardcore and a vocal performance that is nothing short of amazing, this is truly on another level.

So, It’s onto the final track of the album and The Darkest Side Of Humanity does not end on a whimper or let you down, they sum up the album in one last blast of perfection, they do that melody stuff again but its subtly layered underneath the brutality that is the trademark sound, it doesn’t let up and never stops building towards one last destructive drop, the differing styles are on show and it all shapes up to the perfect ending to this horrible bastard of a record.

Well, well, well!?? What an unbelievable record The Darkest Side Of Humanity is! So far, I can only think of one record I have heard this year that best this (you can wait till the AOTY lists to see what it is). 

If you want to be stamped on, kicked about an then pummeled into a bloody puddle, this is the record for you, if you don’t and you just want fucking banger of a record, this is also for you, if you just want to hear something that is fucking awesome this is also for you” Look, whatever you want, just listen to this record, you will not regret it. 10/10

To The Grave - Liberation Front (BLKIIBLK) [Mateusz Stefanow]

Personally, I find a lot of deathcore follows a copy-paste scheme where a lot of bands fall flat just on account of trying too hard to emulate another band. I am happy to say that To The Grave does not subscribe to this, as Liberation Front is sheer brutality from start to finish/

A thrilling misanthropic trip into vegan deathcore. This album is crushing, with oppressive blast beats utilising a good imbalance between toms and cymbals, leaning more towards the former to add a depth and chunkiness to the tracks, and rhythmically they remind me of Anaal Nathrakh, which is a definite boon.

Meat The Humans hits the ground running, or blasting if you prefer. From the start you can tell this album is going to be gritty and in your face, with animalistic growls and judiciously selected horror-esque samples that blend beautifully with the harsh guitar tones.

Nail Mary could be lyrically taken for a black metal song, with their blasphemy, but that is not all this song excels at. From my earlier reviews it may show that I am a fan of well placed silent breaks, and this song showcases just how well this can work, with these being tactfully inserted in between sections of brutal beatdowns that gives the track an organic feel.

The pressure does not let up by Torture Porn, however the introduction of screams to the by now well known growls, giving this song a unique identity compared to the previous songs. Our eardrums can finally breathe a sigh of relief by the time we reach Terrorfire, only to realise that the first 2/3 were an interlude to build up for the latter 1/3, and The World Is A Slaughterhouse.

Check out this album for sure if you’re into heavy music, because it promises and delivers on all counts! 8/10

Untitled With Drums - Made Flesh (Season Of Mist) [GC]

Reading over the promo material for Untitled With Drums, there are a lot of brave references, comparing them to Quicksand, Deftones and Cave In is by any means bold but as mentioned very brave, those bands are hailed as trendsetters and icons, you have to have a heavy belief in yourself to write you are their (and I quote) ‘’worthy heir’’, I guess there is only one way to see of this is indeed worth the hype or if it’s just complete PR waffle.

Above My Head does have a purpose about it and has the grandiose atmosphere you would want and expect, the guitars are understated heavy and also beautifully melodic, the vocals when they are there are wonderfully light and airy and help with the mystique, the song builds to a wonderful crescendo and flows perfectly into Shame which has a bit more directness to it,.

There is more of an alt-rock-ness to this but it doesn’t take long for the more spaced out and mesmeric parts to begin taking the focal point but they mange to meld them together really well and create what feels like it should be a 7-8 minute track and condense it into just under 3:30, sterling work! 

Matter has a sparse yet melodic build up, there is nothing lacking in the music and it expertly done to make you really pay attention to what is being played, the vocals once again are beautifully done with a restraint and measure behind everything as you feel that this could easily be one of those were a vocalist would want to take over but its all mixed together with such precision, an exquisite track in every way. 

Gray is one of those track that makes you just want to put your headphones on close your eyes and just listen, it’s another lesson in restraint but also manages to pack the required much needed to not make you think that it’s just a nice track, it has bark and beauty in equal measure and in all honestly you would be happy if it was another couple of minutes longer as it builds and builds towards the end you just feel like you need more of it! 

Space does its best to follow on and while its does a decent enough job it doesn’t really feel as involving as some of the other tracks, is a decent enough track and has a huge mid verse/chorus combo but I just feel that there is just something holding it back, I have mentioned the restraint previously and its worked but feel a bit of an unleashing would make this a much better track. 

Change For You takes just that little bit too long to get into gear but when it does it really does, the laid back build up explodes into a melodic explosion that is just as quickly paired back into the spare build up of that fist verse and it’s a back and forth that really needs to be heard to be appreciated, its wonderfully emotional but also has the right amount of heavy to really push on and stick in the mind another inspired track. 

I think that Oblivious is my favorite track, it sounds like Alice in Chains mixed with Isis and here I am throwing out names now, but honestly it’s that good, it has the grungy riffage to start then breaks down into a spacey and flowing parts with some amazing vocals to top everything off, the way they can remind you of bands this good but still make this sound like them is testament to how good Untitled With Drums actually are! 

Parasitic is another more straightforward song that has a lot of simple guitar riffs to draw you in then breaks down and insists you pay attention then subtly draws you along before dropping back into the more riff heavy parts and this repeats in a hypnotic pattern till the end and usually this formula may be a bit boring a repetitive but not here, here its done with complete ease! 

Been So High is a strange one, it stars slowly and acoustically and then when it does come to life, I just don’t connect with it at all, I listened back to it another time and still can’t really seem to get a feel for the track? Maybe it will come in time but a slight miss on this one.

Cry gets us back to the more familiar sound and it’s a welcome return to what has made this album such a good listen, they paid back the guitars but not with acoustic tones, they are still as heavy as they need to be but they let the vocals breath and layer together with a breathtaking beauty that has summed up the vast majority of this record, the highs and lows of the song are all there and all sound glorious and it’s a fitting ending to this majestic album

Now, I doubted that Untitled With Drums sounded like some of the bands they were compared to and that because they don’t really, they have touched of them but really sound like themselves and that’s the best thing you can really ever want from a band, right? Made Flesh is a beautiful, sorrow filled, triumphant stormer of a record and definitely deserves your time, because who knows where they could go from here?? 9/10

Dissimulator - Artifice Dissolves (20 Buck Spin) [Mateusz Stefanow]

Sci-fi technical death-thrash is quite the mouthful, and that core ideal of being difficult to pin down pervades every aspect of Dissimulator’s newest release, Artifice Dissolves. 

Featuring all the members of Chthe’ilist, Philippe Boucher, the human metronome also known from Beyond Creation, Antoine Daigneault also known from Exxûl and Atramentus, a band he is joined in by the last member, Claude Leduc. This history of interconnectedness highlights the phenomenal chemistry that this trio has.

This album leans further towards thrash than death metal, but not as we know it- blistering riffs with chugging basslines and blast beats that feel like being crushed underfoot in a robotic invasion. Apophenic Rage features some back-up vocals by Leduc himself, pitch shifted into a robotic vocal style that I personally am not a huge fan of but this could definitely be a strength for another listener.

Artifice Dissolves, Alloyed and Proprioceptor all feature the backup vocals of Chthe’ilist vocalist Laurent Bellemare, adding yet another layer of complexity to the magical arpeggios and palm muted chugs that Daigneault is smashing out consistently as Boucher switches up time signatures more than the average person changes socks.

For everything this album does well, I fear some things don’t work out completely for me, namely the 45 minute runtime. I found my multiple listens to this review to be rather same-ish and I found the tracks to be mildly interchangeable to an extent, which sadly does dock them a few points in my eyes. 

Despite this, the death metal grooves along with masterful technical complexities inject vitality into the thrash DNA of this album, breaking away from the 80s reenactors. 7/10

Reviews: These Wicked Rivers, Black Water Redemption, Scorpion Milk, POHL & Ogives Big Band (Matt Bladen)

These Wicked Rivers - Fire And Folklore (Fat Earth Records)

Everywhere I see genre tags for These Wicked Rivers, I see stoner and I just don't hear it, southern rock on tracks like Horse To Water? Absolutely, this maybe a mistake on the internets part but it's doing These Wicked Rivers a disservice.

They have an authenticity with their southern blues rocking, despite they come from Belper in Derbyshire, which is about as far from the Delta as you can be, but there's no dirty stoner riffs to be found on Fire & Folklore, there's lots of anthemic stadium rocking, with soul which is what they do very well.

Consisting of John Hartwell (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Arran Day (lead guitar/backing vocals), Adam Brewell (bass), Dan Southall (drums) and Rich Wilson (multi-instrumentalist) they've been spreading their soulful rock music around the country and beyond since 2014.

However with album number three they return home, recording the album in Belper alongside Andy Sneap and Colin Richardson, who need no introduction, but have an impact on the British rock and metal scene that is undeniable,

These close links to their hometown makes Fire And Folklore sounds like These Wicked Rivers at their most honest, from the emotive Brother Oh Brother to the organ drenched Love To Love, there's honesty in this songwriting as The Healing has a heavy blues rock strut and Woodland Queen has the twin harmonies of The Allman Brothers or Black Stone Cherry.

It's the sound of These Wicked Rivers exploring new routes with their 'Wizard Blues' but never starting too far from the band they started in 2014, take for instance Better Man, which is a soaring ballad that will gain them massive radio play, as barstool anthem Sing Another Song brings crossover appeal as fellow Derbyshire performer Kezia Gill adds her sublime country vocals.

Returning home has given These Wicked Rivers a chance to write a more personal record that experiments with their core style adding to it very well, these are the songs of Fire And Folklore, with These Wicked Rivers the perfect storytellers. 8/10

Black Water Redemption - Black Water Redemption (Self Released)

Rockers Black Water Redemption, emerge from the depths of Southampton with their self titled debut album.

Don't think that they're some upstart band of yoofs as they were formed by former members of Western Sand, so the musicians involved in this band having been road dogs for many years, making Black Water Redemption a new band but with veteran experience.

You can hear that from the opening riff of Stand For Something, as Black Water Redemption play big swaggering riffs that have massive grooves, a modern muscle and the attitude of grunge, shedding some of their Southern style from their previous life into a heavier style overall.

Reminding me of Stone Temple Pilots meets Guns N Roses, (so Velvet Revolver) they also have some Skid Row and the current crop of NWOCR included too, but BWC vary their approach on this record. From the melodic radio cuts, to the heavier guitar workouts, there's piano balladry on Fly Like The Crow which feels like Black Label Society playing Mr Big.

With arena ready grooves from Dan de Vries (bass) and Chris Allen (drums), modern rock riffs/solos from Tyler Hains and gritty vocals from Adam Chambers, Black Water Redemption's debut record is strong opening statement from these experienced rockers. 7/10

Scorpion Milk - Flesh Masks For Skulls (Peaceville)

The recently launched new project from Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures, Hexvessel and Dødheimsgard man Mat McNerney.

Scorpion Milk continues the trend of delving into the 'Apocalyptic Post-Punk' he's been creating with Beastmilk and Grave Pleasures, but leaning more towards the former as he adds more of his black metal background to Scorpion Milk, making for post punk that sits at a darker place.

Following up the debut album Slime Of The Times comes this new EP Flesh Masks For Skulls, consisting of three new songs, two covers and remix of a track from the debut, so let's deal with the remix first and Norwegian virtuoso collective Ulver have totally reinvented All Snakes No Ladders from the debut.

Metamorphosing it into a lost Depeche Mode track, the relentless electronic drum patterns matched by the acoustic ones for propulsion straight out of the 80's as Ulver make the track their own with Scorpion Milk mastermind Mat McNerney's voclas shifting to something more frenzied at the climax.

The covers are ingenious versions of new wave oddities Devo and post punk legends Gang Of Four as What We All Want gets a distorted make over that puts some haunting black metal put into it while Gut Feeling goes through a post punk echoplex and some jagged melodies.

As for the three new tracks Dreaming Skulls is raw opener, dissonant Crushed Under The Weight is the heaviest cut while Guilty By Default has a propulsive jangle straight out of 1984, as it seems there plenty to come from Scorpion Milk, welcome the apocalypse. 8/10

POHL & Ogives Big Band - Split (Ripcord Records)

Sheffield noise and Bristol riffs collide as POHL and Ogives Big Band combine their powers for this Spilt album with Ripcord Records the force bringing them together in some ear bleeding union.

This is the underground scene of the UK and you'll need earplugs as though we've covered the Big Band here before, in a couple of forms actually, and we've also covered POHL, so having both in one place on this spilt may attract one to the other. The first four tracks are from Ogives Big Band and the last one is a 17 minute monster from POHL.

The four tracks are just what you want from Ogives Big Band, psychedelic sludge with obtuse riffage and frenzied vocals, never really sticking at one style for long, with I'm Glad You Exist raging like a lost Mastodon track, as The Patron Saint Of Lost Causes blends Opeth with At The Drive In, that mathy angular explosivity continuing through Dragging The Plates.

This is more direct Ogives Big Band, the psych elements on the fringes as the technical riffage takes over, it retains their unique quirks with sprirt of Deftones coming on Read Us The Book Of The Names Of The Dead, but overall these four tracks show a band with a new aggression and pace.

Pace being something that POHL really make their own, this psychedelic noise trio are unpredictable, as the sprawling Flayed Lord Prayer showcases to close this spilt. An epic cut where first section though is oppressive atmospheric doom, which crawls and grasps at the dying light before it truly kicks off.

An expulsion of percussive psych rock, that features saxophone blasts, like a demented jazz act, which often accompanies some anthemic alt rock catharsis, huge walls of guitars, extra fuzzy bass and some delicious drumming keeps your mind active to what's going on as 17 minutes flies by before the lats notes of dying sax finish this spilt.

Showing the talents of two of the UK's most interesting underground bands, if you're new to them start here and get acquainted with Ogives Big Band and POHL. 8/10

Reviews: Eternal, Exile Of Heaven, Thy Legacy, Apöcalypse A.D. (Matt Bladen)

Eternal - Conspiracy Of Warheads (Floga Records)

Conspiracy Of Warheads, now that's an album title Dave Mustaine, Scott Ian and Dan Lilker are kicking themselves they didn't think of. I honestly think it's probably the best thrash album title since the 80's and Athens based band Eternal play the sort of classic thrash metal from that period.

Throughout Conspiracy Of Warheads there's nods to Megadeth, Anthrax, Metallica, Nuclear Assault and more. You can feel that Eternal are a band with a very strong love of the thrash metal greats, this foursome Nick Pogas (vocals/guitar), Spiros Pexos (guitar), Nick Tsaousis (bass) and Alex Archaniotis (drums), shred up a storm with some politically charged thrash metal.

From the fierce kick off of My Way Or No Way, the record brings the best elements of thrash metal together, the technical inteplay of the guitarists is razor sharp, while the drums and bass come at breathless pace on a track such as Adrenaline Rush. Man Down (In The Front Row) is a track full of gang vocals and pit starting riffage as Bloodspill takes them furiously into the 21st Century.

The production balances that old school feel and a modern touch, mainly due to Costas “Naberius” Papadopoulos tight mix and Nasos Nomikos' slick master as they welcome you to the Theatre Of Thrash, with the song of the same name before really letting loose with their speed and aggression on the title track, giving both old and new thrashers a record they can get behind.

Even me who is not the world's biggest thrash fan, found this record an exhilarating exhibition of the genre. 9/10

Exile Of Heaven - Tides Of Destiny (Hellenic Metal World)

Founded in 2010, Exile Of Heaven released their debut The Illusion Of Randomity in 2016, it's been a decade but now they return with the sophomore album Tides Of Destiny.

The Kozani based group play a style of heavy metal that is very prevelant amongst Greek metal bands, drawing from the US style of muscular heavy power metal, influenced by Manowar, Jag Panzer with nods to the German sounds of Grave Digger and Running Wild due to the nautical themes. Building their tracks around muscular rhythm guitars that carry the sound of thrash, influences from NWOBHM in the groove side, especially the bass on Tortuga and powerful vocals that sit on the deeper end, adding some snarls on Oracle Of Death.

However they have a flair for the dramatic and melodic on Water And Sand before their heavy metal returns on Poseidon's Fury, the production of the record making sound real rather than over produced and after ten years Exile Of Heaven are still a great heavy metal band so get lost in the Tides Of Destiny. 8/10

Thy Legacy - The Call (Nameless Grave Records)

Formed by current and ex members of Chthonic Rites, Axeon and Yoth Iria, Thy Legacy are a heavy metal from Crete who do things the old school way. With Kerkermeister on bass, Rythm Hawk on drums, A.D. Guillotine on rhythm guitars and Retaliatör on lead guitars and vocals.

This foursome play songs about metal, heavy metal, with Heavy Metal Rising and Metal Legion, paying homage to our favourite genre but there's also horror and fantasy influences coming in on the cinematic interlude The Amulet, the galloping Chasing Glory and Seven Witches. All the songs on The Call delivered by Thy Legacy with a slightly darker and rawer edge due to the members of this band having backgrounds in black metal, so they bring the evil tendencies of that style into this classic metal record.

If you love heavy/speedy metal with some evil intentions answer The Call from Thy Legacy. 7/10

Apöcalypse A.D - Prototype: Zero Hour (Self Released)

Apöcalypse A.D is a one man project from Thessaloniki, it cites thrash and heavy metal but I'd say there's also a lot of goth and post punk influences on Chris Gkioursanis' debut EP, with Second To None and Out Of Control really shifting towards this style, with post apocalyptic soundscapes the influence behind these songs, Prototype: Zero Hour has a lot of dark cinematic overtones to it.

Though a hybrid style of metal that brings with synths at the beginning of Blink Of An Eye, a moody chug on Little Angel (She Fades Away) and while the thrash can be heard on Manchild Syndrome and Big Bang (Heart Attack), but for me it's not the major sound here. For Prototype: Zero Hour, Chris shows off his skill as a writer and player, and while the vocals are the weakest thing here, it's a decent debut EP from Apöcalypse A.D. 6/10

A View From The Back Of The Room: Desert Storm (Matt Bladen)

Desert Storm, Suns Of Thunder, Heavy On The Ride & Mould, The Bunkhouse Swansea, 03.10.26

A big old riff party hit Swansea on the first Saturday in October as Oxford's premier noisemakers joined some of West Wales loudest for a night of superior riffage. I went down to check it all out and make sure I was made deaf for the rest of the week.

Starting the night were Mould (8), who impressed in this year's M2TM and have refined their sludge driven crush with countless gigs this year. Pulling their sound from the tar pits of the NOLA sound, this is sludge with blackened vocals that will definitely get your head banging if you're a fan of Eyehategod.

Their usually slow moving low end steamroll is punctuated by hardcore aggression which got the pits starting and the melodic guitar lines often counter the fuzzy bottom end, this black(end) Mould always manage to impress, and with a bit more refining and stage presence they could really be ones to watch in the local scene this coming year.

Next though are a band who you should have been watching for a long time, but always seem to be on the fringes, thankfully though this is changing with their debut album just being released and a renewed focus on playing shows as a much louder four-piece, who have gelled perfectly.

Heavy On The Ride (8) are probably the slickest band in the scene, with an overture of Kyuss/QOTSA style garage stone rock, drenched in psychedelic desert vibes and dual vocal harmonies, drawing from their eclectic debut album it was a set of some old favourites and newer treats for anyone that may not have been at their album launch shows.

Happily taking the spot as outright heavy turned into groove, Heavy On The Ride allowed for a bit of a transition in the night, from the sludge to the desert rock, we were moving though all the sub genres of the stoner scene before landing on Swansea's answer to Clutch; Suns Of Thunder (9) took the stage and kicked out the jams, like the veteran rockers that they are.

There's always an expecting of big riffs, big laughs and some grooving when the Suns come to town and that exactly what we got, the songs are crafted around the dual vocal/guitar inteplay, while in the business end the bass and drums lock everything down.

The between song banter was just as killer as the songs themselves, the band always having a sense of not having a clue what they're doing but also being a slick unit. I dare you not to move when the Suns start laying it down and heck you may even get some pit etiquette advice! Always a good time with Suns Of Thunder and I don't see that changing soon.

Speaking of good times, some of my favourite gig memories were with the legendary Orange Fucking Goblin Baby! I've never seen them play a bad gig and likewise I've never seen Desert Storm (9), who I would consider to be the heirs apparent to OFG, play a bad show either, and this Swansea headline set didn't change anything as they took to the stage with the swagger and confidence of a band who knows how good they are.

Leaning heavily on their new album Buried Under The Weight Of Reason, Desert Storm play with the same reverence for classic metal and Black Sabbath as OFG did, full bore heavy that transcends into woozy psych/stoner and thundering doom, the band manage to fuse all these elements brilliantly.

Throwing it back to some earlier riffs for those of us that have followed the band for a while, Desert Storm really could have played anything and the crowd would have gone home happy, the riffs were colossal, the vocals booming, this was a carpet bombing of heavy groove from the Oxford riffslingers and Swansea loved every minute of it.

*As an aside that's two gigs in two weeks at The Bunkhouse and my love for this venue grows every time, the sound system is ace, the bar area is conformable and has some great beverage choices (though a couple more Non Alcoholic options would go a miss).

The gig space too has had some of the structural issues addressed and everything seems to be moving in the right direction, please go out and support this venue and the events they put on as you don't know what you've got in an alternative space that cares about it's patrons and venue.*

Quest Fest 2026 Preview (Matt Bladen)

Quest Fest 2026 Preview

For the fifth time we don our armour, pick out our favourite accessories from out inventory and hopefully roll a Nat 20 to make sure we arrive at our Quest without too many side missions to throw us off our goal.

The biggest entry into the Quest Fest pantheon, so far, we will one again take to the arena of KK's Steelmill for a day of epic music, that features some of the UK's best and brightest acts from the often overlooked power/symphonic/prog genre, as well as some of the rarest appearances by veteran acts from Europe/RoTW.

This has always been the major attraction for me to pull myself out of my South Walian bog and travel Northwards. So often power metal bands from Europe have tours that consist of London, Glasgow and Manchester, so the chance to able to see them play somewhere a little closer to home has to be taken in my opinion especially if you're an unashamed fan of these genres.

In 2026 the Quest begins again, with a lot of acts I never thought I'd see on these shores, but as always the early day is filled with talent from the Isle Of Avalon.

In a change to last year there's actually a pre-show hosted by The Giffard Arms where Grimgotts, Vanitas and LN will get you in the mood for what's to come the next day. Friday eve is for quaffing ale and making merry, so this year you will have three brilliant acts to make sure that you are prepared for your epic day on Saturday.

Opening the Saturday are Crown Solace who are ill admit are a new name to me but on the back of their single The Martyr & The Flame and the snippets I've heard from the upcoming Northern Skies, Quest Fest will be opening with bang this year, so I suggest you get in early as they could steal 'band of the day'

To follow are Fortune Teller led by the amazing vocals of Theresa Smith, this is somewhat of prog/power/symphonic metal supergroup with veteran musicans that have served time in Metaprism, Reign Of Fury, Shattered Skies and Exists Immortal, prepare for soaring melodies and chunky riffs as you won't need tarot cards to see how good Fortune Teller are.

After this I suggest that any wimps and posers leave the hall, or stay no judgement here. However you should move over to the dungeon area to indulge in the acoustic rendutons from the official Bard who returns with tales and tunes from the legends of the genre.

There's also chances to show off your skillset with the day long Guitar Hero tournament, an area for Crafting and relaxing, Magic The Gathering tables and of course their own set of TTRPG's created for the festival by Fairy Forge.

If you do stay in the hall then get the wrist gauntlets ready for some epic heavy metal from Battle Born who return to Quest Fest and will be brining the macho, heavy metal silliness of bands like Manowar and DragonForce to the festival again, but inspired by The Elder Scrolls as they hammer home their synth driven heavy metal with all the Blood, Fire Magic & Steel they can muster!

From here we head outside of the UK into the International acts that are gracing KK's for this year's Quest and it's German power metal troupe Serious Black that begins out excursion from Avalon's shores. Formed initially as a power metal supergroup featuring members of Helloween and Blind Guardian.

Co-founder/bassist Mario Lochert now leads, a younger and more available line up to take this band on the road, UK prog metal fans may notice Nikola Mijić of Eden's Curse on vocals, and with a new album expected in January, this could be a chance to hear some unheard material along with tracks from their seven (!) previous albums.

Now in the world of power metal there are legends and then there's Masterplan, the first band formed by Roland Grapow after Helloween, he's still their axe slinger to this day, though the rest of the band has gone through changes, they are still held in high regard in power metal circles and don't often get to the UK so it's a bit of an honour to see them play.

With some previous setlists looking like they're drawing most of their set from those first two albums, expect plenty of classics from these veterans as these early evening shows become a tribute to the German power metal scene and really Roland Grapow's influence on it. Study hard power metal nerds there's plenty of lore to unlock here and plenty of epic music to get your fists pumping.

From the Teutonic to the Tunisian, though now based in France, this will be my first time seeing Myrath a band I've been following since their second album and have always wanted to see. Thankfully dreams come true at Quest Fest so they will be brining their Middle Eastern inspired melodic metal to The Midlands, in what may be a shift in sound but will still be as catchy as Freshers flu!

Having moved neared the melodic metal strains of Kamelot and Serenity, Myrath still feature their Middle Eastern elements but they are now fused with orchestrations and lots of synths to appease the modern metal audience, there will be visual and musical feasts from Myrath, with a taste of the North African culture through European power.

As the quest comes to a close, the decision was made to make it a party, a joyous celebration of this anthemic, often silly style of music where Norse Warriors, Pirates, Knights, Mages, Witches, Valkyries, Fairies and Fantasy Creatures come together and escape into a world of huge metal anthems, which is just what All For Metal provide!

A collaboration between German and Italian musicians the headliner incorporate Norse Mythology with songs about metal, and what is a power metal based festival without songs about metal? With a dual vocal assault and plenty of chest beating, macho silliness, All For Metal will be a triumphant way to finish this year's quest as the beverages will flow, the swords and hammers will be raised to the sky and we'll all thank the gods of metal!

What Amie and the team have built over the years is amazing and this year seems to have attracted a lot more attention from my brother's and sisters in the press corps, hopefully they like me will be swayed to embark on subsequent Quests. Whatever they decide, I know that I and by extension you will have brilliant time if you arrive in Wolverhampton this weekend!

Let your hair down, grab your broadsword and lets get Questing!

Reviews: Avulsed, Spiders, Triggertone, 30,00 Monkies (Will Bond, Matt Bladen, Jordan Griffiths & Mateusz Stefanow)

Avulsed - Nordic Embryogenesis (Xtreem Music) [Will Bond]

Spanish death metal merchants Avulsed have served up their new album Nordic Embryogenesis. A pummelling collection of eleven tracks stacked to the brim with punching riffs, deep gutturals and schizophrenic tempo changes. This is old school death metal for old school death metallers.

The opener, Expunging Mortalities (Funebre), has a slow pounding energy, peppered with blast beats, like a Lovecraftian monster awakening from an aeons long slumber. The first dive bombs appear on No Canonization (Carbonized), with breaks in the guitars revealing a beautiful bass tone. Which brings me to the production, it is raw but clear, not over produced but with enough finesse to let each instrument breathe. 

 The ride bell cuts through the high end like a scalpel, while the low end guitars are each giving their space in the mix. The vocals are punctuated with wide panning on longer growls which gives those moments even more depth.

Heroes In Godly Blaze (Adramelech) is a real headbanger with high register riffs and a brutal breakdown, the tempo stays constant, letting the drummer dictate the groove. Spawn Of Flesh (Macabre End) sounds like a monster emerging from the mud, then moves to an almost hardcore two step, this would definitely be the circle pit track. A synth led guitar solo erupts before the monster returns to the mire.

Recantetion Of The Forsaken (Abhoth) opens like a resurrected corpse lurching forward before gathering pace and going into a frenzied guitar solo with perfectly interspersed dual parts. Female Sabbath (Phlegethon) is a speeding flesh ripper, with a drum break that reveals the beauty of the drum production.

The final track Pestilential Mists (Abhorrence) has the feel of an album closer. It leaves more breathing room than the main body of the record, a funereal dirge as the album slopes off into a blackened sunset.

Nordic Embryogenesis feels well bookended by the opening and closing tracks, it is a well ordered record when listened to in full. The production feels alive, letting the rawness of the performances shine. It is death metal played to the limit, feeling like the wheels might come off, but always keeping the beast rolling. 8/10

Spiders - Crystal Eyes (Wild Kingdom) [Matt Bladen]

Swedish rock n rollers Spiders have been listening to a lot of Blondie records while writing Crystal Eyes, vocalist Ann-Sofie Hoyles has studied the phrasing and delivery of Ms Harry and brought a lot of it into their fourth studio record with tracks like the title track, Crystal Eyes. Continuing their sonic evolution, as the band called it their most "collaborative yet".

It's high energy rock with some punk grit, glammy new wave swagger and some garage sleaze that's also very reminiscent of their recent touring partners The Hellacopters even releasing a split with them, the garage punk rock style beating at the heart of what Spiders do as a band, riffs pulled from The Stones and The Stooges (Heart Of Stone), through influences of many of their fellow Swedes.

So Spiders languish in retroism, but are never consumed by it totally, Flying To High for instance could be off a Cheap Trick record while (Doomed To A) Life Of Misery brings balladry with duet that has some lush Phil Spector production values, while Playing With Fire is a guitar masterclass and Loser and A Little Too Late draws from Badfinger.

Spiders mature with their new album, coming from garage rock into a much more rounded sound on Crystal Eyes. 8/10

Triggertone - Bombs Away EP (Self Released) [Jordan Griffiths]

For those of you who are as new to Triggertone as I am, they are an alternative and heavy rock three-piece band from Belfast, and here we have their newest E.P., Bombs Away.

This 4 track EP comes in really strong with Pray, it has strong and meaningful vocals, and also sections of just pure instrumental. The guitar tone, instead of being overly technical, it’s deep, its heavy, it speaks to you and adds onto the underlying meaning of the overall track, the vocals, they’re atmospheric, they’re weathered, serious, and somewhat uneasy for the most part, they tell a story, and they set the stage for it really really well.

The second track, Room 1046, a deliberately mysterious title, and the track lives up to it, making you feel things such as isolation, confinement, and sometimes even claustrophobia, which really pulls you further into the story that this EP invites you into.

Now, we have The Fade, the longest track on the EP, and it comes at you a lot softer than the previous songs, building its atmosphere as we go forward. The vocals are also a massive part of this, getting increasingly more strained as the song progresses. It has an aura of sadness about this song, despite the gradual increase in heaviness, the underlying tone remains. They include a truly beautiful guitar solo towards the 4:05 mark, that brings this track to its climax beautifully.

Ending it off, we have the title track, Bombs Away, which combines the heavy riffs of the guitars and vocals, with the melodic side of the E.P. in a truly worthy ending track of what is already such a great E.P. The more you listen, and reflect on what they have produced here, the more you understand the passion and time that was put into this.

Overall, this E.P. serves as an excellent entry into the discography of Triggertone, and I for one will be adding them onto my musical rotation! 9/10

30,000 Monkies – Super Rebound (Fvn Kult Rekords) [Mateusz Stefanow]

Before I even started my first listen of this album, I had to sit and almost analyse the cover because it is oddly fascinating. Capturing both motion and stillness, a feeling of simultaneous vertigo of falling and elation of rising into the air; it’s curiously mundane yet liminal and difficult to pinpoint what is, for lack of a better term, off about it. This feeling is doubled down upon within the actual songs.

The Gums and Mountainesque 4 have quiet, repetitive segments which are discordant to the pounding sections that border them, ideally matching that curious cover art, the stationary repetition and gentle flow of these sections matches the shadow on the cover, whereas the more pulse-raising drumming and growling vocals are as that car- unsteady and unpredictable in the right way.

Prism Break then brings in groove metal influences, with more prominent basslines, and a dense sludge-like sound that gives the sensation of diving headfirst into liquid concrete, an abrasive drone that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.

[Horns Wailing], [Siren Singing] are as they say on their respective tins, bringing to mind Negativland’s seminal classic Escape From Noise - initially unpredictable breaks from the previous tracks.

Unsound Hero may be the most experimental song on the album, with clean vocals over jaunty plucked strings invoking a feeling of warped nostalgia, descending into a sludgy mire of distortion, returning to the plucked strings we hear screaming and static crackling in and the sludge elements return once again- Unsound indeed.

By the time the album reaches [Bells Ringing, Tale Meeting] we are welcomed by gentle, you guessed it, bells ringing. Before long, the sound starts warping, the chimes are drowned out by the chunky distorted bass, screams and even louder riffs.

Initially I had very mixed feelings about this album, but my second listen I began to appreciate the Cronenbergian soundscape being laid out before me, and the seemingly jagged, disjointed sections didn’t seem so disjointed after all, so if you don’t like this on your first listen, please give it another try! 9/10

A View From The Back Of The Church: Devin Townsend (Simon Black)

Devin Townsend, The Gate Cardiff, 02.10.26



For a man who spends a lot of his increasingly rare free time attending gigs and having lived in the fair city of Cardiff for nearly twenty years now, this is actually the first time I’ve been to The Gate. For those who have not had the experience, it’s a deconsecrated church in the back streets of Roath, so perfect for a takeaway on the way home afterwards if I wasn’t an old fart who has to watch his calorie intake nowadays. 

As an increasingly arthritic old fart to boot, it’s also not the greatest of venues when it come to comfort. I don’t have an issue standing all night at gigs, but sitting on steely hard Victorian church pews that are clearly designed with no small amount of Presbyterian guilt and penitence in mind is no easy experience, and this is a long show.

That said, the evening flies by…

I am always aghast at quite how many albums the remarkably prolific Mr Townsend has actually created over the decades. 

All told 28 studio albums, 6 EP’s and ten live releases across his various projects (not to mention all the box sets, reissues and compilations needed to exit label contracts) is quite a formidable level of output crossing the genre boundaries every other album and probably only beaten by the late Prince, who had a 17 year head start before his death a decade ago (but may continue to surprise since no-one knows for sure how much unreleased material is still sitting there). 

The purpose of tonight’s performance is to take us on a whirlwind tour of as many of them as possible, linking the range and variety of his music with the deeply personal journey that culminated in the quite sublime The Moth.

I know I’ve barely scratched the surface of his material, having only really listened to his releases from this decade, but the small but dedicated audience here tonight all seem to be familiar with the gamut he runs this evening. 

He’s done these evenings before, and I was curious as to why an artist that can easily pack good sized halls and headline festivals around the world would want to stand there on his own for 2 hours, given the costs involved in going on tour nowadays to play (sold out) venues of less than 500 people for months on end. 

The answer is obvious after a couple of minutes – because he’s absolutely in his element, and his pained emotive delivery touches each and everyone here instantly, which is why the queue for merch during the interval is longer than the one for the loos…

What starts as a very low-key affair, becomes deeply emotional and personal from the get-go. It’s almost entirely an acoustic affair, and despite an array of six strings littering the stage, ninety per cent of the performance is delivered through one hard working acoustic guitar - even when he bashes out the power chords of the most angsty Strapping material. 

The same happens vocally, and although the expectation is that he will stay within the clean tenor range that he’s easily capable of scaling, we get plenty of screams and growls as well and whoever is on the mixing desk clearly knows their stuff in this acoustically unfriendly environment, as the vocal switches and twists he throws out are perfectly presented for the ear of the listener.

Then there’s the banter. If you know Devin Townsend, you will be well aware that as well as being one of the most talented musicians currently walking the boards, he’s also a remarkably quick wit and would put many a professional stand-up comedian to shame. 

Even when things go wrong technically, he manages to turn a five-minute hiatus courtesy of a laptop choosing precisely the wrong moment to present a blue screen of death into a segment that left everyone laughing so hard with him, that it really was just as well that it happened right before the interval. 

When the tech did finally creak into life, it gave us an epic one-man rendition of Lightworker – a track that would have been a challenge to deliver live with a full band on a conventional tour, but he manages it solo with that acoustic effortlessly.

Having gone back and relistened to his live release from a previous one-man tour back in 2019, it’s clear that this is a more confident and seamlessly fluid performance tonight. 

Dealing with pain and emotional discomfort on stage has oft been the artist’s way through, but to do so with such an intense and focussed theme rather than just running through the greatest hits takes guts, and we love him for it. 

I have no idea what comes next musically, and this musical coda to the deeply emotive and autobiographical The Moth does feel like the end of an era. Whatever it is, I suspect it’s going to be absolutely brilliant, because everything else we touched up across the three decades of his output have been.

Full marks simply doesn’t feel quite adequate.. 10/10

Reviews: A-tota-so, Hubris, Cinema Stereo, Forsaken Eternity (Matt Bladen, Mike Bailey, Keith Boswell & Myrto-Panagiota Zacharof)

A-tota-so - I Told You So (bUTTONpUSHER) [Matt Bladen]

The self confessed "silly little band" A-tota-soreturn with another record of genre busting, noise that's alt-rock but not as you know it.

From the fret scrape and jazz drum line of Death Rattle to the dreamy end of Raykens, I Told You So takes you on a sonic journey so full of turbulence that you'd think you were on a Ryanair flight. They released their last album in 2022 and have been ignighting stages across the country before and after that, channeling their stage ferocity into their recordings while never wanting to retread old ground.

With this album the collaborative guest vocalists if album two are gone and album three has a renewed confidence, a refocus of identity and sees guitarists Marty Toner become lead vocalist for the first time. His vocals are just as expressive as his guitar playing, shouting with angst on the jangly post rocker Form Of Mass, while drummer Jamie Cattermole and bassist Chris Marsh, lay down a left field, off-kilter rhythms, though Exit Wounds sees them in more regular patterns.

The record is a bit of downer lyrically dealing with anxiety, depression and grief but attempts to find some sort of solace, though this constant mental battle is so often showcased in these cuts, from the proggy start-stop of aggression of Masks, through the grooving GRLD where the influence of Tool is obvious, while No Tears No Sound, is driven by sense of paranoia.

I Told You So, feels like a reset for A-tota-so, the use of just one voice letting them hone into what they are as band, direct and noisy but also experimental and muted, often in the same bar, a great listening experience for those that appreciate music that's on a tangent of it's own. 8/10

Hubris - White Shores (Self Released) [Mike Bailey]

White Shores is the fifth album by Swiss post-rock band hubris. and is a notable departure in inspiration for this outfit. The previous four albums were inspired by Greek mythology, whereas for this album it was a little closer to home. In the wake of his grandfather’s passing, Jonathan Hohl began writing this album to navigate his grief and loss.

Into this, Hohl pulled inspiration from The Lord Of The Rings – themes of immortality versus mortality and how they were experienced by the different races of Middle-earth – and how there is so much more to that sadness in passing.

The album title White Shores refers to the place many beings return to at the end of their lives, but the song titles refer to an exchange between Gandalf and Pippin. It is an attempt to express the importance of death and loss as meaningful outside of the sadness it has caused – Death Is Just Another Path.

Each track feels self-contained, a meditation on a specific idea, and work through different stages of grief. Much like navigating grief, it is not a clean or precise process, but a process of unearthing themes, revisiting them and moving forward. The sound is organic, the layers of guitar, bass and drum (Matthieu Grillet, Lucien Leclerc and Nathan Gros, respectively) interact, swell and lift to bring the themes fully to life, as well as reflect how community helps process loss through collaboration and the space to process.

While the theme and inspiration behind White Shores is a departure, the music still evokes the ethereal, swelling and subsiding, deeply moving sound they are known for. 8/10

Cinema Stereo - 12:34 (Cargo UK Records) [Keith Boswell]

The Nashville based triumvirate that is Cinema Stereo release their first full length album 12:34 under the Cinema Stereo LLC label on the 2nd October 2026. It encompasses twelve tracks and delivers forty-three minutes worth of high energy, at times almost psychedelic, alternative rock that has its roots firmly embedded in the 60’s and 70’s.

Indeed, the influences of Rush, Led Zepplin and Queen are clear for all to see providing a spine onto which their own brand of musicality is added I have to say at this point that this is not an album I would readily listen to of my own volition and it has taken me at least four spins to really break through the unconscious bias that I sometimes uphold. But boy am I glad I persevered!

Tracks like Flood which is catchy and has a great groove to it immediately caught my attention, similarly Over The Edge has a fantastic intro, it is lively and foot tapping with a great delivery from guitarist Seb Borysek. Undoubtedly this will be a popular crown pleaser during their up-and-coming tour of the UK. The bands most recent single Expectations delivers some excellent melodic vocals from Ian Rayha along with some spacy type interludes harking back to the early days of prog rock but with modern twists throughout.

Rayha’s catchy vocals are once again to the fore in Ride To The Sun which attracted me instantly to this song along with the strong verse hook and prominent keyboards. Proxima is the final song on the album and is possibly my favourite. The beat in the song is very contagious and the guitar licks throughout are very welcomed.

Whilst there are tracks that I enjoy thoroughly on the album there are a small number of songs that don’t quite do it for me. That said I’m sure others will find them enjoyable. A further positive, to the bands credit, is that the tracks are all individual and are reflected in a change in beat, vocal or intensity.

Check this album outs it’s definitely worth your time! 7/10

Forsaken Eternity - Shades Of Existence EP (Rottweiler Records) [Myrto-Panagiota Zacharof]

Shades Of Existence will be of great appeal to fans of melodic/symphonic black metal! Powerful drums, imposing atmosphere due to vocals, guitar solos & keyboards all put into compact songs to keep the attention of the listener high, while also putting attention on the also interesting lyrics as well.

The opening song of the record, Adrift In A Twisted Ethereal brings forward the band’s stigma which is certainly the strong drums, howling vocals exchanging with haunting deep voices, highly melodic and intensive guitars, setting the mood just right for the next track. That next track is Whispers Of The Moon, which has quite an operatic feeling, combining the bands clear black metal attributes with atmospheric riffs & breaks of keyboards. 

From here we have Celestial Witch a song that clearly stands out from the rest, as it combines numerous approaches of what one can consider melodic atmospheric metal. Cleverly using the keyboards to give a notion of space & chaos, with sudden breaks of melody over the rampant drums and guitars. The vocals are really outstanding, joining the listener from the abyss as the album ends with Shades Of Existence, a marching outro song, closing the loop and demonstrating clearly the technical abilities but also the love for dramatic dark atmosphere through dark melody. 

Shades Of Existence is an album that features highly technical, long guitar pieces and at times clear almost sterile sound, With strong influences from the early days of Cradle of Filth , Dimmu Borgir , Gehenna & Children of Bottom (90s era). With the music here and the simple but powerful image of Red Death, can be seen as either dispersing or growing Forsaken Eternity are starting to find their own unique sound in the balck emtal world. 7/10