RIP Tony Clarkin
Tony Clarkin, founder and guitarist of legendary Birmingham pomp rock troubadours Magnum, has died at the age of 77.
Read MoreTony Clarkin, founder and guitarist of legendary Birmingham pomp rock troubadours Magnum, has died at the age of 77.
Read MoreTen thousand years ago Finland, like most of northern Europe, was still the grip of the latest ice age. When the glaciers started to melt, they turned into vast icy torrents flowing into the newly formed Baltic Sea. As the millennia passed, one of these ancient riverbeds became known as the Mätäjoki, or the Rotten River, long at the centre of much of Finnish folklore. It is from this mud-infused source that the titular Rotten River Blues Band naturally take their own inspiration and influence, with their roots firmly planted in said tributary’s upstream swamps, as well as others around the Überverse, as this third album demonstrates.
Read MoreThere are times when Monk feels like a vampire. We mean, he works night shifts. Especially in the depths of winter, He goes to work in the dark and goes home in the same gloom. He sleeps through what little sunshine we enjoy at this time of year. At times, he forgets what sunshine actually looks like. So, it could be argued that this album from gothic death metallers Drown In Sulphur could be part of the soundtrack of his daily (or maybe that should be nightly) life and his journey through it… let’s find out, shall we?
Read MoreOur first #VOTW of 2024 sees us getting the new year off to a suitably abrasive, hard-hitting and obnoxiously uncompromising start as we fall ‘Victim’ to the aural and visual assault of south coast hardcore champions Desolated, who are calling out the soul-suckers and energy vampires with the first single off their new album, which is due to be released later this year via MLVLTD Music, the label owned by Malevolence (whose drummer, Charlie Thorpe, also fulfills the same duties in Desolated)…
Read More“What dreams are made of is what we need to feel the power of being free” declares David “Rock” Feinstein on the opening line of this, the ninth album in the 45-year long career of New York street metal veterans The Rods. And a fitting declaration it is too, as ‘Rattle The Cage’ proves that this epitomizing power trio can still do just that, with ten tracks of no-holds-barred, fist-in-your-face classic metal that sounds as fresh and vibrant as when the band first starting ploughing this furrow away back in the day when metal was all about no nonsense, see-you-at-the-end fits of fury, as Monk now explains…
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