Author: Team Uber

Black Sabbath – ‘Sabotage: Super Deluxe Edition’ (BMG)

Black Sabbath – ‘Sabotage: Super Deluxe Edition’ (BMG)

Posted by | Jun 11, 2021 | ,

Black Sabbath rightfully sit at the head of proto-metal and celebrating their 50th anniversary is a hell of an achievement for absolutely any act. They are also, unashamedly, DJ Astrocreep’s favourite band, whose members were responsible for the big lad wanting to take up two instruments (drums and bass) and the chance to hear a further remastering – especially after being offered a vinyl release for review – was an opportunity he simply could not pass by. When you add in a lot of extras, as has been done here, there are a number of hours going to be spent in audio heaven listening back to what feels like an underrated release from the rock titans.

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Midnite City – ‘Itch You Can’t Scratch’ (Roulette Media)

Midnite City – ‘Itch You Can’t Scratch’ (Roulette Media)

Posted by | Jun 9, 2021 | ,

One of the beauties of being in the position that we are in, both as music fans (first and foremost) and journalists (which is very much a secondary consideration), is being able to get in at the very first stages of a band’s career and subsequently watch them bloom and blossom into the best in their chosen mine… Monk has been fortunate to have been in such a position dozens of times, watching a plethora of bands whom it would be unfair to namecheck in isolation develop and grow, building on momentum and, oftentimes, overcoming severe adversity to do so… Of course, many others have fallen by the wayside, but it always has been a pleasure to be there at the beginning… Such as we were with Midnite City…

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Hellryder – ‘The Devil Is A Gambler’ (ROAR! Rock Of Angels Records)

Hellryder – ‘The Devil Is A Gambler’ (ROAR! Rock Of Angels Records)

Posted by | Jun 8, 2021 | ,

One thing about the pandemic of the last 15 or so months that is virtually indisputable is that it has forced, and in many cases helped, many of us involved in the music business to re-evaluate ourselves and look at the broader picture. In the cases of hundreds, nay thousands, of musicians, it has presented them with the opportunity to explore new opportunities, and maybe take on challenges which had laid dormant due to more positive restrictions placed on them pre-Covid – i.e., the fact that they were simply too feckin’ busy to follow them through… Such is the case with this new project from Chris Boltendahl and Axel Ritt of German thrash veterans Grave Digger, who long had wanted to explore their love of more traditional, old-school heavy metal….

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Mercutio – ‘Antagonist’ (Diverge Records)

Mercutio – ‘Antagonist’ (Diverge Records)

Posted by | Jun 8, 2021 | ,

It has to be hoped that London alt-rockers Mercutio do not live up to their ill-starred moniker, taking their name as they do from one of the characters who meets a particularly gruesome end in Shakespeare’s tragi-romance ‘Romeo And Juliet’. Mind you, it’s also probably not the most auspicious of beginnings to seriously launch your career in the midst of a pandemic which all-but closed down the music business as a whole, but the release of the quartet’s debut could equally not be better timed, coming as it does as we finally have light at the end of the intensely dark tunnel that has been the past year or so.

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