Author: UberAdmin

The Coathangers – ‘The Devil You Know’ (Suicide Squeeze)

Having followed the traditional cycle of album/tour/album/tour – with the emphasis on the live side of their activities – for the past 12 years, Atlanta riot grrls The Coathangers took some rare time off last summer to recharge their batteries, re-evaluate their position and, in their own terms, reconfigure their sound, re-emerging from this self-imposed hibernation with this new collection of 11 songs, just released by Suicide Squeeze Records.

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Primordial/The Crawling/Senzar/Death The Leveller – Belfast, Limelight 2 – 9 March 2019

It had been nine years since Dublin death dealers Primordial had ventured north of the border to grace the back streets of Belfast with their presence, so to say that this was one of the most eagerly anticipated metal gigs of the year to date would be something of an understatement… in fact, they play the island so infrequently that everywhere Monk turned he met folks with southern Irish accents, demonstrating once again the distances true fans will go to in order to witness their favourite bands live and in the flesh.

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Oceans/Ghosts As Alibis/Urfe – Pontypool, The Dragonffli – 9 March 2019

A chilly March night in the Welsh valleys and an impromptu trip down to one of David O’Neill’s favourite venues to catch three bands who were new to him, and probably most of ÜR’s readership apart from those with their ear to the cobblestones of the south Wales scene… but that’s what the website that excites is all about, isn’t it? Bringing new, undiscovered talent to a wider audience.

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Bonafide – ‘Live At KB’ (Self-Released)

Regular ÜR readers know that, when it comes to live albums, bossman Monk generally can take them or leave, and also have quite a sceptical attitude to same. How many of them are actually “live” in the truest form of the word? The annals of this dirty ol’ artform we call rock ‘n’ roll are littered with tales of so-called “live” albums having been subjected to hundreds of hours of studio overdubs and other assorted trickery. Guns N’ Roses anyone? Or how about Judas Priest? Or Sabaton, who actually admitted that all the music on their 2016 ‘Heroes On Tour’ opus was re-recorded ‘cos the sound engineer fucked up the original recording? So, forgive our mainman if he approaches such offerings with something of a lingering doubt in the back of his mind…

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Ritual – ‘Trials Of Torment’ (Pure Steel)

Originally released back in 1993, and oft regarded in speed/thrash metal circles as one of the lost gems of the genre, this long-deleted debut (the Ohio band had released three demos under a previous incarnation, which went by the name of Torment) has been given something of a 21st Century make-over, primarily to mark Ritual’s imminent inaugural trip to this side of the big pond known as the Atlantic Ocean.

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