Category: Features
Feminism and Black Metal: An Essay
While maybe not having an obvious relationship, on an abstract level, feminism and black metal have a lot in common. In this essay, BM vocalist Raegina argues that both concepts centre around ideas of subversion, rebellion, individualism and personal freedom. Both subcultures challenge traditional norms and values and do not shy back from using highly controversial and provocative means to reach this aim.
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Über Rock Introduces… Waking The Angels
Waking The Angels may be a new name on the ÜK rock scene, but its constituent members are certainly no “new kids on the block”, as its line-up is made of experienced musicians who will be well known to regular ÜR readers through their affiliations with AOR outfits such as Iconic Eye and New Device.
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EXTENDED PLAY: Bite-Sized Morsels of Musical Mayhem
For many years, the EP – or ‘Extended Player’, to give it its full title – was a criminally overlooked format. But, in recent years, it has made something of a deserved comeback, as bands face the challenge of continually producing new material but often not being able to commit to the cost of, or time to, recording full-length albums. They have been especially important over the past 24 months of on-and-off-on-again lockdowns and restrictions, as the format has enabled artists to snatch valuable moments of recording time to get new product out to their fans.
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THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS: ÜBER ROCK’S ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2021
While 2021 has been another traumatic and troubled year for the music industry, especially on the live front, rock ‘n’ rollers the Überverse over have once again been proven themselves to be a resilient and imaginative bunch with a continuing avalanche of high-quality new music on a scale that would bury a small eastern European republic. Our team of ninja reviewers have been consistently amazed at how artists, both individually and collectively, have consistently risen to the challenges we have all faced over the past 12 months to produce, in many cases, the best work of their careers to date.
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THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS: TEAM ÜBER’S ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
While 2021 has been another traumatic and troubled year for the music industry, especially on the live front, rock ‘n’ rollers the Überverse over have once again been proven themselves to be a resilient and imaginative bunch with a continuing avalanche of high-quality new music on a scale that would bury a small eastern European republic. Our team of ninja reviewers have been consistently amazed at how artists, both individually and collectively, have consistently risen to the challenges we have all faced over the past 12 months to produce, in many cases, the best work of their careers to date.
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THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS (ALMOST) LIVE
No doubt, 2021 has been another traumatic and troubled year for the music industry, particularly on the live front. While festivals and gigs did slowly return as the year progressed, many restrictions remained in place for months upon end, with some form of “normality” only returning towards the latter part of the year. However, there remained, and still remain, inconsistencies in how the Government and the various devolved administrations handled, and continue to handle, the situation. Different regions “opened up” at different times, meaning that tour schedules continued to be disrupted and re-arranged to comply with local restrictions.
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REPEAT, REWIND: Our Favourite Re-Releases Of 2021
Re-issues of classic albums have always been a staple of any record company’s release schedule. Often appearing to mark the anniversary of the original appearance of a specific album, they afford bands and fans alike to look back at particular moments in musical history. They also are valuable ways of introducing new fans to discover often long-lost gems which missed the first time around – or classic albums that were released long before they were born and therefore have only heard about in the myths and stories told by their older counterparts. Three of our top ninja reviewers look back on this past year and share what classic re-releases have brought a nostalgic tear to their eyes and re-ignited their memory cells as to what attracted them to the original albums in the first place.
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EXTENDED PLAY: Our Favourite Bite-Sized Morsels of Musical Mayhem
For many years, the EP – or ‘Extended Player’, to give it its full title – was a criminally overlooked format. But, in recent years, it has made something of a deserved comeback, as bands face the challenge of continually producing new material but often not being able to commit to the cost of, or time to, recording full-length albums. They have been especially important over the past 22 months of on-and-off-on-again lockdowns and restrictions, as the format has enabled artists to snatch valuable moments of recording time to get new product out to their fans and keep their profiles raised.
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THE ÜBER ROCK SINGLES CLUB – YULETIDE REVELRIES
Ho ho ho. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, and all that oul shite! Yes, we’re normally grinches here at ÜRHQ, eschewing the tinsel for cobwebs and hoping the dog will eat the tree within two minutes of going up. But, if you’re a regular visitor to these miserable bah humbug fuelled pages then you’ll know that we love a good old-fashioned knees-up as much as the next person (and he’s the local knees-up Olympic champion), so let’s get in the Christmas spirit – and, no, we don’t mean the spiced rum, at least not yet – and declare the Singles Club open for a special festive special, shall we? Shall we? Oh, OK then… but the first drink’s on you!
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EXTENDED PLAY: Bite-Sized Morsels of Musical Mayhem
For many years, the EP – or ‘Extended Player’, to give it its full title – was a criminally overlooked format. But, in recent years, it has made something of a deserved comeback, as bands face the challenge of continually producing new material but often not being able to commit to the cost of, or time to, recording full-length albums. It’s a format which Über Rock has long championed: hell, we have a ‘Top EPs’ category in our annual end-of-year writers’ poll – but, as a busy website, it is often difficult to justify devoting space to the more miniature format. So, in the return of our occasional feature – and what will probably (with our reputation) be an irregular one – Monk gave a listen to some of the EPs that have crossed his desk in recent weeks.
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The Über Rock Singles Club – December (Deci)bells (Volume Two)
Welcome to another edition of the Über Rock Singles Club, which we have managed to keep up-and-running despite the numerous Covidications which we all have had to endure over the past 20 months, in order to bring you the hottest new sounds around. And once again we have another hitlist of superb sonic experiences to tickle your sonic senses, with a selection of my favourite tunes to have found their way on to the ÜRHQ deathdecks so far this month… Bearing in mind that we received more than 600 submissions, it was not an easy task to whittle them down to this all-too-short playlist…
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VIDEO OF THE WEEK – FEUERSCHWANZ
We had another massive wave of videos come our way this past week – a veritable tsunami of more than 120 of them – all vying for the coveted title and virtual gong of being named our favourite… Believe me, we do watch all of the submissions, and a lot of them are of an extremely high quality, but there can only ever be one winner…
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