2017 has certainly been a fine year for finding new talent and my first experience of Wakefield based The Sourheads was at Rockwich Festival in August this year. Frontman Jake Coxon is a bona fide rock star in the making. Bare footed and bare chested he oozed Jim Morrison like …

It took a few spins of Hands Of Fate, the fourth studio album by Savage Messiah to get around their new change of direction, but it has still blown me away. Their heads down thrash metal has been honed down to a heavy metal groove with no loss of power …

When a band announces that with their next album that they are “Going back to their thrash metal roots” it can be taken with a pinch of salt but when I heard Jeff Waters, founder member of Annihilator in 1984 say it on the Bloodstock Open Air Festival main stage …

When attending gigs I’ve always stuck with the same rule and that is to watch the opening bands. At the end of the day, that’s how the headliners started out so give them a chance, you may be pleasantly surprised and I certainly was when I caught Manchester based band …

Once again, the youthful trio Devils Henchmen deliver another high quality EP titled Control that follows their debut 2016 release of EP Hatred. The Liverpool based trio are coming on in leaps and bounds, fronted by lead guitarist/lead vocalist and chief songwriter Joseph Doolan. First track ‘Control’ surges in on …

Well this is a bit of an animal to say the least! Insurrection, the debut studio album from Kent based bruisers Spreading The Disease. Formed in 2014 by bassist Steve Saunders, their debut EP Viral showed a lot of promise which has now been fulfilled when the album is released …

After a hearty cooked breakfast, we wobbled over the road to the Elizabethan Suite for day two of Grimm Up North Fest. Even at 13.00pm a dedicated number of rockers had assembled for opening act SYZ. Formed in 1981 and fronted by the perpetually entertaining Roy Hinson, they rocked out …

Yes, that is spelt correctly. Not grim up North, but Grimm Up North! So called as it was a two day heavy metal festival in Bury, Manchester, organised by Kevin Wynn to raise funds for ongoing medical bills for Steve Grimmett, lead vocalist with Grim Reaper. On a South American …

I’ve been a fan of Vardis for a long time, well over thirty five years. Bought 100MPH, The World’s Insane and Quo Vardis on vinyl back in the day so the grumpy old man side of me raised his eyebrows when I saw the press release for these reissues but …

Another week and another amazing underground band discovered. Bridgewater, Somerset based Kinasis have created a crushing four track EP titled Pariah, due for release on September 29th 2017. From the off it’s straight in your face with the mighty riffs and Hellish vocal growls in opener ‘Red Earth’. It builds …

After witnessing a crushing set by them last month at Bloodstock Open Air Festival, expectations were high when I came to review Will To Power, the tenth studio album from Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy. Since joining the band in 2014, lead vocalist Alissa White-Gluz has made them …

Released via Motorhead Music on September 1st 2017, Under Cover, as the title suggests is a studio album of cover songs from  Motorhead. A few of these tracks are previously available on earlier albums but with this release they are all together and features a previously unheard song. All eleven …

Another year, another stupendous Rockwich returns! Organised by Prometheus Promotions, they managed to book twelve top quality bands to play in 12 rocking hours. Midday opening act, Wakefield based The Sourheads, fronted by the barefooted ball of energy Jake who looked like he was born to be onstage, ripped through …

Sunday at Bloodstock Open Air Festival, a bitter sweet one  as it’s the final day but this year it turned out to be the strongest day! A great start came from Kettering based hard rockers  Switch Blade City featuring Sean Seabrook on lead vocals, the best dressed frontman of the …

“Saturday, Saturday, Saturday nights alright” as Elton John wisely put it and describes today’s bands perfectly! Hotel fry up and straight off I go to Bloodstock Open Air Festival again with the first trip of the day to the New Blood Stage to witness Preston based lunatics Ward XVI. Shuttle …

Doesn’t time fly! My tenth Bloodstock Open Air Festival and definitely the most enjoyable due to the quality of the bands on show. Over one hundred played this year and I managed to catch over forty of them over the weekend playing on four stages. A mad dash to the …

Describing themselves as alternative/progressive metal, Vendetta have a lot more strings to their bow than these two genres displayed in their current studio album Pale Glow.  Currently on digital download release from iTunes.apple, Spotify, Google Play and Tidal, its seven tracks threaten as Manowar said to “Blow your speakers”. The …

Whatever genre of music you like, at the end of the day, a good song is a good song and duo Harriet! have written two highly impressive ones for their double A sided single Just Sign/Those Three Words, due for release on August 14th 2017. Formed in 2010 and based …

Describing themselves as Teutonic Thrash Metal From Denmark, Impalers have perfectly summed themselves up judging by the way they throw themselves into their latest studio album The Celestial Dictator. Released via Evil EyE Records and Initium Records on September 1st 2017 it takes you back to the exhilaration of hearing …

Thrash is one of my favourite genres of metal and with bands like Impalers flying the flag high for it then it’s future is secured judging by their energy that flows through their Styx Demon (The Master Of Death E.P) currently available from Evil EyE Records. Formed in 2007 in …