Northern Ireland’s hardest working hard rockers, The Answer, release their new album, ‘Raise A Little Hell’ (reviewed HERE), this coming Monday (March 9).  The supporting tour kicks off in the band’s hometown of Belfast tomorrow (Friday). So, a couple of weeks ago, PlanetMosh’s Belfast team caught up with frontman Cormac …

Exactly a year ago, mid-Ulster hard rockers Trucker Diablo shocked fans by announcing that they were putting the brakes on and going on an indefinite hiatus.  Guitarist Simon Haddock had already announced his intention to quit the band, due to family commitments:  a show at a small social club on …

Given that vocalist Simon Gordon once fronted acclaimed Brit tech deathsters Xentrix, it may come as somewhat of a surprise to many to find that this debut album from the beautifully named Black Whiskey (any band that combines my favourite colour with that of my preferred tipple – and with the …

The legendary UFO have been confirmed as headliners for the Saturday night of this year’s Steelhouse festival, which takes place at Hafod-Y-Dafal Farm outside Ebbw Vale in south Wales on July 25 and 26. The veteran classic rockers join previously announced Sunday night headliner Dee Snider, as well as Tyketto, …

Good bands, like a really fine Cabernet Sauvignon, truly do get better with age, improving on the palate as they in turn develop and mature:  but, like wine, they also need the right environment in which to do so – and, with a new three-album deal with Napalm Records tucked …

The freight train that is Bloodstock’s annual ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ battle of the bands rolled into Northern Ireland for the first time this past weekend, with four bands with distinctly differing styles engaged in mortal combat for a place in the semi-finals later in the Spring. With the running …

School night gigs in Belfast – possibly in common with most other locales – are notoriously difficult to fill, unless of course they involve a “big name” touring band.  But, increasingly, Thursday nights seem to be becoming the “new Friday” and so a healthy crowd of 70 or so grinders …

While an awful lot of people – many of whom really should have known better, or perhaps possess more money than sense – were heading towards the city centre restaurants armed with inanely worded cards and over-priced flowers in order to “enjoy” equally over-priced meals in a vain attempt to …

Having released their first demo away back in 2002, this debut album by Peruvian devils Goat Semen has been more than a decade in the making.  In the intervening years, the band have released a few split EPs, deliberately designed to tantalize their fans – among whom they have reached …

Teutonic metal goddess Doro (pictured right) has been added to the bill for this year’s Steelhouse Festival, which takes place at Hafod-y-Dafal Farm, just outside Ebbw Vale, on July 25 and 26. Other additions include Massive Wagons and Merthyr Tydfil teenage trio Florence Black.  Doro will play on the Sunday (July …

Norwegian Black Metal legends Satyricon have signed a worldwide deal with Austrian metal label Napalm Records for release of their upcoming DVD, ‘Live At The Opera’. Frontman and band mastermind Satyr explained the story behind the project: “The whole thing started with us doing one song, ‘To The Mountains’ a year and a half …

Icelandic classic rock trio The Vintage Caravan will release their second album, ‘Arrival’, on May 18, via Nuclear Blast. Commented the band: “We are so excited for the release of the upcoming album. It’s definitely a step forward for us musically and we are incredibly happy with how natural the recording process was …

Over the past 12 months or so, vocalist Simon Wright has proven himself to be a man who not only likes to keep busy, but also is capable of delivering music in diverse styles – and each time to great effect.  Around this time last year, he led Leeds technical …

Hailing from São Paulo, Jupiterian play the sort of funereal doom-laden sludge metal that is darker and denser than the rainforests which surround their home city. This EP was originally released in Brazil last July (and subsequently has been succeeded by a second EP, ‘Proclamation’, in the latter part of …

Just before Christmas, former Judas Priest guitarist K K Downing revealed that, despite a prolonged period of silence, he had not totally left the metal scene behind, by revealing that he was releasing not a new album but a range of fragrances named after the genre in which he in turn …

Welsh glam legends Tigertailz have replaced CrashDiet on the bill at next month’s HRH AOR, after the Swedish sleaze rockers were forced to pull out.  PlanetMosh’s favourite new kids on the block, StOp sToP have also been added to the event’s Sleaze stage. While it had been widely reported for …

I suppose, in the interests of journalistic impartiality, we better start this review with a declaration of interest, and that is that Terminus bassist David McCallum is a PlanetMosh contributor.  The band play with a dark, thumping groove that has a ball-shaking intensity and equally dense and brooding vocals, delivered …

As the last remnants of what laughingly passed for “Snowmageddon” melted, turning Belfast’s streets to slush and ice, the city’s metallians and assorted other freaks braved the nevertheless freezing temperatures to head to the venue that is fast becoming the local mecca for same, the now iconic upstairs club room …

Legendary Swedish Viking death metal outfit Unleashed have just finished recording the as yet untitled follow up to their critically acclaimed 2012 ‘Odalheim’ album. Scheduled to be released via Nuclear Blast in the spring, the album was recorded by producer and guitar player Fredrik Folkare in his own Chrome Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. Unleashed frontman Johnny Hedlund stated: “Warriors!!!  Unleashed are …

Sometimes an album, or even a band, is of its time.  This re-issued debut from New Jersey (at the time) upstarts Exxplorer definitely falls into that categorization – but, in a good way. Quite rightly, when first released three decades ago, ‘Symphonies Of Steel’ was regarded as a groundbreaking album, …