Mark Ashby

no longer planetmosh staff

King 810 – ‘Memoirs Of A Murderer’

King810 artwork

Unusually, I am going to start this review with someone else’s words.  The following paragraphs are extracted directly from the biographical collateral which accompanied the promotional copy of King 810‘s debut album.  Nothing has been edited. “You’ve never been somewhere like this before. You won’t forget it though. It’s only …

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Belphegor – ‘Conjuring The Dead’

Belphegor - Conjuring The Dead artwork

Belphegor are a band who – in common with many of their black metal counterparts – have often gone out of their way to court controversy in order to build their profile, even going so far as to have their early albums banned in their native Austria (as well as …

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Killer Hurts – ‘Killer Hurts’

Killer Hurts album cover

The story of this debut album by Norwich old school thrashers Killer Hurts is a long and convoluted one… but one which also deserves to be told, as it is pretty much indicative of how the grassroots metal scene works and how those involved within its deepest machinations manage to …

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Annihilation to release new EP in November

Annihilation

Portuguese death metallers ANNIHILATION (pictured right) are to release their new EP, ‘The Undivided’, will be released on November 4. A single, ‘The Great Cycle’, is already available: The band’s founder Fabio Da Silva released the following statement about the EP:  http://annihilationband.bandcamp.com/track/the-great-cycle “We are proud to announce the release of our new …

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Witch Charmer stream debut album

Witch Charmer

‘The Great Depression’, the debut album by Sunderland-based stoner/doom act WITCH CHARMER (pictured right), is available for streaming ahead of its release this coming Monday via Argonauta Records. You can listen to it at https://soundcloud.com/argonautarecords/sets/witch-charmer-the-great-depression. The album is available for pre-order from http://witchcharmer.bandcamp.com/ For further information visit www.argonautarecords.com or www.facebook.com/witchcharmerband

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Annisokay – ‘The Lucid Dream[er]’

Annisokay - Lucid Dreamer artwork

You cannot really fault the ambition of young German ‘post-hardcore’ proponents Annisokay.  Having already attracted considerable attention in both their homeland and elsewhere with their unique reworking of Miley Cyrus’ otherwise dire and unmentionable ‘Wrecking Ball’ (which to date has earned this Halle-based quintet almost half a million hits on …

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Mordred – Belfast, Limelight 2 23/08/2014

Mordred - Scott Holderby live in Belfast

When any band is regarded as truly innovative at a certain moment in musical time, the main question which must surely come back to haunt them, nigh on a generation later, is whether or not they are still as relevant and their innovation as impactful as it was ‘back in …

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Black Trip – Goin’ Under

Black Trip - Goin Under artwork

It could be argued that there is nothing new in music:  everything is a re-creation, a re-invention of what has gone before. It’s all about variations upon a theme… Now, I’m no musicologist – I’m just a fan who writes about music – but my take on it is this:  …

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Safe Ships – Belfast, Voodoo – 21/08/2014

Safe Ships gig poster

It was William Shakespeare (and how many times would you expect to see The Bard quoted on PlanetMosh?) who penned that immortal line about parting being such sweet sorrow… tonight, marked a parting of the ways for Belfast-based Safe Ships, as half of the band members prepare to return to …

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Liv Kristine to release new solo album

Liv Kristine Vervain artwork

Leaves’ Eyes and Theatre of Tragedy vocalist Liv Kristine is to release her fifth solo album, ‘Vervain’, via Napalm Records on October 27 in the UK As previously announced, Kristine is also teaming up with Kari Ruslåtten and Anneke van Giersbergen for a tour branded ‘The Sirens’ takes place in …

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Bloodstock – Sunday August 10

Bloodstock 2014 logo

The sun dawned over the final day of Catton Park… well, it would have if it could have been seen through the heavy clouds and incessant rain which had unleashed itself over southern Derbyshire in the early hours of the morning and showed no sign of abating a sodden campers …

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Bloodstock Open Air – Saturday (August 9)

Bloodstock 2014 logo

With action on the New Blood Stage already well and truly underway (see our separate review), Babylon Fire kicked off proceedings on the Sophie Lancaster Stage with their classic-inspired metal, delivered with grunt, grit and fist-pumping angst – but, it was over on the main Ronnie James Dio Stage that …

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Bloodstock Open Air – Friday (August 8)

Bloodstock 2014 logo

With up to 17,000 diehard metallians once again descending on the heart of south Debyshire, opening the main stage of biggest heavy metal fest in the British Isles can be a somewhat onerous and daunting task – and especially when you are ‘blooding’ (sic) a new line-up… However, it is …

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Revocation to release new album, ‘Deathless’ in October

Revocation - Deathless Artwork

Revocation release their fifth album, and their first for Metal Blade, ‘Deathless’, on October 14. The title track is currently streaming at http://www.metalblade.com/revocation/ Guitarist/vocalist Dave Davidson said of the album, which was recorded with acclaimed producer Zeuss at Planet Z studios in Massachusetts:  “Collectively, we feel that ‘Deathless’ is our …

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Amon Amarth – Belfast, Limelight 1 12/08/2014

Amon Amarth by Marc Leach Photography

A little over a millennium ago, the first Viking longboats pulled up on Erin’s shores… once the initial raiding parties had departed, a few of us settled down while others returned several centuries later – this time in peace, merely seeking to make new lives.  A further few hundred years …

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Bloodshot Dawn to release second album in October

Bloodshot Dawn - Demons artwork

Before closing their main stage show at Bloodstock Festival this past weekend, unsigned UK melodic extreme metallers Bloodshot Dawn frontman Josh McMorran confirmed that their new album, entitled ‘Demons’, would be released in the UK on October 26. ‘Demons’ is the second Bloodshot Dawn album and was funded by fans in …

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