While circuses may fascinate many – either in terms of the tongue-in-cheek grotesquery of the ‘carny’ or the slapstick farce of clowns chucking water over each other – personally I’ve never quite seen the attraction.  They’re often facile and meaningless – and those which inflict needless cruelty on animals just …

For those of a superstitious mien, Friday the 13th is not exactly a lucky talisman – and so it proves, at least partially, for the organizers of this charity fundraiser gig (in aid of the hugely-underfunded Belfast Rape Crisis Centre) as, despite huge advance marketing and PR campaigns, other mitigating …

One of a reviewer’s favourite dreams – and, in equal measure, worst nightmares – is to occasionally stumble across a band who are difficult, if not downright impossible, to categorize. Such an outfit are Parisien quartet Dot Legacy, and this eclectic self-titled debut, which veers between post-rock synchopation, stoner, ambient …

This debut album from upstart Italians Black Gremlin certainly lives up to its name, in that it’s raw – not surprising, since the quartet recorded its seven songs live in one day, and using a traditional 8-track reel-to-reel tape deck. The result is a heady little collection of songs that …

One of the hardest working bands on the Northern Ireland scene, this debut full-length album from Baleful Creed is actually an amalgamation of the quartet’s three previous EPs bound together in one package. BC’s stoner-edged doom sound is very much rooted in the foundation of Black Sabbath – something for …

When Northern Ireland metallians Conjuring Fate last year decided to call it a day, it was quite a shock for the scene in this part of the world as, after eight years together, the band’s ascendancy had appeared to on the upward slope.  However, the ‘break’ turned out to be …

It’s an unwritten rule that reviewers are not supposed to talk personally or write in the same mien, but I am sure our dear PM readers will indulge this writer in a touch of reminisence… I remember well the first time I heard Tesla:  I was just over a hear …

Dublin’s Coldwar are a band who are not easy to like.  But, that’s the point:  they don’t want to be the sort of band that people ‘like’:  they want to be reviled, repulsed, exorcised.  They are confrontational and uncompromising.  They are in your face.  And they ram their (anti-)message down …

Armagh-based ten-legged groove machine Astralnaut have been kicking up dust – sometimes quite literally – on the Irish scene, both north and south of the border, for around about two and a half years now, particularly with their fiery and intense live shows, which have been consistently levelling venues with …

Earlier this month, Dublin metallians AeSect made fans north of the Irish border sit up and take notice with their hugely impressive Belfast debut (reviewed at http://planetmosh.com/katabolisis-by-conquest-or-consent-aesect-belfast-limelight-2-24052014/). Afterwards, PlanetMosh took the opportunity to grab a chat with frontman Shane Kiernan to get the gen on the band’s story to date …

The music business is a bit like politics, in that it is incestuous and often works on the basis of “it’s who you know not…” etc.  Take the example of Weathermaker Music, for example:  until now, every release issued by the label has had a direct link to Clutch (the …

The tea break. Ah, that most venerable of traditions, when one seeks refuge from the travails of the working day by relaxing with a nice cup of Darjeeling or Earl Grey and a chocolate biscuit (or, maybe, if you’re lucky a bacon butty) before launching back into the fray once …

Very few things in this life are certain, especially in the heady old world of rock ‘n’f’n’ roll, but there is one thing that most definitely that goes without saying – you know exactly what to expect from Triggerman, be it live or in terms of studio releases. In a …

Over the past three decades or so, Darren Wharton has been a regular visitor to these shores, both as a member of Thin Lizzy – into whose ranks he was recruited, at the tender age of 17, by the late, great Phil Lynott, and with whom he remained until the …

Perhaps best known to a certain generation as the keyboard player with Irish brawl ‘n’ roll legends Thin Lizzy, Darren Wharton simultaneously has pursued a successful career with his own band Dare. With his commitments to what many may argue as being the “tribute” version of Lizzy, Wharton has had …

PlanetMosh today proudly launches the new video by Northern Ireland metallians Conjuring Fate. The video was shot at the Titanic Drawing Rooms, where the plans for the infamous and ill-fated liner were put together:  the location is just yards from the main set of Game Of Thrones.  Director George Clarke …

Dubliners Killface have been kicking up dust on the Irish scene for quite a few years now, and even more so since the release of their acclaimed debut album, ‘Feeding The Dead’, at the end of last year. Having ventured south of the border recently to find out what all …

Northern Irish death metallers Overoth have been somewhat quiet of late.  They’ve been secreted away writing material for their forthcoming third album, which the band themselves admit is their most ambitious yet… PlanetMosh sat down with guitarist Daniel before their recent ‘comeback’ show to discuss the project and find out …

For nigh on approaching 30 years, Mekong Delta progenitor and leader Ralph Hubert has not been afraid to explore the interconnections between classical music and extreme metal in a way in which has not been attempted since the first wave of overblown prog rock bands away back in the early …

Northern Irish eight-legged groove monsters Triggerman are to release a new three-track EP at the beginning of June. The rather enigmatically named ‘Origins, Lost Travellers & Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven’ was once again recorded at Einstein Studios, and will be released on June 2. The release – the follow up …