This third album from Canada’s DTR is as good a slice of death metal mayhem as you are going to hear this year. Packed solid with soaring riffs, which succeed in holding the right mix of melody within their overall context of bombastic beatdowns and crushing themes, the band also …

Any band boasting a pedigree that includes iconic acts such as The Rolling Stones, Guns N Roses, Thin Lizzy, The Cult and even INXS in its history inevitably has a helluva set of footsteps in which to follow, never mind a pretty impressive heritage to recall… Based around vocalist Jon …

The cavernous Odyssey Arena – built more for ice hockey and other sporting activities than gigs – is curtained off about two-thirds of the way down its length, indicating that tonight’s gig might be suffering the effects of booking two arena shows within 100 miles of each in two cities …

For many bands, it must be a burning ambition – often unfulfilled for all too many – to headline the most iconic venue in their hometown… in the case of Belfast, the venue in question is the Ulster Hall, a Victorian building which is the city’s equivalent, as more than …

Hailing from Toronto, Breached – right from the opening bars of the title track of this five-song EP – are a band who it is extremely difficult to pigeonhole… and most definitely not in a bad way. Leaning quite heavily on the post-grunge sound of the likes of Alice In …

Now and again an album comes along that crushes your preconceptions under the heel of your size 11 New Rock boot… Just as I was sincerely starting to believe that almost every new young band coming out of mainland Great Britain was content to churn out second-rate, copycat emo-core nonsense, …

Whether we believe in it or not, like it or otherwise, the so-called “festive season” – when everyone is supposed to be nice to each people we loathe and despise for the rest of the year, indulge in rampant consumerism, eat horribly overcooked poultry for days on end, and whatever …

There are times as a music journalist when you want to cast aside the notebook and its pages of extraneous adjectives and hyperbolae and strip a review down to your most basic primal reaction to the event you have just witnessed… in the case of this evening’s debut Belfast performance …

Breaking a silence which has lasted nigh on 15 years, Austrian progsters Mayfair should really have stayed in a state of hibernation, as this is a truly awful album with very little to recommend it to more than the casual listener. Yes, the four musicians are most definitely accomplished (vocalist …

Every now and again, an album emerges from the vaults of rock ‘n’ roll history that represents a snapshot in time:  a moment when those who produced it were right at the top of their game, while at the same time on the cusp of transformation and transition… This is …

On the coldest day of the year so far, a black wind blew in from the north as Norwegian black metal legends Satyricon arrived on British shores as part of their European tour to promoted their self-titled eighth album. PM hooked up with front man Satyr before the band’s debut …

Having grabbed the Northern Ireland scene by the scruff of the neck and given it a jolly good shaking over the past 12 months, Screaming Eagles now seem set to do the same to the rest of the British Isles – and beyond! Last month, they travelled to Glasgow for …

Hailing from Scunthorpe (“The Industrial Garden Town Of The North” as he describes it), AOT70FB is the work of one Wayne Goodchild, who perhaps can perhaps best be described as a “bedroom producer”.  Having previously enjoyed moderate success under the monicker of Cardboard Dead Boy, he has sought to refine …

With their latest album, ‘American Illusion’, kicking up dust and the band preparing to bang heads and take names across the UK and Ireland at the end of November, opening for Buckcherry and Hardcore Superstar, PM catches up with Ven Venrez, front man of the band who take his name, …

Ringbearer, the fantasy themed dark ambient project from Vultyrous of Funeral Fornication will be releasing ‘The Way is Shut’ via Tridroid Records in December. In anticipation of this album, the label provided PM the following short interview with Vultyrous: Most people who are familiar with you and your music know …

The love of music, in the purest sense of both the emotion and the form, is about opening your heart and soul to both, and especially opening yourself to new experiences of the art in order to fully appreciate why it lends itself to your undying devotion.  This evening was …

In these difficult economic times, it makes financial sense – for both the fans and the acts concerned – for bands to team up and offer the best possible deal for their combined fan bases:  it’s a win/win, as they say in marketing circles, with both the bands and their …

In the last of our interviews to preview this weekend’s PlanetMosh-backed Helloween Havoc in Belfast, we talk to bassist Aidy Dunlop and drummer Rab McNeill from headliners – and all round headbins (if you ask us) – NASA Assassin. I start by asking about the band’s background – who they …

Geordie lads We Are Knuckle Dragger just released their second full-length album, ‘The Drone’, produced by Ross Robinson (best known for his work with the likes of KoRn, Slipknot and The Deftones among others).  Having played launch shows in their home city and London this past weekend, the trio are …

Having appeared from apparently out of nowhere less than six months ago, Altus have taken the Northern Ireland scene by the scruff of the neck and given it a jolly good old-fashioned seeing to!  They’ve certainly made some waves in that short period time – with threats of legal action …