Mark Ashby

no longer planetmosh staff

Sahg – Interview with Thomas Lønnheim

Guitarist Thomas Tofthagen has been pulling double duty of late, trekking across the UK and Ireland with both Sahg and Audrey Horne. When the six-date tour pulled into Belfast, Planetmosh took the opportunity to grab a pre-show chat with Sahg drummer Thomas Lønnheim to talk about challenges of life on …

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Lordi – Limelight 1, Belfast – Saturday May 4, 2013

It may be seven years since Lordi firmly put their particular brand of comic book metal well and truly on the international map with their sensational, tongue-in-cheek win at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, but the fascination with the band nevertheless endures, with the memory of that night in Athens …

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Enter Shikari – Mandela Hall, Belfast – April 30th 2013

A few weeks back, one of PM’s young buck recruits took it upon his fanboy self to pop along to the end of a pier somewhere on the English coast and review his favourite band, metalcore/dubstep crossover wunderkinds Enter Shikari (http://planetmosh.com/enter-shikari-grand-pier-weston-super-mare-10th-april-2013/).  Nowt wrong with that, you might say – and …

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Death Tyrant – Opus De Tyranis

Death Tyrant emerged from the ashes of Swedish underground supremos Lord Belial when the latter broke up in 2010 – although, in one of those typically murky storylines which epitomizes the Scandinavian scene, they’ve apparently been re-activated on at least two occasions – and this debut album has been the …

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Stahlmann – Adamant

At first listen, German electro-industrialists Stahlmann evoke immediate comparisons with fellow countrymen Rammstein – huge chugging, crunching riffs, backed by punchy rhythms… and vocals delivered in their native language!  Add in a penchant for covering themselves in silver paint on stage, and its a parellel which they make stupidly simplistic …

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Kaledon – Altor: The King’s Blacksmith

Unsurprisingly, this seventh album from Rome’s Kaledon is forged in the fires of pure epic metal:  after all, this is a band who, over the course of the past decade, have released a six-part concept work set in medieval England – or the Kingdom of Kaledon as they refer to …

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Kadavar – Abra Kadavar

Kadavar are another in an increasingly long line of bands – such as Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats and Purson – who recently have been following in the footsteps of illustrious predecessors of the ilk of Electric Wizard and Spiritual Beggars in re-ploughing the retro furrow of late-60s psychedelica blues meets …

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Chosen – Resolution

Irish duo Chosen – guitarist/vocalist Paul Shields and drummer/percussionist David McCann – have been working together for around eight years now, releasing a few well-received EPs in that period and temporarily relocating to Vancouver before returning to their native sod to record and produce this debut full-lengther. The result is …

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Carved – Dies Irae

Every genre, musical sub-division, has its artists who epitomize its highest standards, and others (the vast majority, if truth be told) who are content to be pulled along on the coat-tails of said leading lights, often becoming mere pale imitations of the innovators who have gone before them.  Metalcore is …

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Trucker Diablo – Songs Of Iron

To say that this, the follow-up to their (initially self-released) debut, ‘The Devil Rhythm’, has been one of the most eagerly anticipated releases in this particular part of the world – that’s Norn Iron, for those of you who don’t know – is one of the hugest understatements in the …

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Rough Cut – Rollin’ Thunder EP

Back in the early to mid-1980s, a band called Rough Cutt had everything that it could possibly to take to become the then “next big thing” – big hair, big tunes, a big record deal (with Warner Brothers) and big management (in the shape of one Wendy Dio).  However, despite …

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D-A-D – Dic.nii.lan.daft.erd.ark (Deluxe Edition)

D-A-D first came to prominence outside their native Denmark when it was reported that the mighty Walt Disney corporation had threatened to sue their young asses unless they changed the band’s original name – Disneyland After Dark:  it was not that the quartet had deliberately set out to court controversy …

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De La Cruz – Street Level

It may be 2013, and they may hail from the Gold Coast of Australia, but De La Cruz look and sound just like they’ve stepped out of a strip bar somewhere off LA’s Sunset Boulevard sometime back in the mid- to late-80s. ‘Street Level’ is very much from the Ratt …

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Suicide Bombers – Criminal Record

Being a rock DJ can be an extremely hazardous job – nearly as dangerous as trying to survive as a music journalist.  Please believe when I say this:  on and off, I’ve been spinning heavy rock and metal discs and writing shit about said same nonsense for more than two …

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Acolourfall – Eleven: Eleven

Hailing from the Nottingham/Derby area, young four piece acolourfall describe themselves as “an alternative/grunge-metal band” and assert their musical mission is to “bridge the gap between bands like Sevendust, Neurosis, Downset, Fear Factory, Deftones and a perfect circle”. This debut EP certainly displays most of those influences, and quite a few …

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Axecatcher – Sparks & Spears

Axecatcher are a trio from the town of Limavady, an otherwise innocuous and inoffensive town perched in the north west corner of jolly ol’ Norn Iron which most people tend to find only if they take the wrong turning on the road to the current so-called “UK City Of Culture”, …

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Avantasia – ‘The Mystery Of Time’

Originally founded in 1999 as a means for the then 21-year old Tobias Sammet to produce what he regarded the ultimate rock opera project – something which he apparently eventually drew a line under when he announced the end of Avantasia from the Wacken stage back in August 2011.  But, …

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Grief Of Emerald – ‘It All Turns To Ashes’

Despite having been around, in one shape or form, for almost a quarter of a century, and being one of the most respected but under-rated acts on the Swedish black metal scene, it’s hard to believe that this is only Grief Of Emerald’s fifth full length album… With their more …

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