Opinion

If you ask someone to describe a typical Blues artist, the chances are they’ll describe them as an old man, and there are plenty of Blues stars around who fit that description, but the Blues isn’t a dying genre and has a wide age-range of talented musicians, and when you …

To celebrate the release of their new album Dragonforce have decided to do a special album release show (6 weeks before the release date), and rather than playing the size of venue they usually play, the show is at the Black Heart in Camden, a small venue that only holds …

Punk n rollers BLACK BULLETS just can’t stop touring and releasing new records (look out for ‘Mockingbird’, which lands on 28th April). The UK hellraisers did manage to find the time to have a chat about their background:   What is the full band line-up, who plays what?   Billy …

Eclectic alt-rockers, The Lotus, release their new single ‘Mars X’ on Friday 5th May. Before then, we had a chat with the guys:     What is the full band line-up, who plays what?   Rox Capriotti (vocals, bass, keyboards), Luca De Falco (guitars, vocals), Kristal Cross (keyboards, programming, backing …

For tonight’s gig I’d travelled all the way to Hamburg. Why? Well sadly some bands never seem to tour the uk and Crystal Viper are one of them, a band I’d never had the chance to see live, so a tour with them and Bloodbound seemed with the trip. The …

Last year the Neal Morse band released the album “The similitude of a dream” which was based loosely on the Canterbury tales.  Now on their current tour, they’re playing the album in full.  As it’s a double album, there is no support act and the band are playing two sets …

Summer appears to have come early in the UK, which probably explains why Download Festival ends up being a complete washout as the country uses up its sun quota for the year before Easter. In any event, it’s a glorious day in the capital, one perfect for finding a beer …

Being an Edinburgh resident and finding out last year there was to be a heavy metal festival weekend in my home city I couldn’t help but think it was some kind of a wind up.  It was to start on 1st April and this is Edinburgh after all; the city of the world-renowned arts festival …

Inside the Voodoo Lounge there is a very strong sense of high expectation tonight as evidenced by the early arrival of a large number of heavy metal enthusiasts. This is promising to be a rather special evening, spent in the presence of Ross “The Boss” Friedman, former guitarist of power …

I spoke to Liv Jagrell, aka Liv Sin, former lead singer of Sister Sin about her forthcoming solo album. It’s been around a year and a half since Sister Sin came to an end. When the band split did you take time off to reflect or did you know you …

A couple of years ago Thunder did a few acoustic gigs around the UK in support of the Wonder Days album, no more than a half hour set followed by a meet and greet. I was lucky enough to be at the Glasgow event and was blown away by the …

On arriving at the Olympia Theatre to see Blackberry Smoke on Saturday night we were offered the chance to sit in one of the boxes, something I’ve never done before, so I jumped at the chance.  Sitting there feeling like either Statler or Waldorf, but definitely some kind of grumpy …

With the clocks going forward an hour for British Summertime, it seemed strange to be heading into Manchester on a bright and sunny, Sunday afternoon rather than a dark miserable one, to see Ed Banger and the Nosebleeds at The Star and Garter. Which, luckily, is still trading in it’s …

I recently sat down with Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen to talk about the new album due out soon, the live shows planned for September, and more. As all your albums have a strong story element, when you start to work on a new album, what comes first – is it …

Saturday evening at Fibber Magee’s in Dublin saw the culmination of the heats for Metal 2 The Masses Ireland 2017. The seventh event in nine weeks brought together the final four acts looking for a place in the Semi Finals. On paper I assumed it was going to be a close affair …

With influences varying from NiN, New Order, Alter Bridge and the Foo Fighters, Waiting for Titor produce an eclectic sound. The band release their debut EP Halo, pt 1 on 2nd June. We had a talk with the guys and found out more about their history…..   What is the …

This was one of the first gigs at the newly refurbished Borderline, and it’s been dramatically updated although there are still a few bits to sort out (like signs to the toilets), but the toilets are now much bigger than the broom cupboard that sufficed before, the bar has moved …

Tonight is the album launch for The Charm The Fury’s new album, The sick, dumb and happy.  The venue is the Sugar Factory just opposite Melkweg in the band’s home city of Amsterdam, and a queue of fans had formed well before doors opened.  By the time the show got …

Two weeks ago, four bands in the semi finals of Bristol’s Metal 2 the Masses became six as Kikamora and Embodiment made it through their heat into the next round. I had a chat with both qualifiers recently to find out a bit more about them… Kikamora For people hearing …

On a night that I am to write about the Armored Saint’s first ever performance in Dublin it certainly doesn’t help my impartiality to quite literally bump into all of the band a small distance outside the venue. For them to then ask advice on where to grab something to …