Tag Archives: Review

Anathema – Belfast, Limelight 2 18/08/2014

Anathema in Belfast

Following on from their success in the recent Progressive Music Awards – at which they lifted the ‘Anthem’ gong for the eponymously-titled from their most recent ‘Distant Satellites’ opus magnificus (of which more anon) – Liverpool experimental progsters Anathema were obviously in great mood when they took that short trip across the …

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1349 – Massive Cauldron Of Chaos

The sixth offering from the Norwegian black metal 1349 is not overall a bad album. In fact, I enjoy the concept and image of 1349. From their name (which comes from the year the Black Death reached Norway) to their stage show. They’re a black metal band that can stand with the best …

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Black Moth – Condemned to Hope

Rising from the Leeds underground scene Black Moth have already made quite an impression in the doom/sludge metal genre they currently occupy. Condemned To Hope is their second album following the well received 2012 debut album The Killing Jar. Not being someone who would normally pick up an album from …

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Overdrive – The Final Nightmare

Overdrive, from Grantham in Lincolnshire, are a band I seemed to have overlooked when listening to some of the old eighties rock and metal bands from my heyday. They first came onto the NWOBHM scene way back in 1981 releasing a 3 track EP “On The Run”, and another 4 …

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Incite – Up In Hell

I wasn’t familiar with Incite until I was handed this review; and that was my fault. I wish I knew of these guys before. The Arizona based groove metal band Incite will smash your face in with their third offering, “Up In Hell”. This is pure groove metal: a nice …

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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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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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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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Amberian Dawn – Magic Forest

The melodic symphonic power metal genre is a tough one to nail creatively; there all so many bands out there that all are doing the same thing. Or at least, sound like they are. Then there is the other challenge of remaining open to the public and bringing in non-melodic …

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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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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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Fozzy – Do You Wanna Start A War

I have put this off for as long as I possibly could. I am a huge Chris Jericho fan; he is one of my favourite wrestlers and I think that Fozzy have done an impressive amount of work as a band. There is nobody that I would like to talk …

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Sonisphere 2014 – Friday 4th July – Review

  Sonisphere 2014 marked the 40th year of festivals held at Knebworth and what better way to celebrate than to bring 60,000 music fans together for a hot, sunny and lightly showered weekend of metal dominance! A late starting Friday meant that fans were able to arrive in good time …

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Rival Sons – Great Western Valkyrie

It has been around a year and three quarters since Classic Rock Magazine’s 2012 Breakthrough Artist Rival Sons last impressed us with the release of their “Head Down” album. This is an album I have praised with very high regard, and I have followed the band ever since I saw …

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