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From Wednesday 01 March 2017

Parting Gift challenge you to ‘Be Still’ with dynamic debut single

Parting Gift are from Manchester. They have five members. And that’s as far as my knowledge stretches. Judging by the ‘launch date’ on their Facebook page of February 26th, there’s probably not much more to know either. But who needs details? With a debut single this impressive, I don’t

Vasudeva’s vibrant instrumentals will get you off your seat

Sometimes I like my instrumental music to be ambient and reflective and at other times I prefer it uplifting and upbeat. Some albums may carry a few tracks of each, but I’ve rarely heard both sides of the spectrum covered in the same song. Vasudeva’s latest track ‘Turnstile’ is

Friday 24 February 2017

Lost Ground – ‘Absent’

Bradford-based trio Lost Ground are certainly not short of ambition or creativity. Their latest EP ‘Absent’ throws the song writing rulebook out the window, opting for a free roaming journey through sequential ideas, rather than packaging them up into the conventional categories of verses and choruses. Rarely does anything

Acres – ‘In Sickness & Health’

With two EPs already behind them, post-hardcore quintet Acres have been refining their sound for the best part of five years. Latest development, ‘In Sickness & Health’, signals a new generation of Acres and, with the help of two new members, this latest EP builds on everything

Wednesday 22 February 2017

Grumble Bee is definitely worthy of the buzz

Jack Bennett, the mastermind behind Grumble Bee, had a fantastic year in 2016: he released his first EP, played several of the UK’s best festivals and headlined a few of his own shows. Happily, he’s showing no sign of slowing down and ‘Red’ gives us even more reason to

Holding Absence are set to leave a ‘Permanent’ mark

Every once in awhile a band comes along with a certain aura that attracts special attention. It’s exciting to watch these bands develop, in the same way conducting science experiments was back in school – you knew that certain chemicals would cause an explosion eventually

Thursday 16 February 2017

Ghost Iris – ‘Blind World’

Danish quartet Ghost Iris return with ‘Blind World’, a ten-track masterclass in tech-metal that combines the polar opposites of crunching heaviness with soaring melody to form irresistible vocal hooks wrapped around brutally massive riffs. Wasting absolutely no time getting stuck in, first track ‘Gods of Neglect’ is blisteringly heavy. The

Eternity Forever bring R&B to the math-rock party

Former Dance Gavin Dance and A Lot Like Birds vocalist Kurt Travis has teamed up with Chon bassist Brandon Ewing and Strawberry Girls drummer Ben Rosett to create Eternity Forever: an ambitious attempt at merging math-rock instrumentation with R&B vocals. As crazy as it sounds, it works

Wednesday 15 February 2017

Ghost Iris dress to impress with ‘Save Yourself’

Given my recent theme of celebrating European tech-metal, it would be disastrous to overlook Ghost Iris. The Danish quartet take the polar opposites of heaviness and melodic to extremes, managing to offer you catchy, irresistible vocal hooks, but wrapped in brutally massive riffs that put you at risk

Monday 13 February 2017

LIVE: Black Peaks @ Rock City (Basement), Nottingham

It’s been almost a year since Black Peaks released ‘Statues’ and judging by the number of people crammed shoulder to shoulder inside the Basement of Nottingham’s Rock City, their phenomenal debut album did not go unnoticed. Those who own a copy have obviously heard Black Peaks, but