Event Reviews

Testament have been the only one of the big five that I’ve never managed to see, so I was understandably very excited beforehand at the prospect of finally catching these guys live, not to mention get a chance to speak with Alex Skolnick prior to the gig too. It was …

Co-headline shows are awkward beasts.  And, personally, I’m not a huge fan of them… I mean, you either have a headline act or you don’t – right?  Running a bill with two headliners has inherent problems – who goes on first, what happens if the opening act are better than …

Trillium, the band fronted by Amanda Somerville, are the special guests on the UK part of Magnums current tour. They had a good half hour set to show the crowd what they were all about. Playing Symphonic metal at a Magnum gig might have sounded like a strange idea to …

Tucked away beneath the rain swept streets of Manchester, we find ourselves at club Alter-Ego, and the stage for the launch of Incassum’s second album, ‘Rite of Passage’. In support tonight are Lazarus Syndrome and Hanging Doll, both of whom, curfew or otherwise, assist in making this intimate subterranean microcosm …

Hot off supporting Halestorm on their sold out UK and Europe tour, Heaven’s Basement have barely taken a breath before joining Seether on their tour. Tonight is the first of the UK dates and Heaven’s Basement leap onto the stage fresh footed and raring to go and with ‘Unbreakable’ we …

Saturday 17th of November was the second date of the Dublin Thrashathon hosted by DME (Dublin Metal Events) and held in the Button Factory. Thrash Kings Sodom took over Dublin for one evening and showed us all how thrash should be done! Gospel of the Horns were a great support …

Since reforming nine years ago, Europe have released four albums , all receiving critical acclaim, and selling by the truck load, ‘Last Look at Eden’ was my surprise hit of 2009, as it marked a turning point in the bands musical direction, heading more into hard edged blues territory. Paul …

Having only discovered The Temperance Movement a couple of weeks earlier, it was with eager excitement, that I headed down to London’s legendary 100 Club. Opening with the first track on their EP, I was in no doubt from the initial words and notes that I was hearing and watching …

Manchester Metal is alive and kicking, just ask anyone who was at NQ Live last night to witness the launch of Dark Horizons, the debut album from the latest addition to Rocksector Records. Expectations were high as three top class bands were booked to support Babylon Fire and despite an …

The first band of the night was Blackguard, a melodic death metal band who take to the stage in front of a very small audience due to their early stage time coming on shortly after the doors opened.  They’re an odd choice of band for this bill and despite their …

Anthrax have been more regular visitors to this little part of the world than the vast majority of their counterparts, with this – their only UK headlining show, during a ‘night off’ from their support run with Motorhead – being their fifth time playing Northern Ireland. And, the sense of …

Rumours of Sabaton’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. The Swedish power metallers went from supporting Iron Maiden in Gothenburg and recording a fine album in ‘Carolus Rex’ to ending up with just two original band members out of six following a parting of the ways. But now, with guitarists Chris …

Taking a short break from their European tour with Dragonforce, Huntress headed over to the UK for a few gigs – three headline shows in small venues around the UK plus tonight’s appearance at the Metal Hammer Halloween party, held in London’s Islington academy.  With three other bands on the …

A cold crisp evening in Glasgow was kicked of with main support from Rise Above stalwarts Gentlemans Pistols now featuring Bill Steer of Carcass/Firebird/Napalm Death fame. Commencing their set with an up-tempo rocker which bled Deep Purple, Captain Beyond and Quo, the pistols laid down the tone for the rest …

I have seen Terrorvision on a couple of occasions before, both at festivals, so this is the first time I get to witness the Terrorvision party atmosphere at one of their own shows and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. You know that you are about to watch a band that do …

Shinedown are seemingly unstoppable this year. After a short UK tour in February followed by an appearance at Download Festival which was then followed with a full stretch of America as headliners for the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival, they are back for another assault on the UK. Bringing along …

Nightwish - O2 Academy, Birmingham - 6th November 2012

A slightly later departure from the bus pick up point on the Sunday…9.30am! Which considering we hadn’t gone to bed until gone 2am was a bit of a struggle, although as it’s the one and only bus to the festival, we sure as hell weren’t going to miss it. After …

The final band night of the year for North Wales Metal saw us once again gathering at the Railway Institute in Bangor. A venue that from the outside may look a bit ‘tired’ but is actually a cracking little place, nice tight stage, really good acoustics, oh and a cheap …

The song ‘Cat’s In The Cradle’ carries a particular resonance for Northern Ireland rock fans.  While, almost exactly 20 years ago, our counterparts in the rest of the world were propelling Ugly Kid Joe’s cover of the Harry Chapin ballad back into the upper reaches of the charts, the government …