Opinion

South Wales bruisers I FIGHT BEARS hit you with towering vocals, crushing riffs and hammering beats. The highly-regarded quintet drop their self-titled debut album on Friday 16th February, and the metal beasts have just released their lyric video for Lost The Fight – https://youtu.be/cYHzAUj_tzY  . We thought it would be …

Judging by ticket sales tonight Stone Sour have reached that difficult point in a touring band’s career. They’re way too big for a tour of Academy venues, but arent big enough to sell out arenas, so with the venue tonight in full arena configuration it feels a bit empty when …

Brutai kicked things off tonight. I last saw them opening the Dogtooth stage at Download festival earlier this year and their set there was good enough that I was looking forward to seeing them again. Their music is nice and heavy but still has plenty of melody. It’s great progressive …

Tonight was my first time at the NIA since they changed it to the “Arena Birmingham” name – an obvious wasy of saying “We couldnt find a new sponsor so we left their name blank”. Like many fans I think they should have just reverted to its original name – …

So it’s early doors tonight and I get there just in time for The Wild!. The Wild! aren’t a band I had heard of before, but am glad I made the effort to get there early for them. The Canadian rockers (NOT American as lead singer Dylan Villain was keen …

The first band tonight was deathcore band Nycosia. They’re very heavy with growly vocals but sadly their songs just aren’t good enough to impress anyone tonight – they relly did fall flat tonight I’m afraid. a fact clear not just from the lack of cheering or applause between songs but …

Midland rock crew CRIMSON STAR drop their new EP, Bay View, on 19th Jan. We had the boys in for a chat….     What is the full band lineup, who plays what? James Shaw (Guitar/Vocals), Roger Ash (Bass), Ross Edgington (Drums/Vocals).   How and when did the band form? …

Brit Rockers SISTER SHOTGUN are set to release a new video for the magnificent ‘Silhouettes’. We sat down with the band to talk about their beginnings:   What is the full band lineup, who plays what?   Chloe Ozwell – Lead Vocals, Niall Wills – Rhythm Guitar/Backing vocals, Rob Hayes – …

UK Rock n rollers, Sourheads just released their explosive new album ‘Care Plan For The Soul’. We had the band down for a talk about their history and more: What is the full band line-up, who plays what? Jake Coxon – Vocals, Mik Crone – Guitar and Synth, Ben Taylor …

‘It’s hard to hold a candle in the cold November Rain’ sang Axl Rose on arguably the best song Guns N’ Roses ever did, but whilst his words from 1991 are more poetically inclined, it’s certainly true in Bristol tonight with winter doing its best to make everything as miserable …

Things didn’t get off to a great start tonight as the auditorium doors remained closed even a few minutes before the scheduled start time of 8pm. Finally an announcement was made – tonight’s support act, The Rainbreakers, would not be playing. That was a disappointment, but on the plus side, …

In contrast to Jonny Lang’s last visit to the Empire, this was a more sedate affair with floor seating rather than the standing he had on his last visit, which creates a noticeably different atmosphere. I prefer standing myself for blues rock gigs like this and given that we could …

When I arrived at the venue for tonight’s gig things didn’t look good. With just 20 minutes before Toseland were due on stage the venue was almost empty. Happily in the last ten minutes before they came on, the place quickly started to fill up, and by the end of …

Tonight’s Helloween gig was due to be something special. It’s part of their Pumpkins reunited tour which sees the current Helloween lineup joined by former members Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske. For many fans this was their first chance to see Helloween with these two members. There was certainly a …

First up tonight was Hanowar. As the name suggests, they’re a Manowar tribute act. Sadly they were a bit of a disaster. They did explain that they were short of one member that night and said “he’s the one with the talent”, and presumably they weren’t joking. They started the …

THE EMERGENCY PLEASE have just released their breathtaking new EP, Remember You. We had the guys in for a catch-up……   What is the full band line-up, who plays what? Karan Master – Vocals & Guitar, Jono Powell – Bass & Backing Vocals, Sam Garnett – Drums.   How and …

 Social media and sexual harassment Written by Natalie Conway Today, something happened to me on Facebook that is a far too common an occurrence for women on social media. Being a music publicist, having unsolicited messages sent to me is quite a common thing. I don’t mind at all and …

Tonight’s gig is sold out, and fans are there early – as I arrived the queue stretched off way into the distance, and it’s no surprise. Delain are growing in popularity and have steadily moved up to bigger venues, and after selling out Koko twice recently I think it’s likely …

First up were Die kur. When I’ve seen The Birthday Massacre before I’ve thought that some of their support bands were chosen for being weird rather than great musically and that’s the impression I get from Die Kur straight away. As their set goes on they get worse. Part of …

This Friday, SALTLAKE release their stunning new EP, Medicate Me. We had the boys down for a chat:   What is the full band line-up, who plays what? The line-up consists of Henry Gottelier (Lead Vocals/Guitar), Liam Quinn (Bass Guitar) and John Godly (Drums) .   How and when did the band form? …