PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal

Let’s all be honest with ourselves here: Anthrax are forever going to be the runt of the Big 4 litter. There was never any question that they would open the shows with Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica back in 2011/2012, and they will always be lower than them on festival bills. …

Tonight’s gig saw Thunder playing Wembley Arena in London.  On arriving it was clear the gig wasn’t sold out as the back part of the arena was curtained off, but I’d estimate around 7000 as the attendance which is more than enough to justify playing a venue of this size …

Back in September I reviewed Wolfmother’s 10th anniversary release and commented that it seemed as if they had been around for a lot longer than a single decade.  I also mentioned that the new album to be released early 2016 would be only their fourth studio album in that time.  …

As I sat down to write this review of this, the hard-to-believe-it’s-actually-his-20th-album, from Rick Springfield, a little note popped up on my Facebook feed, pointing out that the very date on which I started typing marked the 35th anniversary of the release of his breakthrough album. ‘Working Class Dog’… For …

Tucked away in the corner of stage left, guitar duo Curran sought to warm up the London crowd ahead of tonight’s headliners Inglorious, but despite the best efforts of Mark Curran, they struggle to motivate the apathetic crowd. Armed with the simplicity of acoustic guitars, they played some well written …

Let’s get this clear from the start:  I hate fucking so-called “reality” TV “music” shows.  Never watch them.  By and large, they’re ego-stroking vanity trips for equally vainglorious multi-billionaires merely seeking to embarrass weird and random selections of wannabe has-beens into making complete dicks of themselves and earning undeserved adulation …

Allegiance Of Rock To Play Stockholm Rocks Festival The new Swedish supergroup ‘Allegiance Of Rock‘ is a collaboration consisting of Gus G (Ozzy, Firewind) – guitars, John Leven (Europe) – bass, Anders Johansson (Hammerfall, Yngwie Malmsteen) – drums and Mats Leven (Candlemass, Gus G) on vocals. This all star alliance will be united for the very first time …

Over the course of the past decade or so, the Pure Steel family of record labels has established itself as a stronghold of the classic-meets-New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal sound, whether it be via its own multiple imprints or equally numerous distribution deals.  It has a reputation for picking …

Jeremy Widerman, guitarist for the Canadian Rock band Monster Truck, spoke with Jamie Reader-Johnson of Planetmosh this week to discuss their latest album, Sittin’ Heavy, which was released on Friday 19th February. When it comes to Monster Truck, I’ve always honed in on how their place of comfort seems to …

With the ten-track Dead Dawn, Sweden’s death metal behemoth Entombed A.D has returned to a scene the members helped to form, offering its second album under this moniker. Two closely related questions in most fan’s minds seem to be ‘where does Dead Dawn hit stride, and does it measure up …

“And lo, the [heathen] hordes from the East did descend up the city at the mouth of the river called the Farset… and they did lay waste onto the same with their furious vengeance and the spilling of much ancestral blood.” OK, forgive the pastiche of sub-Biblical phraseology, but it …

It’s heat 4 of 7 in Dublin tonight at the Metal 2 The Masses Ireland showcase; the half way point, the fulcrum of the heats but will it be the pivotal heat about which all others will revolve. PlanetMosh is here to see if Alpheidae, Devolted, Emigra, Ten Ton Slug …

Finnish folk metallers Ensiferum played Belfast for the first time this past weekend, when they brought their ‘Burden Of The Fallen’ tour to the UK and Ireland. PlanetMosh took the opportunity to catch up with bassist/vocalist Sami Hinkka to chat about all things to do with the band, including his views on …

Formed in India in 2003, death metal band Third Sovereign, certainly have their genre down to a refined art which can easily compete on the world stage. Opening with the time honoured tradition of eerie intro, the band are straight down to business with the raging ‘Grave of Humanity’. This …

The first heat of the 2016 round of the Metal 2 The Masses competition’s Northern Ireland leg was so tight it squeaked.  Just four points separated all four bands.  It couldn’t have been any closer.  Well, that’s what we thought until the second heat, when, at the end of the …

PlanetMosh has looked at the long term weather forecast for this coming summer – and it shows that there will be Thunder over the south of Wales at the end of July! The veteran British rockers – who have just completed a British stadium tour this past weekend – have …

City and Colour are currently on tour across the UK and Ireland, part of which included the sold-out Manchester show on Saturday 20th February at the iconic Albert Hall with special guest, Lucy Rose. The latest tour comes in support of their latest studio album, If I Should Go Before …

If I mention the name Wendy James to any hot blooded male of a certain age the reaction ranges from Cor to Phwoar!!! Usually with a reference to the iconic video for I Want Your Love by Transvision Vamp. Wendy did indeed have the good looks to rival Marilyn Monroe …

PlanetMosh’s Miley Stevens caught up with Saxon‘s legendary frontman Biff Byford ahead of an exciting new release called Eagles and Dragons – due to be out on 18th March 2016. Miley: So Biff, you’re due to release a nine part vinyl box set called Eagles and Dragons? Biff: Yeah, it’s …

The word legend is one which is often, and even more frequently inappropriately, bandied about. But, it is a description which definitely does apply to one man: a guitar player from the humble back streets of east Belfast whose name is cemented in the mythos of the Irish, and subsequently …