PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal

So two days of rock and metal carnage down, one to go. And as this punter walked down towards the Main Stage on the Sunday morning of Download Festival 2013, I couldn’t help but smile at the wires attaching the stage to the sound tower, knowing what they were for. …

So, after a Friday of absolute mayhem, perhaps the Saturday of Download would be a more chilled out affair? You might have thought so too with UFO (6) opening the Main Stage; the audience wasn’t the biggest but there was enough there to get heads nodding and ‘Doctor Doctor’ made …

Welcome to the first in a three part review of the 11th annual Download Festival. Once again, rock fans from all over the world descended on the hallowed turfs of Donington Park in Derbyshire for a five-day extravaganza that saw the festival outdo its previous years’ lineup by quite a …

Last year, Prog Rock champions, Katatonia and The Pineapple Thief gave us two astounding collections with “Dead End Kings” and “All the Wars”. This year their respective frontmen have banged their creative heads together in a quest for the musical equivalent of the Higgs-Boson Particle and “Wisdom of Crowds” is …

Download Festival 2014 will take place 13-15 June, and as a thank you to fans for a limited time Download is offering £10 off the current 2013 prices for 5-day camping tickets, 3-day camping and weekend arena tickets. All tickets go on sale at 9am on 21 June with the …

Download Festival – THE biggest weekend in the rock calendar – took place this weekend as 90,000 people rocked out in Donington Park to headliners Slipknot, Iron Maiden and Rammstein plus a host of other bands across the weekend. Crowds of rock fans packed out Donington Park as the opening …

A selection of photos from the Belfast date of Scott Ian’s Speaking Words Tour, June 7th 2013. Read the Planetmosh review here     All photos by Paul Verner www.livei.co.uk

June 2011 saw the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first spaceflight and to help celebrate this event one of the most intriguing musical collaborations happened in Tenerife at the Starmus festival with Brian May of Queen fame performing live with electronic masters Tangerine Dream. Kicking of the CD in style …

First of all, Famous Underground can pull it off live, and that’s something to admire about them. What you’re hearing on the album is what you’re going to hear live in concert. It’s not a manufactured ‘Autotune’ band. This is a monster group of heavyweights to watch. Plus, how can …

Eva Plays Dead are a group of four, made up of one lady and three guys from Derby. First starting out as Bury The Ladybird, they have, after making several band member changes and revised their musical direction, settled in late 2012 to what we see and hear today

When Slayer first announced this, the last of three intimate warm up shows on the island of Ireland in preparation for their trip around the European festival circuit – culminating, of course, at Bloodstock – there was at first a certain degree of incredulity.  “Are you fucking serious?” was the …

I first found out about Stormzone in Glasgow, June 2009 while they were supporting the mighty Tesla on a UK tour. As luck might have it, it was great finding out about a band coming from my neck of the woods in Northern Ireland and with a similar background. Since …

Tonight was going to be a special gig – the first ever gig by new band, The Crunch.  A new band they may be, but the members are all experienced and certainly aren’t new to the music scene.  Singer Soren ‘Sulo’ Karlsson was the singer with Blues-rockers Diamond Dogs, Bassist …

Deceiver of the Gods is the new great album of the – I think the most know them- melodic death metal band Amon Amarth from Sweden.  In my opinion Deceiver of the gods is maybe the best death metal album which will be released this year. It’s a typical Amon Amarth …

London’s GraViL are brutal and technically efficient purveyors of melodic death metal, showcased in fine form with their first full length album Thoughts of a Rising Sun. These guys remind me a lot of hearing Dead Cowboy’s Sluts last year, in such that they’ve opened my ears to a ferocity …

I have been a fan of Queensryche ever since a friend of mine got me into them when I was a teenager at school way back when the Empire album was released in 1990. Ever since the fall-out and split with this line-up of Queensryche and former vocalist Geoff Tate …

The festival season is very much here now and so ahead of Download, I caught up with JR (drums) and Nick (lead vocals) from Fahran for an interview.    Due to play Download and then Bloodstock in August, this is one band that is doing well on the festival circuit …

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.. To say I’ve been chomping at the bit to get hold of this album to listen to is an understatement, one of Gothic Metals best loved bands are finally back on the scene with their sixth album …

It’s a real shame when additions to a bill are not made public. That’s what happened when I arrived at the Exchange in Bristol on Sunday evening. The venue’s website said doors opened at 7.30pm, however it turned out that, along with the three bands advertised, a further FOUR groups …

East Midlands band Line of Fire are back with their second EP, Nowhere to go.  Playing some down and dirty Southern metal they are a band that are definitely worth a listen.  The more observant of you may notice that one of the band members (Paddy O’Malley) is a member …