Interview – August Burns Red
By Jeremy Vane-Tempest Metalcore’s stagnant. Everyone knows it. The problem is that fixing it is really hard and so bands have instead started to go for a ‘message’ to individualise themselves. Some bands do with to a greater effect than others (In Hearts Wake vs Capture the Crown, for example), though. Metalcore veteran of thirteen […]
Turbowolf – Two Hands – Album Review
Turbowolf Two Hands Spinefarm/Search and Destroy Release Date: Out Now Review by Matthew Clewley They’re coming back for a second round a pacey psychedelic distortion, Turbowolf seem ready to step up from their heavily praised debut album Turbowolf. The Bristol quartet are one of the most critically acclaimed bands in the past 5 years after […]
Transience – Temple – Album Review
Transience Temple Collision Course Release Date: Out Now Review by Rod Whitfield Over the last ten years or more, Australia has become a relentless production line of excellent progressive heavy rock acts. The conveyor belt just keeps churning day and night, and you can add the name Transience to that growing list of bands, which includes, but […]
Motor Sister – Ride – Album Review
Motor Sister Ride Metal Blade Records Release Date: Out Now Review by Matthew Clewley Anthrax’s Scott Ian returns with another band he formed out of absolutely nowhere. Some of remember his band The Damned Things, right? Well, at the age of 50 he decided it was time to jam and give one of his favorite […]
Take Us To Vegas – Alive – Album Review
Take Us To Vegas Alive Independent Release Date: Out Now Review by Alexander Sievers I think it’s safe to say that if bands like The Amity Affliction, Of Mice & Men and Memphis May Fire didn’t exist, then there’s a BIG chance that younger, smaller bands like Queensland’s Take Us To Vegas would not only […]
Gig Review: Sydney – Funeral For A Friend + Supports
Funeral For A Friend + Vices + Bare Bones + Our Past Days Manning Bar, Sydney 19 April 2015 Review by Melissa Rochfort Sunday night saw the return of South Wales “whatever-core” favourites Funeral For A Friend to Sydney’s Manning Bar, bringing Sydney’s own hardcore quintet Vices for the nationwide tour, with hometown support from […]
Gig Review: Sydney – Architects + Stick To Your Guns + Supports
Architects + Stick To Your Guns + Being As An Ocean + Stories UNSW Roundhouse, Sydney 16 April 2015 Review and photo by Melissa Rochfort The Roundhouse saw an epic evening of international hardcore heavyweights on Thursday night, led by Brighton’s own Architects, with international support from Californians Stick To Your Guns and Being As An […]
Red Bee – Chokehold – Single Review
Red Bee Chokehold Independent Release Date: Out Now Review by Rod Whitfield I generally don’t review singles, but since it was new music from Sydney’s awesome Red Bee, an exception had to be made. Their debut album of a couple of years back, Ictus, was an absolute rip-snorter, and I have been very keen to […]
Cancer Bats – Searching For Zero – Album Review
Cancer Bats Searching For Zero Double Cross Records Out Now Review by Regan Boyce Since I first heard Hail Destroyer in high school I’ve loved Cancer Bats, and through my metal, hardcore and punk phases I’ve always been able to find something by them that I can really get into. For that reason I tend to […]
Black Star Riders – The Killer Instinct – Album Review
Black Star Riders The Killer Instinct Nuclear Blast Out Now Review by Matthew Clewley Black Star Riders are back for another album after the success of their previous effort, All Hell Breaks Loose. The band consisted of four members of Thin Lizzy (Warwick, Gorham, Mendoza and Johnson) and Jimmy DeGrasso (RATT, Megadeth), but now with […]
While She Sleeps – Brainwashed – Album Review
Brainwashed While She Sleeps Search and Destroy Records Out Now Review by Joshua Bulleid Brainwashed is the battle cry to follow the call-to-arms of While She Sleeps’ formidable debut, 2012’s This Is the Six. The band’s second record sees them turning their ire on the world around them, while wearing their nu-metal influence loud and […]
A Wilhelm Scream: “What we have going on is a very special and a very rare thing.”
By Rod Whitfield This long running American punk rock four piece are about to make what their frontman Nuno Pereira believes to be their third or fourth trip to Australia for a tour. He and his band are very excited about coming back, but his greatest memories of previous Aussie tours all appear to centre […]
Carcass: Ready to crush Australia
By Joshua Bulleid Back in the eighties, before extreme music was really a thing (and before your interviewer was even born) there was a bunch of totally pissed of dudes called Napalm Death and they invented this totally pissed of kind of music called grindcore. One of those pissed off dudes was guitarist Bill Steer, […]
Gig Review: Psycroptic + Goatwhore + Supports, Sydney
Psycroptic + Goatwhore + Disentomb + Ouroboros + Daemon Pyre + Ouroboros + Disentomb Factory Theatre, Sydney 27 March 2015 Review by Gary Grim Photo by David Youdell This night promised to be huge and heavy with 5 bands performing, 2 of whom were headliners; one band from the States playing blackened death metal and […]
All That Remains – The Order of Things – Album Review
All That Remains The Order of Things Razor & Tie Release Date: Out Now Review by Matthew Clewley Massachussets metallers All That Remains have finally opened up and fired their new album The Order of Things into our beautiful world. It’s been a long three years since the 2012 release, A War You Cannot Win, a […]
While She Sleeps: “We don’t want to all die at thirty, and it’s way too easy to do.”
By Jeremy Vane-Tempest Government conspiracy theories about falsified terror attacks, presidentially-sanctioned assassinations and reptilian overlords masquerading as human world leaders before our very eyes sound completely mental. Then you read about Operations Northwoods and Richard Nixon’s vendetta against Jack Anderson, and suddenly they don’t seem so ridiculous (except for the reptilian overlords. That’s a next-level, […]
Arcane Saints – In The Shade of the Juniper – EP Review
Arcane Saints In the Shade of the Juniper Independent Out Now Review by Rod Whitfield An often difficult combination to attain for a band is to write and deliver good, fun rock music but that has a message to it as well, but that’s what this Melbourne based four piece have achieved on this, their […]
Mammoth Mammoth – Volume IV, Hammered Again – Album Review
Mammoth Mammoth Volume IV – Hammered Again Napalm Records Out Now Review by Derek J. Huckel Mammoth Mammoth are a cross between, like Motorhead crossed with the Celibate Rifles and Rose Tattoo, with a touch of Motley Crue thrown in. And they incorporate psychedelic with a bucket full of groove. I think its hard to put them […]
Torche – Restarter – Album Review
Torche Restarter Relapse Records Out Now Review by Derek J. Huckel Restarter is the fourth album for Torche and my first to hear of theirs, despite hearing of them for a while. I was ready to dismiss Torche as a type of Helmet rip-off band, with a stoner pop type, not-metal, sound that lumbers with a constant key […]
Oceans Ate Alaska – Lost Isles – Album Review
Oceans Ate Alaska Lost Isles Fearless Records Out Now Review By Alexander Sievers “No Oceans Ate Alaska, step away from that ledge! You have friends who care about you and fans whom want you to start making the exciting, aggressive metalcore we know you are capable of, for Christ’s sake!” These are the thoughts that […]
Nucleust – Fractured Equillibrium – EP Review
Nucleust Fractured Equilibrium Ufo Publicity Out Now Review by Rod Whitfield This Perth based four piece’s debut EP is well named. Its staccato, off kilter rhythms are indeed so neck snapping that they are likely to put you off your balance. This is a very brutal, gritty take on the djent progressive metal genre. In […]
A Night In Texas: “You do not need to take your morals from any specific religion.”
By Alexander Sievers Metal music and anti-religious themes go hand in hand like social justice warriors and Tumblr. Brisbane death metal outfit, A Night In Texas, are definitely a band that doesn’t enjoy or partake in the establishment of religion. Aside from their spiritual beliefs, the band is creating a shorter, more intense brand of […]
Jericco – Machine Made the Animal – Album Review
Jericco Machine Made the Animal MGM Out Now Review by Rod Whitfield I love the opening to this album; so unexpected, so bold. Brent McCormick’s resonant voice swoons from the speakers, in a good 30 seconds of A-Capella. And on first listen, if you’re unfamiliar with the band, you really don’t know what to expect, […]
Amber Sea – Infantile Vision – EP Review
Amber Sea Infantile Vision Famined Records Out Now Review by Rod Whitfield When I heard that this band were French, I jumped at the chance to hear and review them. Outside our own country, I feel that France is the nation that has made the greatest leaps in heavy music in the last 10-15 years, […]
Soilwork – Live In The Heart of Helsinki – Album Review
Soilwork Live In The Heart Of Helsinki Nuclear Blast Out Now Review by Alexander Sievers Listening to a live CD without the visuals is like listening to porn without the on-screen visuals – there are easier alternatives, like just watching turning on the screen and to quit beating around the bush (that pun was accidental, […]
Dark Horse – Sick of The Living, High on Death – Album Review
Dark Horse Sick of The Living, High on Death Independent Out Now Review by Derek J. Huckel Four piece Dark Horse with Sick of The Living, High on Death have released an album that’s an assault to the senses with a dozen rampant pummelling tunes that barely let up. They contain screamo vocals, masses of cool crusty […]
Direblaze: “It’s an explosion of aggression and metal.”
By Rod Whitfield Many bands start out playing covers, and this Melbourne based four piece thrash act is one of them. They started out as a bunch of good mates playing Slayer covers back in 2010, and gradually morphed over the course of the next year or so into the all original outfit they are today. […]
Gig Review – Sydney: Hellions + Supports
Hellions + Void of Vision + Justice For The Damned + Our Past Days + Lifes Ill Blacktown Masonic Hall, Sydney 15th March, 2015 Review by Melissa Rochfort Blacktown Masonic Hall saw one of the best local shows I have been to in a very long time on Sunday afternoon, with an impressive crowd gathered […]
Gig Review: Melbourne – Helm + Supports
Helm + The Khyber Belt + Glass Empire + Rick Dangerous and the Silky Bantams The Esplanade Hotel, St Kilda, Melbourne 13th March, 2015 Review by Rod Whitfield Remember the name Rick Dangerous and the Silky Bantams? They’re a four piece band from Sydney, and they’re damn entertaining. They have a slight comedic flavour to them, […]
Gig Review: Sydney – Graveyard + Grinding Eyes
Graveyard + Grinding Eyes Oxford Art Factory, Sydney 4th March, 2015 Review by Gary Grim Being a Wednesday night, a school night, I didn’t think many people would be in attendance at the Oxford Art Factory this evening, especially to see what I thought was a criminally underrated band; Swedish 70s style bluesy stoner rockers, […]
Interview: Psycroptic
By Rod Whitfield This absolute pillar of the Aussie metal scene is set to release their sixth album. With more than a decade and a half, this many album releases and countless Australian and international tours behind them, mainstay drummer and co-founding member Dave Haley and the rest of the members of the band have […]
Interview: Chaos Divine
By Rod Whitfield Perth based progressive rock/metal act Chaos Divine are all set to release their superb new album. Entitled Colliding Skies, the album very much lives up to its epic sounding name. Also rather epic was the writing and recording process, apparently: it has been four long years since the band’s last record The […]
In Malice’s Wake – Visions of Live Destruction – CD/DVD Review
In Malice’s Wake Visions of Live Destruction Independent Release Date: Out Now Review by Joshua Bulleid I’ve long held that In Malice’s Wake’s most recent record, The Thrashening, is the best thrash metal album of the last ten years – ranking right up there alongside the best of the genre. Whatever your feelings about their […]
Antagonist A.D. – Haunt Me As I Roam – Album Review
Antagonist A.D. Haunt Me As I Roam Unified Release Date: 27 March 2015 Review by Alexander Sievers New Zealand: the neighboring land of book tie-in movies, killer sheep, Nek minute, Lorde, and the always unintentionally funny Haka. It’s also the homeland of hardcore heroes, Antagonist A.D. This is a band who are going to obliterate […]
Uriah Heep: “We broke KISS in America. We broke a number of bands.”
By Paul Southwell When hard rock Uriah Heep formed in London England back in 1970, their similarity in blues based hard rock styles to say Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple effectively gave them a solid fan base that stuck with them one way or another for decades to come. As a result of their initial […]
Chaos Divine – Colliding Skies – Album Review
Chaos Divine Colliding Skies Firestarter Release Date: 6 March 2015 Review by Rod Whitfield 2015 marks the ten year anniversary of the formation of this excellent Perth based melodic progressive rock/metal act, and they are celebrating in no uncertain terms with the release of their rather magnificent third full length album. On Colliding Skies, the […]
Interview: Norma Jean
By Jeremy Vane-Tempest Norma Jean vocal chord-shredder Cory Brandan hasn’t had the best start to 2015. Not only was his brother the victim of serious theft, his daughter was involved in a head-on collision and spent a couple of weeks in hospital. For the moment, Cory’s just looking at getting the year back on track […]
Gig Review: Sydney – Ministry + Godflesh
Godflesh + Ministry Metro Theatre, Sydney 27 February, 2015 Review by Gary Grim The Metro in Sydney packed out quickly in anticipation of witnessing two bands that were forerunners in the industrial metal scene. It’s no wonder because it’s not everyday you get to see two trailblazing acts whose music helped set the scene for […]
Interview: Bellusira
By Rod Whitfield The career of Melbourne female fronted alternative rock outfit Bellusira has been an unbelievable journey so far, and it’s really only just beginning. They were already pursuing a rather respectable career here in Australia, however things have kicked up several gears for the band since they received interest from The States and subsequently […]
Review: Judas Priest + DragonForce, Sydney
Judas Priest + Dragonforce Enmore Theatre, Sydney 24 February 2015 Review by Gary Grim I cannot remember the last time I saw a crowd so eager to see a band as those gathered to witness Judas Priest live. Headbangers of all ages were figuratively champing at the proverbial bit to see these metal gods. To […]
