The first time I had the chance to listen to Trippy was when playing on the same bill as them and it was truly stunning, I had no idea what to expect but had heard them mentioned a lot by other bands we had played with. They are the perfect blend of mind crushing heaviness and blues encrusted melody and for me its that makes this band a very high contender to become a massive presence on the Doom/Stoner/Sludge/Blues/Whatever scene you want to call it! Its that, that makes this trio so damn spot on, you just cannot pigeon hole their music at all, all you need to know is that its damn good, they are all incredibly talented and it really shines through in this second album of theirs.

From the get go you can tell that this band have matured (and its only their second album) ‘Going Home’ is a perfect way to start us off, 8 minutes of riffs piled up one after another and leads you into something very special indeed. There is a feeling that drinking and partying is quite relentlessly on these guys minds as it features heavily. The giveaway may come from song titles like ‘I want Another Drink’, ‘It Ain’t Gonna End Well’ and ‘Pour me another One’. Continuing the drinking theme ‘Hillbilly Moonshine’ is by far the most upbeat foot stamping song of the record and sounds like Weedeater kicking the living shit out of Kings of Leon! Its got all that a Trippy song should have, its catchy, its heavy (yet not at the same time) and most importantly it has a sense of humour.

I really think that this is the sort of album that will highlight the London scene and hopefully propel this band to some sort of higher plane; it’s a near perfect album and deserves a lot of attention. It gets released officially on April 30th on Superhot Records and you can even get a nice shiny new LP so keep an eye out and buy it as I genuinely think this is a potential for album of the year (and yes, I am aware it is only March!)

Hear some here:

Our good friends XII Boar have made a video for my favorite song from their new EP which if you still have not got is available here… (Chuck em a few quid though as they deserve it!)

The video is for Slamhound and features lots of images of the lovely gents generally fucking about and has women and tattoos in it and ladies kissing in it and chicken wings in it and cleavage in it!

The only bad thing i have to say really is that it is safe for work….. but well done lads, more please!

This is something quite different for my typical taste in music but there is just something about it that I love. Coming in somewhere between the Melvins and Battles but with a slight tinge of Drone, for once this is a band with long drawn out build ups that I actually find interesting instead of switching off within the first 2 minutes.

First track ‘Sports’ builds like a typical Battles sort of tune but then catches you by surprise by going into a very evil sludgy riff which was certainly enough to grab my goldfish like attention, although the recording quality is more garage than most I have heard this would certainly be the sort of band you would need to catch live (I find myself saying this a lot but as any Sunn 0)) fan would know, it all about the live show!). To really base a solid opinion on these I guess that it would need to be seen in some large darkened hall where the experimental side of these fellas would really shine, but for now I think you should all give it a go and see what you think.

Hear Horace here.

The first time that XII Boar released any music I was so impressed I booked them straight away for last years Summer WPC event and have since had them back in January, so it is already known that I am a massive fan of these guys which is why I have to apologise for taking so long to getting round to giving this EP a shout out as it’s a stormer!

As before we have 4 tracks on this offering but something has clicked with this lot and the overall quality of the songs has really stepped up a notch. Very much like I mentioned with Diesel King earlier in the week, I think this is due to having such an extensive presence on the live scene as the band have really worked hard to be playing as much as possible. This has obviously been noted as they have earned themselves a spot on the first ever Desertfest coming up very soon so all will get a chance to see their raucous live show.

From the word go all this hits hard and I can imagine songs like ‘Smokin Bones’ and ‘Slamhound’ going down incredibly well whilst blasting down the M4 at 100 miles an hour in a clapped out Transit van with a bottle of cheap Whiskey in one hand and a filthy young maiden in the passenger seat. Its very southern in its sound and punk in its attitude and lead singer Tommy’s brilliant spirit is conveyed perfectly in his vocal performance (although it would be nice to have some of his witty live show banter caught on record!) and with all the Mixing and mastering duties coming from the bands Sticksman David Wilbraham (who also plays for Witchsorrow and Cultfinder) you can get an idea of how talented these lot really are…. DEFINATELY ONES TO WATCH!!

Here’s some of it below, and Buy it here.

So people, with only a matter of weeks to go it appears the full break down of days are now available for your viewing pleasure and what’s more their WILL be Day tickets! It seems that a lot of people have been asking for these but why you would want a day ticket when its only a mere £70 for the WHOLE weekend I do not know….

If you did not know already there will also be a small WPC presence at the festival too in the form of me working as Stage Manager on the Purple Turtle Stage on both the Friday and Saturday so come say hello and keep an eye out for the flyers advertising our Spring and Summer events.

There are a few amount of previous and future WPC performers now playing at the weekend including:

DOPEFIGHT
SEDULUS
IRON WITCH
STEAK
SLABDRAGGER
DEAD EXISTENCE
TRIPPY WICKED AND THE COSMIC CHILDREN OF THE KNIGHT
XII BOAR
WIHT

So don’t miss a single minute of it and plan your day here where you can see the full weekends line-up!! SEE YOU AT THE FRONT

I was very pleased and quite taken aback when I was handed the new Diesel King record to listen to this weekend and given the chance to be one of the first to hear the completed album. Due to be released this coming Friday (16th March) this collection of songs really have been a long time coming as this is their first release since their 3 track demo which came out in late 2010 around the same time that they appeared on the live scene.

The good thing about this lot though is that they have taken their time playing a hell of a lot live shows, finding and perfecting their sound which really has come across so well with these new songs. The immediate comparison that has to be made is to that of the mighty Crowbar, the dual guitar harmonies on the title track and ‘War Song’ show that Diesel King have decided to wear their influences firmly on their sleeve which makes for a much better listening experience. Not to say that they are just mimicking other bands as this really is not the case, a stand out point being the voice of Mark O’Regan (formally of Head On). He has come on leaps and bounds and is a lot nastier and raspier than his previous efforts which massively compliments the brutality of the rest of the guys in the band.

Whoever mixed and mastered these beasts of songs should be crowned as its so brilliantly punchy that the only way to listen to it is as loud as it will go, the only thing I do wish is that the vocals were that tiny bit higher in the mix (only because as a vocalist I want a chance to hear those mighty screams and roars over the top of everything else to see what I have to compete with!) but that really is a touch that is quite irrelevant as this is as near perfect as you can get for a band this early on in their career…. All you need know is BUY IT!

Have a listen to the title track underneath or more importantly get hold of the thing here.

And as most of you may already know, you can have a chance to watch this lot headline the next WPC event shown below:

I have such a love for all the material that comes out of the Devises label and in particular this lot so its nice to hear that ‘3’ is such a step up for the band as I did have a slight concern that they could not drag out the blast beats forever. Thankfully this really has a lot of diversity which comes from the more varied drum beats, not to say they are reinventing the Fukpig wheel as most of the songs are still short sharp bursts of pure brutality. A good handful of the tracks have the same feel as on the previous 2 records except Drunk’s vocals are even more filthy than before sounding like a grit blasted demonic version of John Lydon.

The diversity and evolution of the band becomes more apparent on tracks like ‘Troglodyte’ where there is a lot more of a harmony on the chorus and as a whole the songs generally feel a lot more focused than on previous records but without loosing the ferocity. ‘The absence of the Saviour’ has an amazing drop in tempo which is such a welcomed change for a band that is so relentlessly flat out in speed!

I have no idea why this band is not a million times more popular than they are. Their music can appeal to so many different people, perhaps not your traditional NWOBHM lot but certainly punk, grind, crust, death metal and hardcore fans should love every minute of this album.

Yet another genius offering from our Birmingham friends and my god these guys are a busy bunch with 3 albums out in as many years and splits to come very soon too, just keep the momentum up as the ever growing legion of Necropunks have an ever growing need to be fed this filth… the only major problem is their lack of gigs BUT that being said I am sure it will only make for a much more chaotic (and well attended) concert for when it eventually happens again.

HAIL NECROPUNK… and remember there is only one place you can get access to any of the bands CDs, Vinyl’s and another amazing merchandise and thats here

This is not really a review, more a call to arms….. the reason?

Groan are the tits!!

Its not often that a gig of this type goes on in East London and if it does you would normally see it at somewhere like the OBL, so i thought i would take a trip over to the east end to see this spectacle. And what a spectacle it was, the only shame about the night was the first 2 bands over ran (one of which being the incredibly loud and sabbath worshipping ‘Black Magician’) which ultimately led to Groan having to blast through their set and me missing the last song. But the sense of urgency in the band only made for a much more entertaining set. Blasting through songs like the new ‘Magic man’ and the incredible ‘Throne of Weed’ these boys really know how to get a crowd excited (a lot of which i think is due to the wit and banter of the charismatic frontman Mazzareth). I have waited along time to see Groan and although i wish it could have been longer it was certainly worth the wait!

Groan are about to become your new favorite band, if they are not already and its their mix of amazing stage prescence and their brilliantly executed Classic rock that is going to ensure that!

If in doubt…. see below:

So, it took me some time but the NEW video for our new song ‘Dudes with Beards with Cats’ is finally complete and thank you so very very much to all the kind people who contributed!

Now the competition winner is yet to be announced and will not be until the release of the New vinyl over the next couple of weeks so here is how it works…..

I already have chosen about 4 of the cat photos that i think are beyond awesome now i want you to watch the video and let me know who you think should get the prize, email your thoughts to whenplanetscollide@hotmail.co.uk

Have a look, see here:

And to refresh your memory with the prize

The Vinyl will be available from end of March direct from either http://gurt.bigcartel.com or http://dopefight.bigcartel.com

To hear more of GURT and to buy the download version of the Split with DOPEFIGHT upon release, visit: http://gurt.bandcamp.com.

One thing that I make quite known to folk is that I have a great disliking for the Brixton Academy, it seems that every stage of a night at that venue is made very difficult and thus hinders my enjoyment of an evening there. A lot of this probably is due to the fact that it is “the Next level” for bands and there is a substantial jump in size from venues like the Roundhouse and the Garage (where I have seen Mastodon on my previous 2 occasions). Tonight however is an absolute dream, everything goes according to plan from the 5 minutes wait in the queue ensuring I did not miss a single moment and got a great place fairly near the front to the obvious point of it being an incredible show from start to finish!

All 3 bands were on absolute top form and the only slight disappointment of a muddy sound for the support lots was not enough to hinder my enjoyment in any way. When Red Fang take to the stage the venue is still filling up which is a bad point for the souls sat in the cold outside that were gagging to see these boys play one of their first ever shows on this British soil. They bash through a set of stonking tunes including the obvious choices of ‘Wires’, ‘Prehistoric Dog’ and ‘Hank is Dead’ which have a hell of a lot of people singing along. You can tell that these guys are more than happy to be here and thankfully for us all we only have to wait a couple of months until we get a headline show from them.

Dillinger Escape Plan are almost my highlight of the night if it were not for the sound issue, the big sing along choruses of songs like ‘Farewell, Mona Lisa’ are incredible but it’s the Mathcore riffery of some of the more technical songs that are not clear enough and this is obviously not their failing, it’s the venues! The energy of these boys is beyond that of any band here tonight with them launching themselves off every object nearby whether that be a nearby amp or each other, they truly do impress and well and truly warm up the awaiting crowds for the main event.

This is the first in a long time that I have been to a gig of this size where the line up is absolute perfection but we all know that its all about Mastodon tonight and my god what a set (See below) 23 songs spanning their whole career and despite the band saying frequently that they are reluctant to include 2 particular songs we are lucky enough tonight to get both in quick succession ensuring that the whole crowd go absolutely bat shit mental, claws in the air and voices on max volume. I think I speak for most when I say that by the time they had finished I felt as though I had nearly lost my voice entirely. (Said songs being ‘March of the Fire Ants ‘ and ‘Blood and Thunder’ in case you needed help in guessing). Then it was back to the stage for an encore of ‘The Creature Lives’ which was a strange choice but was made all the more enjoyable by every band member of all 3 bands singing along and a mass deployment of Red Mastodon branded balloons….. which was nice!

Top marks to all involved in what was declared as the Don’s biggest ever headline show!

Mastodons almighty setlist was:

Dry Bone Valley
Black Tongue
Crystal Skull
I Am Ahab
Capillarian Crest
Colony of Birchmen
Megalodon
Thickening
Blasteroid
Sleeping Giant
Ghost of Karelia
All the Heavy Lifting
Spectrelight
Curl of the Burl
Bedazzled Fingernails
Circle of Cysquatch
Aqua Dementia
Crack the Skye
Where Strides the Behemoth
Iron Tusk
March of the Fire Ants
Blood and Thunder
Creature Lives