It was when I first moved to London that Gallows first started on the scene and remember first seeing them live roughly 6 years ago in a pub in North London and instantly they became one of my favourite bands. From that point I have taken every opportunity to watch them live and have seen them dozens of times each gig getting better than the previous. It all came to a head summer this year when I watched Frank Carter announce his split from the band as I watched them stage side whilst working at Sonisphere and it was heartbreaking. BUT, I thought that the lose of Frank would mean the lose of all the angst and ferocity that made Gallows who they were. How wrong was I!

It appears that Frank has left to create a new band which according to rumour will be something more tepid (not to say that I wont give it a listen) this has allowed Gallows to hire new singer Wade McNeil and continue along their path of greatness. Firstly, Wade is a good singer for their style but nothing extraordinary and I feel that the Lyrics are a little negative concentrating too much on the loss side of things (although I may be reading into them like that and missing the point somewhat). It’s the band that is shining here; they are faster, heavier, and ultimately more confident and probably a lot happier for it which is very obvious from the recording. As always my only complaint is that its way too short with the whole being over in about 7 minutes. But if this is what we have to expect from the rebirth of Gallows, then bring it on as I fucking love it!

Stand out Track: Mondo Chaos:

Hear more at:

As I spend a lot of my time listening to bands I loved when I was 15 years old I have decided to have a feature on here praising the legends of the past that never quite lasted! And first up is probably the most important and least remembered.

90% of the time that I mention the name Psycore I get a blank expression and this is even when I mention it to people that followed the bands of the time. It was the golden years for music as far as I am concerned with bands like Earthtone9, Cyclefly, One Minute Silence, Pulkas, Medulla Nocte, and Pitchshifter ruling supreme in the UK (to name but a few). Most of these bands have realised their popularity and since reformed or are still touring, but Psycore? Although they had a big buzz about them at the end of the 90s were all but forgotten!

They released just 2 albums Your Problem (1998) and I’m Not One of Us (1999) but managed to get out a load of singles that were soon picked up by the likes of Kerrang! And Metal Hammer and featured on many a cover mount CD at the time. Even Tairrie B championed the band and featured as a guest vocalist on the song ‘End You’ which at the time was a big help to the band and once again got them a few mentions in the press. They managed a load of support slots and a small club tour in 1998 with Cyclefly in support.

If it was not for this band I can quite honestly say that I would not have got in to the Doom and Sludge that I love today. Their guitar and bass tone is so low and down tuned it puts most bands to shame and that snare sound is like a nail to the head! For any of you that have not heard or completely forgotten about this lot, it is time to reacquaint yourself with the dirty Swedish spoken word monsters of filth. They were way ahead of their time and are the reason I nearly lost my hearing at the age of 15 (never put your head in a bass amp kids!).

ENJOY!

This year has been about getting over excited about a great deal of long awaited albums and of all of the ones I have been patiently awaiting it is this that has felt like it has taken the longest to surface. I first saw Turbowolf a couple of years back and the eccentricity of the band instantly made me fall in love with them. Their sound and look is like something out of a rather uncomfortable acid trip and just makes me wish that the late Hunter Thompson could join me in spinning this rather sexy gold vinyl on some 3 day ether binge!

The great thing about these boys (apart from being from good old Brizzle!) is that they are so incredibly hard to pigeon hole in some ‘sub-genre’ but there are elements of Prog, Electronica, Doom, Grunge, Hardcore, Stoner, Jazz as well many other nonsensical noise making traditions. And its their claim to use broken and obscure instruments that truly makes this record stand out form the crowd, especially in the interlude ‘K-J’ and 2 closing tracks ‘ All the Trees’ and ‘Lets Die’.

This is all in all an epically triumphant debut and is likely to not leave my record player for quite some time. Now go out buy it and accompany the purchase with a nice new flowery shirt and bag full of mushrooms and ENJOY!!

Stand out Track: Lets Die

Hear more at:Turbowolf Mypace

I am once in a while pleased at the thought of a band with 2 Bassists… and it’s because this is an idea that should not be done too often as it can become too gimmicky. Palehorse are the only band I can think of up to now that have managed to pull it off (especially live) but thankfully in War Irons case it really works. This EP is dark, brooding and very reminiscent of our good old gloomy doom bands of old. And yet does not follow the receptiveness patterns of some drone bands that I really do draw the line at. Basically, I enjoyed this a lot and it eradicated my usual snobbery that I have with this type of music,, it is definitely not Fast and furious but does leave you feeling very dirty and quite frankly miserable and alone! LOVE IT!… Now, lets get these guys over from Ireland and buy them a pint, I feel they may need cheering up.

Stand out Track: Inch Cape

Hear more here: War Iron Myspace

Anyone who knows me will know i also front GURT, and as there are some slight changes afoot i thought it would be lovely to document the first 2 years of the bands life with a little DIY project in the form of a brand new DVD. I am happy to say that the thing is near completion and should be finished by the end of this week ready for me to package at home. Its coming in at just over an hour and a decent amount of live footage…. keep an eye out here for a further release announcement soon

It will be available here

Heres the Trailer:

Oh my blimey you lot really have been spoiled the final additions to this mighty event come in the form of 4 bands!

First up the big hairy gargantuan that is the mighty ‘Slabdragger’ headlining the night after what has been a brilliant 2011 having completed a massively successful UK tour and even playing at the Supersonic festival.

The Dirty Stoner grunge beast that is ‘Gouranga’ will be paying us all a visit from Bristol to bring us some great riffs and sexy drum fills.

And not 1 but 2 of our previous WPC friends the mighty ‘Steak’ with its Kyuss inspired psychodelic tomfoolery, and the raging filthy riffmachine that is the stuninng ‘XII Boar’. Anyone who attended the Summer special in July will know that there is a damn good reason why these 2 bands are back!

Cannot wait for this one people and whats more its only £6 for all that fun, thats 7 bands and 7 hours of drinking, madness and the best tunes!!!!!!

The magnificent Wiht will be joining us all with their Post Rock Stoner instrumental amazement which will surely have you tripping your balls/flange off without the aid of medicine and leaving you with a sense of total completion by the end of their set check out their new album if you need any reassurance

WIHT bandcamp

The background atmosphere building merriment shall be brought to you by our new recruit Staggerin Matt from h_d_p and Dead existence fame. Very happy to have this legend in his own right joining us for the fun and make all your ears bleed until the early hours.

AND STILL MORE TO COME! YOU LUCKY PEOPLE

So, its Thursday night I have just £20 in my pocket and I thirst for some crushing tunes. In most situations that would get you nowhere (especially seeing its £15 to go see the Melvin’s and £4 a pint once your in!) but have no fear as this cracking line up comes FREE of charge and its damn cheap for a pint so I hopped and skipped to my favourite North London venue to see 3 amazing bands with a huge smile on my face.

First up Dopefight and this band never ever disappoint when playing live, they had the audience sweating a bit as they turned up a little late and had a shorter set but who cares as long as you get to see these 3 bastards frantically throw their stoner, sludge goat noize at an eagerly awaiting crowd. And what’s more, we were all even treated to new song ‘Stonk’ which always sounds fucking monstrous live!

Astrohenge are a band that I am ashamed to say I have never had the chance to see perform and are the main I am at this gig tonight, and my god they do not disappoint. They look like the most bizarre group of lads together on stage but every single one of them play with everything they’ve got and for the 40 or so minute set that they play there is not a dull moment. And with this being their record release show we are treated to songs both old and new (their epic, seconds’ long version of Night on Bald Mountain being a personal highlight!) I hope to get these guys on a future WPC night as they truly are a band that has to be seen to be believed and I feel very confident that they are going to give a lot of other acts a run for their money at these weekends Damnation Festival in Leeds.

By this time of the night the venue is jam packed with people ready for the main event, although there were a lot watching the previous 2 bands. You can tell a lot of people are here purely to see Saviours and by that I am not surprised! Last time I saw them was with Weedeater at the Underworld so to see them at a venue so much smaller than that is a real treat (and tell I mention this gig was free?). This really is a perfect end to the night with a furiously riffy set that commands every man, women and child in the room. Saviours are almost like a sludgy speed metal act, with a nice big splash of blues sin in there for good luck. Brilliant stuff!

If any of you have not seen any of the shows promoted by Human Disease at the Unicorn then I urge you to as you’re guaranteed to have a blinding evening (and hangover!)

This Demo makes me want to adorn my Silverest of shiny metal suits of Armour, parade around on a cloud and scream ‘Release the Kraken’ at the top of my voice!… perhaps a little unnecessary but this really is a superb first effort from our good Brighton friends. Sea Bastard contains 3 ex members of ‘Funeral Hag’ and the guitarist from ‘Jovian’ both of which were Brighton bands that were around long enough to get themselves a good little following around the South East and beyond. But both bands split almost around the same time this summer which was met with a lot of disappointment but ultimately has led to us having this fine new line-up.

MY GOD this is some heavy stuff too, much more than their previous guises and although this was recorded live the Guitar and Bass on all tracks are thunderous and sound much better than some of the well produced stuff I have heard of late from other bands. I first heard about this band forming at the end of August so to have something this well formed so quickly goes to show just how good these guys really are, I suggest to all that you get this NOW as they are very kindly giving the download away for free. Then you can get yourselves ready for our next show on January 14th where these guys will be bringing their underwater delights to the Windmill stage!

Stand out Track: Aqua Vitae

Hear more here: Free Demo Download

The first thing I can praise these guys on this the fantastic artwork (I bought a t-shirt immediately after seeing there was one!), I am very much sold straight away if the artwork is great and strongly believe that if you feel that they have a creative eye by the cover then you can be sure that the music is gonna be something special…. Hang on am I just being stupidly Naive? In this case, NO I AM NOT.

This starts off fantastically moody and the build up is exactly what I look for in a song leaving me with Goosebumps before the track has even properly kicked off! When it does kick off the stomp that’s created by these guys is a mega one and before you know it 20 minutes of your life have gone. It did not bore me or seem too long at all, it’s bloody great and I can really hear an influence of early 65 DOS (one of my favourite bands!) or Mogwai when playing at their best.

These guys are technical instrumental band that do not resort to the normal bland ideas of repeating the same riff over and over again until the cranium collapses in on itself from sheer boredom. I am generally shocked and pleased at how much I like this band and urge all to take the time to be shocked and pleased too, my day has been made all the more better for it.

Stand out Track: Harrowing of the North

Hear more at: WIHT Bandcamp