There’s a common misconception that Skindred are purely a live band. While there is no denying that you haven’t truly experienced Skindred until you have seen them live. It does hide the fact that they have one hell of a back catalogue. While their last album, Kill the Power, seemed to be an attempt to shoot for the stars and may have failed (although I personally quite liked it) their discography to that point had been near flawless. Joining those lofty standards is Volume and it’s unsurprisingly brilliant.
MG & The Juggernaut
Before kicking off this review, I should perhaps throw in the disclaimer that I discovered MG & The Juggernaut due to Simon Miller’s other job as a truth knowing games journalist. I’m a big fan of what he does at VideoGamer and I am a supporter of their Patreon. Of course, that makes no difference to my opinion on the EP and I’m more likely to be swayed by the fact he’s a big dude who could easily kick my arse if I ever met him.
Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria are one of those bands who are often taken for granted. Having been an active since 1995 and been releasing albums since 2002, they have almost always been there and it’s sometimes easy to forget just how good they are. A couple of middling albums haven’t helped their cause and bring us to the here and now with The Color Before the Sun, their first album to move away from The Amory Wars storyline. Instead, it finds lead singer and guitarist Claudio Sanchez facing fatherhood and the whole world of responsibilities that come with that. It just happens to also be the best thing they’ve done in years.
No Devotion – Permanance
Like it or not, Lostprophets were an important band. They were one of the big players in a movement that saw British rock reassert itself. What happened after was obviously disgusting, but there were other people in that band and they lost everything due to the actions of one cunt. Which brings us to No Devotion, the moment where those men wipe themselves down and start again. Now with Geoff Rickly on vocal duties.
The Wonder Years
I have a strange relationship with pop-punk. It played a big part in my early musical education, but in recent years I’ve viewed it as a stale doughnut of a genre. I’ll probably have a nibble, just out of interest, but ultimately I’m going to put it down and go and get something a little bit tastier. Every now and then though band comes along that reminds me just why I spent so many hours listening to this stuff.
Slayer
Slayer and heavy metal go hand in hand. Enter any gig venue or festival in the world that plays heavy music and somewhere there will be someone wearing a Slayer t-shirt, probably screaming into the air while chugging a bottle of whiskey. Yet, recent years haven’t been kind to the band. The sad passing of Jeff Hanneman and the departure of Dave Lombardo sees 2015’s Slayer looking a bit different.
Bring Me The Horizon – That’s the Spirit
Bring Me the Horizon have been on the verge of going full Hulkamania for a while now. Their last two albums have been all killer, no filler and backing track aided Reading performances aside, they seem capable of doing no wrong at the moment. Even the tidal wave of hate that they used to face every time their name popped up on the internet seems to have calmed, at least a little. Yet is That’s The Spirit good enough to be worthy of the success it seems destined to have? Or are Bring Me about to pull an Avenged Sevenfold by having one of their weaker albums turn out to be their biggest?
Iron Maiden – The Book of Souls
Encapsulating an Iron Maiden album into a few hundred measly words is a hard job. You have to mention the fact that now on their sixteenth album, they are arguably better than they were 40 years ago when Steve Harris started this whole thing. You could then throw in the fact that live they are still a life affirming experience and doggedly refuse to follow their peers into becoming a heritage act. After that you’ll probably get round to mentioning the music, which usually defies words anyway. With The Books of Souls, Maiden seem to have set out to make that process even harder, releasing a double album which is just over an hour and a half in length and includes three songs over ten minutes long. Here we go anyway.
Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes – Blossom
Since leaving Gallows Frank Carter has struggled to make up his mind. First he was fed up of singing about hate and would never do hardcore again. Then, after a brief flirtation with the underwhelming Pure Love, he seemed to change his mind and is now back in the hardcore groove, with Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes. Their debut album, Blossom, sees him try to recapture the magic that made Gallows one of the most exciting bands on the planet.
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Bullet for My Valentine – Venom
In their own way, Bullet For My Valentine have played a big part in my musical education. They were the first metal band that felt like one of my own, a band whose debut album I went out and bought and it wasn’t thirty years after the fact. Of course, since then things have only seemed to go downhill and they’ve gone from the UK’s next big hope to being overshadowed by Bring Me The Horizon and their American peer’s Avenged Sevenfold. Which bring us to Venom, their latest attempt to prove they aren’t dead yet.
Ramblings About Wrestling 