There’s a certain frustration to watching The Wildhearts. Not because of the band themselves, but because of what should have been. That blend of Metallica‘s riffs and Cheap Trick‘s hooks could have been the biggest thing to come out of the UK in the 90’s. Christ, I’ve lost count of the number of bands that have borrowed/stolen from them. And yet, record company uselessness and personal implosions meant that the best alternative rock band we have, never quite reached their potential.
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.
Controlling the Hype
Media hype is an unusual thing. In the last year or so we’ve seen organisations like Team Rock throw their weight behind bands like King 810 and Babymetal, two groups that arguably couldn’t be more different. Yet, both apparently have the dubious honor of being worthy of taking their place as a ‘hyped band’. Whether they would have succeeded with or without that is of course impossible to say, but there’s no denying that they will have come to many people’s attention through the mainstream rock press.
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?
Live Review: Foo Fighters w/Royal Blood and Honeyblood
Stadium shows are weird. They feel more like a festival than a gig and the abundance of bars and food trucks that surround Murrayfield just enhance that feeling. The truth is that while they allow many to see their favourite bands, they are rarely (if ever) going to be better than stuffing yourself into some sweatbox venue and being within spitting range of your heroes. Yet, there are some bands that just feel at home in that environment. AC/DC are one and The Foo Fighters are another.
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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.
A Modern Masquerade
‘We write songs with massive guitar riffs, but with the catchy hooks of an indie pop song.’ That’s how lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Alex Cameron describes A Modern Masquerade. Having released their first single earlier this year, they are hoping those catchy hooks can lead them to a bright future.
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 