2000Trees is the hottest weekend of the year. No, seriously - it scorches any other competition as one of the flaming flagbearers of the UK underground. Vying for your attention, amongst the chaos of BRING ME THE HORIZON's northern exposure and MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE's London residency, is a stellar roster of future talent gleaming with the promise of a loud and urgent tomorrow. Matched only by PITBULL's immense can-do party attitude (and we haven't even included the infamous si

Outbreak has gone all out for their 15th anniversary, taking over the nation with festivals, pop-ups, and re-release showcases celebrating some of hardcore’s most prominent bands and their humble beginnings. The cycle begins anew as Outbreak gave the stage to up-and-coming SHOWING TEETH on their history-making debut headline show at The Barfly, Camden, having flown across an entire ocean to prove without a doubt they can command any stage anywhere. EXIT DREAM are no strangers

2278 days between releases, and LOATHE still have time on their side. Six years' worth of work has culminated in the fabled return of one of the UK’s most urgent heavy acts, and much like their earlier discography, when the band deliver, they provide their best. A Stranger To You was never late; instead, it arrived right on schedule - ahead of the curve and still at the top of their game. In the grand scheme of things, it’s nowhere near as long as the two thousand-plus year

RED METHOD have never been a band to shy away from the darker side of life, and As In Life might just be their most focused release yet. After a turbulent few years behind the scenes, this six-track EP feels like a reset button. It's heavy, emotional and unapologetically bleak, but underneath all the aggression is a band that sounds more confident in who they are than ever before. Things get underway with Counting Corpses, and it's one hell of an introduction. Built around cr

Serving up a portion of Denver metalcore comes UNDER AUBURN SKIES, the latest of a long line of Colorado-based core acts - with their upcoming EP, Diminisher Of Hope, all but upon us. Drawing heavily on the sounds of bands like POLARIS and MAKE THEM SUFFER, the EP treads the thin line between relatively straight-forward melodic metalcore and the more complex aggressive end of the genre, to forge an end project that manages to have fingers in both pies. Across five songs and a

Emerging from the fertile underground of Bogotá, Colombia, comes the burgeoning crossover heavyweights POISON THE PREACHER with their latest EP Things I Want. The four track release is inspired by ambition, obsession, and unattainable dreams, and has the heaviness to discuss all of those topics with all the gravity necessary. The EP’s artwork mirrors those themes as it features a mutilated Daruma doll, a traditional Japanese symbol of perseverance and fulfilled goals, but wit

Everyone's fresh out of 2000 Trees festival this past weekend, with a lineup packed to the brim of every alternative genre under the sun. If bands haven't been busy playing to the sweltering masses, they've been busy putting out these banger singles. Here's what we've been listening to lately. Against The Current - Always You & I Always You & I sees AGAINST THE CURRENT embrace a cinematic, transcendental sound in a romantic rock ballad exploring themes of eternal devotion and

In the Birmingham music scene, something has been brewing for a long while. In the birthplace of heavy metal, a new generation of musicians has been on the rise, with small independent venues popping up across the city at a steady rate since COVID and more artists stepping out onto the scene to fill them up. Blending hardcore with punk, pop, jazz and metal, FLESH CREEP are easily amongst the best and brightest out there at the minute, and their new EP Glimmer is not shy about

It takes patience to crush rough coal into diamonds sharp enough to break skin - almost a year from entering the studio to record, metalcore heavyweights BOUNDARIES have transformed their rage and pain into their eviscerating album Yearning: the unbeautiful after, the first album released under their new record label Sumerian Records. Having already teased tracks on their festival slots, listeners have been given an insight into the raw energy fuelling this album, the rampagi

From humble beginnings recording in bedrooms to cultivating a sound that shouts emphatically across genres, RILEY! have defied their red state belt origins to bring progression, vulnerability, and hardened edge in their debut EP To Live And Die In The American South. RILEY! channel their life experiences, the feelings of being left behind and the contradiction of wanting to be seen whilst hiding away from the world, into classically Midwest Emo melodies with explosive drums a

Twenty years into their career, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE could easily have settled into a victory lap. Instead, Decades finds the Scranton outfit doing the exact opposite. Their seventh studio album embraces everything that has made them one of modern metal’s most recognisable bands, while confidently pushing further into industrial, electronic, and gothic territory. Rather than just looking backwards, Decades celebrates the band’s past by proving they’re still evolving, refining

After almost ten years as a band, half of which involved intensive construction work, EXPLORING BIRDSONG are finally ready to let us step into the world of their debut album, Every House We Built. This material might be the strongest they’ve had on show yet, as it keeps the core BIRDSONG sound, but exploring and developing its depths and corners - a sentiment that is also fully shared by all of the band members. Lynsey, Jonny and Matt take us through their own journey, talkin

RADAR returns to Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse from July 31st to August 2nd, and if you’ve never been, prepare to have your expectations reset. What started as a new festival in 2019 has grown into one of the UK’s most beloved alternative gatherings, built on a no-clash schedule and a knack for booking whoever’s about to blow up before anyone else catches on. This year’s line-up is stacked across three distinct days. Friday is the heaviest of the bunch, closing out with

If you’re finding yourself wondering, “Who are LOATHE?” then let us give you the rundown of one of the most exciting modern bands of the moment. Fusing mainly metalcore and nu metal, whilst also sprinkling other genres into their repertoire, their sound makes a very present, volatile experience for their listeners. Their live shows are a sight to behold, as they whip between full-blown metalcore madness and soul-wrenching drawn-back magic that will have you headbanging one mi

There’s a particular kind of gravity to FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND. It’s the kind that straight back to the first time Juneau blew the speakers off your bedroom wall, or when Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation felt less like a debut and more like an invitation into a world where post‑hardcore could be serrated one second and soft‑spoken the next. They were the band you found on your friend’s headphones in the middle of maths class, or buried on a compilation CD you got with a

For anyone looking to explore the modern era of pop-punk, NECK DEEP is one of the first bands worth adding to your playlist. Hailing from the city of Wrexham in Wales, this five-piece group has become one of the iconic names in the genre over the past decade to become something of British Pop Punk royalty. The band’s iconic sound blends energetic guitar riffs, emotionally honest raw lyrics, and infectious melodies into tracks that appeal to both longtime pop-punk fans and a n

Tucked into the iconic North Wales venue, Llangollen rocked on Friday night as Texan pop-punk legends BOWLING FOR SOUP joined forces with folk-punk favourite FRANK TURNER AND THE SLEEPING SOULS for a huge co-headline show, bringing their Bowl My Bones Tour to TK Maxx presents Live at Llangollen Pavilion. Thousands of fans attended for an evening packed with pop-punk, folk and alternative rock, complete with massive singalongs, plenty of laughs and a setlist full of crowd favo

Even a brief mention of TURNSTILE these days instantly evokes all kinds of feelings and sentiments. Where discussions can be stretched on their relationship with hardcore as the genre and the scene, most people would agree that no matter what TURNSTILE do, they do it absolutely brilliantly. The Baltimore natives have built a community far beyond their geographical and musical origins, crossing the generational divides with movement and rhythm. At the end of the day, they will

The heat inside Foundry feels less like weather and more like the kind of pressure that builds in a room when everyone knows they’re about to be hit square in the chest. PUP (an acronym for Pathetic Use of Potential) has that effect on people. Before they even step out, the crowd is already vibrating: people clinging to the barrier, older fans grinning like they’ve survived this chaos before, everyone braced for the kind of night where catharsis comes loud and fast. Opening

This weekend saw London packed to the brim thanks to METALLICA’s final tour dates, colour-bursting London Pride, and the continuing beautiful weather (or as we like to call it, Satan’s holiday home) - this heated, vibrant energy of London was felt at full force in the Electric Ballroom, Camden, with a crowd spilling out all the way to the entranceway to see Nashville emo band FREE THROW on their immense world tour for all-hits-no-misses album Moments Before The Wind. Gig-goer

After years defined by burnout, fractured identity and the weight of expectation, Patty Walters stepped away from music entirely, only to rediscover the part of himself he thought he had lost. That reconnection, first with himself and then with Ben Langford‑Biss, Ali Testo and Patrick Foley, lit the fuse for AS IT IS choosing to exist again on their own terms. What follows is not nostalgia, but a reclamation. It is four brothers rebuilding the thing that once saved them, claw

BRING ME THE HORIZON released their first album 20 years ago and despite a complete change in genre, they decided to re-record it just for its anniversary. The album is complete deathcore madness and being 20 years old it has its imperfections and blemishes. But the new version has repented that all, not only is it now perfectly polished music but the quality of the vocals, riffs, drums and everything in between has proliferated. Straight into the first track Pray For Plagues

Five years can feel like an eternity in the music world, but if Dear God proves anything, it's that THE PRETTY RECKLESS has made every second count. Rather than trying to recreate what made their previous albums successful, the band has delivered a record that feels like the natural next chapter in their journey. It's familiar enough to satisfy longtime fans while still showing growth, maturity, and a willingness to explore new emotions. From the opening moments of Life Everm

There’s a particular kind of restlessness that defines THE PLOT IN YOU, a tension that’s lived in the project since Landon Tewers first broke away from BEFORE THEIR EYES back in 2010. Over the years, the band has evolved from brutal metalcore to wounded post‑hardcore to dark alt‑metal, never settling long enough for anyone to pin them down. Their upcoming full‑length release, The Volume Series, feels like the most honest expression of that instinct yet. It’s a record built sl