ALBUM REVIEWS

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

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 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

For more than two decades, THE XCERTS have taken the music world by storm with their alternative music style that seems to stand out from the crowd. Their sixth album i want to go home now is one that proves that longevity of this Scottish born, Brighton based trio doesn’t mean that passion and talent has to be compromised or sacrificed. The opening song of the album is a short and haunting interlude that is full of emotion. Named after the album title, this emotionally fuel

Few bands have navigated the modern release cycle quite like THE PLOT IN YOU. Rather than unveiling a traditional full-length album in one moment, the band has spent the last few years gradually constructing The Volume Series across multiple EP releases, before finally bringing the material together as a single collection. With only one previously unheard track, Carved, accompanying recent singles Silence and You Get One, the release functions less as a conventional album and

“How did we get here?” These are the blistering first words and explosive energy on NO CURE’s latest frenzied album It Is Going To Get Dark, an album that boils over with insurrectionary meaning and fury laden through its rhythms as NO CURE examine the world we live in and practically scream “Is anyone else seeing this shit?”. While the recording process saw the four-piece withdraw to a remote cabin as their musical sanctuary, this calm remoteness instead fuelled the intensit

Emerging from the unknown and compelling listeners to dance along, London based quartet MOUTH ULCERS are resurfacing the art of darkness in their EP, Silent Pictures. Reviving the sound and aesthetic of 1980s goth, MOUTH ULCERS have carved out a dedicated following with a series of singles that showcase their dark atmospheric sound. With recent live debuts, their success has been captured through sold-out shows across the UK and the Netherlands. Their debut EP, MOUTH ULCERS s

ROZEMARY have moved fast. Formed on the Wirral in 2023, the band went from unreleased local buzz to a widely praised debut EP, the lies they made me believe, in the space of about a year. They've picked up comparisons to LOATHE along the way, building a reputation as one of Merseyside's most exciting heavy exports. it's harder now to breathe arrives less than a year on from that debut, and the title alone hints at a band digging further into the tension that made their debut

Debut releases often feel like introductions, but CUTSCENE arrive sounding like a band that already knows exactly what they want to achieve. A Piece Of Life blends the urgency of post-punk with thoughtful songwriting, creating an EP that feels just as interested in atmosphere and emotion as it does in heavy guitars and driving rhythms. While the band wear some familiar influences on their sleeve, they never rely on them, instead carving out a sound that feels distinctive thro

Detroit has produced some of the finest rock bands in history and EVA UNDER FIRE is one of the latest to proudly carry that flag. Hailing from that gritty, iconic rock landscape, the band is back to deliver “hard rock therapy” with their latest album Villainous when it releases 10th July. Fronted by lead vocalist and song writer Amanda Lyberg who is uniquely qualified to deliver on that promise, as a licensed therapist with a background in trauma and addiction. While Love, D

Formed in New Jersey in 2022, 3 DOLLARS are fighting to stand out amongst the countless young groups itching to leave their mark in the punk scene, but these are more than your average Joes, with most members having spent at least half of their youthful lives perfecting their instruments. The proof lies within their debut EP, Plus Tax, the culmination of the four-piece’s efforts to nail a style that has already earnt them a strong local following, growing international attent

Two decades deep into their slow-burning crusade, WITCHSORROW return with The Devil And All His Works, an album that doesn’t so much revisit doom metal’s foundations as sink back into them like they were carved in stone. This is not a reinvention record, nor does it pretend to be. Instead, it is a reaffirmation of purpose: heavy, patient, and utterly committed to the genre’s most monolithic traditions. From the outset, WITCHSORROW make it clear they are still operating on the