After all the build up, the band announcements, the hype, the anxious constant monitoring of the ever unpredictable British weather and worst of all the waiting, the eleventh annual Download Festival at Donington Park was finally upon us. Even before the bands had begun to play at 2013’s installment of the festival plenty had transpired….
One of metal’s hottest live acts at the moment, Japanese metal band Crossfaith, who completed their tour as main support to Bring Me The Horizon only the night before, were headlining a night of quality metal from across the globe at The Camden Underworld. With Polar and Hacktivist flying the flag for the UK, plus…
L Sol Tace are a name in British metal that many won’t be familiar with. Having been around for a couple of years now, the London based four piece recently struck a massive break; Their debut album The Carcass Of Eternity was given away with the April 2013 edition of Terrorizer magazine, catapulting L Sol…
19 years into their career, Hatebreed have become legends in both the metal and hardcore scenes. Their reputation as a live band is almost unparalleled. Whether in front of thousands in a field at a festival, or a couple of hundred people in a tiny club, you’ll struggle to find anyone who does it better than them. First to take the…
Killswitch Engage’s first UK tour since reuniting with Jesse Leach was always going to be a very big deal. Add in quality support from UK modern thrashers Sylosis and the fact the entire tour sold out was not surprising in the slightest. Keen to get in on the fun, several members of Team Rocksins were…
First on-stage, SSS (5) are fairly forgettable, the band remaining static and seeming glued to their allotted area of stage. The lack of an engaging visual spectacle fails to animate a set of fairly mediocre crossover thrash songs. Xentrix (7) incite an animated response from the growing crowd. An impressive response for a band that…
First up are Dead Harts (7) who play a great set of well-constructed hardcore tunes that nicely warms the crowd up for what is to follow. Feed the Rhino (9) who follow are nothing short of astonishing. The band hurl themselves around the venue with a manic fury, especially frontman Lee Tobin who seems to…
Bullet For My Valentine recently played the Camden Roundhouse promoting latest album ‘Temper Temper’ so James went down to check them out to see whether despite the negative feedback surrounding new album Temper Temper they’ve still “got it” live. Miss May I (7) kick off this evening’s entertainment; they’re fairly standard metalcore fodder but are…
Hold the Fight’s debut mini album – ‘With a Breath and a Hope’ offers the listener a unique take on bands such as Funeral for a Friend. Where Funerals guitar are loaded up with distortion however, ‘Hold the Fight’ have adopted a more ‘twangy’ (for want of a better word) indie-centric guitar tone. That’s not…
When the Devildriver and Cannibal Corpse co-headliner bill rolled into town we just had to go and check out what this great bill had to offer – The Black Dahlia Murder supporting just made this already great gig that bit more enticing. Hours of Penance (6) open up tonight’s bill of metal heavyweights – unfortunately…
When a much loved band claim to return to their roots it’s usually the sign of desperation, an admission of a lukewarm response to recent material or an attempt to recapture the attention of a dwindling fan base. In the case of Killswitch Engage it could well be all three. As great as some of…
If you are a fan of championing home grown talent and absurdly heavy, remorseless brutality, then whet your lips in anticipation. Brotherhood Of The Lake are about to make you very happy indeed. Although this is the only happiness that you will find in conjunction with this band, for what we have here is eight…
