-Raz- has written the following articles:
This concept album from Portuguese immigrants residing with Scotland's favourite sons, leaves little to chance and everything to the imagination. Codewords not required.»
Epic prog-metal? Not Tool? EH?! This is the supergroup product of the recent British metal underground. Twin Zero have arrived boasting a gamut of cult heroes in ex-members of Sunna and Earthtone 9 as well as a gamut of drummers, one of which is a casualty of the first reality rock band, Vex Red. This band seem to be finally grounded and sitting on a record this solid, there could well be fruit borne of this sizeable talent.»
The first single from forhcoming album, 'Awfully Deep'.»
Rename: FUKK OFF»
DiS manages to grab a half hour with the man whose records are in the “Weird Shit” section of Manchester’s premier indie record shop and alternative affectionate nicknames include Mr. Not-So-Scruffy to discuss his latest release, his legendary residency and exactly how much his work matters to him.»
Seminal breakbeat deviants, Hexstatic are in Manchester tonight with their visceral audiovisual show.»
Reuben are not here to merely hold the fort until their big brothers come on stage, they have been brought to Manchester to rip the fort apart with their bare hands. This really ought to be the current state of British rock. adly, Hundred Reasons are.»
You have to realise that it doesn’t matter how good, or bad, this band are going to be, they are still going to be massive; sell massive; be massive. They are going to be bigger than your favourite band without even trying. There is nothing you can do about it. This is Fightstar.»
Let this be your route to rock oblivion: rock out to Winnebago Deal. The Deal has returned and this time they brought some songs with them.»
I first found The Permissive Society by accident nigh on a year ago. I was having some drinks with a girl who was inevitably far too pretty for me but I still did hope that the noisy bastards to my right would cease their unholy racket for a short while so she may at least have the chance to fall in love with my mind. The noisy bastards then introduced themselves to their meagre audience and I duly gave up and forgot about everything from that night.»
Ah, the return of the dark murder balladeer: Nick Cave. & The Bad Seeds, as well. He has brought with him an ambitious and beautifully presented double album for our troubles. Arriving in a cloth-bound box with a full set of lyrics helps to make this feel like a masterpiece before you've even turned your stereo on. To be drunk with a good bottle of red.»
Britain's brightest rock hopes of yore, Hundred Reasons are back with a single full of covers released on some label nobody's heard of. And then they're going on a worldwide tour of the UK in itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny venues...»
Welsh metal giants, LostProphets are to tour the UK this November in support of nothing in particular. Just for the hell of it!»
Velvet Revolver tour the UK. Unlike Guns N' Roses.»
The perpetually under-achieving, under-exposed and under-appreciated Mínus tonight headline a packed Bar Academy. It is a healthier audience than they are used to. Over two years of heavy commuter touring seems to be coming good. It’s taken too long.»
There is nothing more to this record than punk and rock. Punk. And. Rock. If you’re looking for more than that you’re in the wrong place.»
I have been drunk for over a week. My eyes are burning and my stomach is hurting, probably because it is trying to spit out various wrongly coloured substances. If we are to believe Ben Myers, however, it is his life. All the time. That is punk rock.»
London’s East End has brought us the finest punks ever in the Sex Pistols as well as churning out future mega-punks of yore in The Libertines. You gotta get crazy or the crazies come get you.»
Yellowcard are yet another college-emo-rock that have drifted over the ocean after a few years of toiling a gruelling home circuit and you can’t really find too much wrong with it. You gotta ask yourself if that’s good enough.»
The Bronx were brought to this country by the fancy-pants who make loads of lush metal known as Lostprophets earlier this year. The Californians were promoting this show way back then. It sold out pretty damn quickly.»
This is your introduction to Permissivism: the cruel and twisted land of Manchester’s latest grand slam abstractions. Pigeon-holing is not an option for this band. They are not a Manchester band. They are not a political band. They are not a punk rock band. They are The Permissive Society.»
Vedder woke up on Monday and found out The Zep were dead. What was he going to do? He got himself Tooled the fuck up. Where was he going to go? His mission was to kill the spirit of rock.»
The ultimate pioneers in the math-metal / noise-core genre, the very antithesis of convention: Dillinger Escape Plan.»
Isn’t it just gobsmackingly amazing how a band can sound utterly and irrevocably horrible and cringeworthy on record...»
Distophia dropped their suicide bomb of a début release on us last autumn with the magnificently tuneful, yet quaintly melancholy, ‘Soda Lake’ fizzing and burning knowing ears ever since... With a long-awaited Chris Sheldon produced début album incoming at a rate of knots, and a sound almost born for sale en masse, it is difficult to see anything but success for Amplifier in the forthcoming years.»
Melissa Auf Der Maur’s shift from bassist to frontwoman seems so unbelievably natural. She holds her bass like a lead guitar, thrashing and convulsing like some evil rock-spawn possessed. It’s a wonderful sight.»
April 23rd. Remember the date. Night & Day Cafe. Remember the place. You don't wanna miss out this month. Get reading. This IS the best gig/club night in Manchester and it's just getting bigger and bigger. CLICK!»
Obsessed with the underworld and legendary status via death, My Chemical Romance arrive with their re-released début album. Floundering smartly through massive goth-punk outbursts, it's a calculated opus in the veins of a more miserable AFI or a calloused and more concise Finch.»
There is a current force apparent in stadium rock that emerged nigh on four years ago. Despite splitting the vote among the rock community, Hundred Reasons do indeed seem to be here to stay now and with some force. Tonight the have brought riffs carved from the finest granite, poetry worthy of your epitaph inscribed with opulent and obscure harmonies and a stage show to satisfy the masses without ebbing into parody.»
The debut release of any band has always been, in my experience, my favourite. I fear the intemperate beast which has not had enough time to become considered and accurate; the sheer raw power exuded from a youthfully endowed gang of hopeful upstarts. If that described is a bunch of high-school brats devouring the local scene in a fuel of teen angst then Drive Like You Stole it are almost middle-aged...»
