Review
by Raziq Rauf
I experienced this single on two occasions. The second time, forgetting the first entirely. The first time I heard it on the radio and I quite embarrassingly thought, “What knobhead is singing about the Crimea River? Ooooooh … dammit!” I didn’t find out whom it was by. Obviously. Then I saw it on the»
Review
by Raziq Rauf
So One Minute Silence got John Leckie in. So he did the best he could with what he had to work with. It sounds like Disturbed, except not so purposely beefy, or tuneful (?), or good (?) or anything at all. Yeah, it sounds like they got the Radiohead producer in to deal with it. It’s not good. I can’t»
News
by Raziq Rauf
Sacramento metal crew Will Haven have announced their last ever show, sadly, on Jan 24 in Sacramento itself.
With the only recent news from the band that they had been working on a DVD and were also going to rerelease their debut EP, this split has come as a bit of a shock. It's a bit of a bitch cos I was »
Review
by Raziq Rauf
That’s a bit harsh. Isn’t it? I mean, if you’re a hero, you want some kind of reward for your duties. Nah, fuck you. Heroes are the only ones able to deal with the fire and brimstone and general carnage that you may encounter. Reasons not to be a hero.
But then you encounter Hell is for Heroes »
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
ThisGIRL are almost officially Rotherham’s finest crazy ‘emo’ rock outfit if you are to believe a lot of people. Their adventurous frontman epitomises the essence of all an eccentric leader should be, with his explosive antics circumnavigating the entirety of stage. It is this that often captures the au»
News
by Raziq Rauf
New Jersey hardcore legends, Glassjaw are to finally return to these shores and turn that legendary status into reality.
After cancelling their December tour due to singer, Daryl Palumbo suffering a relapse of Crohn's Disease, <»
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
De-Frag MCR #7 - Manchester’s DiS guide from =RaZ=
It’s the Ewwwww Year. Hope you had a good festive period and all that pelava. I did. It should be goddamn freezing out at the moment because then it might snow. I already had a little bit of snow a few days ago and snowballs really are just as good»
News
by Raziq Rauf
The alleged "Best Welsh Band in the World", LostProphets, are to release their 2nd studio album in the Autumn.
It's been highly, highly anticipated since the rise in acclaim of their debut, ‘thefakesoundofprogress’ coupled with the scintillating live performances. The follow-up is currently d»
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
Yeah, so you got the tentative version of a Top 20 at the arse end of 2002 but a couple more votes came in which helped The Streets to win by a virtual mile. Eventually a nice round 50 votes were cast and this allowed Biffy Clyro to sneak in at the expense of Doves. Cheeky. A massive total of 130 different albums we»
Review
by Raziq Rauf
Good versus Evil: the eternal battle of justice where the pure wage war against the wicked. Everyone’s heard of that, right? Why are The Good merely good, yet The Evil are described in such a superlative narrative? This inequity is easily rectified. There are two options: 1) The Good be»
News
by Raziq Rauf
Bostonian prog-emo-posthardcore RAWK(!) band Cave In are to tour this mighty isle in February with a new album, 'Antenna',to be released in March
Having recently supported Foo Fighters on their recent arena tour of the UK, Cave In will be back here for an 8-date tour in February. They've only»
News
by Raziq Rauf
Distinctively bespectacled Rival Schools guitarist, Ian Love, has left the band. The reason given was that he wanted to focus on his other projects.
After releasing their debut album, 'United By Fate' and playing with 'A' and The Icar»
Review
by Raziq Rauf
So Fred n Coby complain about Daddy and to berate them is the theme of the day. Now comes along our P!nk doing much that same and everyone coos. What? Double standards. Hypocrisy. Sheer pretence. Frowned upon by many, yet abstained from by few. It is human nature to take preference to»
News
by Raziq Rauf
Manchester's free uber-diverse weekly Eclectricity night is on the search for new bands to play at their shows.
The night is starting up again on Jan 9th and then continuing every Thursday after that. The venue chosen, Courtney's on Deansgate, is truly superb as one of the few properly underg»
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
Imagine the sun is shining. But then imagine it’s Manchester. It’s grim up here, though. Isn’t it? Yeah, it gets grimmer and grimmer with the northening latitude. So surely that would mean that you get all the way up to Sunderland and the gloom and depression becomes truly overwhelming. Surely this »
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
De-Frag MCR #6 - Manchester’s DiS guide from =RaZ=
Last week was a week in which very little happened but what did happen was of the very highest quality. The 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster anyone? They’re nuts. He’s nuts. I almost ran away. I had one of those close encounters in the toilets at that »
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
Some of you have realised the brillance of 7 Questions. Some of you haven’t. If you look at it as a stupid, wacky, fanziney thing to do, you might like it or not depending on how puerile you wish to be on a Thursday. If you look at it as an interesting insight into the mindset of a musician,»
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
De-Frag MCR #5 - Manchester’s DiS guide from =RaZ=
I told you it’d get regular and here it is again already. It’s been a quietish time in Manchester after October’s rock extravagances but treat some of this week’s with a callous disregard and you will be sure to hold your head in your hands and weep. »
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
I stood at The Back for a long time this year. I didn’t enjoy it. I could easily gauge how much I would, or should, be enjoying it, but that’s not the point. Is it?
I love being a barfly. It means you don’t have to traipse through the crowd to get back there and it’s alright doing that at»
Review
by Raziq Rauf
I never really understood what post-hardcore was meant to sound like. Ummm … I still don’t. Wine connoisseurs don’t know what they’re chatting about either and you still drink that shit, so shut up. I think Funeral for a Friend are meant to be post hardcore.
I’m pretty lost for words to be quite »
Review
by Raziq Rauf
I hear a fairly decent song-by-numbers on the radio and think “Ooooh, it’s the new Lost Prophets song … or is it Linkin Park … dag nabbit I just can’t tell which godforsaken LP band it is!!” Then the bloody jockey fella just went straight into the adverts and I was running out of time. I left the car st»
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
Y’know, there are some bands who I’d love to sanction to the masses. There are so many things I could say about them and there is so much I want to say. But do you ever get the feeling it would just be pointless? London’s I Own Kings are one of these very bands, but hey just wanna say it all themselves, dammit. If »
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
De-Frag MCR #4 - Manchester’s DiS guide from =RaZ=
Firstly, some huge apologies for not doing this for a while but I could reel off excuses like a madman. I will, however, spare you. I promise to get this to you more regularly from now on!
Secondly, if you go see yer bands in the fair ci»
News
by Raziq Rauf
A White Man Kamikaze single is finally on its way and it should be available on collectable, 7 inch vinyl for your grubby Christmas mits to get hold of by December/January.
After that the band will be recording their debut album from the 13th November with crocodile wrestling producer Charlie Franci»
Review
by Raziq Rauf
DiS would not be satisfied bringing you a one-sided report on what is arguably one the world's most influential punk bands ever. So we got you three...
That Fugazi manage to make the cavernous (read: soulless) Academy venue seem intimate speaks volumes. Watching ‘Furniture’, released only la»
Review
by Raziq Rauf
Catchy. Catchy. Catchy. That’s what a decent record to dance to needs to be. Thoria have catchiness. They have oodles. Oodles and oodles.
After releasing their self-financed debut album this summer to joyous praise and engulfing»
Review
by Raziq Rauf
Categorical malevolence performed with the distinction of a figure that will retain her image of being a lady while still murdering any reservations you have of calling her an nihilist.
Where, with ‘Bang’ you had all this, we fi»
Review
by Raziq Rauf
Listening to ‘Songs For The Deaf’ leads inexorably to a grand dislike to all things tolerable. I mean JUST tolerable. The things that can go without mentioning one way or the other: they have neither anything going for them nor any»
In Depth by Raziq Rauf
Well then, Kids Near Water have been out of the picture for a few months now while they’ve been polishing off their production duties on their next album. It’s ok though. They’ve just managed to creep into the Mighty (R)Oc(K)tober a»
Review
by Raziq Rauf
P!nk is only a couple of years older than Britney. Why do people take her more seriously? It’s cos she’s a serious artist, innit! This is quality RnB. It’s pop? It’s RnB? Ooooh, I just can’t decide.
I’m bouncing though. Or is that a nervous twitch? Ooooh, I just can’t decide. It must»