Live Review : Kvelertak + Urne @ Academy 3, Manchester on February 23rd 2025

With even the greatest bands in the World, it is quite easy to forget just how good they are. It has been six years since Kvelertak last visited this country (Download 2019), eight years since they last played this city (supporting Metallica at the arena) and nine years since we got anything resembling a headline tour. Tonight is very much a case of "Hello! Remember us?" as they grab us by the lapels and forcefully remind us why they were the band on everybody's lips last decade. This evening also, inexplicably, gives us our first opportunity to witness “new” vocalist Ivor Nikolaisen up front and personal. We say “new” but he has actually been in the band since 2018, but as the stats above illustrate these are his first UK headline shows with the band. Replacing a “name” vocalist is always a Herculean task, but when it is in the colossally charismatic shape of Erlend Hjelvik, you would suspect it would be rather a hiding to nothing. However Ivar Nikolaisen sidesteps the need for comparisons by being a completely different school of frontman with his own energy, charisma and style.

Live Review : Hidden Mothers + Nylon + Pleiades + Wispmother @ EBGBS, Liverpool on February 21st 2025

Hidden Mothers are a band that really should be bigger than they are. Describing them as blackened post-hardcore is only to scratch the surface of what they deliver. It’s progressive, bluesy, expansive and emotive as much as anything else. Tonight we get to catch them playing songs of their debut album ‘Erosion/Avulsion’ on a bill with other northern bands in what is yet another coup for local promoters No Play.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser24 February 2025EBGBSHidden Mothers, Nylon, Pleiades, Wispmother, EBGBS, Liverpool, 2025, Live Review, Matt Fraser, Johann WierzbickiComment

Live Review : Green Lung + Unto Others + Satan's Satyrs @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on February 21st 2025

Let's put this marker down now. Green Lung will headline Bloodstock, they will headline Download and they will eventually, and potentially eventfully, headline Glastonbury. Now we at ROCKFLESH aren't in possession of a crystal ball but we are steadfast in our certainty of this for three reasons. 1)They are utterly incredible this evening as will be attested further on in this diatribe. 2) Their speed of evolution as a band is frankly astonishing. Midway through tonight's show, Tom Templar recites a roll call of the venues that they have played in this city during their journey to the Ritz headliner status. Green Lung have done their growing up in the glare of the public eye and the band before us now is a completely different beast the one played Star & Garter in 2019 or even the one we witnessed supporting Clutch at the Academy in 2022.

Live Review : Tribulation + Livgone @ Rebellion, Manchester on February 18th 2025

In this austere times, we are all looking for value for money in our gigging experience. This would explain the rise in popularity of the package tour as the allure of four bands we have heard of is more of a financial incentive than one. Swedish Goth-metal pioneers Tribulation, have gone for a different approach. For their rather extensive jaunt around Europe and the UK they have bought only one support act with them and in the shape of French/Polish/Swedish hybrids Livgone, it is not particularly a household name. Where they are providing bang for our bucks, is in the length of the set. At a meaty one hour forty minutes hour it towers above the usual hour maximum fair that we are served by bands of our ilk in venues such as Rebellion. It is a luxuriously elongated tour de force, allowing them to effortlessly wander across most of their recorded output (only 2009 debut “the Horror” doesn’t get a look in).

Live Review : Countless Skies + As The Sun Falls + Opia @ Star and Garter, Manchester on February 14th 2025

Why do we do this? Its Valentine's night and we have left perpetually patient partners back at home to stand in the blistering cold of the upstairs room of a shitty pub (the owner's description, not ours). The reason is that we love this music, eternally, triumphantly and truly. The bands on show this evening love this music, it flows through their veins. The audience that has braved the hostility of a Mancunian winter to get here, love this music. Even the characteristically grumpy owner pumping out classic punk downstairs loves this music. It has enslaved us all and it demands both sacrifice and complete obedience.

Live Review : Tremonti + Florence Black @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on February 13th 2025

The O2 Ritz is rammed tonight to witness a solo outing from guitar superstar Mark Tremonti. Known as a founding member and songwriter of both Creed and Alter Bridge he also has a parallel solo career that spans some 14 years and six albums. So the question on everyone’s lips tonight isn’t “is he any good?” – that’s kind of a given. It’s more along the lines of “just how good is he?”

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby15 February 2025O2 RitzTremonti, Florence Black, O2 Ritz, Manchester, 2025, Live Review, Prints, Jo Crosby, Johann WierzbickiComment

Live Review : Queensrÿche + Night Demon @ Academy 2, Manchester on February 11th 2025

Up until now, those who have been ordained to persevere in preserving Queensrÿche’s legacy have opted to avoid the trappings of retrospection. They have left this to their erstwhile frontman and one-person publicity magnet Geoff Tate, who has mined the nostalgia gravy train for all it is worth. Instead of looking back, the post-Tate incarnation of the band (now fronted by the equally golden larynx Todd La Torre) have chosen to surge forward with a flurry of decent releases, culminating in 2023’s rather spiffing “Digital Noise Alliance”.

Live Review : Juliet’s Not Dead + The Broken Ravens + To Nowhere @ The Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on Sunday February 9th 2025

Today’s a day of celebration, to raise a glass and salute the launch of Juliet’s Not Dead new album “This World is Ours”, and to get the party started the headliners have brought along two very different support bands.

First to take to the stage are a young five-piece To Nowhere, who deliver a short sharp shock of a set for a Sunday afternoon, albeit in a good way. Their modern alt-rock sound pulls in a myriad of influences; there’s chainsaw riffing, a huge bass sound, a bit of grunge here, but they pull it all together in a way that works well.

Live Review : Vower + Profiler @ Star & Garter, Manchester on February 8th 2025

Vower are almost what you’d call a supergroup of sorts forged from the ashes of acclaimed underground bands Toska, Black Peaks, and Palm Reader. When we saw them perform at RADAR Festival last year quality on display was immediately evident to see, and true to form their live performance then was a masterclass in sonic precision and commanding stage presence. It was exactly the kind of seamless execution you’d anticipate from musicians of their collective calibre.

Live Review : Gloryhammer + Dominum + Fellowship @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on February 8th 2025

You can probably tell just from the band names what kind of music we are in for tonight. Gloryhammer came to be back in 2010 as the side project of Alestorm singer and keyboardist Chris Bowes, and since then, they have released a slew of vaguely related concept albums in which various band members assume characters in the ongoing story. Despite some social media controversy following the departure of their original singer, they have weathered the storms that surrounded them and come through more or less unscathed to provide us with entertainment tonight.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Jo Crosby12 February 2025O2 RitzGloryhammer, Dominum, Fellowship, O2 Ritz, Manchester, 2025, Live Review, Jo Crosby, Jason SamuelsComment

Live Review : Firewind + Fury @ Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on February 6th 2025

There can surely be few things more exhilarating, more primal, more life-affirming than a night of pure, unadulterated metal. Regardless of whichever is your personal favourite of the kaleidoscope of genres (or sub-genres) that make up modern metal in all its wondrous guises, it remains an ever-changing form that continues to inspire devotion and obsession even now in the 21st Century.

Both bands on tonight’s bill draw from the same well, having their roots firmly in the metal of the eighties, whilst stamping their own personalities on that template, giving the gathered masses a powerful reminder (if one were needed) of just how vital an art form metal truly is.

Live Review : Siamese + Chaosbay + Cold Culture @ Rebellion, Manchester on February 5th 2025

The steady rise for Denmark’s tech-pop-metal maestros Siamese has been followed from the start by a couple of us at Rockflesh, and to see them finally explode to the heights of headlining with a stellar catalogue of tunes to choose from is a proud treat. Support bands Cold Culture and Chaosbay fit well on the bill with Siamese, sharing a similarly polished and modern approach to metal. The night is a testament to the ever-evolving landscape of metal, with Siamese standing firmly at the helm.

Live Review : Cattle Decapitation + Shadow Of Intent + Revocation + Vulvodynia @ New Century Hall, Manchester on February 1st 2025

Absence may well make the heart grow fonder but so seemingly does constant interaction. Neither Cattle Decapitation nor Shadows of Intent are strangers to this country and even to this fayre city. It is the formers third visit in as many years, whilst the latter last graced us with their presence twenty-four months ago to almost the day. With neither being a scarcity in the touring market, it is impressive they have managed to pull a capacity crowd into a venue that signals an ambitious jump in size for both of them. This is Death Metal graduating out of the underground and into grown-up venues. New Century Hall may feel a world away from the grubby subterranean delights of say Rebellion, but it offers all four acts the opportunity to do their thing on a gargantuan stage, a challenge they all accept with vim and vigour.

Live Review : H.E.A.T + Art Nation + Chez Kane @ Club Academy, Manchester on January 30th 2025

As we step into the gloomy confines of Manchester’s Club Academy the doorman welcomes us to his time machine and invites us to step into the latterdays of the eighties when hair was big, choruses expansive and egos overflatted.

Live Review : The Halo Effect + Pain + Bloodred Hourglass @ Club Academy, Manchester on January 24th 2025

You can tell the quality of something by how it ends. Usually shows grind to a halt in the same anodyne fashion. There are the habitual thank you’s, the obligatory picture for Facebook and then the un-ceremonial shuffle off stage to finish off the rider. Not tonight. Tonight is both extraordinary and quintessentially spontaneous. The Halo Effect’s final track of the evening, ‘Shadowmind’, shudders to a halt and something really quite special unfurls. For a good five minutes the band stay on the stage, faces plastered with gleeful emotion venerating the audience as much as the audience is venerating them.

Live Review : Paganfest @ O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester on January 18th 2025

Metal, the music that we love, comes in many forms. Some of them link seamlessly together, others tend to stand alone in powerful glory. One of the weirdest subgenres is probably folk metal, which itself varies wildly in content as “folk” has a different meaning in different countries of the world. Tonight, Paganfest in Manchester brings together an unforgettable night of music and unbridled energy performed by an eclectic mix of folk metal bands and enthusiasts from all corners of the world, creating a vibrant atmosphere that resonates through every chord and drumbeat.

Live Review : Graphic Nature + Feed The Rhino + Grove Street @ Rebellion, Manchester on December 21st 2024

Sometimes the bit before Christmas is actually better than Christmas itself, and when a gig showcasing three of the UK’s best genre-blending metal bands is offered up the weekend before the big day you can’t help but think you’ve been given your presents early. Rapidly rising nu-metal modern metal deathcore champions Graphic Nature have brought to Manchester the superb crossover melodic thrash of Grove Street and the triumphant return of the angular hardcore rock metal giants Feed The Rhino.

Live Review : Slipknot + Bleed From Within @ Co-op Live Arena, Manchester on December 17th 2024

Every band reaches a tipping point, where their rapid ascendancy slows, and they enter that “selective appeal" phase. It is the law of diminishing returns, the moment where the number of fans losing interest due to age, indifference and evolution of musical tastes outweigh the accumulation of new devotees. It is the point where stadium-sized bands recede to arenas, where those bothering Apollo's shift to Academies and festival headliners become special guests or even worse inhabit the dreaded "Legends" slot, an abomination designed to preserve the egos of artists yet to fully comprehend their decline. What is astonishing about Slipknot is that 25 years in they are still accelerating. They have a momentum that continues to gather both pace and followers to this very day. For some inexplicable reason, this group of mask-wearing grandad's well into their fifties are still able to speak to the freaks, geeks and disenfranchised of the generations below them.

Live Review : Evergrey + Klogr + Inner Vitriol @ Rebellion, Manchester on December 16th 2024

The golden rule of music journalism is to remember that no matter who the act is and no matter how lowly the circumstances that you are covering them in, for someone somewhere they are their favourite band ever. Evergrey svengali Tom Englund is the first to admit that tonight’s showing is rather disappointing. “Next time we come you bring your wives, your girlfriends, your boyfriends, your drug dealers, your lawyers, bring anyone” he deadpans during the set. However, despite the attendance being at a level where everybody needs to keep their coats on (including a fellow with a remarkably multicoloured jacket that captures Tom's eyes), the atmosphere is exceptionally buoyant and scintillatingly succulent. This is because for those who have made it out to central Manchester on a cold Monday night, Evergrey are either their favourite band or at the very least making great swipes at holding that accolade.

Live Review : The Darkness @ Rough Trade, Liverpool on December 12th 2024

The Darkness have been a fixture in UK popular rock’n’roll circles for numerous years now. Known for their spandex, ludicrous videos and songs, and dynamic range of vocals from charismatic frontman Justin Hawkins. So, when we were given the chance to cover their super special, intimate and early promo gig for forthcoming album ‘Dreams on Toast’ it was an opportunity we couldn’t believe we’d been afforded.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser15 December 2024Rough TradeThe Darkness, Rough Trade, Liverpool, 2024, Live Review, Matt Fraser, Johann WierzbickiComment