Live Review : Machine Head + Amon Amarth + The Halo Effect @ AO Arena, Manchester on September 12th 2022

If you want proof that the cost-of-living crisis is beginning to bite, then you need not look further than the woeful attendance for tonight's show. Both Machine Head and Amon Amarth are titans in our world, yet once-in-a-lifetime pair up has sold less than 5000 tickets for a twenty-two thousand-capacity arena. The underpopulation and unadvertised early start mean that the Halo Effect are shoved out in front of a bare handful of people. This is a crying shame as they are absolutely astonishing this evening.

Live Review : Lonely the Brave + VLMV + The Throwaway Scene @ Academy 3, Manchester on September 9th 2022

Arriving late (I know there is a theme emerging) I only caught the end of The Throwaway Scene. The venue is quite empty, but it is early, and it has been a surreal day after the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth yesterday. This trio are rock/ emo comprising a rather smartly dressed singer, a bassist, and drummer. Having no guitarist is weird, so we get a stripped back sound, but it works; a mix of clear, angsty but energetically delivered vocals with a heavy accompaniment. They have recently added the video for ‘Conscience Alley’ to YouTube, so give them a listen.

Live Review : Crippled Black Phoenix + MØL + Impure Wilhelmina @ Rebellion, Manchester on September 9th 2022

Being a devotee of an underground and under appreciated band is rather like being a fan of a third-division football team. For one there is an awful lot of tedious travel involved. My incredibly unscientific poll (I heard a smattering of Scouse accents and spoke to people from as far afield as Leicester and Lancaster) showed that people had travelled from all over the northwest (and further) for tonight's show. Secondly, there is that gnawing loneliness caused by the fact that most of the time nobody else seems to really appreciate what you see in them.

Live Review : Reckless Love + The Treatment + Collateral @ Hangar 34, Liverpool on September 3rd 2022

It’s a funny sort of night tonight. This is one of a long line of covid-hit gigs, originally scheduled to be Reckless Love and Dan Reed Network co-headlining, with Mason Hill supporting. Then covid happened, and it all got postponed, and rescheduled, and postponed again, then things happened in the Dan Reed camp and he dropped out, the dates didn’t work for Mason Hill, the original venue (grand Central Hall) closed down and we began to wonder if any tour at all would happen.

Live Review : The Interrupters + The Skints + The Bar Stool Preachers @ the Academy, Manchester on August 29th 2022

Arriving fashionably late I miss part of The Barstool Preachers set and hover at the back, disappointed with myself as the few songs I caught, including ‘When This World Ends’ and ‘Barstool Preacher’ have the place buzzing. I have heard good things about the band and have heard a few tracks on the radio, but until tonight I know very little about them.

Live Review : Death Angel + Thrown Into Exile + Reaper @ Rebellion, Manchester on August 15th 2022

If Uada provided a stiff Aperitif for Bloodstock, then Death Angel is the perfect lengthy digestif. And I put the emphasis on lengthy, as even though the UK dates are right in the middle of a continental festival trek, Death Angel resist the temptation to just give us their mid-afternoon set and instead serve up a whopping two-hour plus show. We even get a decent undercard with much fancied Liverpudlian thrashers Reaper opening up proceedings. There is something wonderfully endearing about watching a bunch of kids, who weren't even around when thrash first happened (hell, whose parents probably won't even around) play this music with such conviction and obvious enjoyment.

Live Review : Uada + Panzerfaust @ Rebellion, Manchester on August 9th 2022

Tonight, serves as a cheeky aperitif to the impending metalageddon that is the Bloodstock festival. However, the one question that it does raise is why the hell our Vicki didn't manage to snare either of these bands for her jamboree of noise. You see both Panzafaust and Uada are part of a new generation of Black Metal bands that are determined to leave the genre’s constricting templates behind. Rather than embroil themselves in decades-old conventions and constructs, they use Black Metal as a launchpad to explore other sonic landscapes.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas17 August 2022RebellionUada, Panzerfaust, Rebellion, Manchester, 2022, Live Review, Stewart Lucas, Ryan HicksonComment

Live Review : Massive + Takeaway Thieves + Bastette @ The Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on August 8th 2022

We start the evening with Bastette and the first thing I notice is that there's yet another new guitarist. This time it's Laurie Buchanon, also a member of The Hot Damn and previously working with her brother Aaron Buchanon. This isn't a bad thing though because Laurie is a cracking guitarist and she brings a little bit of extra magic to the band.

Live Review : Comeback Kid + Spaced + XL Life @ The Bread Shed, Manchester on August 2nd 2022

I think it's fair to say that we don't get masses of hardcore gigs passing through the North West, so it’s a real treat to have a band with the calibre of Comeback Kid headlining a gig in Manchester. The Bread Shed offers everything you need to make this kind of gig work, with that underground vibe and close-up intimate stage. In fact, as would be hoped at a hardcore gig, there’s no barrier tonight - something our photographer is a bit nervous about it’s plain to see!

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser6 August 2022The Bread ShedComeback Kid, Spaced, XL Life, The Bread Shed, Manchester, 2022, Live ReviewComment

Live Review : Dropout Kings + Borders + In Depths @ Satan’s Hollow, Manchester on July 26th 2022

There’s nothing like walking through the streets of Manchester on a sunny day...on your way to Satan’s Hollow for a gig! Just as i’m strolling to the venue I spot ROCKFLESH’s very own Dark Lord himself (Johann), complete with a an injured hand. Ensuing jokes about me possibly having to take the photos of tonight’s gig, as well as writing the review, serve only to make me chuckl and smile more. Spolier – Johann did take the photos and did and amazing job working through the obvious pain in hand, ever the professional and champ. As we make our way up to stairs into the venue we can hear that openers In Depths have already started and in full flow.

Live Review : Myke Gray + Ashen Reach @ Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on July 24th 2022

It’s hard to imagine sometimes exactly where the last 30 years have gone isn’t it? If we think back to those days, say every time we listen to Planet Rock, it immediately transports you back through time and the music we listened to, or probably still listen to, and how it has woven in and out of our lives through the good, the bad and the indifferent times.

Live Review : The Struts + Cardinal Black @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on July 19th 2022

My first gig was Queen at Wembley Stadium. In equal measure majestic and ethereal, the image of Freddie Mercury is forever imprinted on my brain. He seemed to be hyperreal, burning off the stage in a flurry of kinetic energy. There was something magical about the way he held eighty-odd thousand people in the palm of his hand. I was transfixed and forever smitten.

Live review : The Prodigy + Jaguar Skills @ Mounford Hall, Liverpool on July 14th 2022

The last time I saw The Prodigy was also in Liverpool. I’d spent a lonely afternoon day drinking after nobody turned up at the agreed time, rocked up at the arena after a few shots in Bar Ca Va, and had a fight with a guy because his trainers were worth £400 and what was I doing dancing near him… mate I am living my best life, good grief.

It was also the last time I saw Keith Flint.

Live Review : Gatecreeper + Cryptic Shift + Celestial Sanctuary @ Rebellion, Manchester on July 9th 2022

It's officially the hottest nights of the year. The atmosphere is stifling, and you can feel the heat sizzle off the pavement. This is a night for smooth tunes and a gentle summer breeze. So where am I, I hear you cry? Well, I'm melting in a sweltering and heaving Rebellion to witness a trio of corrosive Death Metal bands, where else would I be? The fact that the place is so packed speaks volumes about a) how desperate we are to get back to live music (it still feels like a forbidden fruit that could be snatched from us at any given time) and b) the power of word-of-mouth.

Live Review : Vulvodynia + Pintglass + Auraboros @ Star and Garter, Manchester on July 6th 2022

Late opening doors, list confusion, a surplus of photographers and the distraction of a political meltdown happening down in Westminster, all mean that I only catch the dying seconds of Auraboros. What I do see is simultaneously chaotic and cathartic. They are a blur of kinetic energy, hurling fistfuls of distorted metalcore into the crowd. Very much one to put on my "need to arrive earlier" list.

Live Review : Tailgunner + Guise + The Mick White Band + Riot-Eye @ Zanzibar, Liverpool on July 2nd 2022

Just a mere stone's throw away from the bombastic and chaotic Concert Square, The Zanzibar on Seel Street played host to a spectacular 4 band bill topped by, in my opinion, the hottest new band on the scene; the mighty Tailgunner.

Up first however were mancunian, sleaze punk four-piece, Riot Eye. To put it as simply as I can, they were incredible. A lot of bands would see an empty space and a sparse crowd and allow that to get to them as a result of it appearing that no one wanted to get there early to see them, Riot Eye however absolutely thrived in these conditions.

Live Review : Greta Van Fleet + Marcus King @ O2 Apollo, Manchester on June 28th 2022

Well, this is a bit different. I do not think I have been in the Apollo since Billy Idol played in 2014! On arrival the queue is massive, and I am thankful I can go straight inside. The place is heaving, which comes as no surprise as this is the first of two sold out shows in Manchester.

Live Review : Rammstein @ Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry on June 26th 2022

It may seem like lazy journalism to cite Rammstein's show in Coventry as indescribable, but for two very distinct reasons that is exactly what it is. Firstly, it completely and utterly disregards all existing precedent about what a stadium show should be, essentially it takes the rule book and literally sets fire to it. For decades and decades convention has been that the stadium shows should all be presented in the same formulaic way. Box at the end of the playing field, lights over the band, a couple of makeshift screens either side and Bruce Springsteen's your uncle.

Live Review : Nine Inch Nails @ O2 Apollo, Manchester on June 21st 2022

We all have tales about Trent Reznor being difficult. Whether it be playing behind a view-obscuring bank of lights (Leeds Festival 2007), looking bored and massively disinterested (Sonisphere 2009) or failing to acknowledge that there was an audience there at all (Manchester Arena 2014). Well, I am proud to report that tonight our Trent is personable and even bordering on affable. He interacts with the audience numerous times and voluntarily enters into a conversation with vocal members of the front row.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas22 June 2022O2 ApolloNIN, Nine Inch Nails, O2 Apollo, Manchester, 2022, Live Review, Stewart LucasComment

Live Review : Tremonti + The Raven Age @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on June 20th 2022

In a rush as usual but I head upstairs to get a good view of the stage and the place is not only heaving, it’s also hot. Until Sunday I had never heard of The Raven Age, so I am quite surprised at how packed the venue is already and there is an air of anticipation, so I am expecting good things.

The Raven Age are an English heavy metal band formed in 2009 by guitarists Dan Wright and George Harris (son of Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris). They have previously toured with Tremonti, along with Iron Maiden, Anthrax and Killswitch Engage. They are described as melodic metalcore, but I am non-the-wiser…