Author: David Straw
Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes - Modern Ruin Album Review
Who is Frank Carter? To many, he's the raucous, bloodied, frenzied frontman of Gallows' early days. To others he's Grey Britain's vitriolic voice of a disillusioned country.Is he the upbeat, He could be the upbeat,...
Review posted on 20th January 2017
David Straw's Top Ten Albums of 2016
Just from bands that didn't make the final ten, we've seen stunning new British bands break through in the likes of Milk Teeth and Zoax, while the Dillinger Escape Plan signed off with a record...
News posted in Music / Festivals on 26th December 2016
Letlive - If I'm The Devil... Album Review
Letlive. are a band with something rare to defend in 2016, a perfect two-for-two with regards recorded output, and a flawless reputation in the live arena.Building their reputation on politically-charged songs served alongside an incendiary,...
Review posted on 10th June 2016
Slam Dunk 2016 - Live Review
2016 looks set to be a sink or soar year for festivals. While the losses of Hevy Fest & Temples (RIP) and Hit The Deck - ducking quietly into the aether without ever being announced...
Review posted on 6th June 2016
Slam Dunk 2016 Preview
This year appears to be no different. Panic! At The Disco, whose early output helped soundtrack the Slam Dunk generation, as well as an infectious early 2016 release in Death of a Bachelor, and New...
News posted in Music / Festivals on 18th May 2016
Hacktivist - Outside the Box Album Review
Three years is a long time to wait for a debut album. But then, Hacktivist have hardly trodden a traditional path to reach February 2016, and the release of Outside The Box.The verdict? This is...
Review posted on 11th March 2016
Bury Tomorrow - Earthbound Album Review
In a landscape where the genre is becoming dangerously stale, a metalcore band as 'down the line' as Bury Tomorrow could run the risk of getting lost in the mix. Rather than change their formula,...
Review posted on 28th January 2016
David Straw's Top 10 Albums Of 2015
10. Counterparts - Tragedy Will Find Us Staunch defenders of their metalcore tag, Counterparts might have a bit of trouble keeping it, given that Tragedy Will Find Us is at its best when it feels...
News posted in Music / Festivals on 22nd December 2015
Coheed and Cambria - The Color Before The Sun Album Review
To say that Coheed and Cambria have been committed to their ongoing Armory Wars concept is an understatement to the extreme. The seven-album arc has dictated their direction over nearly two decades, originally gave the...
Review posted on 2nd November 2015
Heart Of A Coward - Deliverance Album Review
If you're a fan of heavy music, even guitar music in general, played by a band who mean it, Heart of a Coward's 'Deliverance' is the album for you.First single 'Hollow' is huge; a white-hot,...
Review posted on 21st October 2015
Parkway Drive - Ire Album Review
A band can make a lot of changing style for a new record. It seems to be the hallmark of modern metal bands, to move in a different direction, and gamble on breaking into wider...
Review posted on 30th September 2015
Slipknot - Nottingham 26 January 2015 Live Review
This has never been about exclusion. Slipknot have always been such a divisive entity because people fear the unknown, and people fear power. Slipknot's meteoric rise to being the biggest heavy metal band of this...
Review posted on 27th January 2015
Nirvana: In The Words Of The People Who Were There - Carrie Borzillo Book Review
Nirvana are a band I should probably like more than I do, and know more about than the fleeting trips to 'Nevermind' and 'In Utero', via the fabled, tragic story of Kurt Cobain.Nirvana's story, from...
Review posted on 1st October 2014
SOiL - Whole Album Review
SOiL are an interesting quantity in the rock world. Everyone knows them, but only when the familiar strains of mega-hit 'Halo' emerge through speakers - a staple part of every alternative club set. Since that...
Review posted on 12th December 2013
Max Raptor - Mother's Ruin Album Review
In today's musical climate, a band's name can be an easy route into working out what they sound like. Even with a name like Max Raptor, nothing can prepare for the joy to be found...
Review posted on 29th November 2013
Pure Love - Anthems Album Review
When Frank Carter, incendiary frontman of Gallows, announced his departure a little over 18 months ago, fans went into what can only be described as mourning. Choosing to channel his energy into something altogether more...
Review posted on 4th February 2013
Funeral For A Friend - Conduit Album Review
2003, Bridgend, South Wales. A post-hardcore band by the name of Funeral For A Friend have just released their debut record 'Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation'. The reception is excellent, with one notable heavy...
Review posted on 28th January 2013
Billy Talent - Nottingham Rock City Live Review
Toronto's finest punk rockers Billy Talent arrived in Nottingham as part of Rock Sound's Riot tour. Joining them on this autumn's jaunt around the UK were highly rated Don Broco and AWOLNation, travelling over from...
Review posted on 14th November 2012
Gallows - Nottingham Rock City Basement Live Review
The King is dead, long live the Kings.After the events that unfolded in the summer of 2011, Gallows' autumn tour was always going to be something of an acid test for the band. The first...
Review posted on 30th October 2012
Cradle of Filth - The Manticore and Other Horrors Album Review
Their first studio album since 2010's Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa, The Manticore and Other Horrors follows a summer reissue of Cradle of Filth's early back catalogue, covering the releases from between 1994 and 2002. Where...
Review posted on 30th October 2012
Lower Than Atlantis - Changing Tune Album Review
October 2012 and Watford's Lower Than Atlantis are a very different proposition to the days before the release of their first EP three days before Christmas 2008. The four years that have passed has seen...
Review posted on 18th October 2012
Axewound - Vultures Album Review
'Supergroup' is a painfully overused term. However, in the case of Axewound, no other term can be used to describe the combined efforts of Cancer Bats' Liam Cormier, Bullet For My Valentine frontman Matt Tuck,...
Review posted on 9th October 2012
Various Artists - Songs of Anarchy: Music from Sons of Anarchy Seasons 1-4 Album Review
Hit Television series Sons of Anarchy has everything; countless complicated and fascinating characters, interwoven plot lines and an excellent soundtrack to boot. Combining a number of the finest songs ever written with some of the...
Review posted on 9th October 2012
ZZ Top - La Futura Album Review
The original Texan trio have returned with style. Some nine years after the release of their previous record Mescalero, ZZ Top have produced one of their most consistent efforts in recent memory. With Rick Rubin...
Review posted on 9th October 2012
Muse - The 2nd Law Album Review
Muse's The 2nd Law can be summed up by listening to the first minute of opening track Supremacy. Sprawling, bombastic and overflowing with ideas, yet somehow lacking something that's impossible to place.First single Madness harnesses...
Review posted on 25th September 2012
Subsource, Generation Doom EP Review
Liam Howlett of The Prodigy loves them, Ragga-Metal heavyweights Skindred have been using their mix of Slipknot's Duality on tour and a legion of fans have been converted by their high-energy live shows. Subsource exhibit...
Review posted on 18th September 2012
Leeds & Reading Festival - Friday 24 August 2012
Bramham Park. The site of the annual Leeds Festival since 1999. This year's line-up suggested anything other than an unlucky thirteen. More than a hundred and fifty bands and acts from Sheffield to Sacramento would...
Review posted on 30th August 2012
Leeds & Reading Festival - Saturday 25 August 2012
Saturday's music started even earlier. Minutes after Green Day opened up the NME/Radio 1 Stage at Reading, Funeral Suits were bringing their individual brand of synth driven post-rock to a steadily growing crowd. Unique in...
Review posted on 30th August 2012
Leeds & Reading Festival - Sunday 26 August 2012
Fresh with the anticipation of a secret appearance by Green Day, hundreds of fans poured into the NME/Radio 1 Stage by eleven o'clock, in the hope that their exploits at Reading would be repeated at...
Review posted on 30th August 2012
The Milk - Tales From The Thames Delta
The Milk. One band from Essex comprising four men with a single, focussed vision. To put the spirit of Soul and R&B back into today's music. With their frankly brilliant debut release Tales From The...
Review posted on 13th August 2012
Suggested
Leisure Festival - Dreamland in Margate
On the same day that Glastonbury welcomed back Margate's adopted sons, The Libertines, Margate itself put on it's very own Leisure Festival as it...
Pretty Fierce talk to us about collaborating with Doja Cat, emetophobia, arena tours and staying "true to yourself" [EXCLUSIVE]
Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.
Will Varley & Jack Valero - The Astor Theatre Deal Live Review
Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.
WYSE talks to us about her "form of synaesthesia", collaborating with Radiohead's Thom York and the prospect of touring with a band [EXCLUSIVE]
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
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Bay Bryan talks to us about being a "wee queer ginger", singing with Laura Marling and being inspired by Matilda [EXCLUSIVE]
Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
Keelan X talks to us about staying true to "your creative vision", collaborating with Giorgio Moroder and being "a yoga nut" [EXCLUSIVE]
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
![Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]](https://images.contactmusic.com/images/home/homepage/luke-de-sciscio-abof-a.jpg "Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]")
Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Annie Elise talks to us about the challenges a female producer has to face and "going through a year of grief and sickness" [EXCLUSIVE]
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...
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