Opeth, Tesseract, This Will Destroy You, Amenra, Ihsahn, Perturbator, Rolo Tomassi and More Booked for Arctangent Festival 2020


Events Center, Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV 8/18/19

Arctangent Festival has announced its first main stage headliner for 2020, as a UK 2020 exclusive, Opeth! The band will continue touring behind its In Cauda Venenum album, out now via Nuclear Blast. They will be joined by Tesseract (UK festival exclusive), This Will Destroy You, Amenra (UK 2020 exclusive), Ihsahn, Perturbator, Rolo Tomassi (performing two full albums sets – ‘Grievances’ and ‘Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It’), Earthtone9, Giraffes? Giraffes!, Fronterier and many more to be announced. The fest takes place on August 20th/21st/22nd 2020 at Fernhill Farm, Compton Martin near Bristol, and tickets are on sale now at the link below. Continue reading


FESTIVAL REVIEW: Bloodstock Open Air 2019


Now in its nineteenth year, the annual metal pilgrimage to Bloodstock Open Air at Catton Hall in Derbyshire was joined this year by a very special, but highly unstable, guest.

The weather.

Yes, I know it’s England in August, and we should be more than accustomed to inconsistent weather conditions, but this really was something else. Tents too hot to be inside one moment were waterlogged the next. People soaked to the skin by sudden, torrential downpours were suffering sunburn minutes later. Grass turned to mud, mud became rivers, and the unprecedented winds would go on to cause problems all of their own.Continue reading


Tramlines Fringe Festival Live at Sheffield City Hall


I arrive to find Trigger Thumb just on stage, with a quite busy and appreciative crowd in front of them. The room is already warm and echoing, though neither of these things seems to put off either audience nor band, despite the slight disservice done to Trigger Thumb by this. Even from the third song in, there are noticeably more heads nodding along and more movement in the crowd from earlier, as the Bradford 3-piece start to quickly work over the crowd, with vocalist/guitarist Arron’s self-deprecation between songs raising a number of smiles around the room, as he says, We are Trigger Thumb and we are losers”. Musically, they veer between noisy Math Rock and some quite delicate guitar and vocals, showing an homage, at least, to The Mars Volta, whilst nods to the likes of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Faith No More pop through at various times. They perform their set with a minimum of fuss and thoroughly earned the loud applause they garner at the end of their set.

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We Never Learned To Live – The Sleepwalk Transmissions


Much like Roadrunner Records in the 1990s, a mark of contemporary quality is any band on the Holy Roar Records roster. You are guaranteed an absolute slobber knocker with pretty much everything they have put out over the last decade, whether it’s the all-out Hardcore of Employed to Serve or Secret Cutter, the Screamo of Portrayal of Guilt or the psychedelic Stoner Prog of Boss Keloid. Now turning to Post Hardcore, we as listeners should welcome the arrival of We Never Learned To Live‘s latest offering; The Sleepwalk Transmissions (Holy Roar Records).Continue reading


Bloodstock Open Air Announces the “Raise Your Horns Contest”


Bloodstock Open Air has announced a fan contest, the Raise Your Horns Contest (#BLOODSTOCKRAISEYOURHORNS)! To enter send you best scream in a 10-15 second (max) video to the team at Bloodstock. Prizes include VIP tickets to Bloodstock 2019, a back stage tour and more! Watch the video below to get the deets and enter! Continue reading


Krysthla, All Hail The Yeti, Barbarian Hermit, and More Join Bloodstock 2019


Bloodstock 2019 has added a bunch of new bands including Bloodstock adds Krysthla, All Hail The Yeti, Barbarian Hermit, Blind River, Ten Ton Slug, Footprints In The Custard, Countless Skies, and Bongcauldron. They join the ranks of BOA 2019 headliners Sabaton, Parkway Drive and Scorpions, as well as Anthrax, Dimmu Borgir, Children Of Bodom, Code Orange, Powerwolf, Soilwork, Cradle Of Filth, Thy Art Is Murder, Tesseract, Metal Church, Soulfly, Death Angel, Dee Snider, Queensryche, Eluveitie, Swallow The Sun, Evil Scarecrow, Ross The Boss, Grand Magus, Rotting Christ, Incite and Hypocrisy on the Catton Park stages this August.

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Aborted, Skeletal Remains, The Lazys, 3 Headed Snake, Boss Keloid and More Booked For Bloodstock 2019


Bloodstock Open Air has added seven more bands to the bill for 2019, including Aborted, Skeletal Remains, The Lazys, 3 Headed Snake, Boss Keloid, Dust Bolt, and Red Method. The fest has also added seven more coach pick-ups for the fest, which you can see below. Eighty more bands still to be named for BOA 2019, with headliners Sabaton, Parkway Drive and Scorpions, join Anthrax, Dimmu Borgir, Children Of Bodom, Code Orange, Powerwolf, Soilwork, Cradle Of Filth, Thy Art Is Murder, Tesseract, Metal Church, Soulfly, Death Angel, Dee Snider, Queensryche, Eluveitie, Swallow The Sun, Evil Scarecrow, Ross The Boss, Grand Magus, Rotting Christ, Incite and Hypocrisy on the Catton Park stages this August. Continue reading


Dun Ringill – Welcome


It may sound like a whimsical name for a quaint English country cottage but Dun Ringill has a far more serious pedigree, its members grouped from the ranks of Doomdogs and The Order Of Israfel among others. Debut album Welcome (Argonauta Records) drags influence from Nordic Folk as well as other more eccentric fields, while retaining something of a Stoner groove.Continue reading


GUEST POST: Lisa Coverdale of HoldTight PR – Top Albums Of 2018


To say that HoldTight PR has a whole cohort of bands that sit very much within the Ghost Cult world is to state the bleedin’ obvious. With a specialism in noisy, discordant, progressive, sludgy, punky and cutting edge, we’re easy bedfellows. Added to that, head honcho Lisa Coverdale is a potty-mouthed whirling dervish with a wicked sense of humour and a way with words that lures you into checking out her bands with a glint of excitement before you’ve even hit play. We’re delighted to continue to work with her to give exposure to a whole host of the modern underground scenes’ best new up-and-coming bands. We’re also pretty chuffed to be hosting her albums of the year post, too…Continue reading