Dystopian Future Movies – 2022 – Credit: Rich Price Photography
Leeds’s The Wharf Chambers is an interesting little venue, a worker’s co-op pub and music space which at first was a little bit difficult to find. But once you do there’s a feeling of going back in time, not only in feel but also prices, 70p for a pint of diet coke no less. I’m coming back here, definitely.
Walking into The Den in Harrogate I was initially convinced I’d gone to the wrong place. This was a sports bar; the football was on. Double check, no this is the right place. Spotting a few of the bands by a stage in between pool tables, I must be in the same place.
Frank Turner – 2022 – Credit: Rich Price Photography
Entering Academy 1 just after doors and those of us early attendees were in for a surprise treat, added a few days ago on the tour was an extra support act in the form of Mash P. Introduced by Frank Turner himself who told the story of how he first met Mash in 2017 in Freetown, Sierra Leone where he was living on the street, and visiting the way out arts charity to find his art and his voice.
First time at the O2 Apollo, a lovely, antiquated venue, it has a very old-school theatre vibe to it, and as would become apparent for most sets tonight the sound and lighting were top-drawer. Continue reading
VOLA playing at Rebellion Manchester Credit: Rich Price
Opening up tonight were Nevada three-piece Four Stroke Baron, a band who are difficult to classify. Heavy slabs of groove-laden prog smash funkily across a packed audience. The set is marred only by the fact that in a couple of songs the singer notably loses his voice and the band without missing a beat goes on to deliver their first instrumental set from the dark smoke-laden stage of Rebellion and its notoriously bad lighting. Handling an awkward situation very well indeed they still delivered a solid and enjoyable set that had the audience’s heads bobbing along in time.
Metal in its various forms has a reasonably long-standing practice of making concept albums based on historical events, and the latest album from Dystopian Future Movies, War of the Ether (Septaphonic Records) continues that trend with what is almost certainly the most intense musical experience I have ever had.
Experimental folk collective Heilung (which means Healing in German) rather aptly describes their sound as amplified history; they’ve often taken inspiration for their music from ancient texts and documents. Old world instrumentation and techniques, coupled with ancient texts form the basis of their rituals.Continue reading
North Carolina’s Wailin Storms are intriguingly described as shapeshifting, atmospheric noise rockers, and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that particular epithet at first. However, within the first few minutes of their latest album The Silver Snake Unfolds, (Gilead Media), I got the idea, and after subsequent listens I knew exactly what they meant. Continue reading
The fabulously named Iowa-based duo Telekinetic Yeti release Primordial their follow up the rather excellent Abominable on Tee Pee Records, and appropriately it’s a beast.
Notably minimalist in its composition, which serves to emphasize the satisfyingly abrasive low end, title track Primordial kicks off proceedings with a very potent low and slow deep groove. This is made even more impressive by the lack of a bass player.Continue reading
Italian stoner rockers Oreyeon release their third album Equations For The Useless (Heavy Psych Sounds), a potent mix of stoner, grunge, heavy rock, and lengthier progressive compositions. This album notably draws on the influences of years gone by not only in style but was also recorded live, an approach to a recording I’m very much a fan of.