The Load In August may have been a relatively quiet month in terms of the volume of events I attended, but there can be no doubt that the quality has been exceptionally high. Having already spoken at length about Radar festival in my last column, I only have three more…
There aren’t many better illustrations of how interconnected the UK tech-metal scene is than a glance at Heart of a Coward’s family tree. Before their inception, drummer Christopher Mansbridge was part of djent pioneers Fellsilent, whose demise also brought Tesseract and Monuments to life as full bands rather than side-projects.…
Ah, May! What a heady month, as Spring makes itself known in most of our circles. It’s probably my favorite time of the year to listen to music; something about the combination between the weather, the symbology of the period, the days getting longer, and the fact that it’s just…
The Load-In Good lord, it’s been a big month. It’s not necessarily been a high-volume month in terms of the quantity of shows, but the quality has been incredibly high. Some special, one-off sets and a pair of outstanding album release shows mean that I have a lot to say.…
Each month, we always seem to come to the same conclusion when it comes to our Editors’ Picks column: Friday release days open the floodgates and unleash a seemingly endless stream of quality new music. But while some of our Editors and Contributors sit down gleefully each week to dive into this newly stocked treasure…
If ever awards were given for the most appropriate album name, British hardcore quintet Employed To Serve would be a dead cert for the 2019 trophy with Eternal Forward Motion. Since dropping their 2015 debut album, Greyer Than You Remember, the band have barely strayed beyond touching distance of a stage or…
The Load-In Aaaaand we’re back. Maybe you noticed, maybe you didn’t, but I substituted last month’s column for my Keith Flint memorial piece. That felt like it needed to be done. I had been intending to write about the pestilence that is crowd-killing, and the knuckle-headed idiocy of vocalists saying…
It’s probably fair to say that many of us don’t fully want to admit to ourselves that there probably won’t be another Dillinger Escape Plan album. But, as time stretches away from those final shows at the end of 2017, various members of the band are wheeling out their post-Dillinger…
“I’m not here to make friends.” As statements of Ithaca’s intent go, this screamed refrain is about as concise as they come. Ithaca have been a near-constant presence in London’s teeming hardcore scene for some years now. Finally, after two EPs and countless shows, their hard work has been rewarded with the…
Four years ago, I started to keep a complete list of every band I saw. Three years ago, I began kicking myself for not starting that childishly simple task sooner. Never mind. At least I can tell you exactly what I got up to this year – with one important caveat. A…
