Preview: Ball To The Wall – Presented by Riffolution

Words: Matthew Williams

Alas, all good things must come to end, and after many years of enjoying their stoner/doom/psych shows, including Brant Bjork Trio, 1000mods and Sasquatch, Riffolution Promotions is drawing the curtains for one final time. I’ve attended many of their events around the city, including 2024’s Riffolution Festival, and to go out with a bang, they are bringing back one band from that weekend who didn’t quite make it.

With the recent revelation about his battle with testicular cancer, Riffolution Promotions Danny Godwin, bassist of Ritual King, has confirmed that the final send off will see all profits donated to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust for the hard work and support they gave him. A truly worthwhile cause, I’m sure that we all agree.

On a day full of emotion, they have pulled together an eight-band stoner/doom festival that will send a spooky shiver across the city on Halloween. Starting with the power of Bradford’s Iron Rat all the way through to headliners Elephant Tree, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. There are 3 bands whom I never seen before, psychedelic stoner group Vassal, Brighton’s slowed down doomsters Sea Bastard and from over the Pennines, Hundred Year Old Man, who will supply the post metal mastery that are renown for.

Heading up the local contingent is Under, who certainly aren’t afraid to push the boundaries of sounds and song structure, as demonstrated on their latest release “What Happened in Roundwood” and of course it wouldn’t be a Riffolution Promotions event unless Ritual King were playing. I’m sure that they’ll receive a big round of applause when their unique brand of psych rock and heavy stoner rock gets the party started as their grooves reverberate around Rebellion.

If you’ve survived the mid-afternoon/early evening frivolities, then get set for the final two pieces of the jigsaw, as we get a double dose from our London brethren, in the form of doomy sludgesters Slabdragger, who I’m genuinely excited about seeing again, followed by headliners Elephant Tree. It’s great to see them back in Manchester, especially after they had to pull out of the 2024 Riffolution Festival, but having seen them more recently at Desertfest, they are definitely one to watch and will wrap up a day where we come to celebrate good music and friendship, but more importantly, we come to celebrate life.

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.

The post Preview: Ball To The Wall – Presented by Riffolution appeared first on The Razor's Edge.

Posted on October 22nd 2026, 4:12pm

I’m 52, lived in and around Glasgow for around 20 or so years throughout my life and until tonight I don’t think I’ve ever set foot in the Pavilion Theatre. What a shame as it’s a nice little space, very much like a petite version of the Kings’ down the road. What brought me here … Continue reading “Gig” Review: Alice Cooper ‘Devil On My Shoulder’ Book Tour – Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow (19th October 2026)

Jimmy Page always saw the project as more average than career-defining. But there was no questioning its sheer excess. Continue reading…

Old friends and bandmates of Cliff Burton have looked back at the late Metallica bassist’s prodigious talent in conversation with Metal Hammer.

Talking exclusively in our latest issue, Mike Overton – the guitarist in Burton’s first professional band, Trauma – remembers the Castro Valley, California native as his “stage buddy”. However, he reveals that Burton’s chops caused some friction between them in the early days, given the bassist had studied classical music and music theory at Chabot College.

“We actually battled a little bit in the beginning because he was playing way too much stuff, and I was just confused,” he laughs. “Cliff was all over the place, but it fit. I really had to learn a little bit in those few months we were playing and practising.”

He also looks back on the time Trauma, who featured future Faith No More member Jim Martin, entered a local battle of the bands and baffled the judges.

“The looks on the judges’ faces when they came out playing were just, like, shock and awe,” Overton explains with a laugh. “Most of us were going, ‘Man, that stuff sounds great. It’s so progressive and out of the box.’ But the judges were looking for the next Journey.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Brian Slagel – the founder of Metal Blade Records, who released Metallica’s first song Hit The Lights in 1982 – recalls watching Burton play with Trauma at a Los Angeles concert.

“Within 30 seconds I realised that the band was OK but this bass player they had was just incredible,” he says. “You know, he was Cliff Burton. He was in the denim with the big, wavy hair and the bass and going crazy onstage. I spent the whole show staring at him pretty much.”

Burton’s virtuoso style and stage presence led to Metallica poaching him from Trauma barely a year after he joined the fledgling band. Despite losing such a gifted player, Overton says he wasn’t upset over Burton jumping ship.

“The other guys in Trauma were getting more into the lighter stuff, so I wasn’t upset,” he says. “In fact, the first show Metallica did with Cliff, he put me on the guest list, and I’m sitting there going, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I was blown away with the raw power. I missed my stage buddy but I think it’s clear he made the right decision.”

After joining Metallica and getting the rising thrashers to relocate from L.A. to San Francisco for a more fertile alternative music scene, Burton played on three of their albums: Kill ’Em All (1983), Ride The Lightning (1984) and Master Of Puppets (1986). His classically trained talents came across through the bass solos on such tracks as Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth) and For Whom The Bell Tolls, as well as the neoclassical songwriting on Puppets’ title track.

Burton died on September 27, 1986, after Metallica’s tour bus crashed and flipped onto its side on tour in Sweden. He was 24. A memorial still exists near the crash site outside the town of Ljungby and is regularly visited by fans. The band paid tribute on 1988 album …And Justice For All, including a line on the song To Live Is To Die which Burton had adapted from a Paul Gerhardt poem.

Metallica hired Jason Newsted in November 1986 and continued to tour and record, affirming themselves as the biggest band in heavy metal with 1991’s Diamond-selling Metallica. Newsted departed in 2001 and was replaced by current bassist Robert Trujillo. The band are currently hosting a residency at Las Vegas’ multimedia venue The Sphere and will take the stage again tonight (October 22).

Raed Hammer’s full celebration of Burton’s life and legacy in the new issue. As well as his early years, we explore his time in Metallica and the impact he made on future generations of musicians. Order your copy now and get it delivered directly to your door.

The post Cobalt Razor Seventy Six Review appeared first on Edgar Allan Poets – Noir Rock Band.

(written by Islander) Today we gladly reunite with the music of the Polish “Subcarpathian Black Metal” band Kalt Vindur. We’ve been writing about and recommending their music since discovering their second album …And Nothing Is Endless in 2020. They followed that with a quartet of singles in 2023 and then their third album Magna Mater […]

The post AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KALT VINDUR — “IN SILENCE” appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.

The post Westerman Announces New EP <em>Reception</em>: Hear “L/C” appeared first on Stereogum.

Ahead of the release of their new album, ‘Perfecth’

Source

Pulled Apart By Horses have announced the details of their new album, set to be released on their own label Damage Limited Records.

The record will be titled ‘Dopamine Hits’ and will be unleashed on February 12.

The artwork is ace and looks like this:

And the tracklisting like this:

1. Great White Lies
2. Get It Together
3. Dr. Ego
4. Beta-Male
5. Weirdo / Little Fish
6. Streamlined & Moisturised
7. Ride Or Die
8. Main Character
9. Pass No Judgment
10. Stress Manifest
11. Testify. Obsolete
12. Kreep It Real

You can also hear opening track ‘Great White Lies’ right now, a groove-riddled, gritty and grinding piece of psychedelic noise.

Vocalist Tom Hudson had this to say about it:

“This track came as a bit of a ‘lightbulb moment’ for us early on in the writing stages and ended up being a blueprint sonically, opening up the creative floodgates for the rest of the album. Initially, it was just a loop of the bassline & drums which we then jammed over with abrasive, push-and-pull fuzzed up guitar lines.”

The post Pulled Apart By Horses Announce New Album ‘Dopamine Hits’ appeared first on Rock Sound.