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  • Ariana Grande and the Debate Over Health, Privacy and Celebrity

    The pop star has long pushed back on comments about her weight loss, urging fans to be “gentler.” As her fame reached new heights, so did the scrutiny.

  • Two Punk Legends Help Revive a Cult Band’s Archive

    The Cramps introduced the world to “psychobilly” and turned Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye into fans. Now the duo is part of an effort to bring the music back.

  • Reviews: BIG|BRAVE, DDENT, Mimi Barks, Profane Burial (Matt Bladen & Mark Young)

    BIG|BRAVE – In Grief Or In Hope (Thrill Jockey) [Matt Bladen]

    BIG|BRAVE are one of the bands that exemplify experimental music more than any others, the trio have never played anything they’ve done safely, and with this new album they make a shift towards another style yet to be utilised.

    In Grief Or In Hope     favours an “electro-acoustic” sound where the guitars take prominence for the first time, these songs are all hooked around dense distorted guitar walls, effects laden and just at the apex between noise and beauty, cascading between shimmering highs and fuzzing lows, there’s a balance been natural and unnatural here.

    It’s the first time long time touring bassist Liam Andrews has joined Robin Wattie and Matthieu Bell band in the studio and his contribution cannot be understated. Creating a density below the guitar explorations, his bass adds a heavy thump below the dissonant guitars, repeating loops and haunting vocals.

    There’s a juxtaposition on this tenth album as BIG|BRAVE have created a style I can only refer to as “drone pop”, expanding on the lyrical content from their previous albums, this is record that has been etched by pain and struggle but counters these dense caverns of distortion with acoustic layering and melodic phrasing, welcoming hope against the tide of pain grief can brings. 8/10

    DDENT – Feeding The Voids Luster (Chien Noir) [Mark Young]

    I just want to confirm something with this. The accompanying bio made quite a statement that I feel is completely necessary to add into this review, just before I get started. The five songs here were effectively captured in two takes, sans samples or any other studio fripperary. 

    I’m so intrigued by this, given the relative length of the songs within, I’m hoping that once I press play that this will be one of my listening experiences of the year. That statement, to me, promises a lot. It suggests that this is a group of musicians that are potentially operating at the top of their game and that they take this game very seriously. Or it could be just smoke and mirrors, but I’m hoping that it’s the former.

    DDENT is a French instrumental post-metal and doom metal band, just to set that scene, and the lead off track is Dis à la lune qu’elle vienne, a slow and lumbering beast in which they also drop the guttural of guttural vocalising in to add an even harder edge to it. Leaning more to the doom side, it’s a heavy sound that acts as a simple appetizer, one that leads straight into the longer Longue, obscure et triste lune. That it shares a similar pace and build as the opener isn’t a real surprise and makes perfect sense in making sure that the leaps it takes are perfectly organic. 

    The thing here is that it is built around ascending patterns, ones where it will tee up an emotional reaction in the listener. This one is definitely cut from the doomier side of things, with arrangements that are the sonic equivalent of a clenched fist and I guess you could describe it as pugnacious, its certainly focused. The story takes a turn, the speed increased and those vocals return. 

    What I do love about this is how they take that central melody and weave a frenzied web from it. Suddenly its two songs down and you aren’t quite sure where that time went. And then they go into cavernous riffs with Arzel. Tempo is slowed, but a gear is stepped up. That initial 1-2 riff build changes into something that is beautifully heavy, delivered without changing the pace so it hits with you. 

    What they show with this one is that you don’t have to squeeze a million notes in, something that is authentic and chooses the right things to say will go so much further. That magic riff returns around the 5 minute mark and I want you to listen for it because its mint. The whole thing is actually, especially the ending two minutes where they change it around again, its just quality. 

    And they don’t stop there, Kohol kicks in, absolutely soaked in wah and its conscious of the mood created by the three that came before and just sets about keeping that mood going. It’s the strangest thing, being locked in so quickly that the review is practically writing itself. 

    Is Kohol much different from the others? Well if you look at tempo then not really but then they are not here to break speed records. They are looking to evoke feelings in you, and more importantly to make you move. If you are of the persuasion to smoke or imbibe certain products, you would do it to this. At the heart of it is a simplicity, driven by a need to make things as memorable as possible.

    The end track is massive, a near 22 minute monolith called Noir taureau de douleur. Loosely translated as a Black Bull Of Pain, this is the masterwork here, the other tracks just setting things up for you. They don’t deviate from the established patterns, and for that I’m glad because as it stands this is a focused exercise in sonic storytelling, one where (and I’m going to repeat myself) they look to use standard arrangements but with super simple (ok, I mean not THAT simple) measures that mean so much more to me than a virtuoso display of nothing. 

    This is real music with a heft to it that you can switch on and just slip away to. It sounds fantastic too, possessing a warm feel to it but still hits hard when they step on the distortion. This is as good as anything I’ve heard that sits within the doom adjacent field, and the mark of this is wanting to actually play this on the guitar (at least for me it is). Exceptional stuff! 9/10

    Mimi Barks – Dreamstate Of Fear (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]

    Doom Trap, yeah me either, but that’s the genre tag for experimental Germany, read Berlin, via London scene artist Mimi Barks. 

    Known for ritual exorcism ms on a live stage that has garnered Barks plenty of press coverage and converted slots at Download, Wacken and Bloodstock. Her sound has developed from the influences that surrounded her, punk, hip-hop, techno and metal that all collided on her debut record Doom Trap, but with Dreamstate Of Fear there’s yet more uncompromising music which doesn’t want abide by any sort of rules, taking her unique style of dissonant industrial metal meets pulsating trap beats down even darker pathways. 

    There’s an intimacy to this record, it’s perhaps more introspective than previous releasea however it means that the songs here are perhaps much heavier, angrier promoting fear as a weapon rather than a weakness. It’s an EP that came from “emotional exhaustion”, beginning with the pulsing beat of Dreamstate Of Hell as the guitars kick in for the extreme flashes. 

    Ophelia gets a little more melodic with a big chorus and electronics glistening, while the introspection of Jericho brings a cleaner vocal style, two short cuts, one in German, leading into the insistent Butterfly In Chains. 

    With three short, interlude-like linking tracks, you get probably four new actual songs but that’s not the point as an artist like Mimi Barks is about creating something with that is a collective whole rather than individual moments. 7/10

    Profane Burial – Desolate Echoes Of Turmoil (These Hands Melt) [Mark Young]

    Den Fortaptes Krønike is the mental starter from Profane Burial, in which there are certain points where I had to check that it hadn’t flicked into double speed. It hadn’t, it was just the way they wrote it. The closest way I can describe this is being technical death metal with a beating heart. Yes, it’s incredibly technical but there are moments where they run with pure brutality combined with moments of symphonic beauty. 

    There are moments where they are flying and perform the musical equivalent of an emergency stop, only to start the machine up once more. Having a run time of over 7 minutes is a bold move, having the confidence that their material will grab the listener in a positive way and then keep them engaged is massive so its lucky that it doesn’t suffer from any kind of arrest. 

    Repeating what ultimately feels like a repeat of it with Prognostic Augural Obsolescence is not the best. Let me point out that from a technical standpoint, it is mind blowing. In some ways, it could be considered the flip side but for me they said more or less the same thing on that track and there is only so far this will take them. For those that live and breathe the technical side of metal, this is definitely for you. For me, I’m hoping that the remaining songs offer up something different.

    Triumph Of Dreadful Aftermath royally kicks off and thankfully moves into the cinematic/symphonic with a blinding song. They dial back on the madness and hit us with a more streamlined but furious attack that is still chock full of melodic patterns that make symphonic metal so good to listen to when its done right, which it is on here. Pulling back on the technical side allows them to do more with their sound and I would suggest that this should have come as track 2. Again, purely my opinion and you might think differently. 

    Channeling Epiphany comes in with riffs that sharp you could slice a loaf of bread on them. This one is more frenzied in approach, almost like they are just about staying in control before the whole thing collapses under its own weight of ideas. Those riffs are sliced open with a lead break which then moves aside for a piano led moment, its tempo speeding up like its possessed and bang they are back. It’s another massive step forward for them, this and Triumph repairing the damage caused earlier. I have to point out that at no point does their energy fall away, even in those restrained moments where they are waiting for their moment to kick back in.

    Horror Code Pt 2 picks up on a classical motif and supercharges it, expanding as a wall of sound as they run forth with it. That super tight control in full display on this one, and you can’t help but marvel at it.

    It leaves Malicious Discomfort to pull the shutters down as we say goodbye to their 3rd full length release. You expect them to come out at a full tilt, and for 20 seconds they do before for some reason they drop it to remind us that they still have a piano which could be used at any time. They come back to the front with all guns firing – its technical, emotive, symphonic, all of the things you wanted and it needed to be. 

    There is nothing left unused on this, no trick not tried in order to make this one of the key songs of the year. I’ve often said that the last song should equal the first in how it lands with the listener. Great albums don’t fall away and the final berth should leave you wanting more from them. Its exactly the case with this; It is the best of the material here (apologies to the others) as they machete their way through it with a display that is sometimes controlled, other times off the rails, it is absolutely manic.

    Ultimately, it’s a mad 40 or so minutes in their company. For the most part, it’s a stunning piece of work, my only criticism is the opening 1-2 sounding too close to each other. That is my only issue, and its one that is soon buried by the technically driven symphonic madness that follows. There is riffs for days, handled with a ferocity that a lot of bands would give their picking hands to have. Top class. 8/10

  • Alvin Robinson’s British tours of the 1960s

    New Orleans-based R&B singer and guitarist Alvin Robinson first toured Britain in spring 1966 after he was brought over by promoter Roy Tempest for a nationwide tour with fellow New Orleans stars, female vocal trio, The Dixie Cups.

    It isn’t clear who the backing band was on this tour so we’d welcome further information from readers in the comments section at the end.

    This isn’t a complete gig list for this tour

    Tour dates:

    23 April 1966 – New All-Star Club, Artillery Passage, Bishopsgate, east London with The Dixie Cups (Melody Maker)

    26 April 1966 – Zambezi, Hounslow, west London with The Dixie Cups (Melody Maker)

    30 April 1966 – Catacombe, Eastbourne, East Sussex with The Dixie Cups and The Night People (Brighton Evening Argus/Melody Maker)

    30 April 1966 – Cue Club all-nighter, Paddington, west London with The Dixie Cups (Melody Maker)

     

    4 May 1966 – Bromel Club, Bromley Court Hotel, Bromley, southeast London with The Dixie Cups (Melody Maker)

    7 May 1966 – Jigsaw, Manchester with The Dixie Cups and Steampacket (Manchester Evening News & Chronicle) Rod Stewart had left Steampacket by this point but they could have been the backing band

     

    An article in the Bournemouth Evening Echo notes that local group The Bunch participated in a nationwide tour with Lee Dorsey, Edwin Starr, Ike & Tina Turner and Alvin Robinson in October 1966.

    The Bunch in the Bournemouth Evening Echo which mentions touring with Alvin Robinson

    None of the gigs listed below tally with the tour dates printed in the newspaper (see above image), however, other than the Leicester gig below on 21 October so it’s possible that The Bunch backed Alvin Robinson at this show.

    According to Bryan Stevens, bass player with Bognor-Regis group, The Noblemen, who had previously backed The Vibrations on a Roy Tempest Agency tour in September 1966, The Noblemen backed Alvin Robinson on this second tour in 1966. He confirms that the band backed Edwin Starr at Granby Halls on 21 October and thought that another Tempest agency group, The Senate, might have backed Alvin Robinson, but it is possible that it was in fact The Bunch.

    The rest of The Noblemen comprised Jimmy Marsh (lead vocals); Martin Barre (lead guitar/saxophone); Mick Ketley (keyboards/vocals); Chris Rodger (saxophone/trumpet); and Malcolm Tomlinson (drums). To confuse matters, The Noblemen changed name to (The) Motivation in early November 1966 while backing Robinson.

    However, The Noblemen didn’t support Robinson on all of the dates below. Pip Williams, lead guitarist with west London band, The Sovereigns, says they backed Robinson on some of these tour dates and points to a photo of Robinson playing his guitar on stage. This is most likely the Whisky A Go Go in Wardour Street, a venue that Ketley says The Noblemen didn’t play.

    Originally from Hillingdon, west London, The Sovereigns comprised Roy St John-Foster (vocals); Pip Williams (lead guitar); Mich Tomich (bass); Freddie Tillyer (sax); and Keith Franklin (drums).

    After the Club Cedar gigs in Birmingham in early November, The Noblemen also started backing The Coasters on another Roy Tempest organised nationwide tour, so it’s likely that the Robinson shows from that point onwards featured different backing bands, although The Noblemen may have played the odd gig. We’d like to hear from anyone who can provide more information.

    This isn’t a complete gig list for this tour

    Tour dates:

    21 October 1966 – Granby Halls, Leicester with Ike & Tina Turner Show, The Ikettes, Kings of Rhythm, Edwin Starr (with The Noblemen) and Family (Leicester Mercury) Backed by The Senate (or The Bunch)

    22 October 1966 – Blue Moon, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (Gloucestershire Echo/Gloucester Citizen) Most likely backed by The Noblemen

    22 October 1966 – Cue Club, Praed Street, Paddington, west London (Melody Maker) Most likely backed by The Noblemen

    23 October 1966 – Kirklevington Country Club, Kirklevington, North Yorkshire with The Ziggy Turner Combo (Middlesbrough Evening Gazette) Most likely backed by The Noblemen

    23 October 1966 (most likely date) – Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne & Wear (Malcolm Tomlinson’s recollections) Backed by The Noblemen

    24 October 1966 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker) Most likely backed by The Sovereigns, according to guitarist Pip Williams

    25 October 1966 – Location, Woolwich, southeast London (Melody Maker) Possibly backed by The Noblemen

    Nottingham Evening Post, 4 November 1966, page 14

    28 October 1966 – Dungeon, Nottingham with The Noblemen (Nottingham Evening Post) Backed by The Noblemen. Nottingham Evening Post reviewed this show in the 4 November (page 14) issue and said the backing group was The Motivation (aka The Noblemen)

    29 October 1966 – Starlight Ballroom, Boston Gliderdrome, Boston, Lincolnshire with The Noblemen, Alan Bown Set, John McCoy’s Crawdaddies and Listen (Lincolnshire Standard) Backed by The Noblemen

    29 October 1966 – Burlesque, Leicester (Leicester Mercury) Most likely backed by The Noblemen

    30 October 1966 – Jigsaw, Manchester (Manchester Evening News & Chronicle).

    31 October 1966 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker) Most likely backed by The Sovereigns, according to guitarist Pip Williams

    1-2 November 1966 – Club Cedar, Birmingham with The Motivations (Birmingham Evening Mail) Backed by The Motivations (formerly The Noblemen)

    5 November 1966 – Northwich Memorial Hall, Northwich, Cheshire with Pinkerton’s Colours (Chester Chronicle) The Noblemen/Motivation were playing with The Coasters on this date so probably another backing band

    5 November 1966 – Majestic, Manchester (Manchester Evening News & Chronicle) The Noblemen/Motivation were working with The Coasters on this date so probably another backing band

    5 November 1966 – Cavern, Liverpool with Herbie Goins & The Night-timers, Johnny Breeze & The Atlantics, The Sect, The Herb Set, The First Lites and The Interns (Liverpool Echo) This was probably another backing band and not The Noblemen/Motivation

    We’d like to hear from anyone who can provide more information in the comments section below

  • Fox Maple – One Before We Go

                                                              One Before We Go 

    Fox Maple is a Grammy-submitted singer-songwriter from Jupiter, FL. Her powerful vocals and unusual range combine with intricate lyricism to create melodic and meaningful songs. “One Before We Go”, the opening track from Fox’s first full length album “Last of the Lost”, is a powerful, driving blend of blues rock and alt-country that imagines the end of the world through one important lens: who will you spend it with?  

    I find the song very enjoyable from start to finish, with an excellent arrangement and cool and catchy vocal lines, very well performed. “One Before We Go” is a very cool song. Give it a go by clicking on the Spotify player below and follow Fox Maple if you like what you hear.

  • Caden Stone – How Cold You Have Become

    Caden Stone, an outstanding American artist based in Nashville, Tennessee, has recently released a brand-new single, “How Cold

  • THRONHAMMER – new album this autumn

    Thronehammer rises from the depths like a monolith of ancient stone and rusted steel—mighty, bleak, and of overwhelming force. The German-British band was founded in 2012 by Stuart West and has since evolved far beyond its roots in epic doom. As the band’s founder and creative force, West continues to shape Thronehammer’s unmistakable identity with… Continue Reading →

  • Jimmy Regal And The Royals Announce New Single ‘Flat Battery Blues’

    Jimmy Regal And The Royals have announced their new single ‘Flat Battery Blues’, taken from their forthcoming new album ‘Snap Back’, will be released on Friday 14th August 2026. The announcement of the second single follows an electrifying performance on the Hokum Stage at Ealing Blues Festival in Walpole Park on Sunday 2nd August 2026. […]

    The post Jimmy Regal And The Royals Announce New Single ‘Flat Battery Blues’ appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.

  • Victim of Ceremony Premiere New Single & Lyric Video “Get My Paper Back”

    Baltimore, MD-based slam death trio Victim of Ceremony premiere a new single and lyric video named "Get My Paper Back", streaming via YouTube and Spotify for you now below. Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com

  • Live Review: Opeth – Halifax

    Live Review: Opeth – The Piece Hall, Halifax

    1st August 2026
    Support: Paradise Lost, Katatonia
    Words: Dan Barnes
    Photos: Tim Finch

    It’s Yorkshire Day apparently, a fact I was unaware of as I crossed the border into hostile territory. Had I been in full knowledge of this I would still have ventured over to the wonderful venue that is the Piece Hall in Halifax, built in the late eighteenth century and originally a trading hall for cloth, for what promised to be one of 2026’s live highlights.

    I’m going to make no bones about this one as, combined, I’ve seen the three bands on this bill a total of about fifty times, so they aren’t unfamiliar to me and, in the interests of full disclosure, I would class myself a ‘Big Fan’ of each of them.

    It’s still a balmy evening, and the sun is blazing pleasantly over the Piece Hall as Swedish gothic doomsters, Katatonia take the stage. It’s been a while since I last saw Jonas and company without the dark to add to their melancholic atmosphere; but there’s enough milage in this morose machine to be able to cope with such inconveniences as daylight. Opening the whole show with the lead track from last year’s turbulent Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State, Thrice, guitarists Nico and Sebastian have had a couple of years not to make the Katatonia sound their own and they ably weave the delicate threads among those rambunctious riffs. Dead End Kings duo of Lethean and Dead Letters blend Jonas wistful vocals with driving rhythms; the mid-section of Dead Letters, with its fragile movement, plays like a heartbreak throughout the rapidly filling courtyard.

    Forsaker turns things on their heads with the powerful and driving assault that is found right across the Night Is the New Day record. Jonas announces the tenth anniversary of The Fall of Hearts album as he introduces the orchestral tones of All Hearts Fall. On record this is a tragic tale of sorrow and loss, live it’s a dynamic and introspective confessional. No Beacon to Illuminate Our Fall is classic latter-era, full of emotional peaks and troughs, and a masterclass in how to pluck heartstrings and guitar stings simultaneously. All too soon it’s time to end, and it’s left to a twenty-year-old My Twin to close the set on a high note.

    Hometown heroes Paradise Lost are greeted like returning prodigals as they take to the Piece Hall stage. The Ascension album is almost a year old now and is continuation of the last few albums with the band looking to their deep dark past and merging it with the styles they have experimented with over time. The three promo singles from the new record are all played tonight, opening with Serpent on the Cross, and receiving a forest of raised hands for their troubles. One Second, from earlier in the experimental period, is given a gentle reinterpretation, bringing in doomier vibes in place of the poppy sensibilities of the original recording.

    In his usual gruff-Yorkshire man manner, vocalist Nick Holmes comments on how it’s a shame they pulled the swimming baths down and informs the crowd that today’s show is being filmed. The middle of the set goes deep into the past, with The Last Time and Hallowed Land from the Draconian Times record, an extremely welcome Ember’s Fire, and Shades of God’s As I Die, which was commented on as being written not far from here, many moons ago.

    The last time I was at the Piece Hall it was pouring down and, in usual Yorkshire fashion, the sun shining directly on the stage was a good enough reason to blame God for the weather. Tyrants Serenade is built around a massive chugging section; the cover of Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy is always a pleasure to hear as the band’s gothic nature melds well with the story of alienation and ostracization. Symbol of Life is still one of my favourite Paradise Lost records, so any time there’s chance to hear material from it is fine with me.

    Opeth drummer, Waltteri Väyrynen, ousts Jeff Singer for the Obsidian track, Ghosts, which is only fair as he did play on the album version of it. He departs with just one more visit to Ascencion left, the first single from the record: Silence Like the Grave, which appears to get every head in the Piece Hall bobbing.

    That Opeth bring their Last Will & Testament Exclusive Summer 2026 Concert Series to the historic confines of the Piece Hall is significant as to how this venue is regarded by bands of this stature. This is the only UK show on the current touring cycle, a tour that has seen them playing, among other places, Pompeii, a la Pink Floyd.

    The band make full use of the video screens as the evening gives way to the night and darkness descends. I nominated The Last Will & Testament record as my Album of 2024, and it’s still something I regularly return to, finding it slowly giving up its secrets with every new listen. The screens show images from the story of the album during opener, §1; spotlights sweep the venue and searing white lamps rip open the night. This is musical theatre complete with lengthy extremity and gruff vocals.

    In Cauda Venenum Swedish language version of Heart in Hand, Hjärtat vet vad handen gör, is barely noticed as being anything unusual, as it switches between ripping solos and gentle acoustic guitars, all the while flames lick up the screens and embers fall. The millennial transition between Opeth’s progressive death metal sound heard on three Candlelight records, and their brave new world that would arrive with Blackwater Park, is represented by Still Life’s Godhead’s Lament. Illuminated with images of lightening behind clouds, the tune is punchy and powerful, and a match to much from its more illustrious successor.

    Ever the consummate host and with sarcasm ramped up to eleven, Mikael takes some time before §7 to explain he’d been warned that Halifax might chant ‘Yorkshire’ which might sound like ‘You’re Shit’; he explains that the next song is written in drop-d – “the most metal of tunings…” and that he likes to write songs some people find unlistenable. He japes that even the band finds some of their music unlistenable! Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson’s contribution to the record is the only audio used not created there and then by the band but, due to the precise nature of where it needs to fit, and the imprecise nature of a live band playing, Mikael expresses his concerns about managing to get the narration in exactly the right place.

    Stories about religious protests on the back of the song The Devil’s Orchard and an anecdote about Phil Anselmo before Windowpane are just some of the onstage musings you come to expect at an Opeth show. The signature opening to The Grand Conjuration is unmistakable, leading into mesmerising visuals and hypnotic rhythms. Blackwater’s The Drapery Falls has another request for Freebird – which Mikael admits he cannot play – but does admit to writing the two-chord intro to Drapery. Hex Omega takes us back to Watershed and the now obligatory thirteen-minute encore of Deliverance bring the curtain down – or the drapery fall – on one stunning night of music.

    A perfect combination of sound, vision and location, with the spire of the Square Church lit up in addition to the stage lights. I’m aware of having a conscious bias on this one, but I can’t imagine many people left the Piece Hall without feeling they’d just witnessed something very special.

    Full Gallery

    Photo credits: Tim Finch

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