A Thousand Horses & These Wicked Rivers - Academy 3, Manchester (31/7/25)

These Wicked Rivers open with 'Shine On', a groove laden slice of southern rock. The guitarist seems like a showman although I don't think his guitar is loud enough. I always assumed that they were American but it is clear that they're not when the singer speaks in between songs. The bluesy hard rock of 'Black Gold' has a pretty catchy chorus whilst 'Evergreen' is another piece of driving southern rock. All of these songs pack more of a punch than the studio versions. The slow burning ballad 'When The War Is Won' is excellent and the guitar solo is great too. The drumming seems too tribal for 'Testify' and is at odds with their southern rock swagger. The singer seem like he's pushing his vocals to the limit on the chorus too. New track 'Horse To Water' sounds like 'Paradise City' if it was played by Blackberry Smoke. The guitarist is terrific, flashy and full of tricks which he makes full use of when playing the double necked guitar on the closing 'Don't Pray For Me'. Excellent.

It's a high energy start to A Thousand Horses' set as they open with The Black Crowes styled southern rock of 'First Time'. The guitar riff is very similar to 'Jealous Again' and it's a solid start. 'Outside' is bouncy country rock which is pretty infectious. 'Blaze Of Somethin' suffers from too much reverb on the vocals and too much feedback, and the more commercial country style just falls a bit flat. The poppy 'Song To Remember' doesn't quite hit the mark either. The more commercial tracks are definitely less successful. 'Trailer Trashed' gets things back on track with its marriage of good time country and bluesy rock. The anthemic '(This Ain't No) Drunk Dial' is excellent. 'Heaven Is Close' follows and it feels like they are really hitting their stride. Pleasingly, they play quite a few tracks from the first album. The swamp blues of 'Travelin' Man' is really good too. The band introductions avoid the usual cheesiness by being a pretty cool jam which leads straight into 'Broken Heartland'. 'Summer' rocks out in a Randall Flatts style. 'Smoke' is absolutely colossal and turns into a cool countrified cover of Oasis' 'Champagne Supernova'. The talkbox and harmonica led 'Highway Sound' is the first encore, and the extended climax brings Primal Scream to mind. The guitar solo during the closing 'Roomful Of Strangers' is excellent too. Some tracks don't quite hit the mark but overall this was very good.

A Thousand Horses ****

These Wicked Rivers ****

BODEGA & Radio Free Alice - YES Pink Room, Manchester (23/7/25)

Radio Free Alice are the surprising support act tonight. I say surprising because they were scheduled to play across town last night as well as being due to come back to Manchester in August for Manchester Psych Fest, and playing a city three times in a month seems excessive for a touring band. They're an Australian indie rock band and their opening track 'Look What You've Done' boasts a solid bassline, some nice melodic guitars and a decent chorus. More than anything though it has a great deal of charm. '2010' is a mixture of New Order and The Cure. The bassline could belong to either band but the guitars and vocals tip it more on to the side of The Cure. 'Empty Words' adds saxophone and although I quite like the sax parts, the track seems a bit less successful overall.  'I Gotta (Fall In Love)' is punkier, sounding like The Buzzcocks  covering Fugazi's 'Waiting Room' (the bassline is identical) and is good fun. 'Paris Is Gone' has more energy and intensity along with an insistent chorus. Closing track 'Waste Of Space' has another strong chorus and a driving rhythm. Overall, pretty impressive.

BODEGA open with a ripping cover of 'Paranoid' in tribute to Ozzy Osbourne who passed away the day before, which receives a great cheer from the crowd. 'Can't Knock The Hustle' is where normal service is resumed as it is more representative of their usual style: chunky riffs, danceable beats and exuding New York cool. Newer tracks like 'Monthly Follower' and 'Guess What' are more like hardcore punk tracks. 'Guess What' really reminds me of The Briefs. 'Rot In Helvetica' is still firmly in CBGBs, only in the late '70s New Wave scene rather than the late '80s hardcore secene. One track is funkier with a Jane's Addiction feel. No matter what style they are playing they always seem like the coolest band in the world. Their cover of Stretch Armstrong's 'For The Record' is excellent, being both faithful and still retaining their own identity. The cool punk funk of 'How Did This Happen?' is joyous. 'Comatose Chameleon' is the perfect mix of funky cool  and new wave punk and just adds to the sweaty atmosphere in the room. 'Tarkovski' is catchy in a B-52s style, and the guitarist's solo is wild. The track is stretched almost to breaking point and is absolutely terrific. The set ratchets up the intensity incrementally the longer it goes on. The art rock of 'Statuette On The Console' sounds gargantuan whilst 'Quantify's hardcore punk is a blast. The band starts to take requests at the end of the set and a raucous 'I Am Not A Cinephile' closes the show.

BODEGA ****

Radio Free Alice ****

Cannonball, Wits End & Target Man - Hatch, Sheffield (12/7/25)

On the hottest day of the year, what could be better than travelling over the Snake Pass to cram ourselves into a packed tiny room to watch some of the UK's best new hardcore bands?

It is apparently Target Man's first gig tonight. Their intro has a Biohazard style groove whilst the first proper track is similar but with more beatdowns. The sound is a bit thin and they definitely sound like they would benefit from an extra guitarist. They have a decent groove though and it certainly isn't bad for a first gig.

Wits End play old school hardcore with a New York influence. They remind me of Raw Deal or maybe Killing Time. They are a little bass heavy but it does manage to get a decent proportion of the crowd moving. One of the intros has the feel of the 'Changes' intro by Floorpunch whilst the main track has an early Sick Of It All feel. The drummer provides a solid backbone whilst also providing some neat fills. They play a killer, high energy cover of Killing Time's 'Brightside'  to close the set. We don't really need anything that makes this room any hotter though as it's 30 degrees outside and even worse inside.

Cannonball are a local female fronted old school straightedge hardcore band. They have a record coming out on renowned US hardcore label Youngblood Records and there's a bit of a buzz about them within the hardcore scene. Some of the guitar work brings Gorilla Biscuits to mind but generally they're harder and faster. Occasionally they have a yobbish Minor Threat edge. All the songs are short, punchy and dynamic. They finish with a cool cover of Floorpunch's 'Fifty On Red'.

I don't get to many hardcore shows these days but tonight is proof that the UK scene is in pretty good health.

Cannonball ****

Wits End ****

Target Man ***

Hail The Sun, Love Rarely & Redwood - Rebellion, Manchester (8/7/25)

Redwood start off as melodic alt rock in the vein of Weezer. The opening track has a nice pulsing bass and a good amount of melody. There are some dudey backing vocals which irk me a little but the first impressions are pretty good. The second track is more influenced by modern emo. The funkier bass irritates me but the intricate guitar work is excellent. The third track seems more mature and is probably the most rounded, consistent song so far. The guitar work again is impressive too. The closing track has more of a hypnotic shoegaze influence and the vocal harmonies are lovely. Overall, Redwood are inconsistent but there are definitely moments of promise.

Love Rarely play riff heavy mathy rock with spiky female vocals, like Rolo Tomassi's Eva Spence fronting tonight's headliners, although the beefy guitar tone probably has more in common with Royal Blood. It's dynamic and complex but it probably takes me a little while to get my head round it. It has a certain energy although it can be a bit stop/start. The final track is like Rage Against The Machine's 'Bulls On Parade' given a femme punk makeover. The reaction from the surprisingly young crowd is good.

My first impression of Hail The Sun is that the drums are far too loud. When the drummer is pounding away during the verses of opener 'Maladapted' you can barely hear the vocals or guitars. The chorus is magnificent though with the crowd drowning out the singer Donovan Melero. For a band whose main strength is their guitar wizardry, the sound sadly renders them rather impotent. I saw Hail The Sun at RADAR Festival last year and they were great but the sound doesn't seem to improve and the longer the set goes on, the more disappointed I become. If I can hardly hear the guitars then really, what is the point? Sensing that things aren't going to get any better, I make the decision to leave halfway through. A huge let down.

Hail The Sun **

Love Rarely ***

Redwood ***

Sparta & Indifferent Engine - Star & Garter, Manchester (5/7/25)

Twenty five years ago, in this venue, I witnessed probably the greatest gig I have ever seen. The band was a little known band from El Paso, Texas called At The Drive-In. I knew very little about them and only went because some friends put the show on and a band I liked were supporting. The band were incredible. A mixture of urgent, angular guitars, a manic frontman and a chaotic, high energy performance took my breath away and has remained ingrained in my memory. Six months after this show, they released the incredible 'Relationship Of Command' album and they briefly burned brightly before imploding. The singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López formed The Mars Volta who are probably much bigger than At The Drive-In ever were. The other guitarist Jim Ward formed Sparta and has come full circle by playing the same stage that I saw him on twenty five years ago.

Indifferent Engine start off playing emotive post-hardcore with a Thursday feel. The second track has angular guitar lines reminiscent of 'In/Casino/Out' era At The Drive-In. The singer is absolutely everywhere: on the floor, on the windowsill, flinging himself at walls and annoying his bandmates whilst they gamely battle on with playing. The music possesses power and has a good sense of dynamics. Each song builds and builds yet manages to retain my interest throughout. The bank of old TV sets stationed in front of the stage looks pretty cool too.

Sparta's opening track 'Sans Cosm' is their typical emotionally charged alt rock. 'Red Alibi' has a terrific groove during the chorus. 'While Oceana Speaks' follows the familiar alt rock quiet/loud pattern but the chorus is monstrous. Jim's voice is terrific: strong and full of character, and not dissimilar to Cedric's. 'The Most Vicious Crime' builds in intensity before ending with a raw, stripped back climax. 'Empty Houses' has an intimate feel during the verse before becoming more charged for the chorus. A punchy 'Hiss The Villain' picks the pace and energy back up. Every song comes armed with big, memorable choruses, meaning that even if  the odd verse has a bit of a lull, a giant chorus is only a minute away. They come across as a very honest band who have been plugging away on the circuit for years, putting out consistently good albums and putting on good shows. This is one of them. It isn't at that same level as that first At The Drive-In show but to be honest, nothing is.

Sparta ****

Indifferent Engine ****

RADAR Festival - Victoria Warehouse, Manchester (4/7/25)

Poor old RADAR has had a pretty rough time of it this week. Saturday's headliners Bob Vylan's performance at Glastonbury prompted pressure on the festival to remove them from the line up which they eventually did and this in turn resulted in abuse and death threats.

RADAR is a bit of a curious festival. I can't quite work out what they actually cater to. They have progressive, djent, emo, synthwave and metalcore bands but there doesn't seem to be one style more than the other and some of the genres don't really overlap with others meaning that it is difficult to say who their target audience is. Safe to say, it probably isn't me although I did enjoy myself last year and this year I'm drawn by just two bands this evening, Zeal & Ardor and Carpenter Brut.

As December Falls are the first band I manage to catch and they open with a slick slice of pop rock. I don't really see much difference between them and when the likes of Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo or Kelly Clarkson incorporate guitars into their music. The second track 'Angry Cry' is more bass heavy and has a dancier vibe but is still following that pop rock template. There's something a little contrived about them whether it's the calls for dancing in the pit or the between song patter. It all seems a bit lightweight. The crowd clearly don't agree and they go down pretty well although the crowd seems a bit sparse. They have a knack for writing pretty catchy choruses but that isn't enough, I'm afraid.

Future Palace are an altogether heavier proposition. The opener 'Malphas' mixes synth pop verses with a Disturbed style stomp on the chorus. 'Uncontrolled' has a similar quiet-loud dynamic and still has a Disturbed influence. The singer isn't David Draiman though so that's a major advantage. The singer Maria Lessing is pretty good with a decent range which shifts between carrying poppy choruses and screaming savagely. The bouncy 'Defeating Gravity' is pretty decent in a Linkin Park way. There are a number of metalcore influences, from the singer's screams and growls to the heavy breakdowns. One track has a terrible rapped verse but a great screamed chorus. They are joined by Charlie Rolfe from As Everything Unfolds for 'The Echoes Of Disparity' and the chemistry between the two singers is fantastic. As good as they are, I decide to leave about fifteen minutes from the end so I can get a good spot for Zeal & Ardor.

Zeal & Ardor open with 'The Bird, The Lion And The Wildkin'. It's hard to distinguish the vocals but the bass drops are incredible. 'Wake Of A Nation' sees the sound improved and the vocal interplay is excellent. 'Götterdämmerung's blackened attack is fantastic. 'Ship On Fire' sees the mixure of what they call 'slave spirituals' (think 1800s American farm workers singing in the fields) with a pulsating metal assault. The arpeggiated opening of 'Erase' gives way to a heavy, rhythmic blitz like Radiohead gone post-metal. They are a unique band and it feels visceral and exciting in a live setting. 'Gravedigger's Chant' is spine-tingling. 'Kilonova' has a Rage Against The Machine guitar riff but the vocal harmonies really elevate it. The epic 'Fend You Off' is both doomy and progressive. 'Blood In The River's mix of soul spirituals with black metal is staggering. All three vocalists are amazing individually but together they are a force, like vocal Power Rangers. 'Run' is reminiscent of Ihsahn's post-Emperor work, and is particularly intense. 'Row Row' is like a black metal 'Iko Iko' and is phenomenal. 'Sugarcoat's Queens Of The Stone Age style alt rock is a welcome change of pace and intensity but is still deceptively heavy. The stuttering riffs of 'Death To The Holy' are incredible. I feel like I've exhausted my thesaurus of superlatives so I decide to stop trying but it's hard when every song is mindblowing. The electronic enhancements to the closing 'Clawing Out' sound incredible. An utter triumph.

Carpenter Brut open with a super heavy combination of synths, guitars and drums along with a light show so intense it could destroy retinas. The second track is catchy synthwave with what sounds like Kristoffer Rygg's vocals added on top. This is the soundtrack to a hundred John Carpenter movies amplified in volume and heaviness and made super danceable. 'Beware The Beast' is extremely catchy and features a neat guitar solo too. The light show is phenomenal and often gives a dystopian sci fi feel, like how the future is depicted in The Terminator movies. When the guitar takes a backseat, they verge a little too close to '80 synth pop. They are better with crushing guitars. They are better when it's heavy. Their cover of 'Maniac' predictably sends the crowd wild. It is a joyous sight watching so many metallers singing along and 'dancing like they've never danced before'. The guitarist absolutely nails the guitar solo too.

I only really came for Carpenter Brut and Zeal & Ardor but they both made it well worth the cost of the ticket.

Carpenter Brut ****

Zeal & Ardor *****

Future Palace ****

As December Falls ***

King Diamond & Paradise Lost - Academy, Manchester (30/6/25)

Due to working late I miss Unto Others which is a shame because they were excellent supporting Green Lung earlier this year. The first song I catch by Paradise Lost is the catchy 'Enemy'. It doesn't seem particularly loud until the crushing mid-section. A brooding and elegant 'No Hope In Sight' is much heavier. The powerful riffing of 'Pity The Sadness' is excellent. 'The Last Time' reminds me how staggering 'Draconian Times' was at the time, with its marriage of doomy, gothic metal with anthemic choruses. 'Ghosts' is pure goth rock, with Nick Holmes summoning his inner Andrew Eldritch. 'Embers Fire' is epic gloom. The classic stadium goth rock of 'Say Just Words' closes the set in an emphatic fashion.

After the theatrical introduction of 'Funeral', 'Arrival' sounds like rolling thunder with King Diamond's high pitched vocals floating over the top. A rollicking 'A Mansion In Darkness' sees Abigail appear, holding a lantern and stalking the stage. 'Halloween' is driving and powerful. The King sounds like he is in good voice tonight. The percussion on 'Voodoo' adds a bit of extra texture to the metal assault, giving strong Alice Cooper vibes (think 'Goes To Hell' meets 'Welcome To Your Nightmare'). 'Spider Lilly' mixes in thrash with its trad metal attack and reminds me of the first Annihilator album. There are a number of taped interludes where the theatrical elements of the show come into play. The complex 'Welcome Home', with its twists and turns, sees Grandma make an appearance. It's hokey as hell but good fun. The stage set is probably the most elaborate I've seen in the Academy with two staircases and a recreation of an old prison all crammed onto the stage. 'Masquerade Of Madness' is dynamic, and King sounds superb on it. 'Eye Of The Witch' is powerful yet creepy. The band are a tight unit and this allows the King to hold court. Hel Pyre (it was originally meant to be Myrkur) is a bit underutilised at the back on keyboards and vocals, and you can't hear the backing vocals particularly well anyway. A high energy 'Burn' closes the regular set. King closes the show with the timeless 'Abigail'. I don't really travel for shows anymore, and given that he'll normally play Bloodstock or a London headline show rather than a full tour, I never thought I'd get to see King Diamond live but it really was an experience.

King Diamond ****

Paradise Lost ****