Bangin'. Bangin'. Hardcore radical.
Half (or more likely a third by both mass and input) of Trve. Cvlt. Pop! podcast
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Articles by Sam Savigny
Mastodon - Hushed And Grim
Overall Score: 7/10 Emotional Depth: 9/10 Musicianship: 8/10 Concision: 6/10 Pros: Mastodon's souls laid bare in a stunning ode to their departed manager and friend Cons: Feels as though some ideas are overwrought, detracting from the record's overall enjoyability “I turn the grief to medicine”. For so many artists, pain is the lynchpin of creating works that will stand the test of time.
Alexis Marshall - House of Lull. House of When
Overall Score: 9/10 Depth: 9/10 Breadth: 9/10 Originality: 8.5/10 Pros: A pitch black, horrifying look into the mind of one of music's most singularly important and impressive talents Cons: A little too close to the works of, in particular, Scott Walker to be hailed as truly unique “The past is like an anchor“. The lyric acts as a denouement to Drink from the Oceans. Nothing Can Harm You, the opening track of House of Lull. House of When.
Haggard Cat Announce ‘Cheer Up’ EP, Release New Single ‘Quit Your Jobs’
UK rock tour de force, Haggard Cat, have announced their new EP, Cheer Up which will be independently released on September 3rd 2021. It’s the first new music from the two since 2020’s Common Sense Holiday and you should be excited. To mark the occasion, they have unveiled a brand new single, Quit Your Jobs.
Black Peaks - Live at the Brighton Centre
Overall Score: 9/10 Performance: 9/10 Comeback Factor: 9/10 Setlist: 9/10 Pros: A return for the ages from one of the UK's very best bands Cons: Absent songs being included in a longer run time would make the record that much more satisfying Few bands are as exceptional as Black Peaks. That’s a curt and hyperbolic statement, but a justified one.
Pupil Slicer - Mirrors
Overall Score: 8/10 Math: 8/10 Grind: 8/10 Force: 8/10 Pros: An extremely promising debut that has reverence for its roots and contemporary flair Cons: Perhaps a little lacking in dynamic range The UK’s affinity for heavy music stretches back to its inception. Despite a critical pasting in their early days, bands like Brum-born Black Sabbath found favour in their homeland and their legacy has proven to be a worldwide phenomenon.
Cult of Luna - The Raging River (EP)
Overall Score: 8.5/10 Dynamism: 9/10 Guest Feature: 10/10 Concision: 8/10 Pros: A gorgeous exploration further into the ideas of A Dawn To Fear with a career highlight in the form of a Mark Lanegan collaboration Cons: Doesn't obviously point to the band's next step, nor differentiate itself from A Dawn To Fear enough to warrant its length To build a legion of loyal fans in the 10s and 20s, a band has to consistently improve and build upon already stellar foundations.
Palm Reader - Sleepless
Overall Score: 9.5/10 Lyrics: 9/10 Musicality: 10/10 Growth: 10/10 Pros: Palm Reader deliver the best album of their career so far with emotionally striking lyrics and stellar musicianship Cons: May be a touch too far from straight-up hardcore for people who only liked Bad Weather (idiots basically) Part Poison the Well, part Kowloon the Walled City, the fourth LP from the perennially – and criminally – underrated hardcore quintet, Palm Reader, is a dizzying proposition.
Jaye Jayle - Prisyn
Overall Score: 7/10 Songwriting: 8/10 Dynamism: 8/10 Cohesiveness: 6/10 Pros: Beautifully performed | Superbly poetic lyricism | Richly textured electronics Cons: Lacks cohesion Evan Patterson may not be a household name, but his artistry stretches across myriad borders. From his work in Young Widows to his latest project, Jaye Jayle, his relentless search for new and exciting forms of expression is well documented and widely respected.
Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo
Overall Score: 8/10 Thrash: 10/10 Songwriting: 7/10 Originality: 6/10 Pros: Just a ridiculously fun thrash metal album that outperforms the last decade of the Big Four Cons: One paced In 2020, Mr. Bungle find themselves in an enviable position. For the uber-long-term die-hards of the avant-garde collective hearing these tracks re-recorded with a modern production will be like all their Christian holidays of choice coming at once.
Fall of Messiah - Senicarne
Overall Score: 7.5/10 Performances: 8/10 Dynamism: 8/10 Originality: 7/10 Pros: Wonderfully performed | Beautifully dynamic Cons: Does nothing to push the genres beyond their limitations Few things in this life are absolute, but relentlessly excellent releases from Holy Roar are a certainty. On the cusp of releasing their fourth LP, France’s Fall of Messiah continue the trend of Roar’s unrivalled ability to represent the stars of sub-genres.
IDLES - Ultra Mono
Overall Score: 6/10 Musicianship: 8/10 Creativity: 7/10 Lyrics: 4/10 Pros: IDLES have broken through to a new level of excellence in their musicality Cons: Joe Talbot's performance and a great deal of lyrics let proceedings down “They might just be Britain’s most necessary band” said Dave Simpson in The Guardian when reviewing Joy as an Act of Resistance, the second full-length LP from Bristolian anti-punk punk band IDLES.
Napalm Death - Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
Overall Score: 8.5/10 Noisiness: 8/10 Grind: 7/10 Boldness: 9/10 Pros: An entirely new facet of an illustrious career expertly executed Cons: A bold new direction that will anger layman fans of the band. Which technically is a positive. Napalm Death’s penchant for noisiness is well documented.
Hidden Mothers - Hidden Mothers (EP)
Overall Score: 7.5/10 Atmosphere: 8/10 Performances: 8/10 Originality: 6/10 Pros: Superbly atmospheric and textured post-black metal with screamo elements Cons: Perhaps throws too many ideas into its first song Trading between dark Alcest vibes, extremity and depressed, ethereal clean passages, the first song on the debut Hidden Mothers EP may seem like it throws too many things at the wall to see what sticks.
Steve Von Till - No Wilderness Deep Enough
Overall Score: 8/10 Songwriting: 7/10 Vocal Performance: 8/10 Atmosphere: 8/10 Pros: A gorgeous portrayal of the American landscape | Wonderful central performance Cons: Subtle without a dynamic counterpart Steve Von Till is a man deserving of the legendary status. From his work with post-metal progenitors, Neurosis, to his experimentation in Tribes of Neurot, his eponymous work as well as that as Harvestman, Von Till commands respect with his deep understanding of the musical styles.
Alain Johannes - Hum
Overall Score: 7/10 Songwriting: 8/10 Dynamism: 7/10 Immediacy: 8/10 Pros: Beautifully performed, intricate, introspective music | Deeply personal Cons: Doesn't exactly push any musical or expressive boundaries Great music is often, though not exclusively, born from pain. Look across your record collection, Spotify library or whatever medium suits you and you will often find torment at the heart of great artistry.
Entry - Detriment
Overall Score: 6/10 Performances: 7/10 Ingenuity: 5/10 Originality: 6/10 Pros: Slamming hardcore | Ferocious performances Cons: Derivative Built with concision, the debut LP from LA based hardcore punks, Entry, is a compact and ferocious composition.
Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville
Overall Score: 9/10 Songwriting: 9/10 Ingenuity: 9/10 Originality: 9/10 Pros: Sublimely crafted avant-garde blackened death metal | Deviously ambitious Cons: Perhaps throws too many ideas in to see what will land When you think of black metal chances are The Beatles don’t come to mind. But that’s exactly how Alphaville, the latest album from New York city’s own post-black metal, jazz enthusiasts, begins.
“Necessity is the Mother of Invention”: An Interview with Imperial Triumphant’s Zachary Ilya Ezrin
“I remember having some sort of revelation in music school where I was trying really hard to be really clean or really technically proficient and I thought, you know what let’s just go the other way with it.” It’s arguable that this modus operandi was the birth of the world’s new favourite avant-garde jazz-metal outfit, Imperial Triumphant. For over a decade now, the band has existed in a realm unto themselves.
Phoxjaw - Royal Swan
Overall Score: 8/10 Songwriting: 8/10 Ingenuity: 8/10 Immediacy: 8/10 Pros: Very well crafted alternative rock | Unique in a scene full of outstanding artists | Hooks and melodies that stay with you for days Cons: Very little There have been some stunning debuts in the last few years. Half a decade’s worth of phenomenal music punctuated by brilliant beginnings.
Top 10 Heavy Bands With More Than One Vocalist
They say two heads are better than one. But then again they also say too many cooks spoil the broth. It’s hard to know what to believe and whether more than one person at the helm of a project is a good thing. For the sake of this list however, more is most certainly more so enjoy the Rock Sins top ten heavy bands with more than one vocalist. 10.
Lamb of God - Lamb of God
Overall Score: 7/10 Songwriting: 7/10 Performances: 7/10 Lyrics: 7/10 Pros: Shows moments of brilliance throughout | Remarkably consistent | Lamb of God doing what they do best to a high standard Cons: Lacks ambition | Fairly featureless | Lacking in memorable riffs Is it fair to expect international megastars of metal to continue to push the boundaries of their sound twenty-six years into a career?
Rock Sins Albums Of The Decade 2010
A feature roughly six months in the making, Rock Sins’ albums of the decade brought over a dozen of our team together to work out collectively our favourite albums of the decade over which this site came to life and has since thrived. initially delayed by some work commitments and then further by the COVID-19 outbreak, the outbreak has now provided time to get this feature finished, and here we are. How did we come to our conclusions? Quite simply.
Xibalba - Años En Infierno
Overall Score: 7.5/10 Peformances: 8/10 Production: 6/10 Heaviness: 8/10 Pros: Heavy as a really heavy thing | Relentlessly powerful | Begins to show signs of further evolution for the band Cons: Heavily distorted production loses intricacies It’s been five long years since the last Xibalba LP. In that time we have seen the band go from strength to strength, releasing the frankly excellent EP, Diablo, Con Amor… Adios and appearing on touring packages befitting of their stature.
Enter Shikari - Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible
Overall Score: 8.5/10 Initiative: 8/10 Songwriting: 8/10 Originality: 9/10 Pros: Perhaps the band's most cohesive retrospective amalgamation to date Cons: Practically nothing It will come as no surprise that there is an enormous amount of bloviating as to what constitutes heavy music in the alternative community.
Haggard Cat - Common Sense Holiday
Overall Score: 8/10 Songwriting: 8/10 Performances: 8/10 Originality: 7.5/10 Pros: No frills rock music played with reckless abandon | A huge improvement from the previous album | Electrifying performances across the board Cons: Very little I am loathe to use the H word when talking about Nottingham two-piece, Haggard Cat. So should you be.
Code Orange - Underneath
Overall Score: 10/10 Songwriting: 10/10 Instrumentation: 10/10 Innovation: 10/10 Pros: An album so deviously complex it will take years to fully dissect | Heavier, more melodic and more introspective than its predecessor | Stunningly, better than Forever Cons: Absolutely nothing. This album is perfect Forever. An album you will likely know that blew a hole in the oeuvre of heavy music the world over.
"Activism is not a fashion accessory... For me it's more of a lifetime thing"
Chances are you didn’t watch the BRIT awards in 2020. I didn’t. Neither did the frontman of the seminal Birmingham quartet Napalm Death, Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway. It doesn’t matter as by and large awards shows are pretty much irrelevant to the world of heavy and confrontational music, however there was one appearance that has been inescapable with good reason. During a performance of Black, rising rap star Dave called out the incumbent UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, as being racist.
Caspian - On Circles
Overall Score: 8.5/10 Insturmentation: 9/10 Songwriting: 8.5/10 Vocal Performance: 8/10 Pros: Beautifully performed post-rock with a nous for dynamic song craft Cons: It's just another amazing Caspian album and doesn't demonstrate much growth as a band Those even vaguely in the know as to the goings on of post-rock will be aware of Caspian.
Kirk Windstein - Dream In Motion
Overall Score: 8/10 Songwriting: 8/10 Vocal Delivery: 8/10 Virtuosity: 7/10 Pros: Windstein's vocal performance and dexterous guitar work are a marvel to experience Cons: Perhaps a little reserved and introspective for fans of Crowbar Anyone with even a passing interest in heavy music will know the name Kirk Windstein.
Wage War, Ded and Thornhill Live at the Key Club, Leeds 15th January
The Key Club is something of a staple in the north of the United Kingdom. Many bands of varying degrees of notability and notoriety have trodden the boards of the hallowed stage and created raucous rackets through the PA, generally going down as one of the better nights of their various tours.
Aiming For Enrike - Music For Working Out
Overall Score: 7/10 Music: 7/10 Inventiveness: 8/10 Ingenuity: 7/10 Pros: The band excellently turn their head to yet another new genre in what has been a wonderful career thus far. Cons: Very little When a band changes their musical style, they are often met with hostility by their entrenched fan base. Often a musical deviation from a base sound is seen as a cynical move to appeal to a broader audience and as such make more money.
Rock Sins 2019 End Of Year Awards - Sam Savigny
Good lord, it feels like only yesterday I was mulling over my 2018 awards for this esteemed site. This year has gone too quickly and you can feel free to insert other clichés about the passage of time here. Since 2015 it feels as though heavy music has been undergoing a second (or third) golden age and 2019 has been no different.
Top 20 (ish) of 2019 - Sam Savigny
Allow me, if you will, to get on my soapbox and shout about all the bloody brilliant music that has come out this year. If you’re willing to listen – not to me mind, to the music – you will find that 2019 has been one of the best years of the decade and as the 10s draw to their eventual but inevitable close, join me as we look at my top 20 (ish, I cheated) albums and five EPs of the year.
Cult of Luna, Brutus and A.A. Williams Live at the Electric Ballroom, Camden 29th November
It is a crying shame that the room is barely even a third full for A.A. Williams’ set. Opening with Cold her radiant and elegiac voice fills the cavernous Electric Ballroom with dulcet tones of melancholy. She and her supporting band play a blindingly good set of gothic tones enraptured in a sanguine majesty.
Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas
Overall Score: 7.5/10 Performances: 9/10 Dynamism: 5/10 Immediacy: 8/10 Pros: An unrelenting journey | Fierce lyrical narrative Cons: Sorely lacking in dynamism From the artwork of Death Atlas you can be fairly certain you’re not in for a pleasant listen. Not just because it’s Cattle Decapitation coming at you with the force of seven sledgehammers with their technical, deathened grind, but because once again we get an album that looks at the bleakness of humanity.
Slayer - The Repentless Killogy Review
Overall Score: 7/10 Perfromance: 10/10 Sound Mixing: 6/10 Story: 3/10 Pros: It's Slayer | An outstanding last hurrah for thrash metal's finest Cons: Poor story | Poor sound mixing Football is a game of two halves, and referred to as a gentleman’s sport played by thugs. There are surprisingly parallels to be drawn between the beautiful game and thrash metal.
A Horse Called War – Good For Glue (And Nothing Else) - Rock Sins
Overall Score: 7.5/10 Songwriting: 8/10 Ingenuity: 6/10 Originality: 7/10 Pros: Excellently performed, vigorous sludge metal Cons: Somewhat derivative of the genre's peer group Having rebuilt their live standing post-reunion, A Horse Called War are unleashing new music upon the world in the form of an aptly equine five track EP, Good For Glue (And Nothing Else).
Blood Incantation - Hidden History Of The Human Race
Overall Score: 9/10 Songwriting: 9/10 Ingenuity: 9/10 Originality: 9/10 Pros: Superbly performed and crafted death metal Cons: Nothing Topping the Decibel album of the year list before its release sets up the latest Blood Incantation record with some lofty expectations for the rest of the listening world. Surely the hype from appearing atop such a list cements it for a fall. Fortunately, Hidden History of the Human Race is an extraordinary album.
Introducing: Creature (An Interview with Dan, James and Tom)
You’ve read the live review. You’ve read the HOUND review. Now it’s time to meet the men that make up the fearsome triumvirate, CREATURE. Speaking with Tom Bradshaw, the drummer, Dan Willet, the bassist and James Thompson, the guitarist and vocalist, we found out everything you would want to know about all things CREATURE past, present and future. Turning their eyes to the future, they reveal that the third EP in their trilogy of debut releases will “begin with an H. And be four tracks [long]”.
Rock Sins Weekly Episode 7: The Return of Down, The Ghost Inside, Ozzy and More
VIDEO Welcome to another episode of Rock Sins Weekly. This week the return of Down and The Ghost Inside, the rescheduling of Ozzy’s lost dates and more.
Deaf Radio - Modern Panic
Overall Score: 7.5/10 Songwriting: 7.5/10 Ingenuity: 7/10 Originality: 6/10 Pros: Very well crafted alternative rock Cons: A little too derivative of its blindingly obvious influences Greece isn’t a country famed for its musical exports. What it did in defining philosophical, mathematical and political ideologies and formulae is unparalleled, but aside from a handful of outfits, there aren’t many household names to emerge from the Hellenic Republic.
Abigail Williams - Walk Beyond The Dark
Overall Score: 7.5/10 Songwriting: 7.5/10 Exploration: 8/10 Instrumentation: 7.5/10 Pros: Expertly played, expansive black metal Cons: Inconsistent Black metal is the infernal stalwart of the heavy umbrella. The old reliable. Though turns have been taken with the genre, ideas expanded and explored, and sacrilege aptly performed, there is a comfort in black metal that you don’t find with just any subgenre.
Rock Sins Weekly Episode 6: RIP Timi Hansen, The Return of Rage, ArcTanGent Festival and More
Rock Sins Weekly Episode 6: RIP Timi Hansen, The Return of Rage, ArcTanGent Festival and More VIDEO Welcome to Rock Sins Weekly, the weekly digest of the biggest stories in rock and metal. This week, the death of a legend, the return of Rage Against the Machine, ArcTanGent’s first announcement and more. I'm a writer first and foremost, trying to trudge through the minutiae to find the best of the best in heavy, experimental and above all, interesting music.
CREATURE Live at The Chameleon Arts Cafe Nottingham 6th November
Being in a small crowd is often somewhat embarrassing. You feel for the band who are pouring their hearts out in musical form to a sparse, echoing room and feel uncomfortable and unable to truly enjoy things to a maximum potential. That’s usually the case. Tonight however there’s a smugness about being in attendance of one of the UK’s most exciting small bands in such intimate setting. We’re here for the beginning of a hopefully illustrious and spectacular career.
Thrice and Refused Live at O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire 30th October (Review and Gallery)
It is profoundly depressing that in 2019 bands of the stature and respectability of Thrice and Refused would get their venue downgraded. Originally slated to appear at the prestigious Brixton Academy, tonight’s show was moved to the Shepherd’s Bush Empire after – presumably – low ticket sales. That two bands, one on a great album one on a good one, cannot pull enough of a crowd to play the venue they deserve is both upsetting and frustrating.
ArcTanGent Announce First Wave Of Bands For 2020 Including Arc Stage Headliner Opeth
Rejoice! For fans of everything off kilter and progressively minded, Christmas has come a month early in the form of the first ArcTanGent announcement, and it is an absolute world beater. 2020 will mark the eighth year of the annual gathering at Fernhill Farm, Bristol, and this first announcement includes first Arc stage headliners, Opeth, as well as a host of other amazing acts.
Schammasch - Hearts Of No Light
Overall Score: 9/10 Instrumentation: 9/10 Songwriting: 9/10 Impact: 10/10 Pros: Epic, sprawling and wondrous | One of the finest extreme albums of the year Cons: Nothing Following up a notable or renowned album is no easy task. Often the successor, regardless of quality, is looked down upon by comparison to the prior release: Machine Head’s Unto the Locust is unfairly lambasted, Tool’s 10,000 Days doesn’t get its due credit and Load is seen as something of a misstep.
Damnation Festival 2019 Review
The University of Leeds; the home of Damnation Festival. This house of academia by day – or at least the student union bit of it – is rapidly transformed through the tireless work of countless members of staff and crew into the most welcoming hellscape you could ever hope to find. Since 2008, during every October/November, this humble seat of learning has been taken over by the great unwashed; we proud extreme metal fans, and in its fifteenth year the festival shows no signs of slowing down.
Daughters Live At Islington Assembly Hall 31st October
Halloween. An evening during which children and larger children – adults who haven’t grown up – engage in acts of scaring one another in the search of sugary treats. However, tonight’s entertainment is altogether more sinister than the “spooky” day usually allows. Where Halloween is a festive and upbeat occasion celebrating all things terrifying, tonight the Islington Assembly Hall plays host to something genuinely unsettling. Something truly dark.
Austerity - Anarcho Punk Dance Party
Overall Score: 7/10 Performances: 7/10 Songwriting: 7/10 Lyrics: 8/10 Pros: Witty lyrics | Off kilter, enthralling music Cons: Strays a little too close into punk cliché at times Glib social commentators predicted that Brexit and the election of Donald Trump would see a resurgence in punk. This was an incredibly short-sighted hot take as anyone who knows anything about the punk scene knows it has been thriving in the years preceding these two landmark political events.
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