Balik Alistane light up the space, their unity and skill matched faultlessly by their appreciation of the audience experience. This is not a self-indulgent instrumental, not guitar playing designed simply to impress in the short term. It’s a self-conscious composition, a live jam captured with an infectious groove at its core, and a sense of story and recognisable melodic inflection rooted throughout a post-four-minute production.
Hard Rock
Introducing a cinematic, progressive metal and operatic chaos of emotional intensity. ununk blends the familiar and the unknown, throughout the changing pace and presence of a conceptually complex We Are Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On.
Creatively capturing the essence of a stark new reality – Everlust ignite the darkness and depth of both haunting hard-rock and the conceptual truth of our current transition into living exclusively online.
Heavy thrash metal with a fine balancing of the creative freedom to play and the conceptual, atmospheric intention of a bigger project – Ankoth delivers a deadly force of intense metal pace and weight, with the unmistakable Danu’s Decline.
Perfectly encapsulating the implications of its title, and seamlessly blending the ferocity of metal with the essential embrace of rhythm, concept, character and even melody, Death Culture fires up a brand new album with a powerful opening track, and proceeds to impress throughout the intense and addictive Man and Machine.
Fearlessly heartfelt and inspired by the very location where the songwriter’s own father’s ashes were laid to rest – Stag on the Cliff is an empowering and immersive instrumental composition, with a multitude of distinct moments of evolution and shifting dynamic that consistently hold tight to your attention.
Armed with a bold collection of albums and singles from multiple creative corners of metal, hardcore and hard rock – Guitarist, guitar-tech, producer and composer Osi Pavez kindly took part in an interview.
Great songwriting, a hint of Papa Roach nostalgia, catchy and immensely alternative all at once. A Million Little Fires consistently bring originality and realness to the scene, alongside that essential talent and unity as a band. Absolutely an act worth tuning in for this year.
Psychedelic hard-rock with an authenticity and weight that’s quick to take you back through the portal of music history. Iron King Stag carve out a classic four-track collection, with their explosive and raw, self-titled EP.
Think blues rock, Americana, rock and roll, all carefully intertwined throughout a live-sounding album of nine original tracks. What’s more, Thunder Bridge is the dynamic duo’s debut – an impressively established playlist of energising gems, and a timeless style reignited amidst a series of modern reflections.
Superb guitar, bass and drum unity at a high-octane pace storms into view – nostalgic and original melody and vocal dynamic quickly capturing attention from afar. Captain Graveyard delivers a boldly unique yet perfectly structured and satisfying ode to timeless hard-rock, with the precise complexity and weight of Tragedy of a blood romance.
Australian duo My Inner Hyde keep things simple but striking, with the old-school distortion and anthemic, evocative writing of Eliminate.