Music, Metal

New Scottish band Akord bring hard rock from the Granite City

Zealous Aberdeen-bred band sweeping competition ahead of debut EP release

On the cusp of securing top spot at their third competition in as many months, the Granite City's noiseniks Akord have been rapidly attracting major attention from both sides of the border; all of which has been impressively amassed prior to the release…

Top 5 ex-wrestlers

The Rock, Hulk Hogan and Chris Jericho are among those who have attempted non-wrestling careers

With the dust from Wrestlemania XXIX still settling, and wrestler-turned-writer Mick Foley coming to Edinburgh on April 24 to try out his new persona as a stand-up story teller, The List looks at the top 5 wrestlers who tired of being beaten up for a…

Ghost, Gojira and The Defiled - O2 Academy, Glasgow, Tue 19 Mar, 2013

Thundering triple bill of industrial, thrash prog and classic metal

It’s easy to be cynical about sponsored gigs, but Jägermeister have nailed their colours to the mast: they love and support metal. And when they are providing line-ups this solid at just £5 in, you can forget all the corporate bullshit and admit it’s…

Saint Vitus - The Cathouse, Glasgow, Thu 14 Mar 2013

First Scottish date for the LA doom metal band is immaculately executed

LA doom metallers Saint Vitus never really got the dues they deserved throughout their various incarnations over the last few decades. Despite their ties to the legendary 80s SST label during the height of Black Flag’s fame and countless name checking…

Moss - Horrible Night

Riff-based, melodic material from unreconstructed stoner metal band

(Rise Above Records) Regarded as one of the starkest and most suffocating English doom bands of the last ten years, the return of Southampton’s Moss is another step into the void. Horrible Night sees them distance themselves from their guttural and…

Deftones - Barrowland, Glasgow, Fri 15 Feb 2013

Alt-rockers' refreshing approach and inspiring outlook makes for great live spectacle

The Sacramento based heavy alt-rockers are most definitely a resilient bunch. Seemingly unfazed by the changing landscape of the music industry, having been unfairly lumped in with the numb-skull nu-metal genre that plagued the early noughties, Deftones…

Pure Love - Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Fri 8 Feb 2013

High energy live show from former Gallows frontman Frank Carter and co

Gallows had built up a reputation for intense, fearsome live shows. They were the leaders of the UK’s hardcore scene leaving a trail of trashed venues in their wake. Each gig an explosion of feral punk rock, flailing bodies, blood and gore. Picked up by…

Om - Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 28 Sep

The meditative metal group deliver faithful unsatisfactorily short Stereo set

Meditative metal Om Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 28 Sep Om’s new direction and rhythm section has polarised some older heads inclined towards the more Sleep-heavy vibes found on earlier releases. There’s an obvious difference in the live amalgamation of Om…

Neurosis - Honor Found in Decay

Ten albums in, Neurosis continue to evolve. Kicking off with the uncharacteristically forthright riff ‘We All Rage in Gold’, Honor Found in Decay occupies a space between their more contemplative, work and the confrontational style of 2007’s Given to…

Interview: Alice Cooper

Halloween, horror and Jim Morrison

Alice Cooper is a shock rock legend he practically invented the excessive stage shows names like Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie now employ. However it’s not just about the monsters, the costumes and the onstage executions, ‘School’s Out…

Divorce - Divorce

Uncompromising and underpinned by deceptively skilled post-punk rhythms

Hail Divorce, femme-metal overlords (overladies?) of every stage they’ve ever desecrated with their racket. In fairness, this debut album from a Glasgow quartet who have been around the houses with some of the best labels in town could only ever be a…

Linkin Park - Living Things

Crisp, clean rock from the nu metal survivors

Linkin Park became the poster boys for the entire nu metal movement. Their (relative) good looks and young age meant they were many a tweenager’s gateway drug to the hard stuff (we’re talking Slipknot and Slayer, not skag). Hoary old metal purists hated…

Sleep, The Arches, Glasgow, Sun 22 May

Stoner metal from the Bay Area brings transcendent heaviness

The live Sleep experience could only ever function with obscene amounts of volume. Obviously the sticky green stuff might also be advisable to punters - depending on one’s propensity for light narcotics - but tonight it's about decibels. And low end.

Melvins Lite – Freak Puke

Experimental craziness from the long-running grungers' reduced incarnation

You can never really expect every album by these insanely experimental men to sound the same. Even after 29 years of performing and recording together, The Melvins (or Melvins Lite, in this case) somehow manage to remain enthusiastic and creative in an…

Interview - Barney Greenway of Napalm Death

The grindcore pioneers talk about new their album, metal and Joy Division

Napalm Death are musical pioneers, they invented grindcore, mixing death metal with hardcore punk and made music harder, faster and nastier than anyone that had gone before. Famed for their ferocious live shows, political edge and refusal to compromise…

New Edinburgh venue The Third Door launches mini-festival Qabalala

In the past month it’s seemed there’s been precious little to get excited about on Edinburgh’s clubbing and live scene, but let’s put the hand-wringing to one side for a few paragraphs and remember that people are still out there trying to get things…

Every Time I Die - King Tut’s, Glasgow, Wed 7 Dec 2011

Relentless stream of three-minute blitzkrieg salvos

King Tut’s is sold out tonight, and rightly so. US noiseniks Every Time I Die are one of the most engaging bands in the broad church of metal, preaching their inimitable brand of plunging rock ‘n’ roll since way back then in 1998. Trash Talk do a good…

Korn – The Path of Totality

Blistering new dubstep direction from the nu metal overlords

They’ll forever be known as ‘the godfathers of nu metal’, but on Path of Totality Korn have taken a massive side step. Sure the guitars are still heavy as hammers but they’ve gone dubstep. And we’re not talking the odd breakbeat this is a full on…

Opeth - HMV Picture House, Edinburgh, Thu 10 Nov

Mesmerising show from the Swedish prog metallers

Prog metal (from Rush to Mastodon) is an acquired taste but Sweden’s Opeth are at the top of their game and it is in the live arena where you can really appreciate their musicianship. You can watch each musician and really piece together their input…

Various artists - Songs For Dying

Vibrant collection of tunes exploring noise genres from techno to metal

(Pjorn 72) The local Noiserati and associates’ recent reclaiming of their techno and/or metal roots helped their clan avoid a nihilistic dead end. As this bumper fifteen track compendium of clings, clangs, sci-fi slapstick, sepulchral drones…

Alice Cooper - SECC: Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Mon 31 Oct

Could there be a more perfect date for Alice Cooper to play Glasgow? And the Halloween freakshow starts early with protopunks New York Dolls still pouting after all these years. A muted response from the crowd in this vast arena lessens the impact but…

Interview - Manowar get ready for their first UK tour in 16 years

Q&A with the most awesome metal act in the world

Manowar are the very embodiment of epic metal excess and they return to the UK for their first full tour in 16 years playing their debut album Battle Hymns in its entirety as well as other thunderous metal classics. We catch up with outspoken bassist…

Corrupted - Garten der Unbewusstheit

Japanese doom metallers' moody follow up to El Mundo Frio

Osaka’s enigmatic Corrupted have been shape-shifting their doom-laden and dystopic sound with each release over the past 15 years, to refer to them as a sludge band in their current phase seems bone-idle. Garten der Unbewusstheit (Garden of Unawareness…

Metal titans Manowar announced their first UK tour for 16 years

The mighty Manowar have announced their first UK tour in 16 years. Where they will be playing their album Battle Hymns in its entirety alongside other bombastic rock classics. Famed for their over the top showmanship, love of swords, sorcery and Norse…

Bon Jovi – Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, Wed 22 Jun 2011

Polished if unremarkable show from the New Jersey rockers

For many years to even admit a passing love of Bon Jovi lead to ridicule and derision. But the passage of time has been kind to these reformed poodle rockers, nostalgia has meant their hits have been reassessed as cheesy but ultimately life affirming…