Music, Reviews, Henry Northmore

Glasvegas - The Christmas Album

27 Nov 2008

SEASONAL ROCK Available via download or as part of repackaged re-release of their debut long player this isn’t quite the full on Christmas ‘album’ Glasvegas promised, but they have delivered six outstanding songs for the holiday season. And it…

Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun

18 Sep 2008

POP There’s no disputing Brian Wilson’s genius – Beach Boy’s classic Pet Sounds is proof alone – and it’s wonderful to have him back from his self-imposed exile; performing live (particularly his joyous set at T in the Park in 2007) and releasing…

Dragonforce - Ultra Beatdown

4 Sep 2008

DragonForce play the most extreme power metal and it’s impossible to review Ultra Beatdown without the words ‘pompous’ and ‘bombastic’. They sound like every Iron Maiden song every written, all played at once, due to the sheer speed of delivery from the…

Slipknot - All Hope is Gone

4 Sep 2008

Slipknot - All Hope is Gone (Roadrunner) Slipknot could so easily have been a gimmick. Nine masked men in boiler suits battering out heavy metal. But from first single (‘Wait and Bleed’ back in 1999) they have constantly proved their musical…

Bowerbirds - Hymns for a Dark Horse

14 Aug 2008

FOLK (Dead Oceans) Bowerbirds, a trio of folkers from North Carolina create tumbledown tunes of love, nature and wistful remembrance. It’s charmingly enigmatic, touching with its veiled simplicity and ramshackle, scratchy folk. Layered vocals…

UNKLE - End Titles . . . Stories for Film

7 Aug 2008

ELECTRONIA INDIE (Surrender All) James Lavelle has been joined by Pablo Clements (The Psychonauts) for the latest incarnation of UNKLE. Collecting music scores and soundtrack work End Titles . . . seamlessly drifts from grungy dance beats to almost…

Judas Priest - Nostradamus

3 Jul 2008

METAL (Columbia) Rob Halford’s howl and tracks as powerful as ‘Breaking the Law’ and ‘Painkiller’ have cemented Judas Priest’s status as a driving force that helped shape the entire metal genre. Formed back in the early 70s vocalist Halford left…

Soundshok - The Bringers of Bloodshed

3 Jul 2008

METAL (Rising Records) Metal from the small Scottish town of Arbroath as Soundshok unleash their debut on an unsuspecting world. If you hadn’t already guessed from the title, The Bringers of Bloodshed, Soundshok are heavy - very fucking heavy - and…

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

5 Jun 2008

METAL (The Null Corporation) Trent Reznor has always been an innovator and after several years of dispute with his record label he’s finally free to operate by his own rules. With his first taste of freedom he released a 36 track instrumental album…

Cavelera Conspiracy - Inflikted

27 Mar 2008

VERY HEAVY METAL (Roadrunner) Brazillian metallers Sepultura are pretty much untouchable in the world of thrash. Their Chaos AD and Roots are classics of the genre. However, frontman Max Cavalera split from the band in 1996, going on to form Soulfly…

Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong

31 Jan 2008

INDIE All skinny jeans and wiry frame Joe Lean is a complex multi-media construct. Born Joseph Beamont, ex-drummer with The Pippettes (under the stage name Robin of Loxley) also known by his acting name Joe Van Moyland as seen in Peep Show, Nathan…

The Vernon Elliot Ensemble - Ivor the Engine and Pogle’s Wood

13 Dec 2007

SOUNDTRACK Ivor the Engine and Pogle’s Wood (Trunk) Smallfilms (a partnership between writer and narrator Oliver Postgate and animator Peter Firmin) made some of the most endearing children’s television shows from the 50s through to the 70s…

Sex Pistols review

SECC, Glasgow, Sun 18 Nov

20 Nov 2007

They were never gonna provide the filth and the fury of their 70s heyday, but there are few bands that stand for an entire genre as succinctly as The Sex Pistols so resolutely stand for punk. Fair enough, a 30th anniversary tour (marking the release of…

Kula Shaker

Strangefolk

16 Aug 2007

INDIE ROCK Kula Shaker, and in particular lead fop Crispian Mills, come in for a lot of stick. They were pretentious, they were overblown but they also had some great tunes. The media glare, the rise of lad culture and some unfortunate quotes…

Arctic Monkeys

ROCK

26 Apr 2007

The weight of expectation hasn’t affected the Arctic Monkeys one iota. They’ve hardly broken their stride and have tossed off a second album of casual brilliance. It almost feels unfair how off the cuff Favourite Worst Nightmare feels; the lyrics are as…

Records - Maxïmo Park

Maxïmo Park

27 Mar 2007

INDIE It may be a cliché, but second albums are tricky. Deviate too far from the sound that took you to the big time and ‘you’ve lost your touch’. Conversely, plough on down the same furrow and ‘you’ve run out of ideas’. And it’s in the latter camp…

Cradle of Filth - album review

Cradle of Filth

27 Nov 2006

METAL There will always be a place in the history of metal for Cradle of Filth. They’ve been reliably upsetting our self imposed moral guardians since their inception. However, this is Cradle’s main problem - as an idea they’re like a bolt from the…

Trivium - album review

Trivium

2 Oct 2006

METAL Opener ‘Ignition’ is a killer track, all thundering riffs and heavier than thou grooves, if someone told you it was a lost Metallica track you’d have no reason to doubt them. And they count the aforementioned Metallica and Iron Maiden…

Rapture, The - album review

The Rapture

18 Sep 2006

PUNK FUNK The Rapture pretty much invented what people laughingly refer to as ‘new rave’. Punk funk, pulsating basslines, brass and fuzzed guitars; the scrawny illegitimate offspring of Madchester and Iggy Pop. Their last album spawned the monstrous…

Beck

Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Tue 22 Aug

4 Sep 2006

INDIE Beck almost threatened to outshine Radiohead in this triumphant support slot. The atmosphere was that of an upbeat funk party complete with dancing bears, cutlery as instruments and puppets galore. For once the flourishes didn’t feel like…