Music and Andrew Borthwick

Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom

3 Jul 2008

METAL (Earache) Once pegged as post-metal rip-offs in the vein of Neurosis, Sweden’s Cult of Luna are fast becoming a formidable outfit in their own right and Eternal Kingdom strengthens that reputation. A concept album lyrically and musically based…

Dillinger Escape Plan

14 Feb 2008

Most bands have their share of bad luck. Dillinger Escape Plan have their share and others’ too. The New Jersey noisecore troupe’s misfortunes include: five years between debut and sophomore albums, approximately seven line-up changes (songwriter and…

5 Reasons To Go See - Ryan Adams

29 Nov 2007

1 He’s Ryan Adams not Bryan Adams One specialises in alt.country/americana of the highest order, switching between heart-wrenching ballads and some of the catchiest rock tunes you’ll ever hear. The latter does not. 2 He’s focussed, man! Ol’ Ryan’s…

Dillinger Escape Plan

15 Nov 2007

METAL Ire Works (Relapse) Having written the definitive math-metal album with 1999’s Calculating Infinity debut, DEP have faced incessant criticism from a select few for daring to expand the sonic palette. Ire Works looks set to provoke further…

Ryan Adams

Album

16 Jul 2007

AMERICANA RYAN ADAMS Easy Tiger (Lost Highway) After three albums in 2005 (two were doubles) and a batch of nonsense online ‘releases’, Americana’s poster boy has put his energies into one album. And it’s easily his most consistent work to…

Converge

3 Jul 2007

HARDCORE While metal is enjoying something of a renaissance as Mastodon and Tool’s esoteric leanings catch the mainstream’s attention, there’s yet to be a group to prove that hardcore is a bona fide art form. A group to attest hardcore is more than…

Records - Will Haven

3 Jul 2007

METAL After splitting up, re-forming, and then losing vocalist Grady Avenell, Will Haven’s continued existence has been in question of late. But with the arrival of long-time friend Jeff Jaworski, the California metal quartet has finally found a…

Records - Pig Destroyer

3 Jul 2007

GRINDCORE Pig Destroyer have always had more to them than your average grinders, largely thanks to the lit-heavy lyrics of JR Hayes. So, while Phantom Limb plays like the illegitimate offspring of early Napalm Death, there’s a deeply unhinged quality…

Singles & Downloads

18 Jun 2007

(Photo: Cherry Ghost) After the sugar-rush, bubblegum-pop of ‘Girlfriend’, the dreary ballad that is Avril Lavigne ’s ‘When You’re Gone’ (Columbia, 1 Star) is blandness personified. Andrea Corr ’s ‘Shame On You’ (Atlantic, 1 Star) meanwhile isn’t as…

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Album

7 May 2007

ROCK You know what you’re getting when it comes to BRMC. Straight ahead, no frills rock’n’roll delivered with a degree of calculated nonchalance. Loops, samples or a ten-minute long jazz jam are not concepts these guys are familiar with. But…