36 Crazyfists, Manchester Academy 3, 12/02/15 I didn't know quite how I was going to write this review, because despite having been listening to 36 Crazyfists for over 10 years, I'd never seen them live and I know very little about them as people. Let's start with the easy part. 36CF has been a stalwart of the metal genre since they exploded ont... Read more 06 Apr 2015 - 2 minute read
Originally written for Manchester Rocks and reprinted here with permission: Imagine if Hatebreed and Oathbreaker put out a record together. Hard to picture, right? Well, that’s pretty much exactly what California death/hardcore outfit Eyes Of Mara sounds like. Formed in 2010, the band bring standard low-tuned death-metal guitar work and bl... Read more 07 Oct 2014 - 2 minute read
These records went some way towards making me the person I am today. I'll be posting them (near as I can) in the order I discovered them, so that a general trend can be seen in my music taste. So I guess you can blame some angry Americans for my sarcastic, angsty demeanour and my general hatred for the human race. Apart from Hercules and Love Af... Read more 12 Sep 2014 - 3 minute read
I wrote an article for TEDXSalford which was posted up there the other day. Here it is: Last week, I posted a simple Facebook status asking for someone to recommend a good horror film. I outlined parameters for my personal definition of ‘good’ (no found footage, no terribly-acted films involving possessed children, no independently-m... Read more 12 Sep 2014 - 3 minute read
Deafheaven, Gorilla, Manchester, UK, August 16th 2014 San Francisco metal giants Deafheaven are so talented it's actually terrifying. Their epic 2013 record Sunbather is a genre-defying, hour-long mixture of black metal, shoe gaze and spoken word moments, all wrapped up in George Clarke's retched vocals. It's an album that has en... Read more 18 Aug 2014 - 3 minute read