Albums

AOTY 2019: Mia Hughes

As we reach the end of the decade, it’s with hardcore in an astoundingly healthy place. Earlier in the decade it seems the genre hit something of a lull, but over the past few years (perhaps thanks to the way Turnstile jumped onto the scene and immediately went stratospheric) incredible hardcore bands have been popping up faster than you could […]

Albums

AOTY 2019: Paris Fawcett

When you’re brought up with punk music, gritty British drama and the lyrics of Gallows’ Grey Britain, it can be hard to grasp what’s meant by the American Dream. Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Steinbeck taught me a version I saw as men in suits using consumerism to fuel their greed and power problems – after all, for every man’s pursuit of […]

Albums

AOTY 2019: Ryan Wilkinson

Famous for their surf-rock-meets-emo riffs and the cult status of their signature green hoodie, Prince Daddy & the Hyena have always been known as a ‘weed band’. Their latest album, however, tackles heavier substances. A concept record in three acts, Cosmic Thrill Seekers begins with the story of an acid trip before detailing the epiphany it brought on: the cyclical, […]

Albums

AOTY 2019: Rich Hobson

As of February 13 2020, heavy metal will officially be 50 years old. The crescendo of an almost two-decade arms race that had begun in the mid-50s when blues guitarists recognised the potential of electric guitars to create an unholy racket, the release of Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut marked the moment that noise went truly nuclear. Tolling bells and pouring […]

Albums

AOTY 2019: Rob Mair

First off, a disclaimer: when Future Teens were squirrelled away working on their second album, they almost certainly didn’t envisage I’d be their audience. The other side of 30 (heck, I’m only this side of 40) and in the same relationship for nearly 13 years – modern-day dating is a story for other people. Yet here I am, enamoured with […]