Thu 20 Jan – Crowbar, Shaped by Fate, Hammer of the Gods

Crowbar should really be playing venues larger than Kirk Windstein‘s beard mass by now, but through some glitch in the space-time continuum they were squeezed into the practically anorexic venue of the Camden Underworld for their London show on January 20th. Despite this minor setback, fans, drunkards and half of the music industry squeezed themselves into the sold out venue, spilling beer all over each other in order to get an earful of New Orleans sludge….

Read the full review here!

Thu 16 Dec – Gogol Bordello, DeVotchKa, Alain Johannes

Describing Gogol Bordello to the uninitiated is like explaining the concept of bacon to a vegetarian. The term Gypsy Punk is commonly used in the process yet the band have more influences than there are So Solid Crew members. They can cite Israeli, New York, Thai, Ethiopian and Romany gypsy inheritance among their members. They have been onstage with Madonna, supported Rage Against the Machine and made fully fledged metalheads do silly dances. Thus, to fully experience Gogol Bordello you must see them live at least once as they are one…

Wrote this review thing for metaldominion, have a taster:

Seventh Void is the result of Two parts Type O Negative, one part Danzig, a dash Kingdom of Sorrow and mixed by Vinnie Paul. Being left to rise and gently bake inside the ear, this album is psychoacoustic icing.

One can’t help but compare this band to Type O Negative; it is inevitable that after the death of singer and bassist Peter Steele, Seventh Void will have a lot to live up to in the eyes of Type O fans despite being formed as a step away into ‘a straight up…

Mon 5 Jul – The Sword, Gentlemens Pistols

Within the baking depths of Camden there lay a sold out shoe box shaped room of minuscule proportions on the Monday night that was the 5th July. Within this room a throng of music lovers were subjected to a night of musical delights provided by the doom laden riff masters that are The Sword. Accompanying this palatable ear-fest are none other than Gentleman's Pistols, currently home to (the practically holy by metal standards) Bill Steer of Carcass.
To the mild confusion of the uninitiated, and the immense pleasure of those who were…

Sat 1 May – Bolt Thrower, Rotting Christ, Benediction, The Rotted, Ancient Ascendant

5pm outside the ULU and a bedraggled line of motley fans are weathering the torrential rain. Some are even sheltering under a khaki tarpaulin found on site and held at arms length above their heads. When the doors finally open, there is a mad rush to the merch stand where piles BoltThrower paraphernalia is snapped up by rabid fans and enthusiastic ebayers (Bolt Thrower merch can only be found at gigs which are rare and usually sold out so it is not unknown for shirts to exceed…