Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Glasgow post-punk underdog heroes, The Wake, arguably never achieved nor received the success they were due with their excellent gloomy, shivering early work. Often unfairly compared to Joy Division, which only got worse upon their touring with New Order who were their labelmates at the time; it only feels like now, four decades removed from the release of their seminal debut, 'Harmony', that naysayers have learned to appreciate the work for what a cornerstone of the genre it truly was. The, 'Harmony & Singles', compilation has been reissued on Factory Benelux, then bounced to LTM then right back to Factory again, and here, we arrive at yet another reissue, commemorating a somehow criminally underrated staple of post-punk history, one decade shy of a half-century ago. Post-punk is pushing on...

Review: Originally released in 2004 and celebrating its 20th anniversary, War Is Hell was the debut full-length from Californian hardcore punk upstarts turned underground heroes The Warriors. Drawing on the groovy yet snarling style of Snapcase and Rage Against The Machine, the success of this release would see them added to bills touring with scene legends such as Comeback Kid, Terror, Sick Of It All and Parkway Drive, with vocalist Marshall Lichtenwaldt even guest featuring on the latter's track 'Hollow' from their Don't Close Your Eyes EP and later re-recorded for 2010's Deep Blue. Namedropped by melodic hardcore peers Set Your Goals on the anthemic 'Summer Jam' while their own cut from this record 'Slings & Arrows' would be covered by metallic hardcore giants in the making Knocked Loose on their 2019 Mistakes Like Fractures EP, The Warriors are a hardcore band's hardcore band with this long overdue repress marking the first since 2005 and is limited to only 100 copies.

Review: Sheffield metalcore giants While She Sleeps make their long awaited return on the follow up to 2021's Sleeps Society. Taking a more sprawling approach to composition this time around, and allowing outsider influences from the likes of Gorillaz, Aphex Twin and even Britpop to help steer their creative course, the resulting sixth full-length Self Hell, offers simultaneously the band's most aggressive, complex and frenetic work in over a decade, whilst tapping into newfound electronic soundscapes aided by the use of vintage synths such as the Korg MS-20 and Behringer TD-3. These warring textures provide a unique balance of post-metalcore serenity, with technical riffs weaving around lush hues of ambient, euphoric electronica akin to say Mount Kimbie, yet repurposed for angst-riddled displays of sonic, melancholic fury. That doesn't necessarily mean that there's a lack of chugging bangers with glistening synth lines, but they're deftly balanced with moments of triumphant catharsis.

Review: Manchester based, all girl, self-proclaimed doom-grunge outfit, Witch Fever, are set to finally drop their debut full-length, 'Congregation', this October (right in time for Halloween). Built around thundering riffs, sultry, twisted atmospherics and an incomparable wall of sound style trudge, evoking the ethereal post-punk of Warpaint by way of Soundgarden, the project is already hotly tipped to be one of the breakout releases of 2022. Frontwoman Amy Walpole's cavernous, shrill vocals are as haunting as they are lush, while the cryptic, horror-inspired lyrics and utterly massive production promise one of the most vital, dynamic, and unaccommodating debuts from the grunge, punk, or alternative rock spectrums, this decade has proverbed thus far.

Review: There are sub genre labels, and then there are sub genre labels. Then there's crust punk and stenchcore. Terms used to describe some pretty serious sounds, think classic English punk combined with extreme and thrash metal. Then prepare for the air raid as you hit play on Wolfbrigade's eighth full length album and their first of the current decade. Clearly influenced by groups ranging from the full-steam-forward juggernaut of Motorhead, to the experimental and highly politicised sample-happy Napalm Death, this latest effort is about fury, rage, agony, determination and a clear resolution not to go quietly into that good night. Or, to put all that another way, Life Knife Death kicks with the force of a roundhouse, then leaps on the injured body to begin devouring it, mind, body and soul.

Review: Originally released in 2001, Progression/Regression served as the fourth overall album from Swedish crust-punk legends Wolfbrigade, but only their second with vocalist Mikael "Micke" Dahl upon his replacing Tomas Jonsson of Anti Cimex, and their first under their current moniker (the band had gone by Wolfpack up until this point before opting to change it to distance themselves from a neo-Nazi movement of the same name). Primarily rooted in breakneck hardcore aggression with enough jagged, crusted edges to echo their peers in Skitsystem (who the band released a split with), yet embellished with nuances of Scandinavian melodic death metal and classic hook-laden pub rock, it's no shock that the LP has become of one of the pinnacles of the Swedish crustcore scene, and not just of the 21st century incarnations either, but of the general movement.

Review: Massachuessetts symphonic deathcore brutalisers, Worm Shepherd, made quite the statement of intent with 2020's 'In the Wake ov Sol'. On their sophomore effort, however, it now becomes abundantly clear just how much expansive venom the group have been harbouring. 'Ritual Hymns' builds upon its preceding debut with obliterating breakdowns, complex, frosted melodics and a weary, theatrical sense of nihilism that elevate epic centrepieces such as, 'Blood Kingdom' and 'A Bird In The Dusk' to a level of spectacle only tangentially approach on their debut.

Review: Following on from the 2022 career-height of their seminal fourth full-length Hiss, Singapore grindcore heroes Wormrot return with a rare slice of fan service in the form of the Left To Rot 12". Compiling several of their previously never-pressed-to-vinyl early releases such as their 2007 Demo, 2008's 'Dead' EP, as well as their 2008 split tape with Greece's Diseptic and even some newly re-recorded cuts, the total damage clocks in at 34 tracks of venomous, vicious, vitally unhinged grindcore of the most scabrous variety, designed to emboldened only those with the most calloused and familiar of ears whilst alienating every other would be passerby listener in existence. Get in.

Review: Returning with their first full-length since 1988's Laying Down Law, Australian art-rock auteurs The Wreckery (made up of former members of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Birthday Party, Plays With Marionettes) appear set to make up for their near four-decade absence with a macabre, city-lit jaunt through dingy clubs, bleak narratives, and the type of film noir soundtrack-indebted avant-garde post-punk quintessential to the 80s scene. While their original demise came from creative differences from certain members desiring a more mainstream direction and the others dully devoted to challenging art-rock experimentalism, this dichotomy and rift ultimately led to what made The Wreckery such a sonically uncertain and musically dangerous outfit. Fake Is Forever serves as a return to form, victory lap and dark new chapter for the band all at once, complete with scathing lyrics, fuzzed out atonal bedlam, bombastic baritone sax and minute flourishes of delicacy.