Back catalogue: Metal

Review: 2024 saw the return of easily the biggest powerviolence act to ever decimate speakers and human hearing - Nails, who picked up right where they left off with their ferocious fourth full-length Every Bridge Burning, marking their first new album in almost a decade. Despite rave reviews, many of the fanbase argue that its 2016 predecessor You Will Never Be One Of Us is still the band's finest achievement of musical malevolence to date. Their final effort with the original trio line-up of bassist John Gianelli and drummer Taylor Young before both would amicably depart in 2020, these 21 minutes of sonic abrasion (still their longest LP) deliver on everything the Nails ethos stands for - frenetic riffage, crushing breakdowns, hulking grooves and a breakneck pace libel to instil panic attacks, while primary songwriter Todd Jones' nihilistic viewpoint and seemingly anti-everything attitude is barely decipherable through his mouth-full-of-broken-glass vocals. Be warned, however, each and every micro-burst of fury such as the 45-second 'Friend To All' is paid back by the end with the heinously oppressive noise-sludge-doom monolithic closer that is the 8-minute 'They Come Crawling Back'.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged, warped records***


Arriving as the tenth full-length LP from the Finnish symphonic metal pioneers Nightwish, Yesterwynde shall serve as the third and final instalment of the trilogy of albums they've crafted with current vocalist Floor Jansen, since the departure of her predecessor Anette Olzon. Following on from Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) and Human. :II: Nature (2020), as well as Jansen's pop ballad LP Paragon released in 2023, the project promises to boast some of their heaviest and complex compositions to date, while also marking their first without bassist/vocalist Marko Hietala since Century Child (2002), as he would depart the band in 2021. With a self-imposed hiatus planned following release, and no tour dates to speak of, Yesterwynde appears set to provide avid followers with a calculated bookend to their latest era, designed and destined to be poured over and absorbed throughout the coming silence.

Review: Arriving as the tenth full-length LP from the Finnish symphonic metal pioneers Nightwish, Yesterwynde shall serve as the third and final instalment of the trilogy of albums they've crafted with current vocalist Floor Jansen, since the departure of her predecessor Anette Olzon. Following on from Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) and Human. :II: Nature (2020), as well as Jansen's pop ballad LP Paragon released in 2023, the project promises to boast some of their heaviest and complex compositions to date, while also marking their first without bassist/vocalist Marko Hietala since Century Child (2002), as he would depart the band in 2021. With a self-imposed hiatus planned following release, and no tour dates to speak of, Yesterwynde appears set to provide avid followers with a calculated bookend to their latest era, designed and destined to be poured over and absorbed throughout the coming silence.