Although I work in Auckland on North Island (New Zealand’s largest city), I call home a small farm close to a township called Oxford on South Island, and I get back there as often as I can, especially as that is where my wonderful wife is. According to the last census...

Even though Armored Saint have now been in existence for more than 40 years, and I have of course been aware of the name (primarily due to John Bush, who took time off to sing in Anthrax), I do not think I have previously come across any of their material. With their...

1985 saw the band follow up their debut with the same line-up, although Phil Sandoval left during the recording and only played on a few tracks. The logo on the cover may have stayed the same, but the image being portrayed was very different to that of the knights on...

1987 saw the band back with their third album, by now solidly a quartet (although Sandoval would return later). The first three albums are normally seen as a set, as this was the last to feature Dave Prichard, who was diagnosed with leukaemia while they were recording...

Finnish band Insomnium are often described as melodic death metal, yet they also bring in atmospheric elements of black metal and so many other elements on this album that I would not be surprised to see them categorised prog metal as well. Released in 2014, here is a...

Released in 2014, Suicide Silence’s fourth album ‘You Can’t Stop Me” was the first without original lead vocalist Mitch Lucker who was killed in a motoboke crash in 2012, and the first to feature Hernan "Eddie" Hermida of All Shall Perish. Deathcore is a genre which...

Can it really be more than 20 years since One of Norway’s most creative black metal bands released ‘Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia’? At the time they had gone through some artistic and personnel changes which would shape their future, with the arrival of...

Nazareth are one of the longest-running and most important rock bands to ever come out of Scotland, and even if we discount the years that most of the founders were playing together as The Shadettes, here is a band who has celebrated more than 50 years together....

  New Zealand 12 mins Rating 90/100 https://www.facebook.com/systemexitnz/?locale=hi_IN https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuiELbOBLqBuBZzGN6qtu_Q Under the formidable shadow of Mount Taranaki, on the West coast of New Zealand’s North Island, is to be found a...

It is some 18 months since I last reviewed a recording by Crying Club, which was the single Taxi Man, but I did see them at EmoFest last year where three of the songs on this five-track thirteen-minute-long EP were played. While their music is solidly rooted in the...

Flying Man is the stage name of Dunedin based Irish-born live-looping guitarist and singer/songwriter Alan Ned Gray. Flying Man’s song-writings sit in the electroacoustic realm - playing programmed beats, live looping and layered harmonies. Here he has been joined by...

The word “supergoup” is not one to be bandied around lightly, yet that was very much the first thing which came to mind when I came across this new formation. During one of the many lockdowns, guitarist Nail Vincent ({Devilskin}) started working on new material, and...

You Make Me is the debut single from Julia Dorry, who was born and raised in Berlin but now calls Aotearoa her home. This four-minute-long number is all about the vocals, which are front and centre at all times, placed against a piano for the most part but with a nice...

What we have here is the fourth in a series of compilations from Dave Edwards, covering the years 2018-2022 (the others are for earlier years) and includes previously unreleased recordings, download-only bonus tracks, and excerpts from 12 albums. Yes, twelve. Dave is...

Here we have Matt’s latest single, taken from the album of the same name which is out on March 10th. Matt provides vocals and guitar, and he is again accompanied by his band The Dead Leaves which features Andrew Pollock (guitar), Robin Murphy (bass), Daniel Brates...

In my wonderfully formed Kev’s Top Tens for 2022 we can see nestling at #5 in the albums slot The World To Breathe by Nancy Howie, otherwise known as Fathom. Nancy is a piano tuner by trade and when she had time on her hands due to Covid she decided to make some...

Oberon is a two-man project of Yuri Crescenzio (acoustic & electric guitars, bass, keyboards, organ, synth, effects) and Alberto Baretta (percussion), along with guest singer Elena Dainese who takes part on some songs with others being instrumentals. The overall...

The band’s second album showed quite a shift, with Yuri Crescenzio now just providing electric guitars and Giacomo Zanardo joining on bass while drummer Alberto Baretta was now a guest, as was Gilberto Ongaro (organ, synth and electric piano). With Yuri now only...