All About Rock & Metal

Nursing and Def Leppard; not the likeliest of bedfellows I grant you, but on another monotonous coach journey to our university base, I slipped a second-hand copy of ‘Pyromania’ into my portable CD player – yes, I’m that old – and a love affair began that has nearly stretched into its fourth decade!

Every once in a while, you receive an album that ticks all your musical boxes. Writing a review becomes easy, and the hardest decision you must make is how many superlatives you will throw at it in your final prose! Well, dear reader, this is mine, as Mammoth’s third album is sublime!

Can you have enough Def Leppard? Don’t be silly, of course not! The boys have returned with a blistering live recording of their 2023 concert from Sheffield’s Bramall Lane. This gig, alongside Mötley Crüe, signalled the start of the European leg of their World Tour, which has seen them play countless shows around the globe, in front of an always enthusiastic audience. 

It’s a strange thing to write that a band formed forty years ago have just released, in essence, their third album, but in Roulette’s case, it’s true! Why the wait, you may ask?

Move aside pretenders! The king of Punk-Rock is back and kicking arse as he reclaims his throne! The legend that is Billy Idol returns with his first full-length album in over a decade, and it’s sublime! It’s reminiscing Billy, it’s rebellious Billy, it’s “I don’t give a shit” Billy, it’s “Billy Fucking Idol”, and I love him for it!

Having missed out on the inaugural Tower Of Fire due to location and other family disasters, when I found out that the sequel would be at the excellent Nightrain in Bradford, I made concrete plans to attend, and it turned out to be a wise decision! The entire event, organised by Greg and Adele Dean from Towerok Management Services and our very own CEO Bruce Mee, was superbly run and acted as a stark reminder of why we need to have these types of events

I arrived at Venue 23 in Wakefield, not knowing anything about it, but left ten hours later having gained a lot of respect for both it and the owner, Karl Johnson, who made sure that things ran smoothly on and off stage, whilst also performing with his band, Spin - more on that later!

Full of great songs and skits, blistering riffs and melodies, it’s fair to say that Lapland’s foremost Metal group have released an absolute monster with their latest album!

These are the crème de la crème of reconstruction! There has been no cranking up the volume and falsely exclaiming: “Remixed and remastered!

Dispensing with their normal two-year release cycle, Eclipse have barely waited twelve months before unleashing ‘Megalomanium II

On a hot and humid evening in Barnsley, White Skies and Ten ensured that the temperature inside the Birdwell Venue matched outside

Swedish-born Kristoffer Gildenlöw isn’t a name instantly recognisable to many, but it should be!

The Stylus, located in the centre of Leeds University land, was the location for this leg of the tour, and, being truthful ...

It’s always a pleasure to meet the exception-to-the-rule where live albums are concerned!

occasionally hear the unjust comment that if you’ve listened to one of Frontiers’ releases, you’ve heard them all.