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Go to the shops and buy music - unlicensed downloading is theft. Failing buying stuff, become a Dj like me and get sent half you music, then you can spend your money on hairline protection products. And dodgey porn.

The strong points of this are as immediately apparent as the weak ones, overall leaving you with an impression of what this band want to achieve, but not necessarily letting you in on whether or not they will achieve it. Neil's vocals are great, emotive, in parts strong at other moments almost shimmering, and call to mind Creed and newer bands such as Inme, while instrumentally they are like a retrospective of successful acts of the last 15 years, Mechanical Animals era Marilyn Manson rubs shoulders with Nirvana, Guns n' Roses and more . Fans of C4 should check out the reworked riff for all to see on "Half the Man" which sounds like a Peace Through Superior Firepower actually covering early C4 with support from Mulholland, thus is probably the most catchy song of the bunch, and if the "Motherfh-uk-kerrah" was left out would be a aural portrait of Harrogate's mainstream rock scene. Melodically things go a bit Fallout Boy for third track tentatively titled "Seven dollars", nodding to the accessible leanings of the group, but then things unfortunately go one step further, actually into commercial territory for "Web saves heart", straight up MOR that I could easily live without; this the only song where Neil's vocals are not great. That is to say, they don't sound out of tune or anything, more that he sounds a little like he's auditioning for a Dad rock covers band at the Iron Duke - this is no criticism, it's actually quite impressive that he can do that, but it's not perhaps a direction he should take until he's my age. Fortunately it's all hands back on deck for closer ""Fatman does kung fu" which is by far the best song, Drowned in Flames sounding like everyone at the table has brought something there, and it all pulls in the same direction. As a first recording this won't answer all your questions on this new band, but it does show you the direction they are heading - a lot more mainstream - and hints at what is really needed - a band that functions AS a band, not just a group of individuals with ego's falling out and walking off stage or telling each other they are out of tune. The potential is there, it's up to Drowned in Flames to pull it off, if Craig can channel his considerable drive into moving things forward and keeping the band as a functioning unit, rather than simply providing us with some of the more memorable mood swings of last year, they'll be worth looking forward to.

Featuring remixes by Air, Ad-Rock and Dizzee Rascal amongst others of less renown (that is to say I've not heard of any of them, unless the hand clapping Dust Brothers are indeed the Chemical Brothers, as that is their former moniker...?) this is the remix companion to the album proper, but as I've not heard that all the way through I don't know how it compares as a listen. What I can tell you is the remixes stand alone by themselves as a thoroughly enjoyable CD, taking Beck's trademark quirkyness and shaping it in new forms, to leave you with an album that for a change to your scheduled listening is intriguing without being challenging enough to be hard work, you're not going to end up exhausted trying to like this, its easy. And as you can't often have a good remix of a duff song (though it does happen from time to time, Brimful of Asha fans) this lot promises good things of the original. Personally I'm not going to bother, Guerolito is good enough for me in the first place, like a sub dance album that doesn't just have a couple of good singles on it. Perhaps it's the range of Remixers on duty that keeps the idea fresh, but this still manages to sound like a whole as opposed to a collection of B-sides, as these projects sometimes do. Time well spent.

This is fucking brilliant. If like me, you've been wondering just why Kerrang! has suddenly started to rim and fellate COB on such a regular basis, I guess this is the reason. Without getting bogged down in the " what counts as Black Metal" argument it's as easy as anything to simply say this is just metal. Closing with a straightforward cover of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" may not be to everyone's taste and it's not the strongest track by a good way, nevertheless, you can bet your ass it's the one I'll be playing, but it's the preceding 9 songs that deliver just what could push COB to the next level. Chugging guitars combine with keyboards to keep things fresh, and the solo's stay within the realms of greatness without skipping into the widdlywankery territory populated by so many these days. I'm told this isn't their best album, but as an introduction point to one of the bands they are all talking about (and that lots of them have been on about for years) it seems as good a point as any. It worked for me, money well spent.

The critical panning this album has had has been nothing short of weird. If memory serves Kerrang! more or less slated it as the worst album ever, and then gave it 3 K's. Metal Hammer sited it as a lesson in mediocrity, and gave it 6 out of 10... if you are going to give something a kicking, giving it a middle ranking sits weirdly surely? This is absolutely middle of the road fare, but should it be criticised for that? Catchy songs that are hummable by the second listen may not push back the musical boundaries or stretch the mind, but perhaps we don't all want to listen to Coheed and Cambria and The Mars Volta 24/7. In fact, the more you listen to the album, the more frustrating becomes the journo berating it's received. Mainstream yes - accessible yes - but this is good stuff. At any emo gig you go to now you'll see Hawthoirn Height T-shirts in abundance, so unless you are going to take the Seymore Skinner line that it's not you that are wrong, it's the children, you've gotta look again at what you expect people to listen to. Possibly you won't be listening to this in 2 years time, but if you go into music expecting every new song to be Bohemian Rhapsody the only thing you can guarantee is disappointment. Classic? No. Good? Very much so.

CD Review : Standing in the Shadows 3 Track demo. Screamo coming to a new night near you....

Live, York's Standing in the Shadows are just amazing, which would go a way to explain why I've booked them to be headliners at the first "Taking Back Tuesday". They are super tight and compelling to watch, so the question is can that energy and style be captured on CD? The recording is too quiet, but once you've turned you Hi-Fi up as loud as it can go, the three tracks on offer here conjure up images of a young and exciting band doing something fashionable enough to be contemporary but with enough attitude to not merely be another screamo band. Lead singer Dan's scream is a belter, but backed up by the Fallout Boy style singing, particularly on "Cold hands" it's raised another level. A comparison that I've drawn before is with Funeral for a Friend, and I stand by it. Before the Welsh boys started going down the really ballady bollockey avenue this is what they sounded like, and it's a sound that got everyone to sit up and pay attention. Funeral have their sights set on a more mainstream thing, and good luck to them, but Standing in the Shadows deliver what I hoped for from Funeral, without that feeling of slight disappointment I get with the Pontypridd (or where ever it is in Wales) guys. FFAF are doing what they need to do to get noticed by the masses, Standing in the Shadows are doing it just for the kids, and you should really listen up, they are local guys with a fighting chance at better things.

Ask Joe public what they think of when you say Local Punk band split, and the chances are it's mohawks, fuzzy sound, and perhaps lack of talent. Perhaps not, but that's what I think of, generally tolerating punk rather than loving it. More surprising then would be this "Bombs away" split featuring Southerners You Me and the Atom Bomb, and the mysterious NYHC's own Fuck With Fire. Unfeasibly crisp recordings, die cut fold out covers, and well executed songs? Yeah! Home bias leads me to prefer Fuck With Fire's half of this really high quality recording; though The south coast's You me and the Atom Bomb do very good rapid fire punk that sounds like a pint of Murphy's, not really my thing but in a spot I can quite happily tuck in, "Set Back" would sit well next to Rancid with "Emissions" even reminding me a bit of early Green Day. FWF meanwhile blur the lines a little towards metal, without going Thrashcore like the rest of the world. Shit hot live, and with previous EP "Soundtrack to a fight to the death" already hinting at the possibility of true greatness in recorded form, this delivers best with "K.E.D.", here in glorious form for you to sit and try learn the words to( Once you realise the lyrics are printed inside, this becomes easier!), along with "Stuck with me", "Sweet revenge" and some others that I'm less familiar with but one would imagine inspire wacky human pyramids and sing alongs at their gigs; the recording quality actually means you can tell it's Luke Dixon singing, which means you can hear his voice whilst picturing him while your relaxing in the bath having some personal pick me up time, if that's your bag. You can buy this for a fiver, including postage, at www.catncakeyrecords.com . Do it!

"Looks like the end of days" sings Ms Z.Berg on forthcoming single "June gloom" from LA Pop indie girls The Like, so you'd be forgiven for expecting a march of misery from this album, but you'll be pleasantly surprised. Cheerful numbers like "What I say and what I mean" are up beat and catchy, without being bubble gum nonsense. "The one" opens up like The Buzzcocks but soon reveals itself as platform for the silky vocals of the aforementioned Z.Berg, much as most of the preceding tracks, none better than "(So I'll sit here) Waiting" which feels like the soundtrack to arriving home alone after a night on the binge to be lonely, and like you're the only person in the world that feels that way, it's possibly the best song on the album and is just beautiful. As the early nineties new wave is thing to reference, this is an astutely timed release, and a grunge tinged album by girls that doesn't somehow remind you of Hole is welcome indeed. There is nothing here for people with heavier needs, but if you don't have a bit of texture in your life you are going to miss out on some great things, and this is a great thing.

This has been about a while, and the guys who are really switched on will already be smugly switching off to this, after all, they liked it before us. But really, the rest of us should join the party, "With love and splendour" makes merely "good" albums released since by the likes of The Strokes sound like a bag of crap. Sounding almost as if some clever guys got together with the sole intention of producing a contemporary American indie album with all the ingredients, this is exactly what you would expect them to produce only without it sounding contrived and generic, it's actually excellent. If you like indie these days, you can't go wrong here.

Believe the hype. The My Chemical Romance album was going to change the world? Yeah, it was great, but come on... Trivium are the best Metal band ever right up there with Metallica and Iron Maiden, please.... Fallout Boy are the new superstars of Punk Rock... er actually... This is simply an un-fucking-believably great Pop Punk album. If single "Sugar We're going down" is to saccharine for you, I would still recommend you check out the rest of the stuff on here as it is just classic, and "Sugar..." is not the best thing on offer by some way. Far better for example is the preceding "Dance dance" showcasing emo-y vocals that don't sound whiney and annoying deliver the clever lyrics in a manner more reminiscent of Daryl Palumbo than of some twat from Further Seems The Lonely Position of A Sunset Romance in November, and while there is nothing particularly challenging that you have to work at, so what? Instant anthems have a place in life too, and every track on this album is crafted to perfection. A couple of the self harm lyrics are a bit crud, but then are they being ironic? Either way it's the first album in a long while that you have to buy. Or you know what? This is going to sell more that 20 copies, so if therefore it must be sell out dross, stick to your bootlegged New York underground macho HC, or your Scandinavian unpronounceable obscurity, you miserable tit. For the rest of us that actually like music, this really is un-miss able.

This is heavy as fuck metalcore yet it remains melodic enough to be listenable, and the keyboards add enough texture to give shade to the harshness without softening it. It's brutal, as nasty as the fucking awful artwork suggests, but is not simply a wall of noise offering little for invested time. Metalcore as it probably should be then, building on the macho foundations of hardcore, but adding more to it and thus rewarding you with tunes that you'd just as soon listen to, as get yur head kicked in in the pit. It is all really fucking fast, with little let up, but tracks such as "Love in slow motion" are catchy enough to sing to, sounding like old friends after a few listens, and even better when you leave it for a week or so and return. "Dearly demented" goes for a goth type chorus, and sounds very trendy, yet fantastically not even a bit naff, if ever something that sounds like the aural equivalent of 90% burns could sound naff.... If this band are going to be the ones that save Metalcore from simply sounding over saturated and dull, they sound up to it. Great, but I truly hate the artwork.

Amen - Gun of a preacher man. This album is actually pretty good but I recommend you don't buy it. Steal it, borrow it, download it or ask me for a copy but don't buy it. It would appear this was entirely released without any input or permission from the band whatsoever therefore meaning they make not a penny from it. And anyone who knows anything about Amen or Casey Chaos should know this isn't a good thing (the guys broke). Apparently, Casey even bought his copy from a Virgin megastore unaware it had even been released! Anyway as it goes this is a fairly good live album coming across more as a sort of greatest hits. The sound quality is good and you get a bit of a feel of what it might have felt like to have been there which is generally what you look for in a live album. Songs like Coma America and Justified sound better here than on record and are a credit to the quality of the band Casey's got behind him. If you like Amen this is definitely worth checking out just remember where the cash is going.

Fear Factory - Transgression Fear Factory are one of those bands that divide opinion, you either love them or hate them. Whichever way you look at it though they deserve credit for creating and perfecting there own style of truly unique 'Cyber metal' over an impressive ten years. This is easily one of Fear Factorys most experimental and mature albums to date, and in my opinion, possibly their best. The first thing you notice is that this album is heavy yet undeniably melodic with lead singer Burton C. Bell using a clean vocal sound alongside his trademark death growls and reverb drenched melodies. Each track offers up something different whether it be crushing death metal, power ballads, pop-goth metal or a bizarre power metal cover of U2's I will follow! This keeps the album interesting, diverse and demanding an instant replay. It's difficult too pick stand out tracks but songs like 'new promise' and 'moment of impact' will be instant crowd favourites. If you like Fear factory this is definitely worth checking out but even if you don't there's something here for every metal fan. Awesome album, consistently awesome band.

HIM - Wings of a butterfly This is the first single from Him's eagerly anticipated, let's break America, fifth album 'Dark light'. And it's a corker. Basically it's three something minutes of radio-friendly pop-goth metal niceness, exactly what you would expect from a band at this stage in their career trying too make it really BIG. The song kicks off with an instantly catchy guitar riff that explodes into an epic chorus and a Black Sabbath style middle section. It's not the most complex thing ever written but it's the kind of thing Him do effortlessly and with such class that you can't help but like it. If this is an early taste of what to expect from the album the it should do exactly what they intend it to do. Prepare for Him mania too take over once again. I just wish he hadn't cut his bloody hair!

If anyone enjoys the tones of such bands as Testament, Exodus and Testament again then SUSPERIA’s "Unlimited" is a mighty fine album. For those uneducated in the sounds of Testament, this is thrash metal, none of this thrash punk, or thrash/death, this is just thrash metal and it fuckin’ rules! Driven by copious amounts of double kick and chugging rhythms there is a lot of groove here and some awesome riffs to boot. Fairly simple song structures are used here, the basic verse, chorus, verse is most favoured. The beats are pretty upbeat and for the most part I find it hard not to nod my head! One last thing is that they have proper choruses that can easily get stuck in your head. Stand out tracks would be “Devil May Care” with its epic feel and the straight-up thrash anthem “Home Sweet Hell”. I’d say that this is one of the best discoveries I’ve made in the recent past, it just rules! A final point, all fans of Testament need to go buy this album, you will all love it!

Those people who like their thrash a bit more heavy and brutal sounding would do well to listen to ILLDISPOSED’s "1-800 Vindication" album. While essentially being a decent thrash album this band offer up some more brutal vocals which sound more like Glenn Benton than James Hetfield. It sounds like these Danes have tried to create a concoction of something “really fuckin’ heavy” (technical term) and something with some Pantera-like grooves. The result is a mixed bag, some of it is really good, some is just good and occasionally things seem to drag on a bit much. I can’t say which songs stand out for me on a musical level, but the song “Jeff” makes it known they have a sense of humour, using a Wayne’s World sample from when Wayne meets Cassandra’s dad, Jeff… all in all this is a pretty good album, but not anything groundbreaking.

When I prepared myself for GZR’s "Ohmwork" album I was really hoping that Geezer Butler wasn’t going to have done what bassists from big, famous, groundbreaking bands often do, namely going off on their own and releasing something crap! This can take various forms from the super self-indulgent wank that John Paul Jones (ex-Led Zeppelin) unleashed with his Zooma album, to Jason Newstead (ex-Metallica) and his shit project whose name escapes me. So back to GZR, I was pleased when the first song appeared to be metal, and quite good, but unfortunately from then on they don’t seem to be able to decide what they want to be playing, going through rock, metal, pop and even (deep breath) rap-metal. It has an overall rock feel, but is a very inconsistent album which as yet I haven’t managed to get to the end of yet. Enough said I think.

How many people have heard of a metal band from Israel? It’s a new one to me, but hey something good has to come from the “Holy Land”…BETZEFER is the bands name and this is brilliant! Their recent album "Down Low" sounds to me like Entombed if they had Max Cavalera singing and Dimebag Darrell’s apprentice on guitar and riff-writing duties. Roadrunner seem to be calling it metal’n’roll, I’d call it death’n’roll, but hey, that could just be me. All I can really say about it is that it is groove laden, heavy and not your run of the mill metal that has become so familiar, this is somewhat more creatively thought out, it is a good album.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were from day one not a run of the mill band and I didn't bother getting their second album, as at when it came out I didn't have the spare time to dedicate to learning to like it. Perhaps this was an error as the first one took a good while to like, but was ultimately rewarding. On the basis of current album "Howl" I will perhaps in time go back and try again, because "Howl" is awesome. But Jesus wept, you'd better want it to be awesome! Opening with indie taking on country and losing, it is only by "Ain't no easy way out", the fourth track that BRMC prove they are capable of master strokes. The first time I heard this, the lead single, on the radio I felt sure it was some long lost golden oldie that I never knew I liked, so catchy and instantly classic as it is. Lower points are, for example the title track, which starts promisingly enough but seems to lose its way and ends up in an apologetic fade out, which is always a gip. Fans of bands such as Kings of Leon will adore this, and as country becomes bigger and cooler, get used to this kind of sound it's going to be with us for a long time. Do tread carefully however, if you want an uplifting accessible party album, this really, really, is not it. Try Reel Big Fish, and leave me alone with my Stetson and my hopes.

Harrogate's Waking Theo are our equivalent to Trivum, young upstarts that give you hope for the live metal scene. Though whilst people are now queuing up to see the latters first signs of a stumble, Waking Theo's first EP, self titled, is not their own stumbling block. I am however wary of over selling Waking Theo to you, because, just as many people are discovering that perhaps Trivium are not the most important metal band of the century, and "Ascendancy" is not a classic album for the ages - it's just merely very good - if I tell you that Waking Theo's debut will blow your mind and your world will never be the same after hearing it, you would correctly guess that I was just sucking off a band that I really like and pay little attention to my ramblings. The EP is a good one though, its strength's being its variations. Whilst track three "Fall from grace" borders on the stadium, opener "Earth to a flame" is a far more straight forward chuggathon. Best tracks "Extraction Point" and "Everyone's funeral" show most depth with surprisingly delicate backing vocals which I for one would certainly like to hear more of. The fragile nature of these adds a texture that plays as an equivalent to screamo's harmony bits if you like, adding melody and texture, but in a fresh and different way to all the Truth Remains on a November Snow Kissed Friendship same againers. Waking Theo are improving every time I see them too, which is promising, and the award for most improved goes to the lead singer, who in 3 shows went from fairly shy just screaming guy, to charismatic front man as though it was nothing. I think on the downside it would be nice if you could work out a few more of the vocals but with time these will develop further and Theo have already shown in a short space of time they are capable of delivering on their potential, so join the party, get in on the ground floor, and go to mix music and buy the ep (so long as by the time I write this they've actually got it in there).

Stain'd have released their new album Volume 5. Anyone who read Kerrang! recently will know it is the single worst atrocious crime against music in the history of mankind and it's seed should be wiped from the earth. Which is frankly not journalism. True, "Chapter V" offers little new to anyone who has any of their previous releases, but if you like the sound of Stain'd that is not going to be a problem for you. Whilst the vast majority of nu-metal sounds very dated now, the nu-grunge stuff has not suffered so badly, as nu-grunge was, like it's predecessor, essentially an invention of journalists, and an otherwise fine term of 'rock music' could pretty much be applied. Stain'd are still rocking; and whilst if you buy this album it is perhaps unlikely to change the world - and no one is going to tell you it will cheer you up - it will give you something nice to listen to, particularly if you already like the band. Kerrang! should perhaps not have people review an album by a band that they already clearly hate. Which is why I'm not going to review the Ill Nino album.

And then I'm going to change my mind, because, after flippantly deciding that I wouldn't like it as soon as I opened the envelope it came in, I thought it would be churlish of me not to even listen to it. Now, tracks such as "What you deserve" (remember all eyes on me? That, with different lyrics) are the dated toss I was expecting, openers "This is war" and "My resurrection" are far better, and this is by no means the travesty of music I was expecting. Still a bit too latino-metal for me, with "One nation underground" Ill Nino are hardly shaping the metal world to come. But as a surprisingly enjoyable bit of disposable metal goes, this is far more listenable than expected, and even offers surprises, for example, "Turn to grey" is a straight up Hardcore song... So, in summation, Ill Nino may not have actually turned the page, but it sounds as though they are thinking about it. Good, if not great. Still, stop playing the fucking bongos eh?

"Hey there, girls, I'm a cunt". However, if you pay attention for the next 3 minutes you'll buy an album that you will forever be in my debt for. Or if not me, whichever other reviewer has been singing its praises this week, I've not read a bad word about it, which is how it should be. Some people might remember me reviewing Everytime I Die's debut album "Hot Damn" and saying how I couldn't recommend it highly enough to you. I stand by that, as it still is an excellent album. Fortunately at last however it is no longer the most vibrant and exciting album in my collection. As Everytime I Die have managed to follow it up with "Gutter Phenomenon" which frankly moves them to the next level. It's harder to heap more praise on this than I did on their last album, but it is far better than that already amazing record. ETID have managed to avoid the temptation of becoming more complicated, and with the burgeoning popularity and wave after wave of bands doing what they do, but not as well, its a choice of brilliance. Whilst as screamo emerged as a major force, on "Hot damn" Everytime I die were verging on the math metal, now, whilst everyone else climbs aboard that, with "Gutter Phenomenon" Everytime I Die have stepped away and made a more straight forward rock album. There is no teething period here, however that is possibly because you are already familiar with their sound, and the slight simplification of it makes for these tracks to be instantly anthems. If I was a little disappointed when I saw them live recently this has re-affirmed that they are a stunning band, and other reviewers are not overstating the matter when they say things like "most exciting band in Rock right now". Chuck into the mix guest vocals from super hero Gerrad Way (My Chemical Romance) on "Kill the music" with is weird concentration camp tannoy effect which is ace, and you're on a classic. Add even better guest work from Daryl Palumbo (Head Automatica / Glassjaw) on the unfeasibly great "Champing at the Bit" and you realise that by buying this album, you have won.

Within Temptation are amazing. Not amazing in the sense that they amaze me with their brilliance, though at times they do, more amazing as in, I'm amazed I like them. They sound like a nights at the theatre that your girlfriend has dragged you to, but that you end up really enjoying. Album "The silent force" is so overblown it could be a film soundtrack. The fact that several of the tracks are not rock songs at all helps add to that, and for me, as a brilliant change of pace to the ever quickening blast beats shit loads of other bands are bludgeoning and starting to bore, at least me, with this is excellent for that reason alone. However it stands on its own because of the quality of its best moments. Not just for girls, "The silent force" is a night at the opera you should look into, 8 million girls with bat fascinations can't be wrong. Excellent.

Sick of fucking metalcore? Yeah, me too. So it is bizarrely refreshing to hear some straight up Hardcore. I say this not only as I am not a massive HC fan - it does has a time and a place - but because Hardcore could hardly be classified as a refreshing sound. However, with their new album "Legacy" Madball actually do sound like a breath of fresh air. This is just Hardcore. Sweaty clubs with men in vests, there are no eyes on other genres, this is a bunch of blokes being macho and being proud of it. And it's great! As a genre it still largely passes me by, as because I don't particularly love it it generally sounds pretty much the same to me, but I can still tell good stuff from shite and for 30 minutes or whatever of bravado and shouting "Legacy" is good times, great balls.

Reuben have release a third single from their forthcoming album. "Keep it to yourself" has a similar feel to "Freddy Kruger" form their debut, in that lyrically it is so unobtuse that lines like "They told you they really hate my guts, I don't need you to act as their middle man, they can tell me themselves that is if they have the nuts" slap you about the face with their forthrightness and raise a grin without you even knowing. Whilst not their strongest song for those same reasons, this is still good catchy slightly poppy rock, and alongside "Blamethrower" and the super accessible "Kick in the mouth" promises great things for their second full length, which is available on the 12th September, with the single out on the 5th.

Remember Disturbed? David whateverhe'scalled and chums are back with a new single. Entitled "Guarded" this actually sounds like a band that have stepped back and looked at a dead genre, and tweaked it just enough to still sound like themselves, but also not to sound shit and self replicatingly tired. A little heavier than previous form, but with trade mark vocals and stop start nu-metal patterns this maybe won't attract many new fans, but will revive jaded cynical peoples interest enough for the presumably forthcoming album. A weird vocal technique, which I'm actually sure is Innuit throat singing is employed too, to entertaining ends. Good stuff, well worth a listen.

Sal are a band with a girl singer so the record company tells us as usual that "she is a ballsy rock chick in the mould of Courtney Love" or some other such soundbyte tripe that you almost switch off before listening to the album "Dysfunctional". As it goes it is a decent album, single "Runaway" is high quality pop rock, though whether or not this is the band that moaning feminist "there aren't enough women in rock" types are waiting for is another question. The answer to which would surely be "Shut up bitch, either form a band and sort it out yourself, or put this in your mouth and stop complaining".

I'm a big sell out turn coat. As most of you already knew that this won't be big news, but to people unfamiliar with the concept the reason is thus. I really like the My Chemical Romance album. After months of decrying them on the basis of "I'm not OK (I promise)", they brought out "Helena" which is frankly brilliant and I thought I'd give the album a try. Pop-emo that vocally sounds alot more like Muse than anyone else, album wise its not a timeless classic that you'll return to over and over, but is readily accessible anthem followed by - albeit slightly whining - singalong followed by pop brilliance. A CD you like as much as your gonna from the off, its great to have something that I didn't have to work at, even if other people have had to work at me for about 6 months to get the thing in the first place. New single "Ghost of you" is one of the lighters in the air moments that will sicken some people and if I had my cynical head on I'd be there too, however I would have in turn missed out on a cracking weekend of having the album on loop all for the sake of being an arms folded miserable bastard. I know what I'll choose, so I'm now in the '"Ghost of you" is the new wave of rock that will awaken a new generation' camp. The new Linkin Park then, and that is by no means meant as an insult. Excellent.

"Bat Country" is the new single from Avenged Sevenfold. Thus far I've not been bothered enough to go out and buy an album by them, but this just might push me over the edge. See, I think this is cheesy as fuck. I also think it's brilliant. Plenty of Iron Maiden influence is present, and the overall sound is that of a Bill and Ted movie. Solo's that you could great a close friend with, and a "Iy-ee-iy-ee-ieeeyieeyiiy" vocal to sing over a cold one. Top buzz.

Funeral for a Friend's album "Hours" has likewise been knocking about on my stereo for a bit, and from that they release new single "Monsters". While the album still struggles with the same problems they met on their first one, in that it IS good, it's just not GREAT, "Monsters" is classic Funeral. Forget the crap album moments like the cringeworthy "History" complete with St.Winnefred's school choir sing-along-a-chorus, "Monsters" recalls "Escape Artists Never Die", and like most Funeral stuff sounds like a perfect single. Whilst that is probably where they stumble on album, when it comes to releasing a single they can't go wrong. It's not that they are incapable of more tender moments without being toss, an "Sonny" proves, but it is the more heavy moments, like the awesome aforementioned "Monsters" that are most exciting. Great band, good album, great single, but the best is still to come...?

Given the unquestionable strength of their live shows, the Bubonic Zygote demo has been awaited with some anticipation from their growing fan base, and as is ever the case with these things, the worry is that it will not live up to the promise. Fear not, once again this band has shown themselves to be focused and intent on delivering according to their mission plan. Now established as, from this corner at least, the best band in Harrogate, this gives you a taste of what they consistently slay you with at live shows; ultra fast technical thrash metal. Production wise the use of samples adds to the music present by presenting the tracks in an album type format, so as opposed to some versions of live favourites that makes a nice distraction, this 6 track sounds like something you'd buy in a glossy cover, with the word Roadrunner somewhere on the back. Craig's vocals have developed way beyond the first time he tentatively took over howling duties with C4, and in B-Z he takes it to the next level and is a powerful front man with both range and presence that threatens you against remembering him not singing into the mic a year and a half ago. If C4 are taking a back seat, a demo of this standard and the shows B-Z have been putting on make that not only unsurprising, more inevitable. Whilst C4 still entertain, B-Z blow you away, and this CD is just another example of just that. How things will go now with the change of drummer remains to be seen. Donny, featured here, seemed to be a major driving force in the band, but as his religious conundrum takes him in a different direction, it will be fascinating to see if the band can retain their drive and momentum. The quality in evidence on this presumably self titled EP speaks of the same metal behemoth we've seen live, so hopefully it will take more than one wheel turning to God to send it off course. The formidable Toby is taking on the daunting task of manning the double kick, and if any one can do it, the clever money would be on him. Is this summer then going to be the story of one singer two bands, one drummer 8 bands? Sure, we've only got a small town with a small scene, but within that the intrigues and intricacies are not only interesting for gossip purposes, they deliver from time to time glimpses of the kind of brilliance that can be achieved by people with a similar vision of how painful, aggressive, powerful, and frankly excellent music can be. Long live Bubonic Zygote. And to the ever impressive F-ck with Fire (a new CD in the pipeline?) the bar has been set.

Well, I'm not going to be shocking anyone by saying that System of a Down's new album is a contender for album of the year, but hey it's always nice to back a winner. "Mezmerize" is the first of a double album being release with a six month gap in between, to give you a chance to get into the music totally, and with the Download festival headlining slot looking yet more exciting with the release of this instant classic, you really need to get yourself a copy. As musically schizophrenic as you might expect, this is never the less totally listenable, and engrossing for its duration. Future pit anthem "Violent pornography" has the quirky humour to get you whooping along with it, and alongside already floor filling favourites the political "B.Y.O.B." and the crazy "Cigarello" the first time you hear this album has you into it, and on every subsequent listen you get deeper and find more stuff to delight. Comparable with slipknot's Volume 3 for the standard of music present, and better than any of Korns recent stuff, this marks System as one of the few bands to survive the post nu-metal cull, and are surely set to continue with the momentum they've shown thus far. Un-missable, an essential purchase! By the way, we've got System T-shirts and copies of this album to be won at our SCi-fi / Star Wars special this Monday!

Slunt is the new word dreamed up to be the name of sleazy sexy downright hot Rock band, er, Slunt. It's such a good word it's also the title of their new EP. Whilst admittedly slightly worried that this band might be too good looking to be talented, from the offset all such qualms are dispelled. Highly catchy lyrics combine with straight up rocking riffage, all over laid with naughty girly lyrics that seem to hint at shagging on their mums bed in their delivery if not content. More rocking than the Donna's, less of a cock than Courtney Love? Only time will tell, but as a debut EP goes this is promising stuff. The blokes are as ugly as most rockers though it has to be pointed out, so this is only half a pin up band, and the music is good enough for them to be more than just my wanq fantasy of the week.

Wednesday 13 (was?) is the lead singer from The Murderdolls, and as such his solo album offers little in the way of surprises. You already know to expect songs about Zombies, and Dieing (Motherfucker), and sleeping with dead Zombie Motherfuckers. That said, just because something doesn't surprise doesn't mean it is not thoroughly entertaining. Like a horror flick where you know Dracula is gonna come back Wednesday 13's album "Transylvania 90210" is ripping stuff romping along with ghoulish abandon. The production on show is as atmospheric as the cheesiest spookfest film and you almost feel that this album alone would be a great way to spend the night with a bag of popcorn and a gallon of fizzy cherry aid.

The Stereophonics (no wait, really read on!) are back and their new album is cracking. Whether or not hailing it as a return to form is fair remains unclear, after all the music they were making was not bad just a little vague in direction. "Language, Sex, Violence, Other?" sets its stall out very quickly however, and it's immediately apparent that if the current wave of 80's sounding bands (The Killers, The Bravery et al) is not for you then neither will this be. For those that get beyond that there is a very rewarding album waiting. Occasionally crunchy production gives the slight spikey-ness that is needed to make the well established pop songs move along quickly enough to keep you interested, and sound rock enough to remind you that this is a band you used to like. And on the form of this album there will be many others like me returning to the fold. I feel that the alternative mainstream is now the perfect market for The 'Phonics sound, maybe that's what was missing before, who cares? Enjoy this album.

Billy Idol has one of the best singing voices in Rock. Discuss. Agree with this statement or not, his vocals are on top form with his first studio album in a million years (over a decade at any rate). Entitled "Devils Playground" he's not looking as young as he was, but doesn't seem to have lost any youth full energy. A middle aged plod along this is not. With his appearance at download confirmed, is Billy set to be huge again?

It's indie-tastic, but seeing as lots of us came from there (and many are heading back) it's worth telling you about the Kaiser Chief's new album "Employment". As well as the massive "Oh My God" who's enormous sing along chorus you'll probably be familiar with, there is plenty on offer on this album, though much of it is not particularly instant. Indeed there are a couple of overly quirky songs that would have been best left as good B-sides and not average album tracks, nevertheless with perseverance it is a good album, and the best comparison to make is an early era Blur singles type sound.

So I've got 2 months plus worth of CD's to go through, it's a bit of a daunting task, but as long as they are as good and different as ...And you will know us by the Trail of Dead's new album "World's apart", it's going to be a pleasure. Instantly coming across as proggy indie, there are moments that on the first listen seem too clever for their own good, but after a couple of spins have you hooked like a council estate kid on glue. There is something wrong and dirty about this album, and that in itself adds to the appeal -I feel like a traitor for liking it. It feels like the CD that an Afro sporting wise acre will have known about for years and will sneer at when you only just discover it, and this is compounded by the (perhaps) unneccesary live tracks at the end of the studio stuff. These clearly are for established fans, and again after a few listens have you at least interested if not enthralled, which is for me a shame as the rest of the album will easily have you at least enthralled if not in ecstasy. Brilliant, but don't think about it too much.

Equally good is the stunning album from Head Automatica. Released some time ago, there is a renewed publicity push on this due to the bands unfortunately having to cancel a tour for the second time. The tour cancellation is a shame, but we benefit from this in that you can win a copy of the album at Bottom of the Bottle's Valentines night delight party on Monday 14th Feb. It'll be given away when I play current single "Beating Heart Baby" around midnigt. The fact that this track is already after only a couple of plays a dance floor "hit" indicates what an instantly appealing track it is. When first promoed it a month or so ago I'd only heard the first 30 second of the song before I was out the door to buy the album, and I couldn't be happier. With one foot in the Funaral camp and another in yes, Lost Prophets territory, this is perfectly poised to be the Rock and Roll album of the moment, with enough appeal for pretty much everyone across a wide variety of genres. There are rare groove hooks in here and brassy stabs, catchy vocals with instantly recognisable vocals. It is hard to see why anyone wouldn't like this.

After moaning on some time ago about not having the Reuben album, I decided to give in and go and buy it. You should do the same, it is f*cking amazing. A more screamier Hundred Reasons is the instant description, heavier moments giving way to indie and back again, this is simply a must have album. Lyrically intriguing and musically appealing this is still heavy enough to attract metal fans, but also straight rcoking enough for everyone else. Do check this out!

It's a total rip off that really winds me up when record labels do it, but Cradle of Filth's excellent "Nympetamine" is to be re-release in extended format. Which in effect means that hard core fans who bought it on the day it was first brought out either have to get it again to get the new tracks, or go without. This is an unspeakable injustice, but as it goes, "Devil Woman", yes, a cover of Cliff Richards classic, is excellent, so I don't know what to tell you. I've felt ripped off so many times by labels doing this, and more often than not it has been the same label, but most of them are guilty of the same remorseless cash in from time to time, and I don't think me moaning here will make the slightest difference. You must do what you feel is right, of course. I for my part will be guilty of aiding and abetting them by hammering "Devil Woman" at Bottom of the Bottle, as it really is a great track. Sorry.

Comedy isn't the right word, so novelty will have to suffice to describe Hayseed Dixie's "Let there be Rock grass" album. A covers album of Rock Standards played by the cast of Deliverance pretty much covers it, Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" and The Darkness's "I believe in a thing called love" being just two highlights. Perhaps not an album you'll still be playing in 3 months time, it is still fun, and possibly the perfect heavy drinking party album. And you can have it at your very next heavy drinking party by winning your very own copy at Bottom of the Bottle's Valentines night delight. I'll be asking you the title of it, and the speedy of deduction will notice I mentioned it about 100 words ago. Be a winner!

Fans of, amongst others, Kill Switch Engage, will be well into Trivium. Out now on Roadrunner their new album "Ascendancy" is particularly amazing given that the oldest member of the band is 22. "Pull harder on the strings of your martyr" is probably the highlight here and if there is any justice should be the lead single. With the wealth of new fans getting into metal through more commercial bands such as Bullet for my Valentine presumably progressing to heavier things the future seems safe with youngsters putting out quality like this. Most interesting parallels, particularly to vocal style, can be drawn to our own C4, and this is a worthy debut from an interesting prospect, very much worth checking out.

Describing Obsessive Compulsive's CD as a demo doesn't really do it justice, although I cannot find any label info, and must assume that it is indeed self funded. But truly, "A Demon for Every Occasion" is about as polished as it gets, without overdoing it. More of a mini album, this is 6 tracks of the kind of Rock you'd expect to hear from the likes of Courtney Love, bordering on pop, the tunes are tight, catchy, consistent and insistent. "Perfect wreck" being almost a sing along track that could sit very well on Radio 1's playlist, the opener "Better than this" sets out the stall for slightly teen angst song writing that will appeal to the "tidying my bedroom makes me cut myself" generation, without alienating the cynical old bastards like my self. There's no weak link on this disc, all the songs are equally well written, with the Kelii's compelling vocals bringing to mind Guano apes and the like. Check out www.obsessivecompulsiveband.com to see what they are all about, and from what I've seen, work out which one you want to shag... Strong stuff from a band that looks as good as they sound.

My reviews of previous C4 CD's have often alluded to the potential of this band, as whilst they've always been worth listening to, they've never seemed to capture exactly what it is that C4 do. Much of that has been down to recording quality, and straight away on this you can tell that is a demon they have slain successfully. More importantly however, this really feels like a band finding themselves - this is what C4 want to do, if you don't like it, TS. Opening up with their new one, which melds death metal growls with a pop chorus unfeasibly well the 3 track continues with more established tracks that not only outstrip their previous efforts, out strips a great deal of bands who are a couple of albums down the line. Clearly a bit of money has been spent on this, and its been well spent. The mix is spot on, the vocals have the impact of a live show in themselves, and most of all, the actual songs are their best. I don't even have the artwork to tear apart, so I'm struggling to find any real faults here. Don't get me wrong, this isn't the second coming of Christ or anything, but I reckon Craig will have been coming over this ever since he got his copy back from the studio. This is their strongest three songs, with (their) highest recording level, and their best on CD performance to date, so yes, this is the ONE so far and is something that anyone in Harrogate who claims to like metal has no excuses not to at least give a listen to. As I write this, I've no details about it whatsoever, I can't even tell you the EP's name, but I can tell you if you're a fan of C4 this is the CD you've been waiting for, certainly this is the C4 CD I've been waiting for. Great.

Imagine if you will, that instead of every time you walk down the street in Harrogate in your baggys and some Burberry bedecked 12 year old fuckwit shouts at you to buy a belt, you were in fact walking down the front in an armpit of a coastal town, and the person shouting at you isn't some prepubepeasant chavvster who hasn't got the decency to join the army, but a 32 year old 15 stone shaven headed behemoth of a man who is on "Mad Steve"'s stag do from Bolton, has been drinking in "The Parrot and Stabbing" pub all day and has come to this East Coast hell hole for the sole reason of looking for a fight. And instead of merely wearing baggys, you are dressed head to toe in rubber studded black techno goth garb, resplendent with Kiss style face paint. Welcome to the world of Torso Horse, one of the few signed bands that still returns our emails.... While perhaps they don't wear full make up for their day to day lives, it does make you wonder about the level of masochism that goes into choosing to dress how they do. They don't, it has to be said, really sound how they look. New album "The Invisible Enemy" is a heavy chugging piece of the kind of metal they've been doing for years, without the comedy you half expect from the look. Having an almost grungy feel, this is dirty sounding UK metal, that only really falls in the fact that it simply isn't long enough. If they played at break neck speed then you would be happy with the well under 30minutes that is present here, but as "This is war" (complete with it's ACTUAL jazz breakdown - not a clever bit of jazz metal mind, it is actually jazz) draws to a close you are left needing more. Riff laden and juicy "Angel you'll never be" is the strongest song here by far, seemingly a slow paced head nodder, though stepping up the tempo to lead into a very shout-along-able chorus, though unfortunately the lyrics are not included, and I'm sure he's not really saying "I'm the pussy you laid", so perhaps I'll not shout along just yet. I still feel that Torso Horses best is yet to come, nevertheless they have once again shown themselves to be an accomplished band well on the way to that best and "The Invisible Enemy" has a grimy appeal to it, and if you've never heard Torso Horse is as good a place as any to start. For my money however, they could do with losing the face paint.

Green Day have released "American Idiot" which is, sigh, an Anti-Bush concept album. What's really surprising is that it's not a pile of fucking shite. Infact, there are moments on it that are genius. By far the best such bit is in "Jesus of Suburbia". The frustrating thing is that it takes 7 1/2 minutes to get there. That's not 7 1/2 minutes on the album, that's in the song itself. That's right, there are two punk songs on here that between them clock up over 18 minutes. Prog punk? Essentially. You can't fault them however for ambition, and this is a truly ambitious album. On the other side of the coin, the title track is fairly average, but we've all seen the report to the dance floor nature of the song and it works on that level, and when you let the album do what its meant to, it works at least as well. Whether of not its what Green Day fans will be looking for is a different matter. Whether or not it will make any difference to the voting public in the states (or perhaps more importantly the non-voting masses) is decidedly more doubtful. But with such tracks as" Boulevard of broken dreams" showcasing Green Day's stadium talent, this really is something you should take the time to listen to, and give it a chance. If you go in expecting this to suck, I'm sure that's what it'll do, so if you want another Dookie, why not just go and listen to that instead. However, play it more than once, and you may be surprised at how much you end up liking this.

Bought at their recent gig, Human Fly's "A God among Insects" comes with free 3D shades. Amazing! Everything is better when you see it through 3D shades, though try to not be surprised when you see the size of the actual CD you've bought. Clocking in at just under 20 minutes this is more of a mini album, but nevertheless is a purchase you won't regret, proving that size doesn't matter. Smart metal occasionally gets too clever for its own good but Human Fly employ enough humour to avoid that trap, for further proof of this than my puny human words, see the lyrics to "Teenage Amputee Disco who wants to Dance". In full, they are "AAAAAAAAA AAAA AAAAAA AAAAAA AAA AAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAA". Brilliant! All the song titles alone are worthy of your hard earned, though I'm not gonna tell you any more of those here, you'll have to buy the damn thing! A splattering of politics aside the main theme seems to be the rejection of commercial music, and there are no tracks on here that will be bothering the Radio 1 play list anytime soon. There are good tunes on display however, as this isn't just a screaming noise. Riffs and grooves meld with time changes frantic enough for this to be more challenging than most music, yet not complicated enough to be just bollocks. On the verge of Math-Metal, for the genre this is pretty instant and accessible for me, but do bear in mind, the genre itself is hardly pop-tastic. If you fancy something that requires a little more work at than Green Day or whatever, then www.calculated-risk.co.uk is where you can pick up a copy of this, I believe. The only downfall of this really is the length of it, and the fact that I don't have a repeat button on my CD player. Corking! Pow!

Caliban (Review by Scottish Craig) are a 5 piece metalcore act from Germany, and though I've heard little of their earlier stuff I was still pretty excited to get my paws on this, their new album "Opposites from Within", out now on Roadrunner. Given the amount of press they've received recently no doubt many other people are also looking forward to checking this out. The first impressions are good, the album kicking off with fat chuggy riffs and being heavy as hell. So far so good. Things do change however with the inclusion of a very radio friendly catchy chorus, which while I've no problems with this, it doesn't really fit the song, or indeed the band. Overall though it's clearly a strong single with a fucker of a beatdown. Whilst not flawless the rest of the album does flow very well, musically sounding like a cross between Funeral for a Friend, KSE & even elements of Machine Head, its state of the art metal core and very much worth checking out.

The Used are "In love and in death" on their new album, and I feel a bit the same about it. There is simply one of the finest album intro's ever involved, getting you straight into the action of storming opener "Take it away". the momentum seems to be kept going for a couple of tracks, and it promises to be a great album, but this promise somehow dies around track 6 or 7 and you find you are listening to a whiney emo waste of space that frankly, sucks. I'd rather listen to proper pop punk. So just when you are about to remove the album from the CD player and file under "Americans go home" up pops another storming track. If this album only had 4 songs on it it would be a work of genius. Even some of the straighter tracks (eg "Let it bleed") are good, sounding like Funeral for a Friend but with less balls, but it still all feels like they need to pay the extra tenner and buy into what they are actually doing, and "All I've got" sounds like something we can surely expect from the next band out of the Busted/McFly camp, who've been told by their manager to wear back packs and cry... A special mention must be given to "I'm a fake". This starts with a spoken poem, a la Corey at the end of the Stone Sour album. Cringe worthy doesn't do it justice, but then the song kicks off and once again delivers one of the gems of the album. Overall, this is a good - if highly frustrating album, with some works of brilliance, but some proper toss on it too.

Ill Disposed do commercial death metal. Now, if like me when I read the cover notes, I thought those are two phrases that don't generally sit well together, persevere and give their new album "1-800 Vindication" a couple of go's. Try as I might I can't come up with a better description of the sound they do than just that. Blast beats and generally highly technical super fast rhythms combine with soon recognisable grooves and riffs, layered over by nasty ferocious vocals which make this Danish 5 piece far more listenable than lots of other impenetrable death acts out there, but without losing any of the painful hostility. Great stuff.

Terror is, lets face it, a great name for a band. Apparently "One with the under dogs" is "without a doubt one of the most hotly anticipated Hardcore album of 2004", but me not being a dedicated hardcore fan wouldn't know about that. Indeed I know so little about the scene it seems ridiculous for me to go on and on about this album. Save to say that it is very good. Not much of a review granted, but it is an excellent album that reminds me that, hey, maybe I should go out and buy more hardcore if it all sounds as strong as this. But then it probably all doesn't, which would be why this is "without a doubt one of the most hotly anticipated Hardcore album of 2004" I would guess. Quality.

The return of Cradle of Filth is over the next month or so to be much trumpeted I would imagine, and based on my first few listens to new album "Nymphetamine" that's fair enough. This seems to be a turning of the page, and most noticably Danni's vocals are a lot stronger and far less, how should I say, irritating. Indeed the whole recording is being billed as much more "metal" and straight up heavy belters such as the superbly names "Gilded cunt" back up this claim. "Nymphetamine overdose" is an epit 9 minute plus affair with everythng you'd look for from them, and the female vocals are less operatic and far more pleasing to listen to, without losing any of the grandness of the track itself. After their formidable showing at Download, this album could perhaps have done with a release hot on its heels, nevertheless this album seems to be a good step forward, whilst retaining the theatrics and foreboding darkness that has got Cradle where they are today.

Bowling for Soup are back again with another near perfect slice of pop. "1985" leaps onto the 80's nostalgia bandwagon and whilst adding little to the subject it will no doubt come along with another "hilarious" video that will be all over Kerrang!TV. And lets face it, they are more Rock than 50 Cent or whatever the fuck is normally on there these days. For fucks sake. Any way, it is amusing as it goes and is clearly what these guys do best.

Kasabian do indie that actually sounds like indie, as opposed to something that sounds like it was recorded in the 70's but gets all the NME kids excited. Rooted firmly in the Madchester sound and with a vocalist who could easily pass as having the second name Gallagher "L.S.F." is an awesome single, and from what I've heard of the forthcoming album, could be the start of something big.

Comedy goblin type Mortiis could be looking at a top 40 single with "Grudge", which is about as eighties as it comes. B-side remixes try to turn it into a Prodigy borderline dance industrial thing, that really do nothing for me, but that's fine because the original is on a par with classic "Parasite God". Whilst we might be waiting for a while to see this character on Top of th Pops, his plastic nose is realer than most of the shit on there anyway. Do you know though, the weirdest thing is that this is so 80's sounding, it sits really well next to Rachel Stevens "Some girls". Two great retro feel tracks, though I guess one will sell a little better than the other....

Fuck with Fire have a CD in circulation - all of 12 minutes long and there are five tracks on here. So you might guess that there are no long clever twiddly solo's on here or indeed freestyle jazz influenced improvisations. What I can make out of it lyrically sounds all a bit "fucking right on" to me, you know, anti war and all that, and likewise the cover is not for me. Indeed, i'm the first person to admit that a good deal of hardcore just isnt for me. But, pay attention. This. Is. Fucking. Awesome. Uniformly aggressive the tracks also have actual tunes and melodies, but without the songs going to the (getting rather formulaic now thankyou very much) more usual breakdown heart wrenching singing that is more and more prevalent in other areas. I might be wrong, there may be hundreds of bands out there that get this kind of sound so very right, but lord knows there are shit loads of bands trying to do this and ending up just sounding like a bad fast punk band screaming. I've only heard them live 2 or 3 times, but given that the first time I heard them I was hardly Luke Dixon (kind of the frontman)'s bessie mate (in that he'd spat all over me the week before - though that's all water under the bridge now) and even then I thought they were shit hot, says a lot. Quite how you can get hold of this I really don't know, though one would assume the mysterious NYHC might be able to point you in the right direction. I don't know if they've recorded in the past, if this is a debut it's unfeasibly sharp. Whilst I'm on, I don't even like their name, I infact think it's a rubbishy band name, but I just cannot argue with this music. It's about as friendly as some kind of tiny dog that's more like a piranha, I'm rambling, but this is genuinely angry antagonising hardcore that - and here's a cliché for you - takes no prisoners. And I would guess certainly takes no prisoners and holds them without trial at guantanamo bay. Rather than waving placards and spray painting no war up Kings Road however, I sincerely hope these guys are sending this to lots and lots of record companies. Brilliant.

Lost Prophets are releasing "Last Summer" as a single on August 23rd. This is the fourth single from album "Start something" and I kind of hope they don't release any more as the album doesn't appear to have many more singles on it, and 4 is quite enough anyhow thank you. That said, this is an absolute belter of a single. Pop tastic as they are this is them at their best and has duly made me go and re-listen to the album over and over again to see if there are any other gems on there I've missed. Whilst the jury is still out on that one, "Last summer" is simply a feel good summer anthem music that will in years to come no doubt be on "best summer anthems ever volume 49" and you'll be bouncing and singing along with the rest of us. Unless you're too cool.

Hypo Psycho do highly accusable highly catchy popped up ska punk. Current single "Public Enemy 1" is in the vein of Reel Big Fish and their ilk, all bouncing around with a massive grin plastered all over its face. By the third listen I challenge you not to be chanting the brass "da-da-dada-daa" tune in you head, even if you don't like it. The other tracks on the single are "Stereotypical", a [spunge]-esque lefty anti Sun readers tune that would be a rant if it wasn't done in such a sunshine and light manner, and "Bored (live)" which really doesn't sound live, but does unfortunately sound like a B-side filler, lyrically at least, you will be bored of this one pretty quick. Fortunately the previous two tracks are good enough for you to forgive this moment of self indulgence and fans of the genre should seek out Hypo Psyco's would you beleive it - Milton Keynes's based skank. See you on the dancefloor, air trumpets anyone? Fun.

SYSTEMYC are playing at Carringtons in a week or so, thus it would look pretty convoluted of me to put a really strong review of their CD "What makes me human" on line just now. If I though I could, I'd just draw comparisons, and perhaps that would make you come and see them on Tuesday 27th July at Carringtons, but I don't really know who they sound like. What they do is semi-industrial rock, I suppose sounding sometimes like a slower Static-X, but that doesn't really cover it. Third track "This time" is the best of the three, heavier and faster, involving blast beats and reminding me to also mention bands like Machine Head and Fear Factory in this blatant gig plug. That date again, Tuesday 27th July with 601 & Bubonic Zygote.

Dogs Die In Hot Cars are very NME seemingly, and on the first 2 or 3 listens I must admit I found "Please describe yourself" incredibly annoying. However once I got past that, it's a good album. "I Love you 'cos I have to", the current single, is a good chanty chorus driven slice of clever-ish pop and whilst the plonky piano jangly-ness of opener "Godhopping" is about as soothing as sandpaper and chilli powder but there is an overall appeal to this album that's hard to ignore. This album then, is like your alcoholic mate who is very irritating, but you still love him. Worth a listen certainly.

Rasmus, or is it The Rasmus, have got "Guilty" out as a single. After the massive, somewhat "where did that come from" success of the awesome "In The Shadows" this second single sets out their stall as a super euro-pop-rock anthem sing along band. "Guilty woh-oh-oh" is what it says on the tin, you are not going to have to really think to enjoy this music, it's catchy as hell and is great for those times when you don't want angst-y issues ridden pain, but rather to put your arm around you mate and sing badly. I wouldn't listen to this at home really, but Friday night at 11pm in the pub? Hell yeah! It is too big a temptation for me to resist saying that facing the charge of being a very cheesy euro final countdown inspired band the Rasmus plead "Guilty". Quality.

Available for download for free currently is the new three tracker from Harrogate rockers The Mulholland. Whilst playing around the town about a year and a half ago they were the band that could do no wrong, and it seemed a forgone conclusion that they would win Carringtons original battle of the bands back then. Unfortunately IV Play had other ideas, and so did all their grans and aunts they brought with them. After that The Mulholland kind of disappeared for a bit. When they returned it is fair to say they exploded back onto the Harrogate live circuit, but it is also fair to say that exploding onto the Harrogate music scene whilst good, can sometimes only produce the force of explosion of that of a sausage dog shaped balloon model. Fortunately for The Mulholland they have some decent shows under their belt again, and are at an early recording stage. Brendon/Brandon, Matt and the other one do some decent tunes, though it is worth pointing out that at times on here it still sounds like they are holding back. It's as if there is something missing. The instrumentals, particularly that of "Bleed" are excellent, and whilst I like Brendons voice, I'm not sure I like it doing this. It's like a voice for a different band, and for me it would be better if he lost his temper before he starts singing. It could certainly do with an effect on it to make it more distinctive. On "Danger" there does seem to be a lack of conviction, and perhaps a lack of danger its self, and the swearing just seems to be out of place. Swearing aside its a bit safe, and the weakest of the three, though still not really a bad song, just not really a good one. Fortunately there is still track 3, which is where they are at their best by far. "Lower east side(NY)" they finally seem to be happy - this sounds like what they want to actually be doing, and there is more belief there. I don't know if its actually as good a song as "Bleed", but its here where Brendons vocals work well with the sound pretty much as it is. Seeing as this is only a demo, hopefully next time we'll se them closer to where they want to be because on "Lower east side" they show us the band we all expected them to be this time last year. Well worth checking out, see www.themulholland.co.uk and have a listen yourself, and you can see them play live at Carringtons on Tuesday the 29th June.

To be honest, I was pretty nonplussed by the first Velvet Revolver single, "Slither" and whilst it has certainly grown on me, I wasn't so bothered when I got a copy of their album "Contraband". I realise there will be countless people now giving it "What? What? F*ckin nu-metal head that's what he is, emo crap liking tosser doesn't have any respect for G'n'R etc.." but it's the truth. I was however pleasantly pleasingly pleased to find I really like this album. Straight up rock all the way, "Do it for the kids" misleads you with a Slipknot style intro into thinking its going to be a really heavy song, which its not, but still romps along at a good pace and rocks as much as the rest of this quality album. "You got no right" stands out as a sensitive moment and is equally as excellent. I guess when you know the calibre of people involved it's no great surprise this is great, and whilst i could live without the live version of Sex Pistols "Bodies" it is only a bonus track, so fair enough. Surprisingly similar to the Audioslave album in the way it comes across, if not in the music itself, but then they are similar in formation aren't they. Not as riffing as what G'nR I've heard, but then I'm not going to lie and I'll admit when it comes to them I am a "Greatest hits" type boy... Which whilst it has its drawbacks also means that I've never sat through the Spaghetti incident...

ATL apparently used to be called ATL, though are now actually called A Transparent Lie. So I'll start again. A Transparent Lie dropped me off a copy of their "Truth kills" EP. Opening up with "Driven away" - a fiery punk metal riff driven track - the ep then drops to a more chuggy level with their eponymous track. I personally prefer the vocal style on the opener, more melodic and actual singing involved there, but its the guitar solo on "A transparent lie" that is the main point one feels. Some of this doesn't sound to tight, and the production veers a little, occasionally using well placed samples to add a pro feel to it, but sometimes the vocals get a bit fuzzy, though that's to be expected early on. But the energy and heavyness are engaging and overall the whole feeling produced here is a surprisingly positive and almost upbeat one, considering the darkness of the music. At no times do they get bogged down in themselves, belting frantically through "Lost girl" (which reminds me a bit of Leeds boys Send More Paramedics excellent "Zombie crew") to then make believe they are going to mellow out a bit on "Truth Kills" though the pace never truly lets up throughout the entire mini album, blending punk and thrashy moments to make something that has moments that are, dare I say it, exciting1 www.a-transparent-lie.tk has more on this heavy young band who's EP then is well worth checking out, and I look forward to see where this band goes.

HIM are a cult. People don't like HIM, they love HIM. They adore HIM. They also seldom choose to dance to HIM, which is why I rarely play HIM. But many people almost worship HIM. Whilst I am not a confirmed HIMdu, or even a MuslHIM (and you would not believe how long it took me to think up that poor excuse for a joke) there is no questioning that Ville Valo and his crowd do make some awesome songs. Indeed, it is a sorry truth that I believe lots more people would be more into HIM if it weren't for the devoutness of their followers. Perhaps that is where the Jehovah's Witnesses go wrong...? Nevertheless the singles collection 1997-2004 "And then love said no" is a good insight into the world of love and slight darkness and a skinny man that smokes. Excellent ecent tracks like "Buried alive by love", "The funeral of hearts" and "The sacrament" sit next to songs I was unfamiliar with very well, and this plays like a nice album, lets face it, there can be Greatest Hits CD's etc that are unlistenable, and this doesn't suffer. This is perhaps because I'm not a devotee, hard core fans might find this a bit full on, I dunno. But if you want to find out what all the fuss is about, this seems as good a place as any to start. It also comes with a limited edition DVD, to give something for the completeists, of which I'm sure there are many indeed.

I am deeply concerned by the new album from Kiss ledge Gene Simmons. I think it may just be the best worst album ever. Opening fairly well if unsurprisingly, track two then throws you off balance with a straight up karaoke cover of "Firestarter" by the Prodigy. Which is genius. Every alt Dj in the country is going to be playing this. Shrewd. Track 3, "Weapons of mass destruction" is fairly straight forward rock, but the album then just doesn't stick with it. Track 4 is a diatribe lounge piece of shit. I mean, it's appalling. But then by track 5 it's changed again to Custom style stoner rock. The rest of the album kind of sits there, but really the whole blend is more than a little baffled. Style wise it's not what you'd expect, lead single "Asshole" is just that, but it all still has a weird appeal. Listen with charitable ears. Or, even better, when completely wasted. Inconsistent. Great. Shite.

The new Slipknot album is now out, and I can add nothing to the reviews I've read. It's amazing. Un missable. After re-reading the bit I wrote about the two track sampler I stand by it, save only to add that I wasn't disappointed. *I wanted something different and exciting and got it. Amazing!

Slipknot are a band from Desmoines, Iowa. Their cooky angle is that they all wear scary masks and boiler suits, and the band are only known by numbers. Well, scratch that last bit. Adore them or abhor them, they have been one of the biggest magazine shifting unit selling maggot entertaining dodgy sound byte saying forces of the last 9 years. Volume 3 "The subliminal verses" comes after 4.6 million album sales! Yep, they are back, with new masks and allegedly a new found (or re-found) brother hood within the band. For some reason I got sent the radio promo for this, which rather pointlessly for me features a couple of tracks of Joey saying how much he thanks the heavy radio stations for all their support. The usual blurb about this being the bands heaviest release so far is stuck to the back of the CD too, but unfortunately I only get two actual songs to listen to. "Pulse of the Maggots" has already been available for download so you may have heard it. Highly reminiscent of their debut album - break beats and scratched in samples abound in this Heretic Anthem part 2 feeling song. The second track is their new single "Duality". When Murder Dollls and Stone Sour arrived many people pointed out that Murder Dolls might not offer much to Slipknot fans, and whilst this delighted the music press in general (damning a great album with too much praise do you think?) they were polar in their slamming of the Stone Sour release. The Stone Sour album was infact amazing, but yes, the sound was very close to Slipknots. How close? Listed to "Duality" and you just are listening to Stone Sour. "Pulse of the Maggots" is for that reason the most exciting track of the two, I was hoping to see more of the arty angle that was evident on second album "Iowa", though I am still full of hope that on the actual album that will be more present, after all this is a promo, meant to whip us up in a frenzy of frothing anticipation, and it goes someway to doing just that. On the basis of this sampler than, if you liked Stone Sour (and it's only fair to let you know I f*cking loved that album) you've got plenty to look forward to. If you likes the Eponymous debut album, there's stuff here for you. The only thing not on show is the "Angrier and heavier" Slipknot I'd been told to expect. Rick Rubin is on the production so the album is all but guaranteed to please, though the cynic in me is already expecting the "heavier darker" hype to be just that. These two tracks are great, really great, but as someone who really rated the proggier aspects of "Iowa" I was hoping for something totally different. This is Slipknot for the maggots, and I think the maggots will be happy.

A very quick note on Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society's hangover music. I'm not going to review the whole thing as it's early days for me and clearly this is the kind of album that has to grow on you, however, numerous publications have alluded to the cover of "Whiter shade of pale" (originally done by Procul Harem). They tell of it's ability to bring a tear to the eye of grown men. Yes it does. A tear of laughter. It is (is my opinion only of course) appallingly bad. Anyone who can remember the Hamlet cigar adverts of old will see a connection, and it's a low point on an otherwise promising album. Like Kelly & Ozzy's "Changes"? Well in that case it will be right up your street...

Yourcodenameis:milo come from Newcastle, and could prove to be an interesting prospect. New single "All roads lead to fault" at first appears to be an accomplished rock track, though offering little new. It is saved from mediocrity by an end of track pace down which, for some reason, transforms it into a belter! I often find that when a genre is currently "the flavour" you hear so much of it that a track has to do a little something different for you to properly pay attention to it. The aforementioned slowing down-speeding up on "All roads..." (for that's what it is, it's a tempo change, but not of the like we've been scremo acclimatised to) does just that. You sit up, you listen up, and you realise this is a great track. The most interesting thing here though, bizarrely, is that the "blurb" sent out with the promo of the CD doesn't spend its time telling you how great the band are, how they are going to change the world, and how this is going to be a pivotal moment in you life. I can say that for 99% of the promo's I get sadly, the reverse is true, and YCNI:M's approach to publicity is refreshing. I'll let them say it : "Yourcodenameis:milo will not rock your body with gritty urban rhymes. They ...will not inspire you to change your haircut.... they make music using guitars, bass and drums."

Torso Horse have had a strange time of it recently. An scathing review in Metal Hammer which gave them a thorough kicking was bandied around by haters on messageboards (including our own here) to much glee. Internal troubles with the band have also been rumoured. In answer to this, Torso Horse return with a DVD release of "In my head". Featuring Adam fronting the by now familiar be-makeuped band, the setting is seemingly a plague ridden farm house of some kind. With nod's to Korn (hanging dollies) and one would guess Slayer (it is actually raining blood throughout the entire video) it's a flashy promo clip. Quite who is bankrolling them I don't know (after all, all those zombies can't come for free) but what is clear is that Adam and Torso Horse have no intention of going away just yet. indeed it is clear that the band are still doing gigs so I must assume that either the rumours about bass players skipping the country, and drummers being sold into child labour are just that. One thing must be true, that following years of (in my opinion) too much blanketing praise (from the likes of this site and others of similar nature) the MH review may have come as a shock. Certainly the delight that certain individuals took in it was a shock to me. After all, Torso Horse are a good band. But reviews do get things wrong, and ultimately it's one persons opinion. And you've got to have one... The disappointment must come not from a journo kicking shit out of a band to an almost malicious level, but from the locals who rejoice at this. What is their point? That people shouldn't try to be successful? I for one wish TH all the luck in the world, and whilst "In my head" is for me not the best track the band have done by far, it still retains the strength they've always had, and more importantly reassures me that they are still out there doing stuff in the first place. Click here for a Bottom of the Bottle interview with Adam, where we try to find out all the facts behind TH, and perhaps more importantly, what kind of eyeliner Adz uses.

I think the jury is still out on the most recent Lost Prophets album, but in the mean time they are releasing third single "Wake up (move something)". Instantly recognisable as their sound this will be dance floor-tastic within the month, though possibly without the anthemic qualities of previous "Burn Burn" and "Last train...". That said, that's exactly what I recall saying about "Last train.." at the first go. The Lost Prophets are to me essentially dance floor rock that keeps getting better in exact correlation with how much of the words you can sing. The more I hear of them the more I feel this is where Nu-metal is at these days, though when currently looking for a bracket to put them in, I'm struggling. This in itself has got to be a good thing, though no doubt some numnuts will have already worked out this problem... Nu-post-emo-billy-core anybody? Good stuff from a good band that have done no harm whatsoever to the music scene. It's also worth checking out their "Inquisition" interview in Metal Hammer, as this has caused me to rethink a bit about this band, there truly is little that can make you like someone more than hearing some twat disliking them. Fair play to both MH and the 'Prophets, buy the magazine, buy the single.

But why am I telling you all this? because The Shocker is also the name of a band that have adopted this symbol for themselves. They are a kind of rock/punk band who do very infectious tunes that if they didn't have titles such as "Up your ass tray" and "Bad Brain Good Head" would be classed as straight up pop. Whilst the don't really manage to shock (after all, what does now?) they do do really good numbers. Fronted by one of the girls out of grungers L7 they do remind me of that (Republica esqu) era of music, slightly indie Rock poppy punk that I want to hear played round a fire on a beach in California. As it is, I'll have to settle for now for listening to the "Up your ASS TRAY" album on my hi-fi and say the only thing that lets it down seriously is the fact that it's neither an EP (7, or rather, 6 and a half tracks) or an album (15 minutes long). Not amazing but certainly very good and promising of more to come, think Billy Talent a bit slower and more for the girlies.

It's quite a way off, indeed it's not due for release until 10th of May, but the mighty Killswitch Engage have a new album on the way. It is, I would guess, pretty much what you'll be expecting and hoping for. Melodic scream metal with more singing than I was expecting, and, hey, do they sound more like a heavier Number One Son than I remember? I think this is due to new vocalist Howard Jones, though I must assume it's a different Howard Jones that the one who asked us "What is love" in the 80's and can claim responsibility for some hair cuts that are starting to look worryingly cool again... I'm not sure there is a track on here to equal the massive "Last Serenade" but there is still plenty of stuff to be going on with. When discussing this with a confirmed KsE fan I said something along the lines that this only did what it said on the tin, and was borderline safe, in that there is nothing unexpected on offer. Whilst this is true, to be fair, the sound is still vital so why should they change just yet? I'm sure you don't need me to sell you this, but I would recommend you buy it, which most of you would no doubt do anyway.

It's weird for me sometimes to do reviews of bands that to other people mean so much, but I only know bits and bats about. Never the less I've got the new Fear Factory album. I simply cannot tell you how it compares to their previous stuff, as I've only got one album, and I can't even find that now to tell you what it is. "Archetype" however, which comes out on the 19th of April, stands on its own as splendid. You don't get a lot of splendid these days do you? Single "Cyberwaste", which I've been playing at recent Bottom of the Bottle's is fantastic, heavy and frantic as a f*ck off a fat bird in the back of her husbands car. Clearly Fear Factory are not playing at this game and "Archetype" is a flawless hour of good nastie noise that fans and newcomers (like what I is) will find most pleasurable. I personally hope that "Act of God" gets a single release at some stage as it has the making of an anthem with is blasts and chorus made for a thousand voices. They are supporting Slipknot in the US and and are meant to be coming to the UK for festivals, so perhaps keep an eye on the Download line up for them? Though that is purely speculation on my part.

C4 have a new CD in circulation. Entitled "Suicide notes", whilst the title is a bit crap the music isn't. A big step up in production values means that whilst this isn't quite there with something you'd buy on say, Roadrunner, the sound quality is good enough for you to get a proper feel of the band. Close enough to the live sound in a good venue to feel some of the buzz they give off, but not close enough that you can smell Heath's unwashed student musk. First track "She lies" is infact better live but still a great tune here. I'm not really sure about the point of the sample at the beginning, and if I'm honest I think this is one of their tracks that misses Spoonheads vocals. However he is clearly water under the bridge, and nothing states that clearer than Track 2 "Accelerated Burning Programme". As Craig grows in his new role as Front man he gets better at each hearing, and sounds his best on this one. Unfortunately Emo titled 3rd track "Bless me father for I have a gun" is the best one of the lot, as is the case when you see them play. It is true if you own their earlier stuff you may well, like me, feel that Spoonhead's undeniable vocal talent is missed, but C4 are now for me a totally different band, and as that band are just as much of an exciting prospect as "the old C4", but more of a unit and hopefully with the drive they will need to progress. In summation this is certainly the most promising CD to date, whilst still for me you need to see the band live to really get it, it is that promise of what their next recording is going to be like which makes this one essential for those of you that can't already say they got on at the ground floor. A new CD from what is in effect a new band, find one of them and buy this. Artwork wise no monsters shagging virgins this time, but I still don't like that Jap animation crap.

In a side note connected to the above, if Spoonhead is reading this, you've got an amazing voice mate, don't f8cking waste it by doing nothing with it. But that's only my opinion. Trev.

I don’t think Trev likes punk music, so he slung this my way and asked for a few words on it….. Blocko are a name I’ve seen on gig line ups for a while, but I’d never heard of them until now. This, their debut cd, was recorded in 2 sessions between 2001 & 2003, but none of the songs sound that dated. Being a 3 piece, arrangements are kept simple, no solos or fancy riffs, but there’s enough melody and power in the tunes to make up for it. I can’t get over how much this band sounds like an English Hot Water Music (although the 1^st track, ‘Opener’, recalls early ‘90’s pop-punkers Senseless Things). Of the 11 tracks here, none of them seem to jump out and grab yer ears, but it feels like it could be a grower, which is sometimes the best way.

Amen have a new single out, "California's bleeding". I'm not gonna review it as I have little or no time for them, but I thought I'd let you know anyhow.

Rotting Christ blew my nuts when I saw them recently supporting Decapitated. I wasn't sure they were going to be that great the next day when, sober, I decided to check out just what I'd bought in the form of "Genesis". My wondering lasted about