Darren Bibby

Here's an exclusive live version of a new track from Bristol prog leviathans ANTA.  This version of 'Dolmen' was captured by the band pooling all their phones and digital cameras together.  It will give you a good idea of the kind of pounding, unsettling ride...

We’ve invited a plethora of advances from noisy sludge and doom bands, and by and large I’m sick of it. Most of them seem to be slowing down one Sabbath riff, then rinsing and repeating for 8 minutes.  Khunnt are different. Khunnt take an MRI scan of metal, and it’s got...

An unwritten rule of writing about rockmusik is that we are always 'eagerly anticipating' something or other, sometimes 'hotly': acting upon this cliché involves doing very little with serious intent, perhaps occasionally baiting ones breath while awaiting fev...

An Indian raga pulse, a harmonium drone into a mystical folk stomp.  It’s just a guy pitching up on a stool and doing his thing for you; that’s what’s so captivating about Daniel Higgs.  He engulfs you in his massive beard and there’s more than just...

There’s some kind of bloody student disco at the Ritz late on Saturdays, so the gig starts ridiculously early to allow for a 10pm curfew, causing us to miss the return of Lancastrian veterans Xentrix…balls.  So it’s left to Huddersfield’s Evile to provide our UK thrash...

First impressions of the Continental are of a pleasant waterside boozer on the outskirts of the city centre; inviting, but outwardly not an obvious hub of underground rock .   A further double-take is necessary upon arrival in the car park, when we spot a man in hi...

Owl sound OLD, yet do not sound remotely retro, with all the trashy transience that implies.  Having said that, when you play this, you may find your TV gets fatter, your beard more unruly and your pint glass turns to a windowed tankard.  Grab on tight to the stylu...

A friend of mine was petrified of pickled eggs.  He said they looked like freshly-removed eyes, and when I excitedly bought one to supplement a bag of chips in Blackpool, he ran away petrified.  The Terror is a pickled egg; the question is: do you love vinegar and...

Oblivionized provided a welcome CPR jolt to the UK’s metal extremities with their first two EPs ‘Abhorrent Revolution’ and ‘Nullify The Cycle’.  There’s a pleasing coat of oven-bottom filth to their death-flecked grind that gives them a more profound vibe than other act...

Damn straight they do, great blackened pink fingers popping and spitting away in a slick of of molten fat.  These thirteen juicy specimens see Buzzo and Co invite a load of pals round to joyfully bash out some covers that doff a cap to the band’s inspirations, from esot...

Good to see Black Moth not letting up after last year's 'The Killing Jar', coming right back in even filthier form with this occult rock belter about former Wales international Robbie Savage's stint on Strictly Come Dancing. Possibly.  This song does what it says on the...

If you’re tickled by Instrumental post-metal that stands out from a fairly sterile pack, you could do a lot worse than investigating these fellas. Edinburgh’s Tidings balance their impressionistic, melodic moments against bursts of total violence, where you get a sense of in...

This tour boasts a fantastic line-up for just five pounds, so it’s well worth travelling a few extra miles across to the dark side in Sheffield.  We don’t arrive in time to catch The Defiled, and to be honest I’d rather have stayed in to watch On Golden Pond than put my...

 Manchester’s Black Market Serotonin do big, emotional rock with synths and a hard edge, without sounding like they need a pissy sheet on the mattress.  And ‘Something From Nothing’ fairly bolts out of the blocks with instrumental opener ‘Singularity’ ducking and d...

Stimulants: Chesterfield Red king size, Coca-Cola maximum corn syrup. Time: 19:22.  Location: The living room… what else can I say? I’m in the living room, and amidst the noise the cat will not be deterred  from cleaning its anus.  Disposition: ir...

'Southern Sun' is the opening track from Devil's forthcoming album, 'Gather the Sinners'.  The Norwegian doom five-piece stand out from the pack with an earthy accessibility borne of a love of proto-metal and classic heavy rock, with a direct, narrat...

In a humid tent smelling of seafood, they brought outer space to a sodden field in Skipton at the dog-end of last summer.  Barked northern 90s vocals consumed in a mass of strobing delay and reverb, an echoing sermon swamped by insistent kraut delivered with Detroit dom...

It is with great pleasure that we announce this very special FREE ENTRY show from STRAND OF OAKS. This is your chance to witness a rare and extremely intimate performance from a truly unique and spell-binding performer of the highest order. All of the songs Timothy Showalter...

Implodes are about to follow up the devilishly handsome 'Black Earth' with new album 'Recurring Dream' on April 1.  The Chicago outfit have offered 'Scattered in the Wind' as a taster, and you can listen to it below. That warm uterus of noise is...

Chicago doom titans Bongripper will be joined by two of this sceptre isle’s very best:  Liverpool riff-wielders Conan and rapidly rising Leeds outfit Humanfly, for a UK tour that comes to a molten head at Desertfest.  These promise to be pretty mindblowing oc...

A heavyweight vinyl-only run of 500, the main pins plugging this thing in are brainchild Danish producer/composer Mads Heltberg (of whacked avant-metallers Düreforsög),This Heat founder Charles Hayward and Faith No More’s Billy Gould.  These representati...

Following their debut 2011 EP Abhorrent Evolution and Grindcore Karaoke demo ‘Nullify the Cycle’, UK avant grind crew Oblivionized have recently finished new recordings for two upcoming split 7inches with USA deathgrind act Plague Widow and Human Cull. The ban...

The guitars still have the acrid power to evaporate oxen, though Southampton's Moss have infused in their latest broth some more ancestral Anglo-doom flavours. They've eased back on the screams and prolonged drones here in favour of punchy psychedelic delivery and Da...

It’s January, the snow is falling outside my window and the frosty sound throbbing in my skull is ‘The Underground Resistance’, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto’s return to the classic grim black style of 1991. WUHAAAHHAHAHA, NOT REALLY, of course. I’v...

Measuring out a kaleidoscopic lucky bag from the torch-lit musical sweet shop nestled somewhere amidst Second Album, Machine Head and Easter, Purson's brand new song 'Leaning on a Bear' brings a gritty organ sound to the forefront and features an i...