Category Archives: Articles

INCOMING – Nat’s What I Reckon Book (with easy UK order WITHOUT paying over the odds!)

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I am calling it now… I reckon this could be the most sought after “not for kids” year-end gift in a few months.

The book “Un-cook Yourself – A Ratbag’s Rules For Life”, written by Nat from Nat’s What I Reckon is being published at the start of December, as announced in the video below, posted online yesterday.

It is already available for pre-order, but the post on his page is FULL of people outside of Australia struggling to find where they can buy it without incurring massive delivery charges.  It is currently NOT available from Amazon in the UK, nor Waterstones, etc., although I am sure they will want in on this too before long.

The good news is, I have done a little investigation and found an easy and very cost-effective way to get hold of this from one of the big booksellers. £16.29, with FREE delivery from The Book Depository. Continue reading →

TMA: Albums Of The Year – 2019

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2019 has been an absolutely hectic year for the TMA crew due to the challenges of adult life, so the site has been predominantly inactive, but there have been many significant releases that must be acknowledged.

So here, we present The Modern Alternative‘s Albums Of The Year for 2019: Continue reading →

The TMA Top Ten Festival Essential Items

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As the excitement mounts for Bloodstock Festival next week, it is time for The Modern Alternative’s alternative must-have items.  We don’t say a lot here, but we think this is worthy of your attention. This list will not be comprised of the absolute essentials like ticket, getting there and something to sleep in (as not all of these are essential before setting off too), but instead we list a few key things and personal recommendations for items that will make a difference to the seasoned Festival-goer. Continue reading →

METAL CULTURE – THE BLACK METAL BREWERY (Edinburgh, Scotland) – All Five Ales

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BMB Group“Hi Mark, do you mind if I drop some beer round for you to drink and write about?” said Alex.  “Seriously? Are you winding me up? Of course bud’  I replied…. And soon enough the boss was at my door with a selection of fine ales from the Loanhead based… It’s in Scotland, look it up… Black Metal Brewery, which was spooky as we’d both been to see northern monkey black metallers, Winterfylleth, the night before.

Now Alex has asked me to write about these lovely bottles of brown wonderment because he knows I’m a member of CAMRA and suspects I might know a thing or two about beer.  I’m not a total beer scoring uber nerd but I do drink a lot of real ale. It’s nice. It’s proper. Making it is an art form. Now my wife – Brutal Ruth – says I’m what’s known as a ‘functioning alcoholic’ (she can talk, flat out on the sofa watching ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ with an empty bottle of rose next to her..) but I prefer the term ‘drinking enthusiast’. Continue reading →

The TMA Top Releases Of 2015

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Despite TMA being largely inactive throughout this last year due to a number of unpleasant reasons, the quality of releases during 2015 has been magnificent. As such, the noteworthy must be noted and the following are 45 of the main ones we have enjoyed.

The year is now over, but we still have all of these beauties to remember the best bits.  I was going to edit it down to the best 40, but couldn’t find any others to remove and we are left with an unconventional 45.

So… Album Of The Year goes to Amiensus!

  1. Amiensus – “Ascension”
  2. Napalm Death – “Apex Predator – Easy Meat”
  3. Ghost – “Meliora”
  4. Macabre Omen – “Gods Of War – At War”
  5. Amorphis – “Under the Red Cloud”
  6. My Dying Bride – “Feel The Misery”
  7. Arcturus – “The Arcturian”
  8. Drudkh – “A Furrow Cut Short”
  9. The King Is Blind – “The Deficiencies Of Man”
  10. Indesinence – “III”
  11. Enslaved – “In Times”
  12. Forefather – “Curse Of The Cwelled”
  13. Jarun – “Pod niebem utkanym z popiołu”
  14. Nechochwen – “Heart Of Akamon”
  15. Outre – “Ghost Chants”
  16. Swallow The Sun – “Songs From The North: I, II & III”
  17. Panopticon – “Autumn Eternal”
  18. Unleashed – “Dawn Of The Nine”
  19. Kauan – “Sorni Nai”
  20. Ghost Bath – “Moon Lover” Continue reading →

VARIOUS ARTISTS – “MORGUL Scottish Metal Compilation: 2014”

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MORGUL is a society created by the metalheads, punks and rockers of the University of Glasgow, for anyone who wants to join, and have had an online presence on Facebook for around 18 months.

Focusing on bands that play Glasgow and/or Edinburgh often, Morgul spent Fresher’s Week in 2013 handing out free CDs to interested Freshers, Students, and gig-goers that featured some of the very best Scottish metal, in an effort to increase interest in local talent and gig-attendance.

It must have gone well as they are back again this year with another compilation for the 2014 intake, with another great selection of local talent to whet the appetite of anyone looking for decent live music in the North, including some notable TMA favourites like NNGNN, Cnoc An Tursa, Adabroc, Saor, Man Made Origin, Achren and Atragon!   Continue reading →

BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR / Catton Hall, England / August 2015

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Festival:                             Bloodstock Open Air Metal Festival.

Date:                                  Thursday until Sunday, 6th to 9th of August 2015.

Location:                           Catton Park, Walton-On-Trent, Derbyshire, England.

Post Code:                        DE12 8LN.

Official Travel:                   Big Green Coach.

Ticket Cost:                        £127.00 (Adult) & £39.00 (Child 4yo – 11yo) EARLY BIRD.

The limited early bird price of £127.00 for Adults and £39.00 for now available for next year’s Festival, they are usually on sale each year until the middle of December, or until the allocation runs out.

The TMA Collective will keep you up to date with all the announcements, deals and news for one of our favourite Festivals.

The 15th Bloodstock, and the 11th Open Air celebration of all things metal, will take place at the usual Catton Hall site in Derbyshire, England between Thursday 6th and Sunday 9th of August in 2015.

First announcement is that Opeth and Within Temptation will be playing!

THE PROJECT HATE MCMXCIX – “The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda” – Very Limited Digipack Pre-Order Deadline

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Big News in from The Project Hate MCMXCIX, big favourites of TMA…

“The horns are raised in honor of The Birth Of “The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda” In Digipak Form!

You asked for “TCRA” in a physical Digipak version and now you’ll get it. Continue reading →

The TMA Mission

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cropped-tma_header_logo.jpgThe Mission:

This site is intended to be a simple site catering for a simple need; a space to cater for the requirements of a small group of like-minded music addicts.

It contains information and content about music releases and events that are of interest to people like us, but not ones that we don’t particularly want to know about. Continue reading →