sleepmakeswaves – “Love Of Cartography”

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Roo

sleepmakeswaves are a post-rock band from the land down under who ‘write love songs about delay pedals’ and have been doing the rounds since 2006 but it was debut album “…And So We Destroyed Everything” in 2011 that gained them attention and quite rightly too with a gorgeous and atmospheric take on the instrumental post-rock genre.

Second album ‘Love Of Cartography’ expands and builds on this platform and then some to stunning affect by going for an impressively BIGGER sound with a bucket full of subtle additional influences the stand them out form the burgeoning crowd.
Fans of God Is An Astronaut and Axes should definitely take note Continue reading →

THE KING IS BLIND – Live @ Bloodstock Open Air 2014

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Alex

The Modern Alternative was privileged to get a good clear view of the Bloodstock début of The King Is Blind this past weekend. A video of the set opener, “Mors Somnis” can be seen further down the page. This was shot spontaneously with a regular camera and, albeit a little shaky, the raw footage gives an insight into the performance, without any visual or audio retouching. Continue reading →

VARIOUS ARTISTS – “One And All, Together, For Home”

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Mike

Various Artists – “One And All, Together, For Home”

Beautifully packaged on both CD and Vinyl versions, a collection of bands delve into their nation’s musical cultural heritage and produce music generally not associated with their ‘regular’ output. The idea was born from Roman Saenko (Hate Forest, Drudkh, Old Silver Key, Rattenfanger and others!) and Drudkh feature with 2 tracks based on Ukrainian folk songs. Continue reading →

DOOM OVER EDINBURGH FESTIVAL / Bannerman’s, Edinburgh, Scotland / March 2015

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Alex

Festival: Doom Over Edinburgh Festival.
Date: Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th of March 2015.
Location: Bannerman’s Bar, 212 Cowgate, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Post Code: EH1 1NQ.
Official Travel: N/A.

Ticket Cost: £16 for weekend ticket / £8 Saturday only / £10 Sunday only.

Hot off the press! Continue reading →

THE MORE I SEE – “The Disappearing Humans”

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Paul

I’m not really sure how it’s happened, but despite the fact that this is the fourth album from The More I See (featuring the guitar stylings of Gizz Butt – The Prodigy, Janus Stark, English Dogs, Sabbat!), it’s the first one I’ve heard. There are only four tracks from the full-length provided here, but the Earache label have uploaded the whole thing as a series of individual videos. Continue reading →

SHORES OF NULL – “Quiescence”

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Mike

SHORES OF NULL – “Quiescence”

If you like your death doom, with a vocalist who has range, this album has to be on your to buy list. Cover art featuring a dead tree is often a clue to what’s in store on the disc, and a melancholic myriad of misery and despair ensues. However, the band whom hail from Rome, deliver an album which is heavy yes, but which has very catchy melodies and a vibe not too dissimilar to Ghost Brigade, Katatonia and err, Alice in Chains! Yep, that’s what I am hearing and that’s what I am loving folks. Continue reading →

ZLANG ZLUT – “Zlang Zlut”

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Paul

If say to you ‘rock with orchestral instrumentation’, you’re going to get the completely wrong idea about Zlang Zlut. Yes, they make heavy use of violins and cellos, but they really make use of them, and the result is pretty heavy. Maybe more for the open-minded connoisseur of old school, progressive rock, this is a finely crafted release which displays both an intelligent understanding of riff-worship and an enthusiasm and vibrancy in the classical music realm. Continue reading →

ADMIRAL SIR CLOUDESLEY SHOVELL – “Check ‘Em Before You Wreck ‘Em”

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Roo

Fun Fact 1: even though the band name is horrible tongue twister it is actually the legitimate name of a celebrated 17^th century English naval officer.

Fun Fact 2: They are a band being horribly miss-sold.

As darlings of the cooler than though Rise Above records and with a press release screaming that they reference “the golden age of British heavy rock whose dog shit stained road was paved by the likes of Budgie, Sabbath, early Motorhead, Quo, Lizzy,” to provide “another slice of no-nonsense re-gressive proto-rock ‘n’metal” Continue reading →

MONUMENTOMB – “Ritual Exhumation EP”

Posted on July 12, 2014 by Mark

Another UK death metal release… on top of some absolutely blinding albums from Desecration, Amputated, Basement Torture Killings, Cancerous Womb, Ancient Ascendant and Dripback, Monumentomb have dropped their 1^st release, the 6 track ‘Ritual Exhumation’ EP and fuck me is it good! Continue reading →

DESERT STORM – “Horizontal Life”

Posted on July 12, 2014 by Roo

Oxford Rockers Desert Storm are a band that should have already been in my life WAY before I finally picked up on them, but after a experiencing a stunning live performance recently when in tow with Leeds finest Bongcauldron it’s about time to get properly acquainted.

So they have two releases proper, the most recent being 2013’s “Horizontal Life” Delving back further in 2010 they released “Forked Tongues”. Continue reading →