BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend Fringe Event: Spiral Tower, at The Venue, Church Row, Preston.

Spiral Tower has no website and no Myspace, almost unique amongst many of their peers. Their popularity is derived entirely the old-fashioned way: via word-of-mouth and a fearsome live reputation, with scores of gig-goers leaving packed shows enthralled and dumbfounded. Such has been the demand for the long-awaited debut album, fans have resorted to spreading live bootlegs at an astounding pace as a cure for the itch.

Just two weeks after their return from a break to record the aforementioned upcoming album, Spiral Tower leap…

Sun 25 Feb – Nine Inch Nails, Ladytron

The announcement of the second Nine Inch Nails album in three years at the end of 2.006 (and a third pencilled in for 2.008) came as a surprise to almost everybody who has any great knowledge of the glacial pace at which Trent Reznor writes, records and releases each album. After 2.005’s With Teeth album, only the band’s - of which he is the sole studio member - fourth ‘full’ release since 1.989, fans the world over were looking ahead to the turn of the decade before a new tour surfaced, Reznor…

There exists in the world of metal a small number of elite bands that require little introduction. The name is often enough to stir the soul, and the slightest snippet of a riff or the briefest glimpse of a logo will send grown men into spasmodic howls and unabashed glee. Bands such as Black Sabbath, KISS, Iron Maiden, and Metallica have inspired so many young musicians to group together in a garage or bedroom that their numbers became countless long ago. But alas, all too often bands of such astounding calibre run into the ground ahead of…

After two first-rate demos, A Dream to Fear and the suitably-titled Eschatology, Wigan's Evisorax have emerged as one of British extreme metal's most exciting prospects. This reputation is firmly cemented as they put on the most intense, breathtaking shows in Preston this year. Combining the chaotic death/grind of Pig Destroyer with the abject nihilism of Anaal Nathrakh, and then throwing in a few sluggish breakdowns along the way, the trio create an atmosphere of urban decay, post-apocalyptic veduta and bombed-out, war-torn cityscapes. Their no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners approach proves popular as the band fire through their set with the…

Found this from a while back, and I somehow never posted it up.It's a review of Metallica's simply amazing set at Donington Park in June. They completely pissed on every other band I've seen in my life, and I actually cried during "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)." It's not great, I think I've come pretty far in reviewing stuff over the last two or three months, and it shows. However, I think my review mainly falls down in my eyes because it doesn't even come close to accurately describing how amazing this event really was. Still, here you are:

Following a…

Finnish openers Insomnium, who are about to start touring with Satyricon, initially fail to make an impression upon the early arrivals with their melodic death/doom combination, but eventually win over some support later on. The overt Opeth worship within their music isn’t easily ignored, and the Finns could be forgiven for treating this as a warm-up gig, but they will have to do better than this to win over the Satyricon crowd upstairs in the larger Academy 2 in a week’s time.

1349 begin with a growing mass of feedback before firing the first real grapeshot of the…

Imagine that you are a passenger on a small business jet, flying over the sands of the Sahara, when the pilot reports that due to engine difficulties, the plane will to have to make an emergency landing. You are going to be isolated in the desert, one thousand miles away from water and civilisation, just as night begins its descent, when the temperature will fall from 130ºF to 10ºF in just over half an hour. As the plane approaches the sand, the landing gear fails to activate, and the pilot has to skid the plane on its belly in order…

Battle of the Bands 2.006 Grand Final at The Venue, Church Row, Preston

Accompanied by rabid chants of “K.C.! K.C.! K.C.!” and the grandiose title music from 2001: Space Odyssey, King Casanova stamps their mark on this year’s Battle of the Bands final with all the ferocity and enormity of a tyrannosaurus Rex. Having grown into one of the biggest and most entertaining groups in Preston in just under a year, the quartet’s exceedingly unique approach to metal - where grinding guitars and thundering drums jostle for space with all the sounds of the funfair - has won admirers far…

Kicking things off for the last second round heat of the Battle of the Bands is Spiral Tower (9/10), the sole metal entrant remaining in this year’s tournament. Fitting in just three songs over their 20-minute set, these prog-metallers have perfected their recipe of epic metal that weaves between complex, bulldozer-esque riffs, intricate melodies and staggering solos, all played at a volume that sounds as if at any moment it will leap out of the building and charge like a psychotic rhino at the bus station.

The band refuse flat-out to let one musician sit back and relax while another…

Academy 2, Oxford Road, Manchester

Last seen in the UK supporting Nile a few years ago, Baltimore’s Misery Index (8/10) open with two extremely fast, technical death metal numbers akin to the aforementioned Egyptophiles. The third song, “Servants of Progress,” slows the tempo somewhat and displays more clearly the band’s hardcore leanings, before returning to the nimble-fingered death metal that is present throughout with “The Great Depression.” A relentless, furious set that inspires some serious head banging in front of the stage.

Whilst traditionally a rather dull affair when committed to disc, Breed 77 (7/10) are a much more impressive…