The highly anticipated Cult Of Luna and Russian Circles European tour got underway in Copenhagen on the 17th March, and round two landed the following night in Berlin’s historic Huxley’s Neue Welt venue. And the pairing of the two Post-Metal innovators was a dream come true for those that know, when it was announced they…

1. // Grief Symposium : In The Absence Of Light (Church Road Records) Grief Symposium are one of the latest in a long line of emerging talented bands from the heavier end of the ever impressive Church Road Records roster, and they dropped their debut LP … In The Absence Of Light in January. Comprising…

Heavy Metal has certainly come a long way since the birth of the sound arrived with Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut album in 1970. The 80’s were revolutionary as we saw the emergence of Thrash with the explosion of the scene on America’s west coast, as the likes of Metallica and Megadeth took influence from the…

Mogwai brought their first major headline tour since the pandemic to the south coast’s stunning Brighton Dome, and played their individual brand of deep and experimental arty Post-Rock to a room that was absolutely packed to the rafters. But first up Ohio based 3RA1N1AC (Brainiac) hit the stage and delivered a thoroughly surprising set of…

1. // The Pale Blue Eye Directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart), A Pale Blue Sky is set in a snowy New York winter in 1830, where Detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale – The Prestige) is summoned to speak with a military colonel and asked to help them investigate the mystery surrounding the hanging of…

It’s fair to say that Heriot were one of the major success stories in 2022 from the UK’s thriving Metal scene. After building interest in their unique sounds with a succession of fine single releases in 2020-2021, the four piece Sludge-Doom-Death-Post-Hardcore band (who are pretty difficult to pigeonhole!) began the year touring the UK with…

Video Shop Tales Of Terror (2023) is a revelation in quirky and horrifically whimsical low-budget indie film making. A horror anthology movie in the vein of George A. Romero’s Creepshow (1982) or John Carpenter’s Body Bags (1993), but with a wicked dollop of creepy British humour which will unquestionably appeal to those who appreciate the…

A true classic of the psychological horror genre, Rosemary’s Baby was based on Ira Levin’s chilling tale of devilry and witchcraft from 1967, and was faithfully adapted for the screen and directed by Roman Polanski (Chinatown / The Pianist). Levin was already a celebrated novelist and playwright when he produced arguably his finest work with…

Casting Kill is an intriguing indie crime drama with more than a hint of dark humour from Raya Films, and the 80 minute movie had its world premiere in the UK this January at Southend’s Horror-On-Sea film festival. Styled as an Alfred Hitchcock inspired thriller, there is certainly a Hitchcock-esq vibe created during the opening…

1. // Ken Mode : Null (Artoffact Records) Eighth album from the Canadian Extreme Noise-Rockers, and another typically abrasive blast of Post-Hardcore which landed in Sep 2022 via Artoffact Records. The sublimely dark and twisted album eloquently combines elements of Screamo-Post Metal with Doomy-Post Hardcore, and opens with the ponderous A Love Letter, which introduces…

1. // The Batman One of the most highly anticipated new films of 2022, and The Batman delivered on so many levels. First of all it had an incredibly tough act to follow with Christopher Nolan’s near perfect ‘Dark Knight Trilogy’ setting the benchmark for all future Batman movies. And although we’ve had Ben Affleck’s…

‘People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it, and the souls can’t rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right’ The…

On a wild and windy stormy Monday evening, one of the Metal shows of the year rolled onto Brighton’s historic seafront at the city’s legendary Concorde 2. And the dark and gloomy autumn evening provided a perfect setting for the entertainment on show inside the venue. The room was already full with anticipation when Heriot,…

On the eve of Halloween Conjurer kick-started the UK leg of their European tour, in Brighton’s intimate Green Door Store. 2022 has been a definitive year for Conjurer who have released their brutal yet sometimes elegant second album Pàthos on Nuclear Blast Records, while hitting some pretty major festivals over the summer. They’ve also put…

2022 is the year in which master of the macabre Clive Barker turned 70, and is also the year that his most well known movie creation Hellraiser, recieved a glossy re-boot to bring the tale to a new generation, after three decades of patchy sequels to the original horror masterpiece. Barker originally burst on to…

1. // Zeal & Ardor (MVKA) Every now and then a band arrives with an originality that makes them stand out from the crowd. And when Zeal & Ardor released their debut album Devil Is Fine in 2016, their off beat blend of avant-garde Rock, Blackened Post-Metal and Delta Blues with African influenced vocals, did…

A film that came somewhat out of the blue when announced last year, was the Foo Fighters produced Studio 666. A raucous blend of Horror, Comedy and Music that would see the band star in their own film, following in the path of other acts that have crossed over onto the silver screen, such as…

If anyone’s introduction to Metallica was around the time of Some Kind Of Monster, they would have found a band who were struggling to keep it together. A band who had risen to the top of the Heavy Metal tree, but now appeared to be in free fall and were hitting all of the branches…

Metal titans Megadeth released their sixteenth album on Fri 2nd September, The Sick, The Dying … and The Dead! aptly titled for a record written and recorded during the pandemic, and during Dave Mustaine’s battle and recovery from throat cancer. At this stage in their career each new album release is somewhat of an event…

1. Greg Puciato : Mirrorcell (Federal Prisoner) Mirrorcell is the second solo album from Greg Puciato, who seems to have barely had time to stop and sleep since The Dillinger Escape Plan ended in 2017. He’s somehow found the time to release music with his 80s influenced Synth-Wave project The Black Queen, recorded a new…

‘Based on truth, lies, and what actually happened. This is my story … and it does not end well!’ And so begins Lords Of Chaos (2018) with a foreboding warning from central character Øystein Aarseth aka Euronymous (Played by Macauley’s younger brother Rory Culkin), the guitarist and song writer of the band Mayhem, and the…

‘A long time ago it is said … a monster came here!’ And so opens Prey, the beautifully shot prequel to the Predator films, which takes the alien hunter back down to Earth, but this time in native America, and into the forests of The Great Northern Plains some 300 years ago. Written and directed…

On a hot sweaty Friday night at Barcelona’s magnificent and historic Stadio Olimpico, the juggernaut that is Iron Maiden’s Legacy Of The Beast tour rolled into town. The worldwide greatest hits tour started way back in 2018 after Maiden had extensively toured their 2015 double album The Book Of Souls, but came to a halt…

‘In a time when the oceans drank Atlantis there was an age undreamed of … and born unto this was Conan! Destined to bear the jewel crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow.’ Conan The Barbarian one of the iconic fantasy characters of the 20th Century, was created by American author Robert E. Howard. A…

Seattle, the northwest Pacific coast city best known historically for its logging and sea port industries, became a famous cultural hub of music and creativity in the 1990s, as the world became aware of a music scene that had been bubbling away and building locally for a decade or so. The music press jumped on…

Californian Sludge-Metal veterans High On Fire hit Brighton on this rainy summers night, as part of their first UK tour following the pandemic, and with Metal Blade Record’s excellent Scottish Post-Metal outfit DVNE in support. DVNE were joining High On Fire for their English dates drawing to a close a near two month tour across…

If there is one movie director who could define a Horror genre rich in grotesque practical body effects, then David Cronenberg is that man. He started writing and making low budget movies in the 1970’s, films which instantly left their mark on independent cinema with a forward thinking originality. Schlock Horror films such as Shivers…

In 1982 directorial master John Carpenter created an absolute classic of the Sci-Fi / Horror genre. The Thing became renowned for its mind bending, practical effects body-horror, and was a perfectly executed story of isolation and paranoia, when a group of scientists unexpectedly find themselves dealing with an unknown alien threat. Arguably Carpenter’s finest hour,…

1. // Meshuggah : Immutable (Atomic Fire Records) The Swedish Metal titans have returned with album number nine and their first in four years, delivering quite a remarkable record which shows that over 30 years into their career, they are still just as hungry as ever. Immutable sees a progression in their Technical-Death Metal sound,…

On the Queens platinum jubilee weekend, Swedish Metal royalty Meshuggah arrived in town for a show at the iconic Royal Albert Hall, with avant-garde Swiss rockers Zeal & Ardor in support. The historic amphitheatre is one of the most beautiful concert halls in the country, holds in excess of 5,000 people, and was absolutely packed…

If ever there were two films which epitomised how to create complete polar opposite versions of the same comic book character, then these two portrayals of the 2000 AD Comics character Judge Dredd are them. They are as far away from each other in tone and style than say Batman Forever (1995) is from the…

Desertfest the multi venue festival featuring the finest Stoner/Doom Metal bands from around the world, returned to London for the first time in two years over this May bank holiday weekend. The festival takes place in four locations throughout the year inc New York, Berlin and Antwerp, and in London lands in the mutli cultural…

Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, is undoubtedly one of the most notorious directors of the last 40 years, creating a body of work full of classic thrillers and Sci-Fi action films, well known for his seductive blend of graphic violence, nudity and explicit sexual scenes. He began his career working in television in his native Holland,…

Although story told versions of Demons and the Undead date back millennia to Ancient Greek and Roman times, and are prevalent through Medieval tales, the mythology of the modern Vampire as we might recognise it today, as one of the most beloved stories of horror, dates back to 18th century Eastern European folklore. Becoming immortalised…

1. ZEAL & ARDOR : Zeal & Ardor (MVKA) Every now and then a band hit the scene with an originality that makes them stand out from the crowd, and when Zeal & Ardor released their debut album Devil Is Fine in 2016, their offbeat blend of Avant-garde Rock, Blackened Post Metal and Delta Blues…

John Carpenter … the master of horror! Writer, director and producer of some of the most iconic films of the genre, specifically during his hey day of the late 70’s and throughout the 1980’s. He also composed some of the most recognisable film scores to accompany the majority of his movies. He’ll always be best…

The Batman directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), is the first standalone Batman film since The Dark Knight Rises (2012) completed a near perfect trilogy of movies from director Christopher Nolan, that started with Batman Begins (2005) followed by The Dark Knight (2008) with its mesmerising and infamous version of The Joker played by the late…

Kicking off their five date UK tour Bristol’s Sugar Horse and The Hyena Kill from Manchester came down to the south coast, to showcase their respective sounds in one of Brighton’s more intimate venues. Sugar Horse took to the stage first, one of the more interesting bands in the UK’s underground scene who have landed…

27 years ago with the release of single albums worth of work, a musical legend of Seattle’s alternative music scene was born. A side project conceived by four talented musicians, who had come together in a moment of time that would forever be immortalised in the 10 songs that make up ‘Above’, with their music…

Philip K Dick was one of the 20th century’s most innovative and productive Sci-Fi writers, and his imagination has had a hugely important impact on modern cinema, with filmmakers returning to his work for inspiration, time and time again. Born in 1928, he died at the age of 54 in 1982, having published over 40…

In March 2022 we see the hotly anticipated next instalment in a standalone Batman series of films hitting the big screen. Directed by Matt Reeves (Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes / Cloverfield) and with Robert Pattinson (Twilight) starring as the Dark Knight, time will tell how the movie compares and stands up to…

1. // CONVERGE : Blood Moon 1 (Epitaph / Deathwish Inc) Converge have joined forces with their close friend Stephen Brodsky (Cave In/Mutoid Man) along with the beautiful singing voice of Chelsea Wolfe (with creative partner Ben Chisholm), to create one of the most experimental albums of the year. Fusing together the bands Hardcore roots…

‘Ghostbusters – Afterlife’ hit cinema screens this week in the midst of an industry seeping with nostalgia towards the 1980’s … and rightly so. The decade turned cinema on its head with an advancement in what was possible in film, with ever changing technology and innovative and experimental special effects. Pre mass use of CGI,…

Jerry Cantrell, without a doubt one of the finest songwriters in heavy rock music over the last 30 years, has just released his third solo record ‘Brighten’. The album is a 9 track journey from the soul of a mature and experienced 55 year old, with clear influences of Blues and Country music, overshadowing the…

For those not yet familiar with Dune, this epic story was created in novel form by Sci-Fi writer Frank Herbert in 1965. Herbert created a tale deep and complex which has become a classic of the genre, leaving an undeniable mark on modern story telling. Clearly for example influencing George Lucas as he penned Star…

On paper this concert had the making of being a hugely important night in both Architects & Brighton’s live music calendar. A returning local band who’ve been mercilessly plugging away and doing their thing for 15+ years, touring relentlessly across the UK and achieving success internationally, while releasing 9 albums (4 for current label Epitaph)…