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Author Nick Griffiths

Having grown up on a diet of ABBA, The Carpenters, Leo Sayer (Mum), Cream, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and The Beatles (Dad), it was a stormy night under canvas in the wilds of Wales where I first heard the Winston Churchill speech that proceeds ‘Aces High’ from Iron Maiden’s ‘Live After Death’ where life changed for the better. That’s not to say that this was THE pivotal moment of my life (the good lady indoors and two children may get slightly truculent if I were to suggest as much) but it’s certainly up there. Listening, wearing, watching and being into Metal is one of life’s great honours and whilst it may be far from conventional and not a broad representation of the society where we live, I think that’s the point. We are different, we like it loud, noisy, nasty and in your face. Hearing that first chord, feeling that first double kick drum, that initial growl, your first t-shirt (Anthrax Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)) …moments of pure majesty that endure for a lifetime. Luckily, I get to ramble on here after doing so in Raw, Kerrang, Metal Hammer, NME, Rock Sound, and Terrorizer over the last 25 years. It’s still as much fun reviewing music today, as it was for my first ever published ramblings (Nuclear Assault ‘Live At Hammersmith Odeon’ - never has a 140 word review been so drastically sub edited) to the last one I did 5 minutes ago. Nice Fucking Life!

Wormrot – Hiss (Earache Records)

Let’s get the elephant (in this case a goat, but let’s not split (goat) hairs) out in the open, and although this represents Singaporean Grindcore trio Wormrot’s fourth album after 2016’s excellent ‘Voices’, many metal fans interactions with Wormrot would’ve… Continue Reading →

Cave In – Heavy Pendulum (Relapse Records)

There are times where reviewing certain bands constitutes more than just an item on a to do list, where it is less ephemeral than it may often be. There are some bands, that transcend our corporeal existence, and stick like… Continue Reading →

Casket Feeder – Servants of Violence (S/R)

They may be a smidgeon of bias that often creeps in when an album that’s up before the beak, hails from our own fair island of green and pleasant land and whilst it would be appropriation on a humungous scale… Continue Reading →

Misery Index – Complete Control (Century Media)

These Baltimore Bruisers (metal journalist cliche klaxon alert) are one of those bands that you feel like you have seen and heard a million times. Having been around since 10BC, it is quite possible that you may have raked up… Continue Reading →

Cleaver – No More Must Crawl (Klonosphere Records)

As well as heralding the renewed political manifesto/career of their incumbent political leader Macron, the French have also decided to birth something far more palatable unto the world in the form of the hideously named trio Cleaver. Now it is… Continue Reading →

Anna Sage – Anna Sage (Klonosphere)

Parisian four piece, the enigmatically named Anna Sage, seem to come in from the cold, having formed in 2012, released their debut EP in 2017 and then despite a smattering of support slots with such scene luminaries as 68 and… Continue Reading →

Skumstrike – Deadly Intrusions (Selfmadegod)

Nominative determinism is not only a bastard to spell (two spellchecks and counting), but when the name of the band you’re attempting to unpick and make sense of is called Skumstrike (they must be fans of the previously excellent but… Continue Reading →

Without Waves – Comedian (Prosthetic Records)

This band have me all kind of messed up. Not messed up, in a hungover kind of way with a blinder behind the eyes, a plant pot full of sick and a stolen traffic light blinking at you like a… Continue Reading →

Messa – Close (Svart Records)

As the sun streams through the all-be-it, very dirty glass doors, that act as my portal to the outside world, all seems well with the world, despite the presence of a global pandemic, a despotic lunatic launching a war on… Continue Reading →

Slob – Deepwoods Shack of Sodomy (Comatose Music)

Before I begin, I must make my apologies. My usual sense of bonhomie seems to have abandoned ship this morning, as I slink off to the shed at the bottom of the garden and begin to try and make sense… Continue Reading →

Bunuel – Killers Like Us (Profound Lore)

There’s a lot to unpick here when dissecting this, the third album from Bunuel, a supergroup of sorts from the malcontent, the ostracised, the damaged, the put upon, the depressed, the outliers, the three percent, the curious, the avant-garde and… Continue Reading →

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