Alt-UK

Music, Film, and Gaming

Rich

Upcoming Reign Of Fury Tour Dates

by Leave a Comment

Reign of Fury

Midlands metal band Reign Of Fury released their debut studio album ‘World Detonation‘ in 2012, and have now released a number of tour dates for 2013.

Whilst the band has more tour dates to be announced, they’ve already confirmed that they’ll be appearing at a number of festivals in the UK this Summer, as well as a sold out festival in Belgium this March.

The following is a full list of the confirmed Reign Of Fury tour dates for 2013, including gigs and festivals that they’re currently scheduled to be playing:

22nd Feb – Marr’s Bar, Worcester with FURY, 44 FIRES and PARALUS

22nd March – De Verlichte Geest, Belgium with POWERSTONE in support

23rd March, WIZZFEST, Belgium (sold out)

23rd June, HARD & HEAVY FEST 5, Pontypool, Wales

7th September, CRADLE WILL ROCK FESTIVAL, Shildon (day)
7th September, NUKE FEST, Hull (evening)

Alan Bonner UK Tour March 2013

by Leave a Comment

Alan Bonner

Alan Bonner, who is currently offering his single ‘Talia‘ away as a free download, will be touring the UK in March, and you’ll be able to catch him at the following venues:

MARCH 2013
7th West St Live, Sheffield
12th The Shed, Leicester
18th Mr Wolf’s, Bristol
21st The Brunswick, Hove
27th The Underbelly, Hoxton, London 8.30pm

Alan Bonner is to release his debut album ‘Balladeer‘ on March 4th, and is an absolutely fantastic up and coming UK singer songwriter.

Alan Bonner’s ‘Talia’ Available for Free Download

by Leave a Comment

Alan Bonner

With a UK tour coming up in March, Alan Bonner has made his beautiful ballad ‘Talia‘ available for free download.

‘Talia‘ is a track that holds significant importance and meaning to Alan Bonner, and he had the following to say about it:

‘Talia’ is an ode to my best friend of the same name. We met at on the first day of University and have been thick as thieves ever since The Lyric written in panic on her birthday one year when I was on the dole and too skint to buy her a birthday present. It was only ever meant to be a silly gift for her and I never intended to release it originally but when I played the demo to my old band members they convinced me to start playing it live when we were touring with my first album.

It’s funny because it’s one of the songs that people seem to respond to the most, and now I think it’s one of my best songs. I like to imagine that she is out there in the crowd each night when I play it at the end of the show cheering me on, even on the nights when I know that she’s not there. If there was ever anyone worthy of being immortalised in song it’s her.

Stone Sour – Do Me A Favor

by Leave a Comment

Stone Sour - Do Me A Favor

2008 was the last time Slipknot released a new studio album, since then Corey Taylor has still kept himself busy with two Stone Sour studio albums however in ‘Audio Secrecy‘ and ‘House of Gold & Bones – Part 1‘, and later this year Stone Sour will follow these up with another album in the form of ‘House of Gold & Bones – Part 2‘. ‘Do Me A Favor‘ is the lead single from ‘House of Gold & Bones – Part 2‘, a track that perhaps provides us with a taste of what’s to come when the band unleashes its new album in April.

As Corey Taylor growls through the opening lyrical lines, you could be forgiven for thinking you were actually listening to a Slipknot record here, as ‘Do Me A Favor‘ reaches its chorus however it becomes very clear that what we actually have here is a Stone Sour release. The chorus here is a real driving one; Corey Taylor powers through it and I could definitely imagine a packed arena singing along to every word. This is a mainstream rock song done well, and if you like your rock music to have a bit of bite but also a lot of pop appeal then you may well love what you hear with ‘Do Me A Favor‘.

There’s absolutely fantastic musicianship on display here, the track demonstrates supreme pop sensibilities, and this is most definitely a brilliant first single to be chosen from the ‘House of Gold & Bones – Part 2‘ studio album. April 8th can’t come around quick enough in my opinion, and I personally can’t wait to hear what Stone Sour has to offer with studio album number five.

Rating:

Payback Season Review

by Leave a Comment

Payback Season is your typical Adam Deacon drama, offering a view of working class London and an aspiration for a life beyond the mundane, something that key protagonist Jerome has been able to achieve by becoming a professional footballer. Despite his having become a professional footballer however, his roots still weigh heavily upon him and his childhood gang connections threaten to hold him back in his quest for a better life for both himself and his mother and brother family unit.

Whilst Payback Season doesn’t really offer anything particularly new, it does provide for a pretty enjoyable viewing experience, and there are also some decent acting performances on display here. There are a few faces here that you’ll probably recognise, but also a few more that are clearly fairly inexperienced, yet do still stand out in a raw kind of way.

If you like Adam Deacon as an actor then you’ll no doubt find some joy here, and whilst Payback Season is unlikely to become your favourite film of all time, it will provide a decent hour and a half of entertainment. The storyline is nothing new, the film itself is nothing exemplary, but if you’re looking for a decent low budget British drama then you can definitely do a lot worse than watching Payback Season.

Mary at Midnight – Heads Will Roll Video

by Leave a Comment


Official video for ‘Heads Will Roll‘, the impressive debut single from Mary at Midnight. ‘Heads Will Roll‘ is an absolutely beautiful piece of music, and the video for the track is most definitely one that absolutely begs to be watched.

Bad Religion – True North

by Leave a Comment

bad-religion-true-north

31 years since the band released their debut studio album and still they show no signs of losing momentum. ‘True North’ is album number sixteen from Bad Religion, and once again here they’ve released an album that is absolutely packed full of quality. Bad Religion provide 16 excellent punk rock tracks for us here, complete with the intelligent lyricism and incredible catchiness that you’d expect from the band.

Title track ‘True North’ kicks the album off in fantastic style, and right from the word go here you know what to expect from this release. Instantly you have incredibly high expectations, and the band definitely doesn’t let you down as they progress through the album, either. They slow things down a bit during the intro for second track ‘Past is Dead’, before long they shift the momentum back up in the track though and provide a showcase of the pulsating punk rock that you’d expect of the band. The band sound as venomous as ever here, the music hits you hard and never does it cease to impress as Bad Religion hit you with chugging riff after chugging riff, Gregg Graffin’s vocals sounding as great as ever and Brett Gurewitz also impressing with his sublime backing vocal tone. Gurewitz even provides lead vocals on the track ‘Dharma and the Bomb‘, one of the strongest tracks from the album. Jay Bentley’s basslines resonate through the very heart of the album, and there is of course some supremely strong drum work on display here from Brooks Wackerman. Instrumentally the album is absolutely spot on, providing exactly what you’d expect of a Bad Religion record, and making you smile all the way.

For the most part Bad Religion maintain a rather fast paced and frenetic pace on the ‘True North’ studio album, ‘Hello Cruel World’ is a fine example of the success that Bad Religion can achieve when they opt for a slower paced, more melodic approach, however, and is perhaps one of my very favourite songs that Bad Religion has ever recorded. There’s just something about this track that really strikes a chord with me, and since ‘True North’ was released in January I have found myself coming back to this one on many an occasion. ‘Fuck You’ was a fantastic lead single for Bad Religion to release from the album, and title track ‘True North’ was another good choice, I definitely wouldn’t be at all surprised to see ‘Hello Cruel World’ released as a single at some point though, and it’s a track that I for one would absolutely love to see a video for at some point in the not too distant future. Just like 2001’s ‘Sorrow’ and 2004’s ‘Los Angeles is Burning’ single’s, there’s just something really very soothing about the band’s sound in ‘Hello Cruel World’, and whilst they may be better known for their harder hitting efforts, they can definitely still cut it when providing a more melodic approach to their music, and ‘Hello Cruel World’ is a Bad Religion track that I can see myself consistently coming back to for many years to come.

What I’ve always loved about Bad Religion is how the band has managed to remain relevant and interesting all throughout its career. Some bands seem to lose momentum and perhaps even interest at a certain point; cracks begin to appear and the band either falls short of the mark or ceases to exist altogether. 34 years on though and Bad Religion is still a band that is going strong, releasing music that is as well thought out and as powerfully put across as ever. Many of the band’s members may be approaching/heading past 50, they still retain the same passion for making music that they always had though and definitely don’t seem to be short of ideas when it comes to creating new music. The same intelligent lyrical content is still there, the passion is provided in abundance, and this is a band that still has an incredible amount of punk rock power.

If you’ve ever been a fan of the Bad Religion sound then ‘True North’ is most certainly an album that you should be looking to give a spin. This album perhaps contains some of the band’s best ever material; fast, intelligent punk rock at its finest from the fantastic Californian six-piece that is Bad Religion.

Rating:

New Sonic Boom Six Single ‘Keep on Believing’ Out Monday

by Leave a Comment

Sonic Boom Six - Keep On Believing

Sonic Boom Six is to release a new single on Monday through Xtra Mile Recordings in the form of ‘Keep on Believing’.

‘Keep on Believing’ will be released as a digital download on the 11th February and will feature the following tracklisting:

  1. Keep On Believing (Single Mix)
  2. Let’s Push Things Forward
  3. Keep On Believing (Capitol 1212 remix)

Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)

by Leave a Comment

Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark

Despite numerous rumours that Fall Out Boy was to return from hiatus, the band insisted that the rumours weren’t to be believed and kept us in the dark about their future plans. On February 4th 2013 the band announced its comeback however, as the world learnt that the band was not just coming back, but was in fact ready to release a sixth studio album. Accompanying the news of the band’s return was a brand new single, ‘My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)’, the first new single from the band since 2009’s ‘What a Catch, Donnie’.

‘My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)’ marks the start of a new era for Fall Out Boy, with the video for the song demonstrating visually their intention to start something fresh as old instruments and albums are chucked on the fire. The band is not seeking to disassociate itself from its past, it is however opening itself up to a whole new chapter in its history, and with this lead single from the album we’re made very clear of this decision from the band to do something new now.

‘My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)’ is another incredibly catchy single from Fall Out Boy which will no doubt mark the band’s return with a huge commercial success. This new single from the band provides something different, but also something familiar; this is distinctively a Fall Out Boy song, but there’s also something about the track that marks it out as new and different from what we’ve heard from the band in the past. Patrick Stump’s vocals sound better than ever here, and the chorus is every bit as infectious as you’d expect it to be. There’s a real driving feel about the music here; the track is instrumentally simple, yet there’s a real cutting edge about the sound here as the band powerfully pulses through the track’s 3 minute duration.

Every time Fall Out Boy has returned with a new album there has been something a little bit different about their sound. Fall Out Boy is a band that likes to keep things fresh, and their decision to continue progressing as a band upon their return is most definitely the right one. Just like when Blink-182 returned with ‘Neighborhoods’ in 2011, there will no doubt be some fans that don’t appreciate the band’s decision to provide something a bit different with their latest single (and presumably their latest album), this new track from the band will definitely win them some new fans however, please a lot of old ones, and perhaps even delight a few doubters.

With ‘My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)’ Fall Out Boy continues to progress and improve as a pop punk band. Their sound has received an upgrade and the band is now ready to ‘Save Rock and Roll’ with its sixth studio album.

Rating: