MY TOP 30 HARD ROCK/METAL/GOTH/PUNK/ALT ALBUMS OF 2017

It's that time again, where I reflect over the albums I've listened to over the year, and pick my top 30.

Album Review: SWEET & LYNCH - Unified

01. Promised Land

02. Walk

03. Afterlife

04. Make Your Mark

05. Tried & True

06. Unified

07. Find Your Way

08. Heart Of Fire

09. Bridge Of Broken Lies

10. Better Man

11. Live To Die

Album Review: JOSH TODD & THE CONFLICT - Year Of The Tiger

01. Year Of The Tiger

02. Inside

03. Fucked Up

04. Rain

05. Good Enough

06. The Conflict

07. Story Of My Life

08. Erotic City

09. Push It

10. Atomic

11. Rain (Clean)

Album Review: KOBRA AND THE LOTUS - Prevail I

01. Gotham
02. TriggerPulse
03. You Don't Know
04. Specimen X (Mortal Chamber)
05. Light Me Up
06. Manifest Destiny
07. Victim
08. Check The Phyrg
09. Hell On Earth
10.  Prevail

MY TOP 30 HARD ROCK/METAL/GOTH/PUNK/ALT SINGLES OF 2017

It's taken ages, not to mention some ruthless culling, to bring you my top 30 favourite songs of 2017. With so many amazing tracks released this year, compiling this list has been tough, but I think I've pretty much cracked it.

Album Review: MARILYN MANSON - Heaven Upside Down

01. Revelation #12
02. Tattooed In Reverse
03. We Know Where You Fucking Live
04. Say10
05. Kill4me
06. Saturnalia
07. Je$u$ Cri$i$
08. Blood Honey
09. Heaven Upside Down
10. Threats Of Romance

Album Review: ANTI-FLAG - American Fall

01. American Attraction

02.The Criminals
03. When The Wall Falls
04. Trouble Follows Me
05. Finish What We Started
06. Liar
07. Digital Blackout
08. I Came, I Saw, I Believed
09. Racists
10. Throw It Away
11. Casualty

Album Review: CJ WILDHEART - Blood

01. Tea Leaf

02. Gutless
03. Lazybones
04. Beak
05. 50 Percent Indian
06. Tired Of Sex
07. Kiss It
08. Plastic Invasion
09. Itch
10. Lost In The Game

Gig Review: HIM & Biters at The Academy, Manchester (UK) 16/12/2017

Earlier this year, Goths across the world went into mourning as HIM announced that they were going to call it a day. I've been a massive fan since their Razorblade Romance album came out, which is one of my favourite records of all time, so I was upset to hear the news. The silver lining in this black cloud was that they announced a farewell tour. I booked my tickets straight away, which was a wise move, as all of the UK dates sold out very quickly.

I arrived nice and early to catch the support band, retro-rockers Biters (see my review of their album here), and I'm really glad that I braved the long queue in the freezing cold to make sure I didn't miss their set.

Album Review: WARRIOR SOUL – Back On The Lash

01. American Idol

02. I Get Fucked Up

03. Back On The Lash

04. Thrill Seeker

05. Goin’ Broke Gettin’ High

06. Black Out

07. I’ve Got The Rock

08. Further Decay

09. That’s How We Roll

Album Review: IRON MAIDEN - The Book Of Souls: Live Chapter

01. If Eternity Should Fail (Live at Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia - Friday 6th May 2016)

02. Speed of Light (Live at Grand Arena, GrandWest, Cape Town, South Africa - Wednesday 18th May 2016)

03. Wrathchild (Live at 3 Arena, Dublin, Ireland - Saturday 6th May 2017)

04. Children of the Damned (Live at Bell Center, Montreal, Canada - Friday 1st April 2016)

05. Death or Glory (Live at Wroclaw Stadium, Wroclaw, Poland - Sunday 3rd July 2016)

06. The Red and the Black (Live at Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan - Thursday 21st April 2016)

07. The Trooper (Live at Estadio Jorge Magico Gonzalez, San Salvador, El Salvador - Sunday 6th March 2016)

08. Powerslave (Live at Plaza Dell'Unita D'Italia, Trieste, Italy - Tuesday 26th July 2016)

09. The Great Unknown (Live at MRA Arena, Newcastle, England - Sunday 14th May 2017)

10. The Book of Souls (Live at Download Festival, Donington, England - Sunday 12th June 2016)

11. Fear of the Dark (Live at Arena Castelao, Fortaleza, Brazil - Thursday 24th March 2016)

12. Iron Maiden (Live at Estadio Velez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Tuesday 15th March 2016)

13. The Number of the Beast (Live at Open Air Festival, Wacken, Germany - Thursday 4th August 2016)

14. Blood Brothers (Live at Download Festival, Donington, England - Sunday 12th June 2016)

15. Wasted Years (Live at HSBC Arena, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Thursday 17th March 2016)

Album Review: GHOST - Ceremony And Devotion

01. Square Hammer
02. From The Pinnacle To The Pit
03. Con Clavi Con Dio
04. Per Aspera Ad Inferi
05. Body And Blood
06. Devil Church
07. Cirice
08. Ghuleh/Zombie Queen
09. Year Zero
10. Spoksonat
11. He Is
12. Mummy Dust
13. Absolution
14. Ritual
15. Monstrance Clock

Album Review: LIVING COLOUR - Shade

01. Freedom of Expression (F.O.X.)

02. Preachin' Blues (Robert Johnson cover)

03. Come On

04. Program

05. Who Shot Ya (Notorious B.I.G cover)

06. Always Wrong

07. Blak Out

08. Pattern in Time

09. Who's That

10. Glass Teeth

11. Invisible

12. Inner City Blues (Marvin Gaye cover)

13. Two Sides

TV Series Review: MARVEL'S THE PUNISHER (Season 1)

Marvel have really outdone themselves over the last few years with their string of hugely popular movies, and now TV series, all set in the same universe. I've been reading the comics since I was a kid, and love all of the movies too, even the one with Dolph Lundgren in! The Punisher is easily one of my favourite Marvel characters, so it was extremely important to me that they nailed it with this new series.

Album Review: THE RELENTLESS - American Satan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

01. Me Against the Devil

02. Hell Is For Children (Pat Benatar cover)

03. Let Him Burn

04. Nights in White Satin (The Moody Blues cover)

05. We Lose Control

06. Save a Prayer (Duran Duran cover)

07. Cadence of My Heart

08. Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode cover)

09. Forgive Me Mother

10. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) (Neil Young cover)

American Satan is a movie that was released in October 2017, about a young band called The Relentless, following their dreams in Los Angeles. They end up making a Faustian deal to ensure their success, but this comes at a price. It stars Metal's Andy Biersack (Black Veil Brides) and Ben Bruce (Asking Alexandria) as two of the band members.

I saw a trailer for the movie and it looked awesome. The music sounded great too. Unfortunately, it hasn't been released outside of America yet, but the second it does, I'll be on it!

Initially, I thought "Fuck! Andy Biersack has never sounded so good!" Then the penny dropped. He's just the actor. The singer is actually Remington Leith from the band Palaye Royale. The Relentless, although credited as the artist on the soundtrack, is an imaginary band anyway, so who cares? He sounds amazing, regardless.

The music harks back to the 'over the top' Heavy Metal soundtracks from 80's Horror movies, but with an Industrial sheen, coupled with a Nu-Metal heaviness that allows this record to tread that magical line between retro and contemporary. This is also compounded by a number of the tracks being classic covers, which are all given a modern twist, but retain the qualities that made them great the first time round.

The whole album is really good, but were I forced to pick favourites, I'd go for Me Against The Devil, and the haunting renditions of Nights In White Satin and Hey Hey, My My, which are nothing short of superb.

The American Satan soundtrack is a surprisingly magnificent release, and is up there with The Crow, The Lost Boys, and Suck. I really hope that the movie is as good as the music. I'll let you all know in due course.

Album Review: BLACK SABBATH - The End (Live)

CD1

01. Black Sabbath

02. Fairies Wear Boots

03. Under The Sun / Every Day Comes And Goes

04. After Forever

05. Into The Void

06. Snowblind

07. Band Introductions

08. War Pigs

09. Behind The Wall Of Sleep

10. Bassically / N.I.B.