Posts Tagged ‘Heavy’

Elektrikill – Küntzpiracy

Posted: 20 July 2026 in Reviews, Albums
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Evol Music Group – 26th June 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

Over on this side of the pond, in the UK, we have plenty to beef about, and more than enough to worry about, too. But while we see endless footage of war in Ukraine, Gaza, and the whole of the Middle East as the US and Iran wrestle their way through the most futile war, we’re in a petty sheltered place, and as much as we may reel in horror over news of the latest high school massacre and laugh at Donald Trump’s daily meltdowns, we do so from a position of relative safety. However hard we continue to lumber into a state of total surveillance, however emboldened the racists become thanks to the rising right, however rapidly our government are eroding our right to protest, favouring perpetrators of genocide over those who speak in opposition to it, there’s still no danger of some masked ICE psycho pulling your car over and demanding your papers before shooting you in the head. Our politicians may nearly all be slippery, deceptive careerists who accept ‘donations’ from individuals and companies with vested interests, but we’re not led by a demented narcissist who’s openly professed to being a wannabe dictator. In short, I don’t think we fully grasp what it’s like to live in America right now.

Elektrikill’s founder, Steve Vil, says of Küntzpiracy – a title that’s both a fairly lame pun and a bit of cliché, but gets a pass because America and an approximation of a Butthole Surfers reference – “Basically it’s my most political album touching on themes of government corruption and half of this country’s loss of humanity while claiming it’s all in the name of Jesus. That pisses me off. I also call out closeted government officials in ‘The Scream’. Look, guys, just be gay instead of crashing Grindr any time you meet in large groups. I do give the listener a break from the political stuff. ‘Vampire Blond’, for example, is about a vampire drag queen.”

There’s a fair bit to unpack here, and he makes a number of valid points. It’s not the whole of America. In fact, it’s a slender majority backing the MAGA madness. Unfortunately, they’ve voted to facilitate an insane power grab, meaning that while there are a fair few who aren’t happy with the direction things have been taking lately, tough shot: you could have seen it coming, so this is on you. And this also involves the most overtly racist, homophobic administration in memory – but as with anything which involves hypermasculinity, what the world outside sees is massive repressed gayness. Yeah, we’re looking at you, Andrew Tate, with your no-bollocks swimming trunks and purple satin blouse, and the culture you espouse. What utterly fucked-up times we live in.

‘Thrum’ makes for a dark, dense start to the album, throbbing bass dominating, the distorted monotone vocals low in the mix as extraneous squalls of electronic noise burst all around, and ‘S(t)imulation’ keeps things dark with some hefty tribal percussion battering away through a murky wall of sound – although the choruses break out with a genuine hook driven by a pumping beat and punchy snare. It’s like leaping from Coil to late 80s Ministry, but it works, and the aforementioned ‘Vampire Blond’ swings into classic electrogoth / technoindustrial territory, and I could chuck a raft of touchstones in here – and that’s no bad thing. they clearly know what they’re doing, and where they’re positioning themselves, and do it well.

‘The Scream’ is again a bit Ministry circa The Land of Rape and Honey, and perhaps a bit KMFDM, and more broadly, a bit Wax Trax! Hardly innovative, but the delivery is top-notch. The beats slam hard.

Landing at the album’s midpoint the piano-led ‘A Chill in the Air’ is both expansive and claustrophobic, and slowing the tempo to explore a more brooding atmospheric, it’s well placed, ahead of full-throttle rager ‘Monoshift’ which brings the industrial aggression pumped to the max. Indeed, the second half of the album is harder, faster, and the altogether synthier ‘My Salvation’ rhymes ‘my salvation’ with ‘masturbation’ in a style reminiscent of early Revolting Cocks.

Stylistically, Electrikill don’t really break any new ground, but Küntzpiracy is intense, angry, and relentless, the aggro and the tempo picking up noticeably in the second half, with ‘Manifesto’ delivering a power finish. With Küntzpiracy, Elektrikill bring the fury and bring the force – and the political ire. This is very much an album of the now, and it hits hard.

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Earth Mother Fucker / Pound Land – Earth Mother Fucker / Pound Land

Posted: 12 July 2026 in Albums, Reviews
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Cruel Nature Records – 31st July 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

It’s too hot. Granted, I make this complaint whenever it goes above 24C, but on day three – or maybe it’s day four or five or ten – of a 30-plus heatwave – the third heatwave of the year – I am absolutely dying. Typing is making me sweat like running a marathon. Hell, even thinking about typing is making me sweat like running a marathon. My brain is jelly.

The two bands have a side each on the vinyl, plus collaborative tracks closing each set.

I’ve devoted a fair quality of words effusing over the output of dour Derby dingemongers Pound Land, and as theirs is the second half of the album, I’ll focus first on the EMF who didn’t have any bouncy dance-driven indie hits in the 90s. Earh Mother Fucker formed in Ipswich – the hometown of the equally commercially-orientated Extreme Noise Terror – in 1988. Only unlike ENT, EMT (so close) didn’t record a bunch of Peel sessions, sign to Earache, or perform at The Brit Awards with The KLF before releasing a ridiculously rare collaborative single available only by mail order through Melody Maker or The NME. Again, so close.

Instead – and respect is due here – they’ve ploughed their own noise-rock furrow with a slow – very slow – flow of albums released on tape and CD-R. There was nearly a 20-year gap between Let Him Go Up (2001, CD-R) and It’s Shit (2020) and then another six years before the arrival of Do Not Resuscitate earlier this year. It seems they changed their mind, and are very much resuscitated, and two releases in a year is a real cause for celebration. Well, it is if you like Earth Mother Fucker.

There’s a sense that they don’t particularly want to be liked, and instead exist to test listeners with a uniquely English form of noise rock. Their solo cuts are scuzzy, grungy, abrasive and raw as it comes, but there are some sublime moments of melody, at least in the guitar department.

‘Happy Shopper’ powers in amidst a squall of angular guitars, landing primarily somewhere between The Fall and Sonic Youth. It’s a ramshackle racket, lo-fi grungy, gloriously unpolished. ‘Changeling’ does low-slung twisted country crossed with wonky noise and vocals – half-spoken, half-shouted, bridging Enablers and A Band of Susans. That’s a substantial gap to bridge, superficially, but Earth Mother Fucker span it with discordant, chaotic ease.

‘Puppy Fat’ is very much a spirit of 77 punk blast at heart, but twisted with a strong element of Krautrock as defined by its motorik beats, and almost veers into Fall-like Mancabilly. It also feels like the optimal summary of what EMF are about.

‘Second Aunt’, with Pound Land is a raucous maxed-out rendition of Eno’s ‘Third Uncle’, but based more on the Bauhaus cover than the original, and manifesting as a wild punky thrashabout.

Pound Land push things further still, ‘Liar’ being a rampant roar of disaffection. The bass is thick and booming, the production as gloriously primitive as the sax freak-out that runs all over it is wild. They lumber into even sludgier territory on ‘Janet’s Here’, a mangled mess of noise and snarling vocals atop that gut-churning bass giving it a hint of early PiL. ‘Feeling Sick’ lumbers and lurches in such a way it becomes a work of self-fulfilment, a musical manifestation of dire disgust and seething (self) loathing.

‘Shitoctacy’ sees Pound Land joined by Earth Mother Fucker, and is a true monster, with a collage of sped-up samples overlaid across some weirdy, warping drones before a ten-minute trudge begins, grimy bass and spewing vitriol atop the nastiest, most discordant racket, and from time to time there’s some pained sax from Jo Stone which wails in anguish over the whole heaving mess.

As split albums go, this one couldn’t have been better curated: it feels like the two bands – particularly with the collaborative works – are egging one another on to take the levels of grime and slime and nauseating churn up, notch by notch. The result is gritty, gruelling, and spectacularly visceral.

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Black Leather Birds – of Children and Their Sorceries

Posted: 13 June 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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22nd May 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

Black Leather Birds – the musical vehicle of A.G. Syjuco, based in Chicago, IL., like so many projects, began during the pandemic. Unlike so many projects, Syjuco has not only kept things going, but remained incredibly prolific.

He describes this new five-tracker, of Children and Their Sorceries, as ‘a deliberate piece of work — heavy on atmosphere and slow-building tension. Themes of anxiety and existential dread run throughout, handled with a literary sensibility that places spoken word, prose poetry, and ritual chant alongside more conventional song structures’.

Straight from the off, it’s heavy and intense. A thick, grinding bass greets us – that is to say, it churns our guts out – and a back-and-forth spoken word dialogue paints a bleak scene. The mellow breakdowns between verses include vinyl crackles and a low ache of nostalgia, before that heavy grind returns twice as heavy, twice as dense, and twice as ugly. In combining elements of Beat-influenced spoken word, trip-hop, and industrial, ‘Nothing Ever Grows Here’ makes for a dizzying and hard-hitting first four minutes.

At just over a minute, ‘Monster’ is but an interlude, but it’s a dark one, which culminates with crashing, crushing beats reminiscent of Dälek, and it segues into the narrative-centred ‘The Box’, a piece where noise rock meets spoken word. It’s actually been a while since I heard anything so narrative-orientated. More than anything, I’m reminded of Enablers – the words are first and foremost, and the atmosphere is tense, and there is noise, and there’s a certain sense of a duel for dominance between the words and the accompaniment. There are elements of jazz and noise rock and post-punk bubbling and jostling away behind Syjuco’s nonchalant narrative, which at times spins some pretty grim imagery – grimagery, even, if you’re so inclined (and I am). I’m also reminded of the smart-witted spoken word of King Missile, only with less of the sassy wordplay.

This is some pretty dark, bleak shit. ‘Almost’ is the most conventionally song-structured piece of the set, and ventures into industrial territory, with mechanical whirrs and dark electronic sounds, not to mention thudding mechanised beats, before the slow, melancholic ‘Goodnight My Darling’ lowers the curtain on this visionary work with a sadness that’s difficult to define. But sad it is.

of Children and Their Sorceries is inspired and inspiring: it’s wide-ranging, and straddles numerous genres. I have no idea where to locate it – but it’s good. And that’s what you need to know.

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Choke Chain – Decomposition EP

Posted: 3 June 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Negative Gain Productions – 10th July 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

Nothing says angst-filled industrial rage with a dash of harsh Sadism than calling your band Choke Chain. But while the pitch is that their latest release is ‘the aural equivalent of existential dread’, there’s nothing about this which says ‘edgelord’. It feels like we’re in a new era here, where extreme acts are ditching the extreme shit, the shock shit, the right-wing shit, and are instead engaging with environmental issues, emotional issues.

As they pitch it, ‘The human race continuously proves itself to be largely incapable of any kindness or empathy, instead being completely obsessed with killing and destroying. That’s the central focus of Decomposition.’ It really does feel this way: the US and Israeli governments in particular seem hell-bent on annihilation right now. A part of me misses the Cold War: while we huddled under the perpetual fear of nuclear annihilation, there was equally a certain comfort in the protracted stalemate. The last few months, I’ve woken each morning, soaked in sweat and a state of anxiety and the first thing I’ve done is check my phone to make sure I’m still alive, and then check the news to see that the world is still there. This may sound extreme, but this is the nature of things, and I know I’m not alone in this feeling of perpetual panic.

Says Choke Chain founder, Mark Trueman: “The EP was mostly written during a time where I was very close to giving up. Everything felt completely hopeless, and still does to some degree. I really tried to put all of that feeling into these songs. I also tried to confront some of my personal trauma on this record, which is something I’ve pretty explicitly tried not to do through my music in the past”.

The EP is a positive proof of why we should be glad he didn’t give up, but it’s not hard to understand why things reached that point. Everything’s fucked. And we’re doomed. Whether it’s AI takeover or global climate change or WW3 (if we’re not there yet, we’re on the brink or in denial).

‘Misunderstood’ is a quintessential snarly industrial / metal plus samples intro, but Trueman’s rabid vocal gives hints of Dominic Fernow. The title track is relentlessly brutal: electronic industrial at its darkest, harshest, most metal. It’s very much in the vein of late 80s Wax Trax! with surging grooved and pounding electronic percussion, and the vocals mangled to fuck.

‘Morgue’ is classic sample-soaked dark electronica. It feels brittle, it broods, and there’s something unsettling about the layers of vocals which build layers of discomfort. ‘Life Ends’ is nothing short of rabid, an anguished roar of pain against a relentless electronic pulsation.

There’s no escaping it: with Decomposition, Choke Chain have delivered an EP that’s harsh, and heavy. It’s nasty, it’s uncomfortable. It’s like a punch to the gut, and leaves you feeling short on breath.

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BIG|BRAVE – in grief or in hope

Posted: 24 May 2026 in Albums, Reviews
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Thrill Jockey – 12th June 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

A new release by BIG|BRAVE is a significant event – always. Sure, a new Sunn O))) album will attract way more clamour and excitement overall, since they’re simply so much bigger in terms of fanbase and press attention, but with Sunn O))), it’s fair to say that within certain parameters, you know what you’re going to get. And there’s no question that Sunn O))) continue to push those parameters. But equally, they’re the drone / doom Jane Austin, carving on their two inches of ivory. I love it, but when it comes to sonic exploration, BIG|BRAVE simply spread their range that much wider, and each release sees them venturing into new territory.

It’s hard to credit that they started out as a folk band, who by some chance discovered amps that got all the way to eleven. Their last three albums have not only been progressively heavier, but more experimental, and more emotion ally fraught. A Chaos of Flowers very much raised the question ‘where do they go from here?’ in grief or in hope provides a robust reply – and it’s quite a departure – but at the same, time, sees something of a return to their folk roots. It’s just not folk in the form most would recognise, twisted and bent as it is here.

As they note, longtime touring bassist Liam Andrews (MY DISCO, Aicher) joins guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie and guitarist Mathieu Ball in the studio for the first time – and the result is a tempestuous, percussion-free work, which melds drone and folk and explosive noise together to powerful effect.

The songs are less overtly structured, and yes, we do miss the drums, which were so integral to the pulverising force of Vital (2021) and nature morte (1993). But in grief or in hope is nothing short of immense, and the droning squall of ‘a shape of shame’ is exemplary. Slow-burning drones are paired with splintering feedback, while Wattie breaks from a measured tone to something akin to a breakdown while stepping into the skin of Siouxsie Sioux. The guitars sculpt walls of dense, shimmering noise which possess the force to melt your face, and the levels of distortion are off the scale, both speaker-trashing and brain-melting. Amidst wails of feedback and a vocal which sounds bereft and sort of abstract, ‘verdure’ incorporates industrial grind and heavy, distorted drone and marks another shift in the trajectory not only of the album, but the band’s sound. It’s a different kind of heavy, and it’s suffocating in its dense intensity, particularly after a couple of minutes.

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The production is incredible, capturing the force of amps cranked up hard – the organic nature of the sound, the crackle and hum, the way the frequencies rub and resonate against one another, the integrity of volume to achieving certain sounds, particular and specific resonances. Lately, I’ve had a number of discussions with people who’ve held the position that volume in itself is not a goal. I do understand their perspective, but there are certain sounds, certain frequencies, certain sensations – and not only physical ones – which simply cannot be achieved unless there’s a level of volume which achieves a level of structure-shaking, shivering vibration. in grief or in hope is an album which simply wouldn’t have the impact it does were it not for the amps being dialled up and engineers and producers who appreciate that those frequencies, those moments of distortion, that wall of noise which at times almost submerge the vocals is exactly the objective.

‘skin ripper’ goes full Sunn O))) in its crushing, obliterative drone, each chord hitting like a tsunami, a tectonic tremor. Wattie’s vocal, however, remains composed, melodic, amidst the howling tempest, and the impact and power of the track lie in this contrast.

There’s no denying that in grief or in hope sees BIG|BRAVE explore new musical avenues, but the absence of percussion does nothing to diminish the band’s immense sonic force. In fact, when it comes to that, they seem unstoppable. In exalting the autotune on ‘an uttering of antipathy’, it should, by rights, result in a shrugging departure – but in their hands, the result is a monumental work, with Watties’s vocal wandering amidst a n obliterating blast of feedback and distortion.

The semi-ambient title track offers some relief from the pulverising force of the as album, and become lost in a swamp of flange and feedback.

Everything about this album is obliterative. It may be a very different sound for BIG|BRAVE, but it’s very much the sound of them at their best.

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Listen: ‘an uttering of antipathy’ by BIG|BRAVE

Posted: 20 May 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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BIG|BRAVE, the Montréal/Berlin-based trio of guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie, guitarist Mat Ball, and bassist Liam Andrews, have unveiled the mountainous single ‘an uttering of antipathy,’ taken from their forthcoming album in grief or in hope, out June 12th. The single’s gargantuan, sublime chords feel gravitational as they unfold in plumes of darkened feedback. Wattie’s voice emphasises a sense of isolation inside the fray with stark clarity and at times auto-tuned undulations, culminating in a powerful conclusion: “god only blames me / you only blame me.”

Mathieu comments, "This track was actually one we performed during the past year of touring. These are the chords and instrumentation we used for the live rendition of “chanson pour mon ombre”. Given our fondness for this live track, we decided to incorporate the chord progression into a new song for this record. After several challenging days in the studio, when it was time to structure and record the track, Liam, Robin and I recorded the entire song in a single take in the live room. This was a highly encouraging moment. The vocals (with subtle autotune) effectively brought the song together, making it one of my favourites on the record." About the autotune Robin enthuses, "I’ve ALWAYS wanted to try it. i’m glad we did."

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in grief or in hope marks a shift for BIG|BRAVE towards denser, guitar-oriented compositions. With longtime touring bassist Liam Andrews (MY DISCO, Aicher) joining guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie and guitarist Mathieu Ball in the studio for the first time, the pieces are keenly layered with a rich tapestry of harmonics and tonal intricacies. Each piece is its own biome of distortions starkly contrasted with delicate, even tender, moments. The trio’s instinctual progressions are made more vivid through live recording, harnessing the gargantuan and storied sound of their performances. Within texturally maximalist loops and affected vocals, the pieces utilise the aesthetics of drone, electronic, and heavy music within a foundation of pop song form. Wattie writes: “I wanted to explore catchy, melodic phrasing weaved throughout the intensity of the instrumentation and drony chord changes. All that I could reflect on was grief and hope; death and life; cause and effect; shared experiences of being a human person.”

Together the trio deliver emotional momentum that vividly describes the complex and deep feelings of struggle, pain, and transcendence. in grief or in hope transmits that sense of humanity with every gesture.

BIG|BRAVE will begin their European tour in support of the album this week in the Netherlands, and will be embarking on an extensive North American tour with The Body this summer.

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Photo credit: Stacy Lee

A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers – Towers of Silence

Posted: 19 May 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Lay Bare Recordings – 9th May 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

One may be inclined to jest that a release like this should carry a warning – but the joke falls flat when technically, it does: the notes which accompany the release on Bandcamp sets the scene for the debut EP from Dutch experimentalists of A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers thus:

Whilst most drone-metal outfits focus on creating atmosphere by composing ambient compositions with tremendous power and volume, the Lighthouse Keepers use more traditional doom/sludge metal as a starting point and explore its differences and similarities with genres such as free jazz, raga, noise and classical minimalism.

Elsewhere, they’re described as sounding like ‘a disturbed lovechild of OM, Sumac, Swans, Miles Davis, and Pandit Pran Nath, combining lengthy improvisations with ear-shattering explosions of intensity’. How could a lovechild of that lot be anything but disturbed?

And so it is that we enter by way of ‘The Massacre of Flour’, a title of which conjures images of a bloodbath in a bakery. What is sounds like is…. nothing short of wild. Its seven minutes leads the listener through a series of conjoined segments, arriving in a crazed blast of shrieking noise, a frenzied cacophony of feedback and squealing sax before lunging into a thick, sludge riff, which in turn yields to a slow, almost ambient drone passage with mystical swirls which rise like desert mirages. Each is gripping itself, and the transition to the next takes place almost imperceptibly: one moment you’re here, then, somehow, you’re there, in a completely different scene with no recollection of how you came to be here – rather like the way scenes change in dreams. And suddenly, the hazy serenity is torn asunder, lurching into a tectonic rift from which burst larval torture resembling Swans circa the Young God EP. It’s absolutely fucking brutal, the sound of pain, distilled and amplified

‘I Fuck People’, the shortest song on the EP, goes in hard on the avant-jazz noise chaos, forming a heavy undulation of bleats and shrieks by way of a backdrop to savage, ravaged, demonic vocals. It’s the sound of purgatorial torment. But all of this is simply a prelude to the main event, the nine-minute ‘Towers of Silence’, on which they really flex all of their muscles. Easing in gently with some abstract desert folk with hints of Eastern esotericism, it’s a slow, gradual build. There’s something meditative, spiritual in the vocals, until things begin to get twisted, mangled, and tangled. There’s anguish, there’s tension, and unease grows… breathe. But ululations which begin soothingly grow tense, and things spiral to a hypnotic cathedral of sound.

Towers of Silence may only contain three tracks with a combined duration of just over twenty minutes, but its range and intensity are something to behold. It’s drone metal, but not as we know it.

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Listen: ‘The Call Beneath’ by Urzah

Posted: 19 May 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Bristol based sludge metal band Urzah release their new album  ‘A Tranquil Void’ in just a few weeks on 5th June via APF Records (Mastiff, Video Nasties, Swamp Coffin). Today sees them share one final single before the album is out in the form of ‘The Call Beneath’.

You can check out the track here:

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Formed in 2020, just before the pandemic hit, Urzah’s intensely collaborative and productive writing process was immediately evident, leading to the quick release of self-titled EPs ‘I’ (2020) and ‘II’ (2022). These laid the foundation for Urzah’s unique brand of ‘progressive sludge’. Inviting comparisons to Neurosis, DVNE, Mastodon and Elder, their forward-looking sound combines the abrasive elements of punk and post-hardcore with atmospheric post-metal passages and soaring melodies.

Urzah’s vision of ‘Earthen Heaviness’, combining oppressive darkness with moments of transcendence and cosmic awe, was realised on their critically acclaimed debut LP The Scorching Gaze (2024, APF Records). The band’s sonic world draws on both the intensely personal – rage, loss, grief and self-doubt – and a profound awe and vulnerability in the face of the celestial and natural worlds, framing visceral human struggle within vast cycles of death, decay and rebirth.

Since their debut, Urzah has refined their live shows across the UK, playing festivals and headline shows, and sharing stages with a diverse roster of heavy bands including Bongzilla, Tuskar, Mastiff, Greenleaf, OHHMS and Dopelord, as well as progressive atmospheric bands such as Hidden Mothers, Underdark and Nadja, demonstrating their strong cross-genre appeal.

The band recently announced that they are set to release new LP A Tranquil Void on 5th June 2026 via APF Records. The record marks a defining moment for the band, following up their critically acclaimed debut ‘A Scorching Gaze’ (2024, APF) with an even more assured, mature and ambitious full-length. Conceptually, ‘The Scorching Gaze’ and ‘A Tranquil Void’ function as a visual, musical and thematic diptych; where their debut burned brightly with the rage and destruction of an erupting volcano, their new LP captures the cathartic, contemplative still that follows.

Tom McElveen (vocals/guitar) comments on 3rd single ‘The Call Beneath’, “this track is about dealing with grief for the first time, and letting yourself be pulled into its depths so the earlier version of yourself can die and a new one can be reborn and ‘rise to the surface’. This process can only happen when you stop resisting it. We play with dynamics and moving time signatures to build and rebuild tension, taking us through to the final cathartic stage of rebirth at the pinnacle.”

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Watch: ‘Viper’ by The Howlers

Posted: 18 May 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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The Howlers have delivered the first glimpse at their highly-anticipated sophomore album in the form of new single ‘Viper’. Carrying the band’s classic desert rock swagger, the track is accompanied by an epic video of a backlit frontman Adam Young, trusty fringe leather jacket in tow. “I’m not your usual type,” he shrugs, “but let’s pretend for the night.” Driving riffs and comparatively delicate vocals reintroduce the band, setting the scene for new album Heavy – an album exuding confidence and identity – which is set for release this autumn.

Speaking about the forthcoming new album, Young states:

“This album is those late night experiences, the after dark conversations, late night phone calls, the seductive nature of impulsiveness that seems so alluring and losing yourself in the addictive nature of recklessness, but it’s also the mirror in the morning, the wake up call, and the harsh reality of knowing those feelings won’t always last and it’s the moment you find yourself again.”

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The Howlers’ debut album What You’ve Got To Lose To Win It All earned the band a UK Official Charts Top 10 position and multiple chart positions across mainland Europe, where they also completed a headline tour last March. The record represented the emotional toll of personal loss, written and conceived by Young as a means to express and share his own experiences.

Outwardly the band was riding the high of success, but behind the scenes they were falling apart amidst the burden of independent releasing. But in the wake of the new year, Young set about working on the foundations of what would become the band’s second album. Galvanised by his newfound independence and reshaping the band into a two-piece, The Howlers recorded and released their rebirth singles ‘Night Crawling’ and ‘You Can Be So Cruel’.

This propelled the band across the continent, testing the waters on new material and rekindling a love for performing. The band have built a reputation as one of the country’s must-see bands, with plans to head back out on the road in the UK and EU surrounding their new album later this year.

Heavy, The Howlers’ sophomore album, is set for release via Frontiers Label Group on 9th October. Tour dates are soon to be announced.

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Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs / Meryl Streek – The Crescent Community Centre, York, 14th May 2026

Posted: 15 May 2026 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

Once again, I’ve returned to my home from witnessing fantastic acts performing live with a few photos, and barely any notes. This is what happens when the bands are so good you just spend the entire set, transfixed, and when between acts, when you might otherwise capture a few thoughts, you see people you know, and in between a piss and a fresh pint, the time’s gone. I can’t complain about any of this, of course, and I’m not going to. Because this summarises everything that’s great about going to see live music in grassroots venues – not just seeing great bands in close proximity and being able to afford not only a pint, but more than one (you can buy two decent hand-pulled pints of local / regional beer here for the price of a single pint of mass-produced stuff at The Barbican or Leeds O2), but running into familiar faces and being part of a community of people who support live music and are properly into going to see bands.

I’m writing this up now having just seen that The Crescent in York has been named by Time Out as one of the 42 greatest independent venues in the UK, making the Top 10, no less, sharing a bracket with the likes of The Brudenell, Café Oto, and Glasgow Barrowlands. And the more I reflect, the more I feel it’s more than deserved. It really is that good, in that it has everything you could possibly want from an independent gig venue – and tonight is exemplary. It’s sold out, and the bar’s packed a good half an hour before doors, plus there’s a queue, meaning it’s filled up nicely by the time Meryl Streek takes the stage at 8.

Meryl Streek is a revelation, and a world away from Pigs stylistically, sonically, in terms of performance… and this is a strong positive. For one man with a backing track, he sure does a good job of making up for the absence of a band, constantly pacing back and forth with a frenetic, kinetic, nervous energy. The set is strewn with samples and recordings of news items, predominantly about suicide and murder, prefacing or integrated within songs on the same. Real people are the subjects, and he pours heart and soul into every word. The vocal style is not exactly rapping, and certainly not singing, but essentially agitated ranting over electronic-based tracks with sturdy bass and booming beats. At times it’s near disco, others quite abrasive noise. He apologises for the content, and for – well, I’m not quite sure what for. The crowd’s behind him (even when he’s off the stage and in the middle of them, if you see what I mean) and deservedly so. Musically entertaining, lyrically harrowing, it’s a strong set.

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Meryl Streek

AC/DC’s ‘For Those About to Rock’ is played in full as an intro before Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – or Pigs x 7 as they tend to be more commonly referred to, for obvious reasons – take to the stage. It’s an apposite choice: we are indeed, about to fucking rock.

Their back line is immense. The sound is beyond immense, and they blast out riff after riff after riff. They roll up all of the best of riff monsters and chuck in some space rock for good measure, resulting in a glorious hybrid of Sabbath, Mötörhead, and Hawkwind. And while on the face of it, there’s nothing unique on offer, when it comes to riffs, size matters, and these guys do riffs on a truly galactic scale. The delivery really makes it, though. The bass and drums are locked in tight, and the two guitarists swap effortlessly between lead and rhythm parts, sometimes both playing both.

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Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

Matt Baty, in shorts and vest, dripping with sweat (and the copious water he pours over himself) adopts a stance like Henry Rollins as he hollers into a vortex of reverb. But given his build, and tendency to bounce lightfootedly and strike random poses, it’s more like watching Barry McGuigan doing Freddie Mercury on Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes. They’re a band who clearly don’t take themselves too seriously, and every three or four songs – hammered out back to back – there’s a pause for breath, during which he relays a tale in three or four parts which is more or less about the fact that they’ve never been invited to play Download Festival (cue pantomime booing and hissing from the crowd). This is very much Download’s loss. There’s also a reference to ‘The hardest man in Billingham’ – which happens to be a song by fellow northeasters IRKED, who we welcomed to York only last week. There’s some good stuff happening up there right now, and it’s great that we get to share in this. In fact, despite the fact that the world is insane and there’s war everywhere, the cost of living is crippling, and pubs and venues are closing at an alarming rate, this is a good time for new music.

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Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

As they’re touring to promote their (fairly) recently-released fifth album, it stands to reason that the set should focus on that, opening with ‘The Wyrm’ and playing pretty much the album in its entirety, with occasional delves into the back-catalogue, with ‘Big Rig’, ‘Mr Medicine’ and ‘Ultimate Hammer’ from Land of Sleeper also making an appearance and ‘GNT’ from 2018’s King of Cowards being the oldest song in the set. No-one’s beefing about the setlist: the new album is a corker and live, they slay from start to finish. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs = Riffs Riffs Riffs Riffs Riffs Riffs Riffs, and tonight’s show was an absolute rip-snorter.

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