Tonight’s gig is the culmination of a rather splendid week at the iconic Tivoli venue in Buckley. Perennial favourites Massive Wagons are performing to an almost-capacity crowd, following four totally sold-out nights from the iconic grandfather of industrial/electronica Gary Numan. In the space of just 9 days the Tiv has opened its doors to over 6000 people, not bad for a totally independent grass

Liverpool’s Outpost is an oasis in a city that doesn’t really do rock and metal. Its tight confines are designed specifically to capture the unfiltered energy and raw atmosphere of the bands that play there. And what better complement to this sanctuary than the sound of extreme metal?

Hidden away from the glare of the mainstream, not only does Liverpool have a vibrant underground metal and punk scene, but within that there is non-conformity in the heart of non-conformity in the shape of a pulsating LGBT metal and punk scene that is very much out, loud and proud. Tonight’s free show in the nirvana of K1 showcases three of the cities most predominate acts, that just so happen ...

Sometimes the line between music and pantomime is a very thin one. Steel Panther walk it like a tightrope – they manage to combine musical prowess with daft 80s-inspired costumes and a large splash of “your mum” gutter humour to provide a scintillating, titillating spectacle that is far more than just another rock gig. What do you get if you cross schoolboy humour, 80s hair metal and comedy ...

Bloodstock awaits. Bloodstock expects. It is time to enjoy a weekend of full fat metal with no substitutes. So let’s not mess around. Let’s give you number 4 as it is a big one.4. Judas Priest – Ronnie James Dio stage – Sunday night headliner.

So here we are ladies and gentlemen, we are in the TOP 5. The five most sizzling and scrumptious act at this year's Bloodstock. If you sleep through everything else these are the ones you cannot and should not miss. Number 5 is a band immersed in Bloodstock history. This will be their fifth visit to Catton Hall in nineteen years, since they headlined the Thursday of the third outdoor edition...

And we are nearly there. Bloodstock is nearly upon us. A weekend of merriment with friends we know, friends we don’t know and friends we are yet to know. Over the weekend it becomes a small village and like any small village you get to know people really quickly. It becomes a cacophony of smiles, waves and hugs with people you meet but once a year. God bless Bloodstock and God bless our number ...

ROCKFLESH are hitting RADAR 2026 and grabbing a chat with the guys from Ghost Iris. The Danish metal maestros talk to Matt about everything from musical evolution to cities of the Western world.

Everything is political. Coilguns are that sentiment personified. A fabulous explosion of energy and conviction. We discuss how they help people sweat out repression and how being white and privileged shouldn't stop you shouting out injustice. A fantastic deep dive into the minds of musicians who want to make both mischief and a difference.

The momentum is building. Hellripper may be a one man studio project but as Mr Hellripper himself tell us there are actually a lot of people behind his success. With Raging Speedhorn providing background noise we discuss the new album, how much work it takes to be a full time musician and plot together about getting Sabbat to reform for next year’s Damnation.

We chat with four of the six members of the British post rock institution about what it means to be in a band in 2025, why their work collegues keep offering them gigs down the local pub and how the heck they plan on covering nearly an hour and forty minutes of material in forty five minutes!!!

The most interesting thing about this year's Download line up (aside from the depth and variety) is that it is now at a point in its history where it can feast on its own nostalgia. For many years, it relied on call-backs to its predecessor “Monsters of Rock”, with seemingly endless headline appearances by Aerosmith, Def Leppard and Iron Maiden. However, since its mammoth 20th birthday bash in 2023, Download has become comfortable with recycling from its own heritage and celebrating the bands that belong to the generation that has grown up with the festival. 

On Friday the Foo Fighters played a late-night show at the O2 Ritz here in Manchester. Whilst the prospect of seeing perennial stadium botherers in a 2,000-capacity venue is in itself unique, its most noteworthy point is how they managed ticket distribution. There was no mad internet dash for tickets, no ludicrous presale (there is no such thing as a presale, tickets are either available or they are not) and no secret codes and loops to jump through. You simply queued up last Sunday at the Ritz and from midday and a REAL person sold you a paper ticket. It was like the last thirty-odd years hadn’t happened, and instantly they did away with all the issues around touts, bots, scammers or fakes.

The evolution of the Damnation festival has been a joy to behold. It is the true definition of an underground success story. This is not a corporate giant forged within a soulless focus group. This is a twenty-year-long tale of overnight triumph. Damnation started two decades ago as a ramshackle attempt by a bunch of wide-eyed amateurs to put on the bands that they wanted to see, as opposed to the ones they felt Live Nation was force feeding them at Download. A chaotic day at the now-defunct Jilly’s Rockworld in Manchester was headlined by the then high-flying Raging Speedhorn and the Swedish legends Entombed.