There is a cavalcade of young British metal bands determined to break out of the underground into the open waters of the mainstream overground. Heriot are at the vanguard of that movement. Fiercely independent and uncompromising, they have their eyes firmly set on world domination, as opposed to eternal select appeal. There are two impeccable and remarkable things about this roster of new acts reshaping our music, the first is that they are diligently doing things with metal that we never thought was possible. The second is that they have broken up the macho monopoly and defused metal’s decade’s old fortress of toxic masculinity. This is metal reinvented but also simultaneously holding on to the aggression and nonconformity made it so exciting in the first place.
Read MoreSometimes the bit before Christmas is actually better than Christmas itself, and when a gig showcasing three of the UK’s best genre-blending metal bands is offered up the weekend before the big day you can’t help but think you’ve been given your presents early. Rapidly rising nu-metal modern metal deathcore champions Graphic Nature have brought to Manchester the superb crossover melodic thrash of Grove Street and the triumphant return of the angular hardcore rock metal giants Feed The Rhino.
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