Author: Steve Earles
-
The Limehouse Golem
The Limehouse Golem is the best new film I’ve seen thus far this year. I will give no spoilers, save to say that this is a superb horror-thriller set in Victorian London, with Police Inspector John Kildare (Bill Nighy) trying to catch the titular Limehouse Golem (a Ripper-esque killer… or is it?). No, rather than revealing…
-
Pristine – Ninja
As Nuclear Blast’s roster expands like some musical big bang, so does it get more and more diverse. Case in point is Pristine. Their music is hard to pigeonhole, which is as it should be, because it’s simply very good – a mixture of psychedelic rock, blues, hard rock and funk. Strong vocals from Heidi Solheim give…
-
‘Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down: Rock ‘N’ Roll War Stories’ by Allan Jones
This book gives a great insight into the glory days of music journalism: i.e., when it was an actual paying job reporting on an actual record industry. Allan Jones joined Melody Maker as a junior reporter in 1974. His ultra-confident application signed off with the lines: “Melody Maker needs a bullet up the arse. I’m the…
-
Unleash The Archers – Apex
Unleash The Archers play excellent traditional metal, which I very much mean as a compliment. There are occasional diversions into harsher vocal realms, but this is unnecessary when you’ve got a vocalist as good as Brittney Slayes. Like Kobra Paige, she gives her band a strong identity and has a most metal name as an…
-
Burning Witches – Burning Witches
A band needs a good name, and Burning Witches is an excellent one. This group of five lady metallers truly are on fire! Musically, this is old school metal, à la Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and especially the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Which is to say, your actual songs! There are enough contemporary influences…
-
Book reviews by Steve Earles: October 2017
History, medical science, detection and crime Digging in the Dark: A History of the Yorkshire Resurrectionists Written by Ben Johnson Published by Pen & Sword History The progress of medical research depended on a supply of bodies for surgeons to learn their skills from in 18th and 19th-century England. The amount of legally proscribed bodies…
-
Kobra and the Lotus – Prevail I
Three years on from the last Kobra and the Lotus album ‘High Priestess’, the band unleash their latest opus ‘Prevail I’, the title of which is a searing statement of intent. Kobra and the Lotus are here for the long haul, here to see trends come and go. They are all about a love for…
-
Seven Sisters – Seven Sisters
During the summer I attended one of Bad Reputation’s tenth anniversary gigs at Dolan’s. Bad Reputation are Limerick-based promoters who do a sterling job of promoting metal. This Halloween Orange Goblin are headlining their bi-annual Siege of Limerick festival – well done lads, you really have come a long way. At that same gig, I…
-
Panzer – Fatal Command
Comprising members of Destruction (bassist and vocalist Schmier), and ex-Accept members Herman Frank on guitars and drummer Stefan Schwarzmann, you would expect the quality of the music from Panzer to be high and it is. Their fine debut album ‘Send Them All To Hell’ was more thrash-orientated, whereas the new album, though it will still appeal…
-
Doctor Who: Myths & Legends
Epic Tales From Alien Worlds Written by Richard Dinnick Illustrated by Adrian Salmon It’s fair to say that Doctor Who is a magical thing, infinite and ever-changing (as I write this, we are soon to have our first lady Doctor Who, not our first lady Time Lord however – this was done as far back…