W.A.S.P (Nottingham Rock City,

While W.A.S.P.’s social media captured a very healthy queue patiently waiting to get inside Nottingham’s Rock City, the part that was missed was that it was a five-minute walk and the end of that line was in another post-code. And apart from W.A.S.P. shirts, have a guess at what the next most popular shirt was on display in that queue?

There is some poignancy to this and the loss of Ozzy Osbourne one week ago, the realisation that as much as we think that our rock heroes are immortal and invincible – we all know that they are not. The devotion of metal fans is unparalleled, the connection is strongest in front of the stage and there is an element of this – mixed with a frissure of excitement at this probably-never-to-be-repeated again event.
Blackie Lawless. Photo: Ian Jenkinson

Billed as Album ONE Alive! tour and in celebration of W.A.S.P.’s self titled debut album released in 1984, a packed Rock City stares at an equally packed stage with Blackie Lawless’ impressive microphone stand front and centre. There is no support tonight, the show is about W.A.S.P. and there is a roar as the lights dim and red spotlights bounce around the venue; the cacaphony of sound is sirens blaring and over the backdrop of spliced W.A.S.P. songs. As an introduction, it feels primal and hungry. Eventually, the band takes the stage and naturally, the biggest cheer is reserved for Black Lawless. Tearing into I Wanna Be Somebody, the crowd is all arms aloft and the venue shakes with the punching hands to the chorus. The sound is huge and Blackie is on top vocal form but at the same time competing with the lyrics being belted straight back at him.

Blackie Lawless once said of W.A.S.P.’s debut “It was an angry record made by an angry band. It was a record that not only refelected the attitude of the band members that made it but also a record that reflected its time.” That debut album still holds some sway to this day but in the live envrironment, there is punch and venom to the songs and W.A.S.P. goes great guns to deliver, there is new life and visciousness that serves as a reminder of just how timeless these tunes really are in metal history.
Mike Duda. Photo; Ian Jenkinson

L.O.V.E. Machine is followed by The Flame at which point Blackie takes a moment to tell the tale of the idea of this particular tour and a discussion with promoters, playing the debut album in full and the suggestion that he had to play the album in order. Naturally, Blackie said that he had to do no such thing. The familiarity of a whole album in order does feel slightly disconcerting, knowing what comes next and the lyrics lined up but the commitment to each song and its place is at the same time compelling. School Daze was always a tad cheesy but Hellion is incredible, the melody on the vocals and backing vocals courtesy of bassist Mike Duda and guitarist Dough Blair are enough to send shivers as the screens at the back of the stage light up to show archive footage of the band, it really is both an aural and visual delight. Sleeping (In The Fire) has to be one of the night’s highlights, Blackie’s vocals are nerve tingling but credit to Blair who tears a solo at the end which is just earth shatteringly brilliant and like it was the last solo he was ever going to perform.

Blackie returns to the story of the promoter and explains why he could not see the album being played in chronological order in that for the last forty years, every show had opened with On Your Knees but it lacked no less power being in the middle of the set. With Tormentor and a rib-cage rattling The Torture Never Stops as W.A.S.P. says “goodnight” and sure, some of the crowd glance at their watches but also with the knowledge that an encore has to be special – and it is.

Doug Blair. Photo: Ian Jenkinson

Performing two medleys – also in chronological order – the intro and title track from Inside The Electric Circus and I Don’t Need Know Doctor and Ghoulies soundtrack-hit Scream Until You Like It. The second medley takes on The Headless Children era with The Real Me, ballad Forever Free and a scintillating The Headless Children.

Wild Child is another showstopping highlight. Blackie Lawless is totally alone, his fingers on the strings are lightning fast as he tickles not the full riff but it is recognisable before doing a solo on the vocals. It is another timeless song that has the venue in rapture and the show ends in the only way it can with Blind In Texas. As much as it feels weird for Blackie not to have the argument with the bar tender, it is a rip-roaring close to a show that as Blackie Lawless stated was history. And he is not wrong.
Photo: Ian JenkinsonPhoto: Ian Jenkinson


Tonight’s show had everything that not just a W.A.S.P. fan could want but what heavy metal still needs and the celebration of the debut is done with such style and panache that it is impossible to fault the band. Blackie Lawless still cuts an imposing figure, the trademark white knee high boots, the half buzzsaws attached to his forearms and the upturned collar, ever the showman, his being fills the stage when he turns to face the drum riser.

Forty Years. It feels like it was only yesterday that a debut landed, it was loud, dangerous and no-one knew it back then but heavy metal was walking into a golden age. W.A.S.P. were one of its forerunners. Blackie Lawless already said that tonight was history and as the doors are flung open for a crowd to descend on the July night – there was not a single voice that would say any different.
Blackie Lawless. Photo: Ian Jenkinson

W.A.S.P’s tour continues into Europe and returns to the UK this September – tickets are available for all shows on the band’s offical website.

She-Wolf – She-Wolf (Frontiers music)

There seems to be so many releases these days by hard rock bands featuring earth shattering female vocals and so many of them operate in the symphonic and gothic rock arenas. The latest name to watch out for is SheWolf which is the new vehicle the Greek born and now UK based Angel Wolf-Black. The album cover art shows Wolf-Black in a brooding Boudicca/valkyrie type battle maiden pose with a war painted face and rams skull in hand so you immediately get the feeling that this is going to be an epic based telling of great tales of adventure and legend.
Photo: Ermes Buttolo

The music is orchestral and symphonic being a highly pleasing and evocative mixing of symphonic and folk metal with huge choruses, stirring riffs and a quite amazing powerful performance from mezzo soprano Angel Wolf-Black. If you are into Nightwish then this is definitely for you as there are great similarities between the two bands but this is not a matter of copying but more a case one band reflecting the other. The actually mythology behind the music is Greek with Wolf-Black acting out the part of The Shaman who appears to be in league with the Greek goddess Selene for a calling of wolves that occurs once every 116 year when the stars align, you have to love a concept work! You may have heard the voice of Wolf-Black previously with Bare Infinity and on the Vivaldi Music Project and, trust me, she has a voice that you will want to hear.

In keeping with the theme of the album she is ably supported by The Hunter on guitar, The Predator on bass and The Alpha on drums and what a team they make as the drums and bass have a primordial and cataclysmic power with the guitars offering up screaming and wailing riffs and searing breaks. They can tone the power down too with the beautiful Nothing Can Last Forever being an emotional piano driven power ballad and shows that this girl has the power, range and control to be a major player for years to come.

This is an immediately hitting and totally immersive symphonic metal album from an awesomely talented mezzo soprano aligned with a thrilling metal guitarist and it simply has to be heard.




She-WolfThe One You Feed (4:21)
Welcome To The Pack (4:35)
Lone Wolf (5:09)
Home (3:37)
Moonbound (4:26)
Safe In The Dark (4:11)
Nothing Is Forever (4:39)
My Prayer (4:54)
The Thrill Of The Chase (3:59)
Falling Without You (4:08)

INTRODUCING: Animalcules

Glasgow’s ANIMALCULES have brought a zest and excitement to the UK with their genre blending debut record Luz. We caught up with the band about how they put together their wildly catchy record.



Luz displays a blending of math rock, post hardcore and progressive emo that’s a fizzy, frantic ball of energy and is immediately engaging. “I think it just naturally happened,” Innis explains on how they found their very distinct sound. “We try to just write music we find fun and interesting and that just happened to be the sound that came from that. We all have really varied tastes between pop-punk, prog metal, video game soundtracks etc so I think our sound naturally ended up having pieces from all those influences.”
Portable speakers





Those influences mean the record is laced with loads of little nuggets of audible quirks, that are a delight to discover over each listen. “Definitely the bitcrush on PureJim was one of my favourites, but I love playing about with using effects in ways they’re not ‘meant’ to be used,” Jamie gladly tells us. “There’s loads of little bits of ear candy in the album that I love that I think most people wouldn’t notice but for me are some of my favourite bits.”

It’s so exciting to hear a band with this much enthusiasm for the nerdy qualities of their sounds, while still being able to tastefully implement them in a musical way. “I had the most fun writing the interludes and sound designing the intros on the album,” adds Ellis. “The turnover was very fast and rewarding since I wrote most of them the night before one show or another to give us tuning time. I’d usually start with just a bit of guitar or synths from one of the tracks and end up turning it into something that eventually would end up connecting the whole album, was pretty neat.”


Luz is a record that explodes with charismatic, spirited ideas that knit together like different coloured threads in a tapestry. They’re individual and add so much to the greater whole, while the minutia of what gives each song its entirely distinct spirit. That makes sense when considered in the parameters that ANIMALCULES have been writing in. “It was actually just a collection of songs that we had built up that felt like they worked together best,” Jamie clarifies. “The album was originally going to look very different. We had the idea of splitting our tracks up and doing a two-part album with a lighter and darker side, so hopefully you guys can expect the heavier album later this year. For now, I think we’re just glad that people are enjoying it, so I guess we’d just hope that carries on. We’re definitely excited for the part two album now we have something out to compare it to I think that makes it more interesting.”

For all it’s instrumental playfulness, the lyrics in Luz are just as catchy and intriguing. “I took a few different approaches writing the lyrics for these songs,” Ellis recounts. “A couple of them are based around a feeling I was having about something around the writing process, pseudo non-fiction in particular comes to mind as I decided I had to stop smoking for my mental health. However, a good few are just straight up fictional stories that came together as they were written. Flavour Town is basically Mean Girls.”



While the album has been a coming together in a steady writing process for many years, the recording didn’t necessarily follow suit. “The recording process was not as smooth sailing as it could have been,” Ellis agrees, “a lot of stuff needed re-tracked months into the process. Everyone’s different schedules and availability became an issue too at times and the whole process for me personally became a bit of a life absorbing experience.”

“However, the songs wouldn’t have ended up sounding as interesting as they do if we hadn’t allowed them the extra time in the oven. It was a massive learning experience and we know now what to avoid for the next one.”

As well as the records distinct sound ANIMALCULES have also procured a super novel art style for their album cover. “The original concept was a wee sketch of Oliver the mouse in his bed we had prepared as a demo for an artis,” recounts Ellis. “We had no plans for it to be pixel art until we saw Aleene’s work (@dandelion.pixelart on Instagram) and then we realised the pixel art felt perfect for the album’s style. Aleene also added a whole new colour scheme and aesthetic that just felt way better than we could have hoped and also even made us an animation that gave it even more life for our canvas. Honestly such a talented artist, check them out, we hope to do more work with them soon.”

Like ANIMALCULES on Facebook.

LIVE REVIEW: Blood Incantation @ The Garage, Glasgow

Predicting which underground death metal acts are going to climb the gloomy ladder towards the mainstream is like predicting when a fly’s going to sneeze. Progressive death metallers BLOOD INCANTATION proved to be such a band, expanding far beyond playing 200-person venues on their first UK trek in 2017 to garnering acclamatory coverage in The Guardian newspaper. Tonight’s debut Scottish show in Glasgow at The Garage is sold out, a circumstance that only took a single month. It’s incredible that the promoter didn’t upsize the venue to let more disappointed fans witness these cosmic meddlers in the flesh.

Sijjin live @ The Garage, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Alan Swan Photography

First up is German and Spanish SIJJIN, a new death/thrash collective that features bassist and vocalist Malte Gericke from the defunct NECROS CHRISTOS. They waste no time launching into Daemon Blessex from Sumerian Promises, their second album released this year. The sound is muddy and especially unforgiving to the guitarist, Erkaitz Garmendia. However, this is mostly rectified later when the sound becomes clearer and sharper. The trio successfully splices classic Bay Area thrash with its Teutonic analogue, while adorning some old school death metal, a la MORBID ANGEL and POSSESSED, into the unholy concoction. Five Blades and Religious Insanity Denies Slavery represent their debut album Heljjin Combat. The three-piece almost constantly headbang, and as the venue fills up quickly, the audience awards each song with voluminous ovation. Closing with Condem by Primal Contact, SIJJIN have left a positive impression on the city and hopefully won over some new converts.

Rating : 7/10Oranssi Pazuzu live @ The Garage, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Alan Swan Photography

Next up is Finland’s ORANSSI PAZUZU, a haunting electro-experimental metal collective, who mystified this city just last year on a completely different type of metal line-up. Their music violently transcends genres and subgenres; there are atmospheric, industrial, trip hop, jazz, black metal, ambient drone, sludge, noise, prog rock influences and so much more. The result is something truly original yet psychotic, grandiose but claustrophobic, tortuous and torturous. Most of the five members wield keyboards, and all guitars are accompanied by a carpet of pedals. Even the black metal growls are armoured by various effects, subtracting any sense of humanity from them.
Portable speakers



Last year’s Muuntautuja is an album that every fan of suffocating, oppressive music should listen to. Fortunately, the Finns air most of this release live tonight. Bioalkemisti is a bass-heavy psychonaut’s nightmare, the title track is a calculatingly sinister mental assault, while Hautatuuli has to be the most terrifying trip hop song committed to tape. While the crowd is mostly quiet throughout the set (presumably processing what the fuck they’re witnessing), the robust applauses suggest that they enjoy some part of the aural torment.

Rating: 9/10Blood Incantation live @ The Garage, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Alan Swan Photography

The cosmic obelisks at either side of the stage light up their interstellar sigils just before headliners BLOOD INCANTATION crash land on stage. They waste no time opening with the entirety of The Stargate song from the wildly successful Absolute Elsewhere. This otherworldly hybridisation of death metal, inspired by IMMOLATION and GORGUTS, PINK FLOYD’s meandering prog rock and TANGERINE DREAM and OZRIC TENTACLES’ ethereal electronic soundscapes is intriguing, creative and addictive. The four-piece lineup is supplemented by a live keyboardist, John Gamiño, imbuing the music with an extraterrestrial atmosphere. The sound is delectable and doesn’t diminish the intricacies these Americans have layered the metal with.

After The Stargate is over, guitarist and vocalist Paul Riedl asks someone in the front row to flip the record. The attendee doesn’t realise that the frontman wants her to mime flipping a vinyl over to start the other side of the record, and it takes a while for her to fully understand, seemingly long after the rest of the audience gets the point. Next up, we’re launching through the second half of the album: The Message. This collection of three parts dials up the intensity with particularly chug-heavy death metal, but also dulcet CYNIC-inspired leads and unabashed PINK FLOYD worship. It takes some time but eventually, the audience does warm up to terraforming the venue via moshing and crowd surfing. Playing all of Absolutely Elsewhere is a flawless idea, and perfect decisions don’t end there. The band adds in some older numbers, introducing new fans to older material – the vicious death metal-concentrated The Giza Power Plant and The Vth Tablet (Of Enûma Eliš).Blood Incantation live @ The Garage, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Alan Swan Photography

BLOOD INCANTATION leave the stage to rapturous acclamation, the entire hall remaining steadfast for an encore. They’re rewarded with the disquieting Meticulous Soul Devourment interlude from the outstanding Starspawn debut album. This is stalked by the frenzied and tumultuous Obliquity of the Ecliptic from the Luminescent Bridge EP. Following this one and a half hour abduction, it’s safe to say these ambitious astral conspiracy theorists put their peers to shame. Such a flawless performance, bristling with outlandish technical prowess and ethereal ambience, is rare to strike these shores. Hopefully, BLOOD INCANTATION will return to Glasgow on their next European cruise at a significantly roomier venue.

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Glasgow from Alan Swan Photography here:








































Like BLOOD INCANTATION on Facebook.