An album built on foundations of knock backs, good times and being able to rely great friends, Avalanche Utd. was, for me, all the more charming for the believably genuine sentiment that flows through it. Than, and it has some really great tunes.

 

Tanscending the mire of mediocre metalcore with consummate ease, they might look like preppy, mild-mannered middle class boys but August Burns Red fire out razor sharp riffs like death rays and Leveller is comfortably their best work to date. Empire is s stone-cold classic. 

Can I have the whole of The Colour Spectrum as one choice? Well, I’m going to anyway. Lavish in its execution and meticulous in its quality control, the variety on offer within the 9 EPs worth of songs puts any other artists work to shame. Casey Crescenzo is proving himself one of the most talented songwriters out there.

Of all the pop punk albums released in the current resurgence, Gospel is really the only one that has ‘set me on fire’, as it were [arf]. Honest, genuine and stuffed to bursting with great songs, it’s a good-time record. 

Unsurpassed in its capturing of gut-wrenchingly raw sentiment, Touché Amoré’s latest effort is a modern masterpiece made all the more effective by its brevity. You’ll have to go a long way to find a more emotionally affecting 25 minutes.

Delicate, layered, powerful and cultured, there is special atmosphere about Simple Math that most bands could never hope to even get close to; clearly the work of a band coming into full songwriting maturity

A great record from one of the best young British rock bands out there. Seemingly divorced from any of the toxic scene politicking that occasionally obscures UK rock music, Lower Than Atlantis seem like the band to show others the path; great tunes, lyrics that relate and a work ethic to see them where they need to be. What can stand in their way?

Can you recommend an album by saying that listening to it is like being mentally assaulted…in a good way? I’m going to try! Empty Days And Sleepless Nights is a magnificent record that blows away other ‘hardcore’ offerings with its sheer intensity. 

It’s not The Blackening part 2 and thank god it didn’t try to be. Machine Head are back and they’ve brought ALL the riffs. Is there a finer heavy metal band out there? They’re putting the ‘big four’ to shame with each superb release.

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Stunningly bleak in its outlook and often tragically beautiful in its arrangements, Wildlife is a superb record, if one that can be a bitter pill to swallow. La Dispute continue to forge their reputation as a truly unique and exceptional band.