Kez Whelan hails the return of two of Europe’s best heavy music festivals, and delivers your regular buyer’s guide to the very best in brand new metal, reviewing new albums by Mizmor & Thou, Vile Creature & Bismuth, Cave In and more
After the cassette celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2023, Daryl Worthington looks back on a year where it reinforced its role as pivotal to the present of underground music. From deep-fake ecosystems to post-sense Dictaphone freakouts, dolphin impersonations, and cutting edge beats
Noel Gardner's guide to the best of New Weird Britain returns, with extraordinary bursts of melody from Margate-via-Maine, the Bristolian blurring lines between techno and noise, fizzy meteorites of party-smashing illbience and more