Mick Birchall Reviews

  2020... What can we truly say about this complete clusterfuck of a year? In all seriousness, it's been a year of confusion, depression, anxiety and misery. You know what they say though "in tough times, at least we will get some good music!" This was as true as ever this year as there were some truly excellent albums being released left, right and centre. I feel kinda bad about not covering more but because of stress and anxiety this year I've had to drop the blog completely. So, I genuinely apologise about this. To make up for it, instead of creating an "arbitrary number of best albums for the year", I am just going to talk about every album that was exceptionally good this year. The music that helped me through this tough year and put a smile on my face. As a music blogger, I feel like I should be trying to guide you to music that you'll ultimately love. If I can do that, then I will consider myself successful in my endeavour. So, get ready to search...

Impavidus are back with a new single and as soon as I heard, I was immediately interested. It’s been a long, long year without gigs. However, getting new music is always appreciated. This new song, Justice was recorded in 2019 at the same time as their tune Artifice . So they’ve had this song locked and loaded for a minute. It was recorded at Foel Studios and it sounds great. It’s a fact-paced, power-packed blast to the senses with a strong riff and a solid hook. The meaty, crushing metal tune grabs your attention straight away. The production is filled to the brim with harsh metal tones. The bass and drum work tightly together setting a fierce and brutal pace. The bass is deep and keeps the pace going allowing the guitar to go wild, especially in the solo, which elevates the track and gives it that little bit of extra power. Everything musically sounds excellent, every piece of instrumentation packs that punch and sonically it makes you want to get up and headbang away. Then you ge...

There are so many bands that I find interesting for a variety of reasons. Maybe it’s how they sound, maybe it’s how they market themselves, maybe it’s just their personalities. For me, I feel like a band that I’ve always loved and found just fascinating is The Naked and Famous . The electronic indie rock back from Aukland in New Zealand first caught my attention with their 2010 debut album Passive Me, Aggressive You . Ever since they have always been on my radar as a band to look out for. Their music is always so powerful, emotional and well composed that I always end up putting their albums on my year-end best-of lists. “So, they’ve released a new album this year?” you’re asking me. Yes, indeed they have. They released the album Recover in July and I have been loving it so much. However, instead of just talking about the new album, I thought it would be fun to take a journey through all of their studio album releases. That way you get a good look at their music and everything this ba...

Photo by Ronan McGrade Where do you think your passion for music came from? Hard to know, but I got the bug young and that was it. My parents always listened to a lot of music and my brother who plays in the band with me paved the way by learning guitar. That’s probably why I started out as a drummer, so we could start a band. What is your method for coming up with new songs? I usually get a notion for a song first. A melody, a chorus, a line, sometimes just a word will fall from the sky without warning and you have to stop and take note, then I carry it around for a while until one day I’m sitting with a guitar and the rest comes together. Usually quite quickly. I have a theory that the longer a song takes to write, the longer it takes the listener to get it, so I don’t struggle for it. The best ones come in a flash. If it isn’t working I forget about it, put it back in my pocket and keep it with me a while longer, sometimes years, until the time is right. What are your plan...

So, I seemed to have talked about The Outlaw Orchestra a lot. That's because I positively fell in love with their sound from the first moments I have their music. They've taken two of my favourite genres, rock 'n' roll and bluegrass, and blended them together into a fantastic musical stew that can be enjoyed by anyone. I've also had the great pleasure of seeing them live a few times now and, let me tell you, they are nothing short of brilliant. Bringing all their great tunes and serving it up with fantastic showmanship and stage presence. Simply put they are one of the best underground rock bands going around in the UK today. I ain't just saying that I genuinely feel that way. So, I have had the opportunity to take an early listen to their new upcoming album Pantomime Villains . It's an amalgamation of some of their most popular songs that they play at gigs and given the full-on studio treatment. So a very enjoyable listen for those who have gone to thei...

I remember first discovering Ashley McBryde and being absolutely floored by this woman. Her album Girl Going Nowhere was simply sensational and filled with stellar songwriting and well-performed production. I then had the opportunity to see her live in concert at, Country 2 Country Festival in Dublin and again she just left me with my jaw on the floor. She is everything I want in a performer. Confident, commanding and fun. So, when I heard she was releasing her follow up this year I knew it was something I had to listen to. Her latest release Never Will is another strong record with more of that good old southern charm that made me enjoy her music in the first place.  Right from the word go, this album really hits you in the feel. Ashley is a fantastic songwriter and storyteller. She adds just enough detail into her lyrics to help you imagine the scenarios that she is depicting and sings with enough conviction to get you in the right emotional mindset of the characters in h...

I was wondering what my first album review of the year would be. Browsing around the world wide web, or you know social media and I got lucky. I managed to get a review copy of the new album from a singer-songwriter that I am a big fan of. I spoke to Jasmine Cain last year on this blog, click here to read , about her upcoming album Seven which I have been looking forward to for quite a while.  I have always liked Jasmine's hard rock stylings, it feels like the mainstream hard rock that you would hear all over the place but with that southern grit that makes her stand out amongst her contemporaries. Her Nashville accent mixed with the crunchy guitar riffs give her more of a southern rock vibe and you guys know how much I like that kind of sound. Her songwriting has always captivated me and drawn me in and was looking forward to more with this new album. So, now that I have had the chance to listen to the album a few times, what do I think of it? Well... I think it's pretty ...

I love discovering new bands that I really feel I can get behind. That feeling of finding a band that really speaks to you and brings emotions to the surface. That was the feeling I had when I first watched the video for "Enter The Storm" by the band Danish, progressive metal Morphide. I was immediately floored and really wanted to find out more about the band for myself and how they make music. I also wanted to know more about the video for "Enter The Storm" and how that was produced. So on this blog, I speak with Morphide's vocalist, Eissa Zhovnerchuk and guitarist, Chris Konovalovs about the band's music and their love of music. Where do you think your passion for music came from? Eissa: I think it was always there. This is something I was born with. Even from just listening to music I was getting so powerful emotions! No wonder that music became my addiction, and not only in terms of listening. At the age of 8 I was already attending singing and piano ...