Mick Birchall Reviews

  Oh, 2022. What can I say about you? The year I turned 30. The year I went to my perfect holiday destination (don’t worry we’ll get to that). However, the most important to me that was the year I returned to going to gigs. Being a part of a live crowd again has meant the world to me and I have seen some pretty epic gigs this year. There’s also been a tonne of albums to boot. Like, I think there has been a little something for everyone this year. There’s been a tonne of great rock, metal, and country music this year to get my ears to. I didn’t know how to approach this year. Usually, I make a top-something album of the year list. Last year I shook things up with an album award blog. However, in all honesty, I didn’t like how that turned out. How about we reinvent the wheel again for 2022? Let’s summarise some of my favourite moments in music this year: my favourite albums, my favourite gig memories and other things. I was getting a bit bored of these blogs going amiss. Sometimes, a...

There are very few artists in this world that I admire more than, KT Tunstall . I don’t think I’ve ever honestly talked about her the same way I have gushed about other artists, yet her music speaks to me in a way I don’t think many others do. I would easily put her third albumTiger Suit in my top five albums of all time. So, when KT announced a new trilogy of albums that would tie together thematically, it piqued my interest. I could only really imagine what KT could do with such an endeavour. However, to discuss this I think it’s somewhat important to discuss my thoughts on KT’s work before this. As it does colour my opinion of the trilogy. I won’t go into them as much as the subject of the blog though. I’ve always appreciated the artistry of KT’s songwriting. Her first two albums, Eye to the Telescope and Drastic Fantastic are what I would describe as the pop sound of the early 2000s. I just remember an influx of singer-songwriter or troubadour-style musicians that congested the m...

There’s something so magical about behind-the-scenes documentaries about your favourite artists. Sometimes it can give you a new perspective on their music, sometimes it can make you see the world in a different way. The best ones can do both. For the record, this documentary is the latter. I have loved the music of LiSA for over eight years, I discovered her through her song “Crossing Field” which was the theme song to the first season arch of the anime, Sword Art Online. However, after hearing that song I just started listening to her music purely for the joy of it. I’m sure her other songs have been theme songs to other anime films and shows, but I couldn’t tell you, I just love her music. In fact, her music was the impetus for me to start learning Japanese. Just so I could understand the lyrics. Her music just fills me with so much joy and anytime I have her music on I just start smiling. When it was announced that, to coincide with her new live show featurette, there would be a f...

One of the things I love about running this blog is that I get to discover new bands and catch them at their early stages. You know, that point where the band hasn’t really gone forward in one direction, they just coming up with ideas that they think are cool and putting them into practice. This could be said for the up-and-coming metal band Coldwards . It also helps when your dad is the drummer in a very successful metal band. Yeah, I didn’t think to bury the lead here. This project is the product of second-generation musicians Zac and Sean Crosby; sons of Paul Crosby, the drummer from Saliva . However, don’t let that colour your judgment of the band themselves. Having now listened to the full debut album, Bloodwork a few times over I can comfortably recommend their music. The album is quite an enjoyable listening experience. There are quite a lot of harsh riffs, wonderfully crafted melodies and engaging moments to keep you listening throughout. There are just some brilliant writing...

I’ve had some difficulty writing this one. I think the only way I can really explain why I like this record is by taking a time machine back to 2011. Let’s go back to before I turned 20 years old and to the first album by Craig Owens’ project Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows (D.R.U.G.S.). In all honesty back to the early days of my writing. I was a young blogger and would spend my days looking up new bands. I would spend hours on end listening to bands, then I would check out their record label, find all of their label mates and listen to those. Hours upon hours were spent on YouTube, PureVolume, Last FM, ReverbNation, SoundCloud etc. I remember first hearing Craig Owens in the band Chiodos and being engaged with his vocals. The album Bone Palace Ballet stands out in my memory really clearly. Also, Craig's vocal work on "You Can't Spell Crap Without 'C'" by The Devil Wears Prada . As I said, I spend a lot of time looking up bands and artists within the sam...

Credit: allabouttherock.co.uk There’s a saying. Never meet your heroes. Well, I’m breaking that rule here. I’ve been listening to Soil since was young. I don’t think I’m alone in saying their album, Scars was such an impactful record of the early 2000s. The band have been around since the mid-90s and has made a lot of great music in that time. On August 26th, Soil release their new album, Play It Forward . A collection of covers that the band have mixed together to create a really great playlist to help cheer us up after the horror of the COVID-19 pandemic (amongst all the other shit in the world right now). I reviewed the album on Valkyrian Music ( click here for the review ). I was very grateful to have the opportunity to talk to frontman, Ryan McCombs . A voice that I heard a lot while developing my music taste. As he was also the vocalist for a spell in, Drowning Pool . In this interview, we talk about the new covers album, writing during the pandemic, the love of live music an...

Another Friday night in St Helens and yet another gig in the hallowed grounds of Tank bar. The venue where patrons are squeezed for space but absolutely nobody cares. Metal Mayhem is an absolute staple of the venue, putting on some of the best local bands that the independent metal scene can provide. On this night, we were treated to four stellar sets that popped off the charts. I always have a good night when it comes to Metal Mayhem. So much respect, love and joy is shared. Drinks were drank, noise was made and the rest of the town centre wondered what kind of demonic sacrifice is being made in Chrom’s name. What I’m trying to get at is that it was a good night and if you’re ever interested in any of the lineups for one of these events I would urge you to try and make it there. Opening up the evening’s proceedings were Death Cadet . An up-and-coming heavy metal act that sounds like they came out of the mid-2000s. Very much that typical emo-punk metal sound; duelling clean and growl...

The thing I love about writing this blog is that I can possibly get to introduce people to a band that they may never have heard of before. Since I have you here you might be curious about the band I’m going to talk about at length. Readers, today let me introduce you to a band that I have been bumping to for about seven years now. The Japanese electro-rock sensation, Man With A Mission . I got into Man With A Mission a few years ago. They completely took me off guard when I first heard them opening for Zebrahead and Patent Pending in Manchester. I didn’t know what to expect and suddenly five guys in wolf masks appeared on stage to perform the most bat-shit crazy opening sets that I’ve ever watched. In fact, I ended up really preferring their set more than the other two bands. They truly captured my imagination to the point where I ended up buying all of their music. It’s really hard to define what style of music they play. I mean, I say electro-rock but that doesn’t really define th...

  Master Sword is a somewhat frequent flyer on my blog. Having reviewed both of their albums and interviewing them before ( click here ). Well, now it’s time for round two! After completely crushing their Kickstarter goal for their new album Toying With Time , I thought it would be a good time to catch up with the gang and get a whole new round of questions to dig into the band mythos even more. So join me again for my second interview with the one, the only Master Sword! Could you tell me some more about the new album “Toying With Time”? Will this be a concept album or a collection of ideas that are inspired by Majora’s Mask? Matt : We're calling it a concept album, however, we use that term very loosely. The concept is the game Majora's Mask itself, and all of these songs are here to provide some backstory to the stories from the game. There won't be one overarching story between all the songs though, no. Did you take any specific musical influences on this album that ...