Mick Birchall Reviews

I seem to have a hot and cold relationship with Skindred . Whereby, I’ll completely forget about them for a while only to be suddenly reminded of their existence as they put out another banger of a record. Well, their new album Smile , it seems to be that time again. A fiery, intensive album that hits the mark right on the bullseye. In fact, in the time it's taken for me to do this review, this album has already skyrocketed up the charts and won the hearts of many rock fans out there. I, personally, found out about them with their 2011 album, Union Black I have tried to keep up to date with their music. However, I always seem to need to catch up to the fandom. So, will this album keep me around, well only time will tell at this point. For now, I can only tell you how I feel about this album after two weeks of playing it on and off. I think Smile is a solid record bearing all of Skindred’s usual hallmarks. Funky reggae, check; hard-hitting riffs, check; ridiculously catchy chorus’ ...

Sometimes an album comes out into the world and it takes you on a ride! For me this year that would be the latest record from Greek headbangers, Project Renegade . Their latest album, Ultra Terra is a whirlwind of heavy riffs and bombastic hook lines that just captivate the listener. With the release of this album, I got to sit down with vocalist Marianna to discuss the new album, the challenges of producing an album during the COVID pandemic, memories of touring and a few other fun stories. With the new album released, what's your personal favourite song on the album? That is a very difficult question because there are a lot of songs that are very dear to my heart. I love the latest single “Token” because it’s the most recent single. The album closer “No Country For White Flags” is special as it’s the first ballad we’ve done as a band and the first time I was so exposed, vocally. It was a totally different approach from all of our other songs. I also really love the composition ...