Mick Birchall Reviews

Growing up, I had three main influences on what would form my music taste. The first is my family, the second is what was popular in school and the third was internet recommendations. Discovering this band feels like a combination of all of those influences. Recently, I’ve been really getting back into my old favourites. With new albums being released or announced from Underoath , Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows , Senses Fail , Billy Talent and others of that ilk. It’s inspired me to just get back into my old favourite bands from yesteryear. However, I realised there was one of those bands that have stuck with me and I feel have matured and grown up with me. That would be the topic of this blog post, The Devil Wears Prada . I mean their recent singles Sacrifice and Watchtower have shined a light back on them for me and after hearing those songs, I thought to go back over their albums and assess what I love about them. Let’s go back to 2009. I had left high school the year before. I wa...

  Another year gone alredy! I know, I know I have posted this year. This blog has lay dorment as life kinda got in the way 2021 has been yet another difficult year for many and I know not many people will care about a silly blogger not making his usual reviews. However, I really do apologise for not keeping up my usual schedule. Especially since this year kicked a whole boat load of ass with releases. Honestly, there was so much good music this year from all corners and from all genres! So much so, that I couldn't, in good concience, just do a traditional ranking of my favourite albums. At the same time, the year just wouldn't feel complete if I didn't acknowledge the amazing year of music that we've had. So, as a super-special mega blog. I going to do something new! Something, I've never done before. So without further adue allow me to present the first annual 2021 Birchy Awards . So... what do you say? Shall we get this rocky show on thr road! By the way, I will ...

  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...