Koreisch - The Decaying Schizophrenic Christ Complex (Calculated Risk ) By Steve Rudd

This 14-track album is actually a re-release, although it has been remixed and remastered and so might still appeal to folk who bought this monster the first time around in the late nineties. Such folk would have been of the variety that is obsessed with hardcore rock to manic degrees, with Koreisch being a Sheffield band who don't hold back with their confrontational bursts of riotous rage.

Be warned then about the album's opening track Justification By Faith that lulls you into a false sense of tender security by exuding the gentle charm of a lullaby, for Forced Attrition - that is up next - really lets you in on the type of band that's really on offer here, with the guitars grinding and the vocals screeching like mad. Indeed, A Premonition Of Life's Erosion is the deafening equivalent of Dani Filth's most intense and horrifying nightmare, before Caress This Violation mercilessly marries off evil guitar-work to rampagingly tormented vocals. Eclectic Powderburn and Preordained Incineration, meanwhile, are both so fast and harsh that it's impossible to them apart from each other, with all so-called musical elements literally exploding in the most destructive of melting pots, the likes of which may do your ears permanent damage. Koreisch actually split after this album was initially released, but now they are back - and this second coming provides a fitting precursor to a brand new album from the band that's due out in 2005. No doubt some fans won't be able to wait, but my ears - more than anything - can. 3/5

Album Reviews - The Clauberg Opera - The Death of this City By Michelle Dee
	Is The Clauberg Opera's foreboding CD title, The death of this city, prophesising the end of Hull? It could be describing the very nature of urban society where all cohesion is lost to poisonous, suspicious, insular, ideologies. When does a city actually die? Read more...

Album Reviews - Three Movements - Electricity Wiped out Heaven (Calculated Risk) By Steve Rudd
	If you've got half an hour of your life to spare for this 6-track mini-album, then good for you - it's nigh impossible to be disappointed by the raving beauty and dynamic musicianship on offer. The atmospheric, haunting subtlety of instrumental opener Awaken is so breathtaking that Read more...

Album Reviews - Ernest: (Pimps, B**ches and) Superheroes By Elsie Creek
	Ernest have progressed quite steadily in the two years since they formed. Some bands make a big entrance and disappear just as fast, while others go on for years wondering why they don't get the recognition they deserve. However; for this four-piece from Hedon, the hard work is paying off, Read more...

Album Reviews - Hayley Hutchinson - Independently Blue (album/ R N R Music) By Steve Rudd
	This 12-track, 43-minute album is packed with some of the most beautiful and heart-breaking songs that I've heard in years, and singer-songwriter Hayley - now living and working from her base in York after a childhood brought up in Scotland - is only in her early twenties. Listening to these astonishing tunes, all of which Read more...

Album Reviews - The Boxer Rebellion - Code Red (single/ Mercury) By Steve Rudd
	These guys have led a lucky couple of years since Alan McGee spotted them playing their hearts out in the New Bands tent at Glastonbury. So impressed was he that he signed them up to his Poptones label, through which two severely limited edition/ scandalously sought after Read more...

Album Reviews - We Start Fires - Caught Red Handed (11 tracks/Head Girl) By Steve Rudd
	Proudly keeping the DIY punk spirit alive, Darlington quartet We Start Fires (in which female members outnumber the male contingency three to one) aren't ones to wait around for a record company exec to get out his chequebook. They believe in their music to such an extent (which they Read more...

Album Reviews - Cathy Davey - Something Ilk (album/ Regal) By Steve Rudd
	This 14-track release is an infinitely interesting and beautifully conceived album, opened with Come Over, which is reminiscent of the sultry sounds that Italian-born singer-songwriter Elena is making. Complete with a cool riff and sexed-up PJ Harvey-esque swagger, this is Read more...

Single Reviews - Still Life at the wheel By Michelle Dee
	After a promising start, a distinctive vocal, which can only be described through emotions rather than words, tells a story of a road trip gone sour. Short chords punctuate the verse and, at the wheel, gathers pace. The chorus kicks in followed by rolling guitars. One or two of the backing vocals seem superfluous but Read more...

Single Reviews - Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue (Parlophone) By Steve Rudd
	Release Date: September 6th 2004. It's been one hell of a couple of years for this American pop-punk-rock quintet, and deservedly so. This is the title track from their ever-so-popular Ocean Avenue album that was released to instant acclaim earlier this year, and - somewhat Read more...

Single Reviews - Sam Roberts Band - Brother Down By Steve Rudd
	Release Date: August 30th 2004. This guy - and his band - has long been big business in Canada from where they hail, going so far as to be awarded with Best Artist and Best Album awards at this year's Juno Awards. Now it's time for the UK to see and hear what all the amassed fuss Read more...

Single Reviews - Ricky - That Extra Mile/Beat The Best Out Of Me By Nick Quantrill
	Release date - 6th September, 2004. Following hot on the heels of acclaimed debut album, The Summer Sun Still Echoes, Portsmouth's finest, Ricky return with a double A-side that will (hopefully) accompany some long awaited summer sun. The single picks up Read more...

Single Reviews - The Hot Puppies - Green Eyeliner (single/ PURR) By Steve Rudd
	Release Date: September 27th 2004. I've got a funny feeling that this Aberystwyth quintet is about to become very well known indeed over here in England, following a prolonged spell of relative fame in Wales, courtesy of their last Dawn Of Man release Read more...

Single Reviews - The Beastie Boys, Death Cab For Cutie and The Departure By Steve Rudd
	After all these years, The Beastie Boys are still making amazing music, here presenting the second single of 2004 from their To The 5 Boroughs album. These Manhattan-obsessed guys have long been respected for their refreshing fusion of rap, hip-hop and dance elements, and if Read more...

Single Reviews - Single of Week - Cornershop Presents: Bubbley Kaur Topknot By Lee Cassanell
	Only in a world of George Bush and Sudanese Genocide could Busted be riding high in the Charts with the theme from Thunderbirds so in the spirit of such rampant insanity I've decided to make a little deal with you the good people of Kingston upon Hull. Every Saturday I'm going Read more...

CD Reviews - What Ya Cryin' For by The Landau's - By Tony Bates, Jim Hines and Leigh Lee-Roy Stancliffe (Aussie Radio)
	Every now and then a new band comes along, complete with biography promising a new sound and telling one and all that to miss this band and their release will be at their peril. I've heard it all before; haven't you?. Well this time I have to say that I have received a couple of releases from The Landau's, but without the usual hype. Read more...