In the summer of 2025, producer Charlie Nieland released ‘The Ocean Understands’, a four track EP that took him from the realms of the technical aspects of a behind the scenes role and into the performing spotlight. Mixing elements of dark pop, melodic rock, goth and shoegaze, the material took on a grand scope, and despite often sharing a moody edge, managed to remain very accessible. That’s more than can be said for this album’s opening number.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
HOLLOWKIN – Decrepit Nature EP
As 2024 began to pull to a close, the Bath-based metal act HollowKin released their ‘Confessions & Failures’ EP, a pleasingly heavy affair that also managed to use its short playing time to effectively showcase the band’s desire to blend genres. The four songs used a base of metalcore, but introduced elements of thrash, doom, prog metal, groove metal and hardcore to form a complex sound that showed off a band who were not only tight, but insanely confident.
OUR SOULS – DIY Misery EP
Towards the end of 2023, Leicester’s Our Souls released ‘I Won’t Tell You The Same Lie’, a five track blast of indie punk that valued high octane sounds, and also demonstrated some sharp but pleasingly ragged playing. In approximately fifteen minutes, the DIY release showed why the band made perfect label-mates with the hugely prolific Das Kapitans and garage punk heroes Get The Fuck Outta Dodge.
Watch: Premier Jester take a ‘Slow Dance’ in new video
Premier Jester aren’t afraid to mix genres. On their previous single ‘All I Ever Wanted’, the UK band managed to fuse metalcore riffs with R&B vocal melodies, programmed drum loops and blasts of synth drawing from a dance-oriented sound, and – latterly – some fierce hardcore breakdowns to create a truly intense experience.
HARD TO EXPLAIN – Hell To Pay
Northern Ireland’s Hard To Explain emerged in a post-lockdown world, and before long, began what was to become a run of impressive single releases. ‘Hell To Pay’, the band’s debut album (released at the tail end of 2025) makes good on all of the band’s early promise, sharing a collection of varied and hard edged tracks that showcase strong vocals, thoughful lyrical themes, and – above all – a succession of massive riffs.