Thrash legends make a blistering return with their 10th studio album.

Junk of the Heart? More like Junk of the Chart.

Like your music bland and samey? You’ll love this.

A simultaneously relaxing and exciting album from Dutch stoner/psychedelic 3-piece, Sungrazer.

Looking for backing music for a shit remake of Crystal Maze? Walk this way.

Is this worst possible collaboration album in the history of mankind?

If the thought of who the coolest man on the planet is has ever crossed your mind, step this way and let Tom Hickman help you out.

Judas Priest, Slash and Dream Theater, to name but a few, graced the stages at this year’s High Voltage but who impressed Tom Geddes and your dad the most?

Manchester’s own end-of-exams summer festival returned with a sterling line-up, including names such as Chase and Status, Kelis and Mark Ronson.

The guy’s got solid Americana sensibilities.

One of the UK’s biggest and most popular festivals returned this year with headline acts Muse, My Chemical Romance and The Strokes, but who stood out and who just flopped?

Tom Geddes gives a quick rundown of the highs and lows of this year’s Sonisphere, as headlined by Metallica, Biffy Clyro and Slipknot.

The decisive nail in the coffin of independent record stores?

The Strokes, Arcade Fire and Elbow come under Tom Hickman’s scrutiny in the first of our summer festival highlights.

The Canadian duo cast aside past differences to deliver a scintillating set at the Academy

In only its second year, High Voltage has certainly targeted the dads market. With a line-up relying heavily on classic rock, prog and metal, as well as none of that tiresome camping malarkey, it’s not difficult to see why. Two days of legendary acts however, means that students shouldn’t shy away from a fantastic festival.

Musical re-inventions don’t come much more drastic than that of rapper turned crooner Ben Drew (aka Plan B aka Strickland Banks) who tonight plays host to an evening of retro-soul at Manchester’s Apollo. Liam Bailey prepares the crowd perfectly for the main event with his deep husky tones, performing a short set of bluesy tunes including the raw and beautiful ‘It’s Not the Same’, and soon to be hit single ‘You Better Leave Me’, demonstrating exactly why he’s tipped to be the next big thing in contemporary soul.

Christmas Day 1999 was a day of contrasts for me. On one hand, I finally got a PlayStation and a BMX scooter, which made my nine-year-old head explode. I’d have been happy with these, more than happy in fact, but there was another present to open, which had a distinct, CD shaped look about it. “Great”, I thought to myself. I’d just started getting into music and I was happy to think that my sister had noticed my growing interest in AC/DC, Motörhead and Metallica.

As a plethora of female artists dominate the charts, another joins the party in the form of Jessie J and her recently released debut, Who You Are. Much like everything else in the music world, it’s divided our writers into opposing camps where, on the one hand, this new pop sensation deserves the ever-expanding success thrown her way. On the other, Who You Are is a painful attempt to be different, rendering her another generic pop princess.

Returning to Academy 1 in support of their seventh album, the wonderfully-titled Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, post-rock veterans Mogwai deliver a stirring, two-hour set that spans their entire career. They showcase a whole host of tracks from the new record, opening with the chirpy and upbeat ‘White Noise’, with ‘Mexican Grand Prix’, ‘I’m Lionel Richie’ and new single ‘Rano Pano’ also aired, the latter brilliantly blending grinding guitars with subtle synths. This is a band capable of conveying an incredibly wide range of emotion in their music, which is all the more remarkable when you consider that the vast majority of it is purely instrumental.