Our weekly music News Report has evolved into the Full Pelt Magazine, and you can download the second issue now for free!
Volume two includes reviews of October Drift and Philip Seth Campbell.
We have our News Report rounding up new releases from Demob Happy, The Struts, The Rolling Stones, Dream Nails, Militarie Gun, REWS, Haunt The Woods, Scaler, The Cadillac Three, Pendulum, Wargasm, Daytime TV, HourHouse, Black Water County, The Pearl Harts, Gama Bomb, The Hyena Kill, Amongst Liars, Dead Poet Society and Death Of Me!
Plus new live announcements from Enter Shikari, Keane, The Big Moon, Wayward Sons, Of Mice & Men, Meryl Streek and BIG SPECIAL.
Finally, we round up the latest additions to our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist with PLAIINS, Unschooling and paradise fell.!
To celebrate the debut issue of our brand new digital magazine, we are delighted to offer one lucky reader the chance to enjoy live music whilst representing their favourite publication!
Yes, we are offering a unique not yet available Full Pelt Music t-shirt worth £20 and if that wasn’t enough, we will also throw in a £30 Ticketmaster Gift Card!
To enter the competition you’ll need to like our official competition post on either Facebook, Instagram or X (Twitter), and yes you can like all three posts for three opportunities to win.
The deadline for entry is midnight on 10th September 2023 and the winner will be selected at random and notified on 11th September 2023. Entries after the deadline will not be counted.
Full Terms and Conditions are below, good luck and remember to follow Full Pelt Music across Social Media for any future competitions!
FULL PELT MAGAZINE ISSUE 1 GIVEAWAY TERMS AND CONDITIONS
These terms and conditions apply to the Full Pelt Music “Full Pelt Magazine Issue 1 Giveaway” and entry to the giveaway is in acceptance to these terms and conditions.
The promotion is available to UK residents who are over the age of 18 only.
To enter the promotion participants must like the official competition post on either Full Pelt Music’s Facebook, Instagram or X social media. Participants may enter up to three times by liking the post on each platform.
The winner will be selected at random, and the decision is final.
The winner agrees to provide Full Pelt Music a valid email address, name and home address for the purpose of prize delivery.
The winner will be sent 1x £30 Ticketmaster Gift Card via email.
The competition will run until midnight on 10 September 2023 and the winner will be notified via the Full Pelt Music social media channels on 11 September 2023.
The winner will have 72 hours to claim their prize, after which another winner will be selected.
The total value of the prize is £50. No cash alternative will be offered.
The winner will be contacted for preferred t-shirt size. T-shirt design for promotion purposes only, actual design may vary. Sizes subject to availability. T-shirt prize will be ‘made to order’, please allow ample time for manufacture and delivery.
The competition is not open to employees of Full Pelt Music.
Full Pelt Music’s decision in respect of all matters to do with the promotion will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Facebook, Instagram, X and Ticketmaster are not affiliated to the giveaway and entry to the competition releases them of any responsibility.
None of the bands represented on the cover of the Full Pelt Magazine Issue 1 are affiliated to the giveaway and entry to the competition releases them of any responsibility.
ROYAL BLOOD – BACK TO THE WATER BELOW – ALBUM REVIEW
Royal Blood have been one of the biggest success stories for new rock bands over the past decade. All three of their albums thus far have reached the coveted number one spot and the band have elevated themselves to arena and festival headline status.
All of this creates a natural pressure on the band to keep delivering consistently high standards, and the time has arrived to see whether the band can achieve an incredible quadruple of number one albums.
‘Back to the Water Below’ sees the band handling production fully themselves for the first time having previously worked alongside the likes of Josh Homme and Tom Dalgety. The positives of such a move of course include the unadulterated freedom, but the double-edged sword is that there is nobody to offer assurance and quality control.
After all the bells and whistles that accompanied predecessor ‘Typhoons’, the album title this time around may also refer to the back to basics approach taken by the duo. From opener ‘Mountains At Midnight’ onwards it’s evidently clear that the band have gone back to their roots to use another tired cliché.
That’s not to say that they haven’t added plenty of polish to the finished product but that there is a slower more methodical sonic style on this collection. That Royal Blood DNA is evident throughout but the album is much more melancholic than those that came before.
This does in many ways feel the least hyped of all of the bands albums and the limited pre-release campaign feeds into that. It feels like messrs Kerr and Thatcher want to let the music do the talking on this record, and they are clearly talented enough to do so.
Whilst this may be a completely different album compared to any of their three previous efforts, Royal Blood have still created something distinctly Royal Blood. The band have seen their fair share of criticism in the past both somehow for failing to evolve and for changing too much! On ‘Back to the Water Below’, the band merge everything they’ve done before and evolve into something new.
So, while musically this record is a fantastic genesis of the their style, commercially it will be interesting to see if this is an album that can secure that illustrious fourth consecutive number one?
Foolhardy Folk Festival – Nottingham – Live review
Towards the end of the original lockdown, the ever creative music industry sought ways to bring people back together to experience the unparalleled joy of live music. The Arboretum in Nottingham hosted a number of events including a couple of shows from folk favourite Frank Turner.
That is where the story of the Foolhardy Folk Festival begins as the man behind the festival, fellow folk icon Beans On Toast played in support of Turner. From there on Beans has affectionately taken over and curated his own festival which this year is a complete sell out.
A large part of this is the stunning line-up put on but another is the fantastic sense of community that exists in this portion of the folk scene and the lovely audience that has taken this back to basics event to heart.
Opening his own event Beans On Toast highlights the great music, great food and great beer theme. On the music front Beans serenades the already full venue with the likes of ‘Major Oak’, ‘The War on War’ and ‘Humans’ as the festival gets into full swing.
The festival is family friendly and this is punctuated by the vibe created by attendees in that we are all family. Beans own daughter lays on kids activites, there is live art and lots of merch offer as well but with short changeovers the attention is mainly on the one stage where both Vona Vella and Tensheds play delightful early sets.
Soon enough it’s time for our special guest to take to the stage and this year that means Frank Turner himself as he returns the favour three years on from that socially distanced affair.
As you’d expect Turner gets a hero’s welcome as he begins his set with ‘Be More Kind’ and ‘The Ballad of Me and My Friends’. The crowd’s singing voices are in fine fettle which is a good thing considering the sing-a-longs continue through to final song ‘I Still Believe’.
Another beautiful thing about this community is the lack of ego on show, Turner as always appearing eternally grateful for the opportunity to play. The same can be said for your next three acts Truckstop Honeymoon, Ferris & Sylvester and Jeffery Lewis & The Voltage. All three acts are given equally as passionate reactions from the audience who can clearly appreciate beautiful music.
Considering we’ve brought our two little monsters with us another great thing about Foolhardy Folk Festival is that the music is wrapped up by 9pm! But before then we still have two highly anticipated performances.
First up are the always joyous Skinny Lister who bring their traditional party atmosphere to the festival. Perhaps more so than any other set today, the Lister crew get the fans up and dancing to the likes of ‘Cathy’, ‘This Is War’ and ‘Trouble on Oxford Street’. The band are surely now established as one of the best live acts in the UK and with a new album and tour on the horizon, there will thankfully be lots of opportunities to catch them again in the near future!
Finally the event ends just as it began… with our gracious host Beans On Toast! With backing band in tow this time around the show feels different and special as our headline performance. Kicking off with ‘Life’ and ‘Not Everybody Thinks We’re Doomed’ the set is an uplifting celebration of our existence and is the perfect way to end a wonderful day.
The cutest cameo from Beans daughter, new material and old favourites ensure that despite having to follow some sensational artists, Beans On Toast is able to send the crowd into the night reminiscing about a beautiful day, many including our kids still singing the chorus of ‘On & On’!
With another edition already announced for next August, the Foolhardy Folk Festival has quickly established itself as a must attend date on the folk calendar. This is of course a credit to Beans On Toast, but also to everyone involved behind the scenes and of course the fan community that makes the event so special.
All Points East has now firmly established its place in the UK festival calendar having already brought some huge names to Victoria Park in London in recent years.
Those names included The Strokes in 2019 when their headline set was struck by sound issues. That perhaps is the reason for their relatively quick return this year, but fans also have the prospect of hearing material from 2020 release ‘The New Abnormal’.
But before we get there we have a lot more to get through, that is after we get through traffic issues outside of London which sadly means with miss both HotWax and FEET.
When we do arrive in the arena, we head straight to the East Stage (one of two huge outdoor main stages) for the reformed Be Your Own Pet. The band only reunited last year but they own the stage today as if they’ve never been away. With their fantastic performance, Jemina Pearl starts a theme of woman stealing the show today.
A brisk walk is then required to get over to the West Stage for another reunion! The Walkmen have recently returned and draw a good early crowd to the stage. The band return the favour with a career-spanning crowd pleaser of a set.
Soon though, it’s time for the woman to take centre stage again with Amyl and the Sniffers quickly making the West Stage their own. Frontwoman Amy Taylor already has the audience in the palm of her hand when an almighty downpour commences. For most acts this would kill their momentum, but the band are able to hold the crowd and ramp up the intensity, creating a moment that will last long in the memory.
Another short wait on the West Stage is all it takes for another incredible female artist to steal the show. The iconic Karen O leads Yeah Yeah Yeahs through a headline worthy performance which is absolutely enthralling.
By the time the band closes out their set with ‘Maps’, ‘Heads Will Roll’ and ‘Date With The Night’, they’ve proven themselves to be one of the best live bands on the planet. Captivating, dazzling and glorious, you start your walk back to the East Stage wondering how on earth our headline act can match that performance.
Sadly for The Strokes the fateful enemy has a say once again with sound issues somehow a problem once more. Many in the crowd complain that the volume is too low, something perhaps not helped by the meandering pace of the setlist.
That said, when the band do dig out the hits the crowd comes to life. The setlist features many of the same staples as 2019 but we do get ‘Ode to the Mets’ and ‘The Adults Are Talking’ from their latest studio effort.
Through their ninety minute set the band are able to evidence why they are one of the most acclaimed acts of the past two decades and it is far from a bad performance.
You just leave with the same disappointment as last time due to sound problems dampening the show. Perhaps that means the band will be back again in a couple of years, but either way All Points East continues to go from strength to strength and this year is another resounding success!
As Trivium themselves proclaim tonight, it always feels like a homecoming when the Floridian metallers come to the UK. The band grew up on our island and their success has become intrinsically linked to the response of the UK to each release.
Tonight will see the band at the UEA in Norwich playing a tailored set to include a celebration of ‘Shogun’. Their fourth studio album, the record arrived at a crucial time for the band as they navigated a lukewarm response to ‘The Crusade’ – an album which was supposed to take the band to the pinnacle of the industry.
When that didn’t happen, ‘Shogun’ was the reset moment needed for the band to almost start again. Over the course of the subsequent fifteen years the band have matured into one of the most loved and respected metal bands on the planet with a consistent flow of high quality albums which looking back is quite astonishing.
ORBIT CULTURE
Also astonishing is the bands aptitude for selecting support acts and on this run of shows, they have both Orbit Culture and Bleed From Within along for the ride! Swedes Orbit Culture are a decade into their own career and that comes across with an experienced and assured performance to get the crowd engaged early.
BLEED FROM WITHIN
Having formed back in 2005, Bleed From Within certainly can’t be classed as a new band either, but the current momentum behind them is relatively new. Emerging from the pandemic with not one, but two acclaimed albums the band have made of the most of their recent studio time.
They’ve also made the very most of any stage time given to them and again tonight if you didn’t arrive as a fan of the band, you’ll most definitely be leaving as one. The group are able to create an instant connection with the audience and the synergy between them is mightily impressive.
TRIVIUM
With both bands having already turned the venue into a sweatbox, it’s soon enough time for Trivium to arrive on stage and close out the evening with ninety minutes of pure majestic brutality.
‘In The Court of the Dragon’ and ‘Down From The Sky’ quickly ensure that the audience is fully onside as the band flex their muscles early. It isn’t long before the likes of ‘Strife’ and ‘Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr’ absolutely annihilate venue security with a seemingly endless barrage of crowd surfers.
The love between band and audience is clear for all to see and as the band begin to explore ‘Shogun’ with rarities likes ‘The Calamity’ and ‘Insurrection’, an appreciation of the depths of the bands discography is overwhelming.
Newer material like ‘Catastrophist’ and ‘The Heart From Your Hate’ receive just as euphoric responses tonight as classics like ‘A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation’ and staple set closer ‘In Waves’. This is just further evidence both of the bands connection with the UK audience but most pertinently the intense quality of all their releases.
Ten albums and nearly twenty-five years in the band tease a short break is coming after this tour. Whilst this is very much hard earned, on the form the band find themselves in both on record and onstage as evidenced tonight, you are left praying that the gap isn’t that long!
Hot Milk have been building, building, building since they stormed onto the scene in 2019. Building a solid fanbase, building a reputation as a top live act and building an incomparable back catalogue. Whilst those positive foundations were being built though, pressure and expectation built with them, specifically for a full debut album.
Well, the time has arrived for the band to show off their finished house to the word. Complete with aesthetically pleasing artwork, ‘A Call To The Void’ is ready for inspection and on first look it would appear that the band haven’t build any ordinary house, they’ve built a temple!
‘A Call To The Void’ is a call to arms, an invitation for that dedicated and passionate following to worship in their temple. From beginning to end the album is a galvanising expression of cathartic release from the band.
Stripping all existential meanings from the songs, what this album represents is quite simply a really fun half hour of joyous pop punk. What the band do well is add a darker edge to the genre which removes much of the silliness that is often associated with it. That said whilst many might try and pigeonhole this as emo or the like, the reality is that the band defy true genre designated.
There are plenty of obvious influences spread throughout the album, but Hot Milk have an ability to go beyond them and create something which is uniquely Hot Milk. The band have captured imaginations with their output thus far and ‘A Call To The Void’ is now the centrepiece on the mantle in their temple.
It will of course be interesting to see where the band go from this point, but they progress having successfully navigated the pitfalls of a debut album. Given that the group don’t appear to be ones to rest on their laurels then you’d imagine the building work will continue and you’d surely put money on them creating something spectacular!
HOLDING ABSENCE – THE NOBLE ART OF SELF DESTRUCTION – ALBUM REVIEW
It has been quite a remarkable journey for Holding Absence, for example you probably won’t find many bands on their level this early in their career whilst technically featuring no original members. The band have come so far from their early beginnings though and to have the opportunity to marvel upon their evolution in recent years has been very special indeed.
Every challenge has been met head on, and the ability of the band to form such a strong, organic connection with their fans has been a pleasure to see. Hard work in the studio and out on the road has born beautiful fruit and 2021’s ‘The Greatest Mistake of My Life’ was a true masterpiece.
The band now find themselves in the unenviable position of trying to follow that release and they do so with third album, ‘The Noble Art of Self Destruction’, which is perhaps more than a subtle nod at the obstacles that they’ve overcome.
As mentioned already, the evolution and growth of the band has been special to witness but their sound in particular has developed so elegantly over the course of their career. On this new record they are sonically soaring above the clouds with a majestic aura connecting each track.
The ten songs here will suck you in and you’ll lose yourself to the honesty and richness of the lyrical content whilst be carried about by the gentle waves of the atmospheric soundtrack. It’s impossible to cherry pick highlights here as the album will simply take you on a journey that you’ll willingly follow.
Holding Absence are a band that appear to have found a magical formula for song writing because every time you think that they’ve peaked, they go ahead and surprise you all over again.
The career of The View has been really fascinating, full of ups and downs, hit singles and missed opportunities. Once tipped to be the next big thing, the band now find themselves pigeonholed into a noughties indie nostalgia scene.
There has always been a youthful volatility to the band that has both garnered positive sentiment and turned people off in equal measures. After a hiatus the band returned to a receptive fanbase who packed out shows and soaked up a look back at the glory days.
What is interesting here is that most bands would settle for their place in the pecking order and hit up that nostalgia circuit for as long as possible. Perhaps that’s what many would’ve expected The View to do, but instead here they are with a brand new studio album, which really is rather good!
Yes, that isn’t something we perhaps thought we’d be saying in 2023 but ‘Exorcism of Youth’ is undoubtedly the group’s best work since their debut album. With a more mature and explorative sound, a strong argument could even be made to say that the album is actually their very best.
There is plenty of what made the band popular on offer but rather than just copy their previous homework the band have put in the work and delivered something fresh. The likes of the fantastic ‘Shovel In His Hands’ and the superb ‘Woman of the Year’ standout but the album as a whole is full of melancholic indie anthems.
Fans of the band will very much enjoy this album and the band can be proud of proving all the naysayers wrong by pulling a rabbit out of the hat with ‘Exorcism of Youth’!
THE XCERTS – LEARNING How TO LIVE AND LET GO – ALBUM REVIEW
It’s somehow been five years since The Xcerts released the sublime ‘Hold On to Your Heart’, and in the meantime a lot has happened both in the world itself and in the world of The Xcerts.
The band now return with a new album, on a new record label, and with a newly expanded musical ambition, which is perhaps best demonstrated on statement single, ‘GIMME’! Yes, ‘Learning How to Live and Let Go’, is the sound of a band testing themselves and pushing their boundaries, removing any pre-set assumptions about what is expected of them.
That said, the DNA that runs through the likes of ‘In the Cold Wind We Smile’ and ‘There Is Only You’ is very still inherent on what is perhaps the groups most well rounded record yet. The juxtaposition between the likes of ‘Ache’ and ‘My Friends Forever’ is so finely balanced because the band have taken the two ends of their sonic palette and stretched them are far as possible.
As a result you get a wide range of new colours but the identity of the artist remains the intrinsic link. In a day and age where artists are encouraged to play it safe and stick to the rulebook, The Xcerts have been brave enough to throw that book out the window and explore themselves.
The result is twelve thoroughly enjoyable tracks interwoven by the theme of acceptance and the road to it. This very much feels like the band also coming to terms with their place in the world, pressing reset and setting off on their next journey; and given the immense quality of the outcome, you can’t help but want to go on that journey with them!
