At this point in their career Kreator could easily be forgiven just going through the motions, pumping out a couple of 6/10 records with a bunch of filler and many fans would probably still be pretty happy with that. It would be easy to rest on their legacy and the best five album run through the 80s of ANY thrash band (Editor’s note: debeatable) and just make a living off anniversary tours, so to see them still giving so much love and care to new music is something to be commended, this is not a legacy band, this a band with legacy, forging a path in the modern era.
Mammoth choruses, neck snapping riffs, hammering drums and squealing solos are the tale of tape for this record, because of course it is, this is what Kreator do. Mille Petrozza sounds as feral as ever, barking his apocalyptic sermon of satanic majesty and social conscience, and esoteric nightmares, giving lyrics that are both fantastical and very real at the same time. Jürgen “Ventor” Reil, completing the old guard of the lineup assaults the drums with an extreme aggression, reminiscent of the glory days of the 80s. in fact this is the most ferocious and violent Kreator have sounded since 2009s Hoards of Chaos.
That ferocity bleeds through every second, none more so than in the guitars, which sound so sharp, so weighty, that headbanging along becomes quite simply irresistible. The tone just works perfectly with what is trying to be achieved, crunching rhythms that boulder their way over you, with an almost mechanical power, rumbling along forcing an unrelenting groove that runs underneath everything. This adds further chaos to the soaring, squalling leads, an aural assault which tempers the mood, bringing flair and flourish to the rock solid foundations.
With a band as long running and prolific as Xiu Xiu, it is hard to not end up reviewing the band rather than just the album. Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1 is a cover album, with the tracklist decided by the fans that have subscribed to their Bancamp. As expected from both Xiu Xiu and their fans, the styles and genres are very wide ranging. Like Sparks (of which their current drummer David Kendrick is a former member), they have a cult fanbase and have stayed prolific over a long career, and whereas many of their albums (originals or otherwise) dive deep into one specific part of their eclectic sound, this compilation by definition is a much more varied look at Xiu Xiu as a whole.
Xiu Xiu are not a band that are afraid of covers or reinterpretations. Having had whole cover/tribute albums indebted to Nina Simone and Twin Peaks, and covers on projects throughout their career (‘Fast Car’ and ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ to name just two), none of this is new. On Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1, there’s pop, post punk and noise, and it is all presented in a way that feels authentically Xiu Xiu. None of this is new or groundbreaking for Xiu Xiu, but a more rounded, holistic take on the band is a rarer find.
A band unashamed to display their influences, this third full-length album delivers everything expected of them. Following 2020’s California Cursed and 2023’s Living Proof, …Is Your Friend unleashes 27 tightly packed minutes of riffs and then even more riffs for good measure fired out with the same unfiltered energy that has defined Drain’s rise through the modern hardcore scene.
This record is best understood as a continuation of form rather than a reinvention. High-impact songwriting merges with riffwork drawn straight from the Slayer playbook, all refracted through Drain’s relentless hardcore framework. There’s no push for stylistic lens, instead the trio reinforce and refine what already works. The guitars tear forward with a frantic sharpness, the rhythm section hits like a sledgehammer, and Sammy Ciaramitaro’s vocals maintain that gritty, confident and commanding presence that cuts through without ever overpowering the mix.
What sets …Is Your Friend apart isn’t evolution, but execution. The album radiates a feral, almost volatile energy, as though every moment was written with the live environment as the primary destination. Every lick, drum fill, mosh call, and guitar squeal feels tuned for maximum crowd eruption. It’s a record that breathes. Pulsing, sweating, and surging like a living organism built to inhabit packed rooms. The production enhances this effect: polished enough to maintain clarity, yet raw enough to preserve the feeling of bodies colliding and sweat hitting the floor. The result is an album that feels less like a collection of studio tracks and more like a distilled live set.
A standout moment comes with ‘Who’s Having Fun?’, a surprise injection of melody without sacrificing intensity. Much like their cover of the Descendents’ ‘Good Good Things’ on Living Proof, this track leans into bouncy, pop-punk sensibility, driven by clean, melodic vocals that offer a true sing-along moment. It’s bright, infectious, and showcases a different shade of the band’s personality, further proving that Drain can pivot between aggression and melody without losing authenticity.
As anyone with even a passing interest in the band will already be well aware, Spanish Love Songs’ output is emotionally raw to say the least, and frequently sees frontman Dylan Slocum wrestling with the how the hell to make it through another trip around the sun. The collective catharsis of a crowd scream-singing along to every word of song after heart-rending song is as potent as it’s ever been in a live setting, and those who connect with Slocum’s lyrical output experience the same at-a-remove kinship cultivated by the very best songwriters. For a band with so many hooks, it’s the one that gets right into the meat of your heart that leaves the greatest impression.
A Brief Intermission in the Flattening of Time is a record enriched by its collaborations. Opener ‘Lifers Too’, featuring The Wonder Years, functions as a thematic companion to the track ‘Lifers’ from No Joy. The original track presents a ‘lifer’ as a person who essentially escapes the gravitational pull of self-obliteration while at once being condemned to a life sentence in this world. On ‘Lifers Too’ there’s a somewhat deceptive pep in the step of the music that builds to the almost breezy refrain, “We don’t need this boulder, so we just let it roll”, before we’re brought back down with the following: “You thought I was a lifer / I never thought I’d get this old”. Yeah, there’s the sting of that hook again.
Kakihara have been ever present across the UK since their inception as their attitude towards their music is infectious as they project such positivity in their violence. You will be charmed by their brutal transmission as it bellows like Fit For An Autopsy and cuts with the angular ferocity of Converge. Sprinkle the personality of Every Time I Die and you have a beast capable of levelling any stage (or floor) the earth can provide.
Hailing from Edinburgh and released by Ripcord Records, Love Songs Part II get 9 minutes of manic metallic hardcore where the samples are worth the price of admission alone. The guitars writhe and worm like an angry rattlesnake between the vocals of Keith Muddimen who flicks between howl and shriek over the beefy chugs and frantic drumming. Although breakdowns are plenty the self coined ‘Big Stupid Beatdoons’ is accurate and more than just a gimmick, it is a philosophy which is carried with heart and sincerity throughout the intensity.
Yorkshire based Sulk Rooms is a single entity by the name of Thomas Ragsdale who has conjured immersion for TV, film, with tracks appearing in BBC documentaries and beyond. His live music journey has led him to tour with James Adrian Brown (Pulled Apart By Horses) and be a key member of post-rock’s Pijn, Sulk Rooms is a skilled conductor of emotion who’s talents stretch far and wide and ‘Rewilding’ ties a ribbon on his ability to encompass the cinematic see-saw between weightless drift and hurried heartbeat.
Opening track ‘Let’s Choose Our Words Carefully’ builds and grows until undercut with a four-to-the-floor showing enticing danceability, still within the realm of headphone listening, before trailing back into familiar textures and flickered samples it emerges like a landmass coming into view as we wander into our first wilderness.
‘Rewilding’ feels tangible, it invokes certain imagery of rugged and almost unforgiving terrain. Nature which It is not ours to control but to exist alongside in peaceful observation, each track feeling like they portray the emotional state of the surroundings rather than those passing through. Album highlight “Innelea” provide Intelligent IDM flourishes with nods to artists like Clark, Oneohtrix Point Never and Floating Points whilst maintaining lush ambient and sinister post-rock sensibilities. The album is as cohesive as it is exploratory in its many subtle inflections as mechanical drum sequences undulate under pulsating, ever-developing texture layers. Flairs of the neo-classical in ‘A Moment To Unfold’ into the fluttering intensity of ‘Hyper Tension’ where the calm layering of sub drone/heavily delayed guitars and uplifting harmony all balance perfectly, never veering into cacophony. This is brain massage music for introspective moments away from daily life perfectly captured and released by studio extraordinaire Joe Clayton (Floodlit Recordings) who’s grace and execution at the desk makes every pulse feel essential to the experience. Powerful synth manipulation and utilisation of cavernous reverb in ‘Tether’ feel ominous and steer your mind to an inviting unknown which stretches out into eternity.
