The historic cruise Hellbound I is officially a month away. After a social media whirlwind of predictions for the line-up, the chaos of ticket purchases, resulting in a seven minute sellout time and the several changes of bands on the bill, it is safe to say that there hasn't been a story riff with twists and turns as we head towards the time to depart for Hell. If you were lucky enough to grab yourself a cabin on the cruise, you will be receiving communication in the coming

Iconic band Slipknot, formed in 1995 in Iowa, USA took a break from Knotfest Australia in 2026, having promised to return in 2027 (usually held in early March). With Slipknot making moves with the release of their latest single Arsenal on September 9th and front man Corey Taylor featuring on Falling in Reverse's latest single Joseph on September 14th, we thought it would be fun to start the conversation of prediction lists for the 2027 Festival. Knotfest usually sticks within

Last year I made the comment to War Bear vocalist Ravi that I was going to be calling SlugFest, SlugFest 2025 because there was no way this would be a one time event. He made the joke of "Don't curse me with that" but here we are one year later at SlugFest 2: Electric Boogaloo. Same venue, same phenomenal price of $10 for 10 bands, over two stages and a plethora of talent from around the country, only this time with a one hour long set for headliners War Bear. There is a huge

A Night In Texas is a Deathcore band from Gimuy/Cairns, forming in 2009 and appearing back on the Australia circuit for the first time since 2019. A Night In Texas is due to release their Album The Dark Side of Humanity on September 4th. A Night In Texas debuted with their EP Invigoration - EP in 2013, followed by Albums The God Delusion (2015), Global Slaughter (2017), The Divine Dichotomy - Chaper I (2021), The Divine Dichotomy - Chapter II (2021), Digital Apocalypse (2024

Cardiff, Wales, Post-Hardcore band Holding Absence kicked off their Australian Tour on August 14th at the Princess Theatre with supports Kingdom of Giants (from Sacramento, USA) and Stepson (of Brisbane, Queensland), and we were lucky enough to be there. I do have to add the caveat that I was unable to stay for the full Holding Absence set, due to a family emergency, however, I will report everything I experienced up to that point. The night began with a line looping around

With Good Things Alternative Music Festival announcing their upcoming dates for the 2026 Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane run we have created a list of twelve bands we know won't be on the lineup due to conflicting dates. Just as a point of note, I won't be including bands who have already been to Australia this year, will be in Australia in December/January or were on last year's lineup. This will be the first of several lists as more bands release tour dates past August and S

If you would have told my teenage self that the band that I was watching on RAGE on a Sunday morning while I ate my cereal, would in 20 years be on a PR and Media list for a company I created I would have told you, you were a crazy person. But here we are, reporting on not only Bowling For Soup but also Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. With hour-long sets each, and the support set from Talk Heavy to cover, there is a lot of mayhem to cover, so let's jump right in. In pas

I made the joke when this line-up dropped that Tomcat was going to have to renovate all over again after this show because it was going to get destroyed by this ridiculous collection of bands, and I wasn't far off. Don't worry, there was no property damage, but this show was one of the craziest I have been to to date. In my recent experience with the venue there seems to be a habit of a fluid crowd who moves in and out of the main room, coming to watch a few songs and then di

One of the bonuses of being a part of the Queensland Alternative Music Scene is getting to witness insane line-ups like this one on a regular basis. On April 18th I walked up the towering staircase of Tomcat in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane with a whole show of repeat watches in front of me. Having just watched Riley and Billy perform six days beforehand in their other band False Front 45 with Deadskin and Virtues (you can read the review here) I was excited to see them in the m

You know you are going to have a good night when you walk past the line of concert goers and see razor blade hair cuts, raccoon tails, more skinny jeans than you can poke a stick at and fish skeleton hair clips. With the 20 year celebration of Saosin's Self-titled Album and the resurgence of Emo culture, the timing was perfect for Saosin to return to Australia to bring the heat with Senses Fail and Fallweather. Standing at the top balcony on day one of the tour I was prepped

Never have I seen a show with so much stress about the lineup leading up to it like this one. With an original Headliner of Nicolas Cage Fighter who were forced to withdraw from the Sydney and Brisbane show due to the birth of a baby Cage Fighter (Congratulations!), followed by the withdrawal of Aotearoa/New Zealand band The Rising Tide, moving the headline spot to Deadskin and adding Virtues, False Front 45 and blkmoth into the fray. The now free event at Black Bear Lodge in

Sometimes you just need to go to a Punk show on an Easter long weekend for the health of your soul, and that is exactly what I did on April 2nd at TOMCAT in Brisbane. Atlas And The Attic were kind enough to invite us along to celebrate the launch of their EP Polyester City and following the unfortunate loss of Okay Dane to the current state of the economy, we had the pleasure of watching TakeOver and the first live performance of Keepseeker. I must say in full transparency

Have you ever seen Mario in a circle pit? Thanks to Zuko I can now say I have. Having watched the band perform three times last year with Alpha Wolf, Stray From The Path and finally at their headlining show in Toowoomba I knew what I was in for coming into this show and the excitement was at its peak before I even arrived in Brisbane. Having watched the rapid growth of Zuko's fan base over 2025 I was so happy for the band to see most of their shows sell out well before perfor

Sydney Metalcore band Engraved (formed in 2020) will be on tour this year with several individual shows and a ten show tour alongside tribute bands Chop Suey and Slip-Not. Engraved hit the scene with their debut single ' Follow Your Idol ' in 2022, followed by their EP ' Unleashed ' (2022) and singles ' Wake Up ' (2023), ' Deadline ' (2023), ' The Wretched One ' (2024), ' NCB ' (2024) and ' The Fallen ' in (2025). Engrave have previously appeared on HeavyFest #3, Southern Sim

Meanjin/Brisbane Metalcore band DisKust are on tour from next month, celebrating their release of EP Skin Cage, released on February 13th. While you wait for your tour date, including DisKust's appearance in Dubbo at WhisperFest on April 11th, you can listen to Skin Cage here, to get yourself pumped. DisKust will be appearing at Riffs, Filth, Regret tour in Sydney and Newcastle New South Wales with Deprivation , Where The Devil and Shatterface . Tickets are $25 at the door.

Hellbound have announced their intention to spread their heavy music cruise experience to a second voyage with Hellbound II. The cruise will occur from 17-21 January 2027. Presale goes on sale at 11am on the 4th of February and General Sale at 11am on the 5th of February. After Hellbound I selling out in Presale in less than ten minutes, with email issues and no General sale available, there have been issues raised about a repeat of the previous cruises launching events. Hell

No matter what you believe in, whatever or how you practice, no one can turn away from a celebration like Ocean Sleeper's Metalcore Christmas Special. Coming off the successful EU/UK and North American tour, Ocean Sleeper rounded out their year with the Sold Out Christmas bash on Saturday the 20th of December at The Brightside in Brisbane, Queensland. With seven incredible Australian bands over two stages (including the newly constructed outdoor entertainment area) and no cla

On Saturday 13th of December I stood in line at 7pm outside of Volcanic Brewing in Toowoomba waiting for what was bound to be an absolutely feral last show from Lust & Loathe for the year. In my experience thus far, the energy is always high in Toowoomba and I was not disappointed as it felt like the crowd had something to prove to round out the year's events. As I wandered towards the back to check out the merch tables I was greeted by the boys of Doombride who mentioned " Y

Female fronted Alt-Metal band Twisted Lullaby hit the stage at the newly renovated TOMCAT in Brisbane on Friday the 28th of November with local support acts Pyrokinesis and Call The Mourning . Twisted Lullaby released their fourth single 'Siren Song' in October and in celebration we reviewed the track, which you can read here . After walking up the mammoth set of stairs at 7pm to the top of the venue I walked into a long room full of graffiti artwork, band flyers and sticke

Sometimes in life you just have to travel for five hours to have a once in a lifetime experience, and that for me was Scasm Fest 2025. For way too long I was counting down the days to this event because it just felt like one of those things that was going to be incredible, with a stacked line-up of varying alternative genres of up and coming bands, I was so in. As I walked up the stairs to be greeted by a sign saying "No Fuckwits" I knew I was in for a treat and surrounded by