Weekends like this are a beacon of light in darkening times. . . Supersonic is a gem, don’t take it for granted.

Roadburn’s real magic isn’t always the obvious picks — it’s the under-the-radar sets: strange, heavy, danceable, confrontational, and impossible to neatly label. Show up curious, roam freely, and let a random room change your weekend.

Ripcord Fest comes to an end on an undeniable high. As a celebration of the label and of British heavy music as a whole, it’s a triumph; but even beyond that, it’s been a joyful occasion. People have undoubtedly discovered new bands, plenty have made new friends, and it feels like an entire community has chipped in to make the day worth remembering.

EartH’s stage is vast, and The Antlers have just two (sometimes three) musicians, a handful of lamps and monitors to occupy it. When awash with blue spotlights, it could be an ocean. But the set the Antlers deliver needs this space to ring out in, such is its expanse. EartH, The Antlers, these wooden benches we sit on, the slight chill of March, and indeed the artists’ performance: all here is natural as it comes.

…and just like that, the Tour Ship fires up its engines and shoots off into The Beyond. Returning planet-side with their first new material for six years, Shift just keep getting better and always seem to be on top form.  I honestly can’t think of a more exciting metal band in the UK right now.  Go catch them at your nearest planet-side dive bar asap!  

Farao, on stage on this ordinary, beautiful February day, does create a kind of magic. . . it’s music that invites as much reflection as it is reflective, restful as it is danceable, ethereal as it is grounded in earth, skin and silk.

Seven years on from their Glasgow debut, A.A. Williams have returned to the G2 as an artist evolved. Quietly devastating and utterly captivating, they are living proof that there is beauty in darkness.

Tonight, we have been treated to two outstanding sets that, while sonically different, come from the same place in spirit; both 40 Watt Sun and Stygian Bough have shown Sheffield how special their music is, bringing it to life even more in a live setting. 

We all know it’s the last time we’ll see Svalbard play in London; for many, it’ll be the last time ever. So that energy yields plenty of real tears, a whole lot of raw, unashamed love for Svalbard, and of course some of the most wildly enthusiastic moshing I’ve ever seen. 

The music is earthly and unearthly, with moments of both grounded sensitivity and detachment that soars away from that ground to look at an existential, aeroplane-high picture. Salmena’s music, here, is a sonic reflection of this winter’s night –bracing, expansive, and this time, welcomely dark.

What this festival has grown in terms of community and open-to-anything gig-goers is bigger than any line-up, subjective opinions on music and new-year fatigue. It is a music-lovers’ event in the truest sense of the word and needs commending for that – we need more festivals like it.

It’s a feat of musical alchemy; and for everyone who made it out to witness it, it’s certain that not only will they be back next time SANAM stops through, but they’ll be bringing a few friends to share in the joy.

The joy each brought to the room – as well as heaviosity in abundance – was fantastic to see.

It’s difficult to accurately describe the sound of BC,NR to the uninitiated, especially as an unmusical punter, largely because it’s so their own. All I can say is it should be in your ears, because as fast as it is in your ears, it is in your heart.

Whether your ears will actually enjoy listening to art so radical is not something I can comment on; but what I can say is that the Igorrr live experience is second to none, and should be witnessed by anyone with even the slightest interest on one occasion at the very least.

Godamn! What a show. Like many of us here, I feel lucky to have caught this smaller club show from Psychonaut, hoping that this will help to catapult them to even greater heights – and that tonight’s poster remains on the Lexington walls, marking the arc of that trajectory.  

Overall, this makes for a brilliant tour package, showcasing that even some of the seemingly rigid sub-genres are capable of versatility and variety. With this Doom Triumvirate, the gloom, the misery, and the melancholy are all very real; but so fortunately is the joy, the passion, and the melody.  

I still can’t explain exactly what happened, but all the stars aligned that night. There was an atmosphere of hope in the performance, a departure from the more pessimistic tone of Triumph and Disaster. It was a night when the band could finally mentally move on from Departure Songs. . . That’s not a sad thing: it’s an affirmation of the strength of their ongoing writing and live performances.

Twenty years of The Lovely Eggs seems ridiculous doesn’t it? I remember 2005 like it was, erm, well, I kinda do. Not that long ago was it? The longer they go, the more impressive it is. Maximum DIY. For Dave and Holly this band is their life; they have struggled and fought doing everything themselves for two full decades now, and weirdly it does not seem to have ground them down.

‘Teeth To Sky’ sounds like Killing Joke stripped of any veneer of modern respectability and by the time they are winding the night down with ‘All We Destroy’ there’s a feeling of hunger and immediacy, a sense that they could keep doing this all night and sound just as massive as when they started.

We shouldn’t need events like Loud Women Fest to provide spaces where women and non-binary musicians can form a majority and perform without being made to feel fear, discrimination, indignity, or condescension. But unfortunately we may well need them more than ever. This festival wasn’t just a noble cause, however: it was a wonderful day of music, laughter, and solidarity, and I hope to make my return next year.