With a name like Mammoth Storm and a record titled for an ancient giant king you’d better be ready to bring the heavy. Thankfully on ‘Fornjot’ they don’t disappoint – delivering a selection of doom metal epics that don’t skimp on either the doom or the metal. – By Jamie Jones

“I may not listen to many of the same records as my mum or dad these days…But the attitudes they fostered in me run deep.” Jamie Jones writes about how his mum and dad’s influence affects his taste and attitude towards music, in the latest in our From My Parents series

They take the stoner party van from the cover of their début and power slide it through a bunch of rock sub-genres with glee, one hand on the wheel, one flicking horns through the window. – By Jamie Jones

Dope Body have often sounded like a band being pulled in several directions – their love of 90s US hardcore outliers and noisey alt-rock is evident but they’ve never sounded quite sure whether they want to take it in weirder or more accessible territory. On Kunk they almost manage to do both. They’re still a band at war with themselves; a struggle which every now and again brings out the best in them. By Jamie Jones

Evolution can be painful – but the trick The Sword have pulled here is making it seem as difficult as kicking back, opening a beer, dusting off a few old long neglected records and rediscovering how much you loved them back before you learned to worry about genre. – By Jamie Jones

Two bands flying high and doing what they please. If you’re already a fan of either band you’re probably already on this – if not then it’s as good a time as any to find out what you’ve been missing. – By Jamie Jones

Whilst they’re pretty derivative Destination Unknown is a hard record not to like, even when your mind drifts to the bands who they’ve drawn so much from. – By Jamie Jones

Not only have Mutoid Man pulled out one of the most jaw dropping and exhilarating metal/hardcore records released in a long, long time they’ve also put out a record that stands up to anything either of its more famous band members have ever put their name to. – By Jamie Jones

My revelation during ‘Watcher’ wasn’t quite that dramatic, but it shed light on the myriad details that set Coffinfish apart from their peers, and revealed that their best moments are at once beautiful and terrible enough to have been torn from pages of the Necronomicon itself. – By Jamie Jones

When they’re at their best they pull off the ever impressive trick of managing to not quite sound like anyone else despite sounding immediately familiar. By Jamie Jones

For those who like their sludge as miserable, myopic and misanthropic as possible – or just want a record to stomp around their living room to pretending to be Godzilla creating a ruckus in downtown Tokyo, Hogslayer have got your back. – By Jamie Jones

What they have in this little backstreet is a like a UK summit for fans of All Things Heavy, with a unique and wonderful atmosphere and space for some great unheralded bands to do their thing. By Jamie Jones

Last year Big Business self-released their latest album ‘Battlefields Forever’, which recently got an official European release through Solar Flare Records. Jamie Jones asked bassist/singer Jared Warren some questions about the new record, signing to Solar Flare Records and more.

Post-rock atmospherics, hardcore confessional vocals, bursts of feral black metal, metalcore breakdowns – it’s all fair game, so long as it contributes to the oppressive atmosphere of hopelessness and despair. – By Jamie Jones

Whilst they’ve always been a band that probably shouldn’t work on paper – yet almost always have – here they make being Big Business sound like the most natural thing in the world. – By Jamie Jones

A trio of effervescent, neatly crafted songs that are dead set on merrily bouncing from riff to riff until everyone is grinning along with them. By Jamie Jones

It’s fair to say they get better as storytellers with each passing record. By Jamie Jones.

It’s a beautiful nightmare, a fusion of the ethereal and the brutal that, even without the more out­ there moments of their debut, doesn’t quite sound like anything else. – By Jamie Jones

This is dirty groove laden rock weaponised and wielded with ill intentions. – By Jamie Jones

Don’t go into ‘Poisoned Altars’ expecting your horizons altering. What you’ll find instead is an album full of competence, confidence and fuelled by a deep abiding passion for heavy metal. – By Jamie Jones