Sander van den Driesche saw the San Diego masters of psychedelic jam rock Earthless at Audio in Glasgow, with support from Holy Mountain and Sloth Metropolis.

Our metal editor Sander van den Driesche caught up with Pallbearer who are currently on their first European headline tour with the excellent UK blackened doomsters Bast as support.

What would you do when you find out that Kayo Dot and Botanist are playing a last minute show in your city? Hopefully you would be like Sander van den Driesche and don’t think twice about going along!

This classic album mixes ambient elements with desert rock, psych and space rock, which makes for a very hypnotic, chilled and mesmerising listen. – By Sander van den Driesche

MugStock – A Festival of Music & Merriment – will be an intimate event set in a stunning and unique location just outside of Glasgow, from Friday 7th to Sunday 9th August, in a park with two castles and beautiful ancient woodlands. The festival will feature performance, workshops, local musicians and international headliners. Sander van den Driesche asked Festival Director Alan Govan some questions to find out more.

Clouds Taste Satanic are an instrumental doom band from Brooklyn, New York who manage to find a nice mix of heavy music with beautiful post-rock sounding passages. – By Sander van den Driesche

Earlier this month Inter Arma was back in Scotland to play a great set at Glasgow’s Audio. Sander van den Driesche asked drummer T.J. Childers and singer Mike Paparo some questions about song writing and their new release The Cavern.

One of this year’s best metal releases is Bast’s debut album Spectres, at least for Sander van den Driesche it is. He asked the band some questions to look back at this hectic year for them and to see what the future might bring.

Earlier this month The Safety Fire played their first Edinburgh gig as part of another European tour with fellow progressive metal bands Protest the Hero and The Contortionist. Sander van den Driesche caught up with guitarist Jo Ardiles and had a nice chat with him about touring, the band, and humour in music.

Horrendous throws you back to some beautifully produced early 90s old school death metal. ‘Ecdysis’ rips all over the place. – By Sander van den Driesche

Sander van den Driesche saw a very impressive show by US blackened sludge band Inter Arma at Audio in Glasgow, with support by Mantar, Dune and Headless Kross.

Sander van den Driesche asked Mateusz of Polish post-metal/hardcore band Fleshworld some questions to find out more behind the band.

At the recent Damnation Festival, Sander van den Driesche sat down with Cristian Hector of German funeral doom metal band AHAB for an interesting chat about the band, influences, and what it’s like to combine a dayjob with the band.

Sander van den Driesche went to Audio in Glasgow to see Blues Pills with support by The Vintage Caravan, BlackWolf and Hair of the Dog.

We had a small team present at this year’s Damnation Festival. Read Andrew Rawlinson, Bruce Cowie and Ross Mckendrick’s extensive coverage of the 10th anniversary edition.

Sander van den Driesche asked Niklas of Latitude Egress some questions to find out more about this new project and the new album To Take Up the Cross.

Whereas The Body takes you on a long and horrifying journey, Sandworm throws you back into a whirlpool of raw and powerful punk energy. As far as split releases go, this one is definitely one of the must have splits of the year. – By Sander van den Driesche

Sander van den Driesche sat down with Mike Scheidt of YOB for a long chat about the new album Clearing The Path To Ascend, Neurot Recordings, Vöhl and the current state of the music industry among other things.

Sander van den Driesche was witness to a mighty night of doom when YOB and Pallbearer played at Audio in Glasgow. Support was from local doomsters Buried Sleeper.

Sander van den Driesche sat down with bassist Joseph D. Rowland and guitarist/lead vocalist Brett Campbell of Pallbearer when they played Glasgow recently. They had a chat about the new album hype, Profound Lore Records and melodic vocals.

Sander van den Driesche was at the first and to date only Scottish show of legendary Dutch high octane rockers Peter Pan Speedrock. Support was provided by local fun metalers Certain Death.