The Boys Are Back…. and they're storming through the party like El Nino!

Aces. She's an incredible bass player and looked to be having a whale of a time up there (heck, they all did!) so I'm happy to be spreading the word.

Tricot are the best at what they do, as we've discussed before. I finally got to see them a couple of weeks ago - it was well worth the wait. The support band, Axes, were excellent too - you should give them a go if you haven't already heard them.

Who's your favorite Japanese metal girl group?

Heat? When has White Pony's greatness been up for dispute?

There all is aching.

Iron Reagan are fucking cool.

Damageplan - Cold Blooded
Lamb of God - Set to Fail
Darkest Hour - Doomsayer (The Beginning of the End)
Will Haven - Carpe Diem
Converge - Dark Horse

Arcarsenal: great album opener or greatest album opener?

Farts. Farts sounds like four. Four is two plus two. Two. The next clue must be in…. ALASKA!

I'd totally overlooked it before this week having been underwhelmed by their earlier stuff but it's an absolute monster of an album.

I'm glad I live far enough north for it to not gain any traction. What a load of shite.

HECK - Good As Dead
Machine Head - A Farewell to Arms
Foo Fighters - Next Year
Rolo Tomassi - Raumdeuter
The Futureheads - Stupid and Shallow
Billy Talent - Voices of Violence
Biffy Clyro - Pause It and Turn It Up

Heck, let's not go forgetting about Predators here. Talk about role of a lifetime…

Exactly, 4 medals was the best in 90 years. That doesn't suggest a hugely successful history in winter sports for the UK as a whole, never mind England on its own. 2014 made for good viewing though, hopefully there'll be more of that in the future.

and Eve Muirhead isn't even English. That's how insignificant we've been.

FINE

Drank some beeeers. It was my daughter's first birthday on Sunday so I treated myself to the bottle of Brewdogs' AB:19 I'd been saving. As the latest in their experimental Abstrakt series it's pretty loopy - a blend of black and red saisons that's then aged in rum barrels and comes out at a lofty 13.1%. I don't think…

Oh wow, I haven't thought about Katatonia for a long time. Since the album with song on it came out, probably.

Gojira - THE ART OF DYING
Converge - The Broken Vow
We Were Skeletons - King of Tricks
Ozma - Shooting Stars
The Murderburgers - Everything Is Muted And Brown
Jeff Rosenstock - Polar Bear or Africa