This might seem like an inevitability at this point, but as of the 5th of November 2018, UK Scumscene will be taking an extended hiatus. We apologise to any bands or PR agencies who have delivered review copies of their releases to us expecting reviews, but we can’t deliver anything at this time.
Updates to UK Scumscene have been obviously intermittent for the last 2 years and there are various factors that have influenced the slowing down of regular reviews. In the last 2 years I’ve started a new job that is emotionally draining, and having to come home day-after-day and try to muster up the energy to write a screen’s worth of thoughts about music is bizarrely challenging when you’re mentally spent. Another factor is the loss of Catbird last year – a great friend, supporter and a huge influence on me and my taste in music. Being reminded of him every time I put fingers to keyboard can be a bit of a barrier to overcome.
I don’t want to call this, “farewell”. UK Scumscene is something I’m immensely proud of and it’s put me in contact with some of the best people I could have hoped to meet. The UK heavy music scene is near and dear to me and it’s stories like being approached by a young Employed to Serve back when they were a 2-person studio project, releasing EPs through Grindcore Karaoke, and watching them evolve into a touring band with a Kerrang Album of the Year award to their name that gives me immense pride and satisfaction that UK heavy music is still important.
However, I need a break and to find that passion that will allow me to give this place the attention it deserves. I want to be able to commit to UK Scumscene and right now it’s just too much of a hurdle to give it my full attention. If you still want to hear me chatting about heavy music then Cast Iron is still going and we recently dropped a new episode over the weekend. UK Scumscene will be back, but as of right now it’s a, “see you later” from me.
This is it guys. Probably the most influential figure in British heavy music has passed away.
Motörhead’s Ian Fraser Kilmister, known to the world largely as Lemmy, has died “after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer”. There’s hardly anything that can be said about Lemmy that hasn’t already been said. Motörhead are probably one of the most important bands in heavy music and they cross-over rock, punk and thrash better than any band. Everyone is influenced by Motörhead.
Lemmy leaves behind a fantastic legacy. Lemmy appeared on 3 Hawkwind albums before starting Motörhead who leave behind a ridiculously huge back-catalogue of 22 albums. Lemmy was the only consistent member of the band but Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee have been apart of Motörhead since 1984 and 1992 respectively, becoming the longest serving guitarists and drummers that Motörhead ever had.
Our friends at Smithsfoodgroup have curated an enormous 57 song sampler which you can stream and download below.
This pay-what-you-want sampler features music from Scumscene favourites Venom Prison, Svalbard, Old Skin, Ithaca, Employed to Serve, Artemis, Rolo Tomassi, Eulogy, OHHMS, Oblivionized, Yards and many, many more. This is an absolutely essential download for fans of heavy music that we cannot recommend enough. Hop to it:
We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Ben Aucott, guitarist for Scumscene-favourites Mage.
Ben’s passing is a figurative gut-punch that’s going to sting for quite some time. I’ve been an enormous fan of Mage since their first album and they’ve been kind enough to personally thank us in the liner notes for their last two releases. It’s always been a pleasure working with them and it pains me to say that we send our sympathies to Ben’s friends and family during this difficult time.
If there’s any positives to take from all this then let it be known that Ben managed to marry the love of his life just over a week ago. Ben’s a hero in my eyes.
Paul Van Linden, the bassist and vocalist of Birmingham-based sludge metallers Grimpen Mire has sadly passed away. The band revealed the news in the early hours of this morning:
“It is with an exceptionally heavy heart that I have to type this, but Paul lost his life last night. Obviously we are all devastated and our thoughts are with his family. RIP Paul, our life long brother and best friend.
Jim / Ian
Grimpen Mire”
UK Scumscene would like to send our deepest sympathies to all of Paul’s friends and family during this difficult time.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to tell you about a podcast that we’re a part of!
Myself and Alan Williamson have started a podcast about metal albums called Cast Iron. In each episode we tackle a modern or classic metal album and dissect what we both like (or dislike) about the record. In the first episode we talk about Iron Maiden’s Powerslave and you can hear what we thought about by clicking here.
You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes by clicking here or RSS by clicking here. You can also follow our general activities on the podcast’s website which can be found by clicking here. Please check it out and if you have any feedback then you can fire over any comments to our Facebook page or our Twitter.
There’s a fair amount of activity surrounding Liverpudlian sludge-monsters Iron Witch at the moment. The band have recently announced that guitarists Dan and Sam will no longer be working with the band which would normally come as a bit of a shock, but the band are adamant to stress that work on their upcoming debut album is still on schedule. To show how far the band have come, the band have unearthed 2 previously unreleased demos for free download. You can stream and download them using the widget below:
Iron Witch will also be releasing a discography record called The First Four Beers. The band have promised that pre-orders will be available soon and it’s a release we can’t recommend enough. Keep an eye on the band’s Facebook page for updates as they happen.
The Kickstarted Northampton-based metal/rock festival Alt-Fest appears to have been cancelled after acts like Marylin Manson and Cradle of Filth have pulled their appearances. Rob Ferguson of Transcend Music has also reported the festival is cancelled. Furguson is responsible for several acts who were due to appear at the festival one of which was headliner Fields of Nephilim.
Alt-Fest was crowdfunded with a successful Kickstarter campaign that saw them raise £61,762 but it appears this wasn’t enough to fund all of the event’s costs.
There is currently no official word from the Alt-Fest organisers which as you can imagine is angering those who backed the festival and booked travel and accomodation in advance. As Kickstarter is not a shop, the event organisers don’t have to refund the money they raised but if they want to gain the trust of these backers for any future projects I’d recommend they pull their finger out and do the right thing.
Evile have announced that they are delaying their shows in September because they’re not up to standard.
The band have finally chosen their new lead guitarist but this was only decided recently so the band have not had the amount of time they’d hoped for to rehearse for the September shows. These shows were already delayed and rescheduled once after Ol Drake left the band back in August last year.
Evile have also promised that an announcement regarding their new lead guitarist will happen, “in the near future”. Everyone with tickets to the rescheduled shows will still be granted entry when the new dates are announced.
Evile released their last album Skull in May 2013. As it turns out, this will be the last release under Earache Records as the band are no longer with the label or their management. I suspect a Pledge Music campaign might be around the corner.
Old Skin are currently supporting the release of :consume:; a two track EP that is available directly from the band for one week only and then it’s gone forever.
The limited edition CD version is unfortunately sold out but you can still download the release for any amount of money (yes, even no money if you’re that much of a cheapskate). Make sure you grab it via the widget below because at midnight on the 1st of June the band will be taking it down and you’ll have to source it by “other” means (which the band are openly encouraging by the way).
Check it out because you won’t regret it. You’ll have a hard time finding a more interesting/punishing slab of metallic hardcore today:
Please remember that UK Scumscene only features bands based in the UK and we'd appreciate it if you'd send a download of the record you want reviewed and NOT a stream. Don't forget to attach a press kit and artwork!
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