Brady Irwin 9/2/25 Brady Irwin 9/2/25

[Archive Review] Nest - ‘Metempsychosis’ LP.

This post has been through the wringer! Originally posted to Overdrive Music Magazine in 2019 (many thanks to Sebastian for permission to repost) in my time as Senior Contributor, it then made it onto our old blog in December ‘24 - right as our previous website met its’ demise. This is one well worth revisiting, however, as Nest’s bludgeoning LP Metempsychosis is an abrasive, expansive sludge/death metal bruiser that clearly stood the test of time.

Brady Irwin 7/2/25 Brady Irwin 7/2/25

ISC Podcast, Ep. 34: [INTERVIEW] with OBSCURA frontman/Guitarist STEFFEN KUMMERER.

Originally posted on our now-defunct old website, dead as a doornail as of NYE 2024 (RIP) - check the link for both video and audio-only podcast formats re: Brady’s interview with Steffen Kummerer, frontman/guitarist of German progressive/technical death metal juggernaughts Obscura! Recorded on 22nd Dec ‘24, it’s an interesting exploration into the writing and process behind latest LP A Sonication, with additional artist/album bio, order links and much more within!

Brady Irwin 7/2/25 Brady Irwin 7/2/25

[Heavy News] ALCEST Release New Video For 'Amèthyste'

Renowned French post-black metal/shoegaze outfit Alcest have just dropped a lush new music video for the single ‘Amèthyste’ off their fantastic LP Les Chants De L'Aurore released June 2024. Peep the link to check out the new video, as well as artist links and additional statement from Neige around where they’re at. Enjoy the vibes!

Brady Irwin 7/2/25 Brady Irwin 7/2/25

[Heavy News] THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN Announce August 2025 Australian Tour

MASSIVE! Absolutely massive! The Dillinger Escape Plan return from their prior hiatus to provide you lucky Aussie heavy-music-enjoyers another final opportunity to see their incredible, intense live show on our shores one last time! This one cannot be missed.

Brady Irwin 6/2/25 Brady Irwin 6/2/25

[Heavy News] NERVOSA Announce First-Ever Aus Tour in ‘15 Years of Nervosa’

One of Brazil’s finest modern death-thrash exploits, Nervosa, are slated to tour Down Under for the first time! That’s going to be a ripping pit and a neck-injuring great time, especially as they’re celebrating 15 years of mayhem. Get the skinny on tickets (onsale this week, including VIP packages), tour dates, venues, latest singles, artist links and more right here! Get your thrash-mania on, ‘Straya.

Brady Irwin 4/2/25 Brady Irwin 4/2/25

[Heavy News] XOTH Announces U.S. West Coast Tour, Launching April 4th!

Seattle (WA) - Death/thrash/black metal futurists, XOTH, are thrilled to announce their U.S. West Coast Tour, beginning on Friday, April 4th in Tacoma, WA, where the band will share the stage with the legendary 3 Inches of Blood. Along the way, XOTH will join forces with a host of killer bands, including Starcourt, Street Cleaner, and Upon Stone. Check the link for you lucky-ducks in the US - full tour dates and much more!

Brady Irwin 3/2/25 Brady Irwin 3/2/25

[Music Mondays] Mon 3rd Feb, 2025.

This week’s Music Monday contains more than you shake a stick at! Multiple recent Heavy News items - album releases! Recent Riffs (articles)! Reviews and more! Plus a whole swathe of updates from the equally-busy Musolegion community - more album reviews, gig reviews and several packed Musolegion Recommends pieces exploring bands from Iceland, Japan and Central Asia! Dig in, music-lovers.

Brady Irwin 3/2/25 Brady Irwin 3/2/25

[Heavy News] MEPHETIC CORPSE’s ‘Sickness Attracts Sickness’ Out Now!

From the Heavy News desk for Music Mondays here at ISC - The debut full-length from US vomit-grinders MEPHITIC CORPSE has been unleashed! Sickness Attracts Sickness is now available on digital and physical formats. Extremely Rotten Productions will release the album to European audiences with Headsplit Records (vinyl, CD and cassette) and 625 Thrashcore (vinyl and CD) releasing the album in the US. Get your gore and blast on!

Brady Irwin 3/2/25 Brady Irwin 3/2/25

[Heavy News] BEHEMOTH Unveils Video For Title Track Of New Album ‘THE SHIT OV GOD’

Extreme metal giants BEHEMOTH have revealed the title, cover art and release date of their upcoming new opus, The Shit Ov God, which is due to be released on May 9th via Nuclear Blast Records. Alongside the title track, which is streaming now, an opulent music video. Check the link for the clip, relevant artist links, additional album details and more! Horns = raised.

Mal Keecher 1/2/25 Mal Keecher 1/2/25

[Riff] Don’t give up, there’s hope on the horizon.

In this Riff (article), Mal provides a nice little playlist broaching both alternative and pop-music titles from across a wide palette. (Plus, we get a playlist which is linked inside this post!). Most importantly, Mal provides some lovely, strengths-based reflections that are prompted/drawn from said songs. In these confusing, uncertain and chaotic times, it’s important to lean into this little nuggets of hope from our creative muses.

Brady Irwin 28/1/25 Brady Irwin 28/1/25

ISC Podcast Ep. 33: [INTERVIEW] w/ ROBERT ERIKsSON, Drummer of Sweden’s THE HELLACOPTERS.

Another music-scene veteran with many years of industry experience under his belt in Robert Erikkson! Robert is the long-term mainstay drummer of Swedish hard-rock institution ⁠The Hellacopters⁠. We caught up on Tue 28th Jan just prior to release of their infectious, hooky and fun latest LP Overdriver, available as of the 31st. Check out the full interview plus artist bio, album order links, latest singles and more! Rock on, Svenska style.

Brady Irwin 28/1/25 Brady Irwin 28/1/25

[Archive] Interview with AARON TUCK of Black Metallers LUMEN AD MORTEM.

Pic Credit: Jai from @crannkmedia. Originally posted on our sadly now-defunct old website (RIP) in November 2024, ahead of their imposing presence/our review of same @ Froth And Fury Festival - here’s a Q&A interview with indominable frontman Aaron Tuck of South Australian black metal all-stars Lumen Ad Mortem! It’s a great chat and worth revisiting. Go check out their stuff, fantastic live too - can confirm.

Brady Irwin 27/1/25 Brady Irwin 27/1/25

[Heavy News] GOTTHARD unleash new single & video 'Thunder & Lightning'; ‘STEREO CRUSH’ now available for pre-order

Swiss rock legends Gotthard are 16 albums deep into a successful, decade-spanning career. Not content to rest on their laurels, here at the Heavy News desk for our Music Mondays column we’ve been given a swathe of details on up-and-comer LP Stereo Crush. There’s plenty of content here to sink into - album bio/details, video/streaming links for newest singles ‘Thunder and Lightning’ & ‘Boom Boom’, plus all a heap more! Stereo Crush will be released courtesy of Reigning Phoenix Music in Oz.

Brady Irwin 27/1/25 Brady Irwin 27/1/25

[Heavy News] Sludge-Soaked UK Rockers SLUNG Announce Debut Album, New Single + UK Tour.

From the Heavy News desk here at ISC. Australian label Art as Catharsis bring you a whole bunch of details on UK sludge-rockers Slung re: upcoming LP In Ways. Check the link for music video, Soundcloud stream link and mp3 direct-download link for latest single ‘Laughter’. UK followers, you can also get the skinny on all the tour dates as well! For fans of: Mastodon, Kylesa, QOTSA, Red Fang.

Brady Irwin 26/1/25 Brady Irwin 26/1/25

[Podcast] A CONTENT-CHALLENGER Has Appeared! Please Welcome Newest ISC Team Member - Spiro ‘The Hype Guy’!

Please give a warm and heartfelt welcome to the fourth addition to this humble podcast/blog/streaming platform at Inner-Strength Check, in SPIRO, aka THE HYPE GUY! As you’ll see in the post, that warrants Caps Lock. Check out his various energetic content-happenings and a primer on his recent projects, including a very important drive for the currently-struggling JamPot Studios on the Sunshine Coast. Welcome, mate!

Brady Irwin 26/1/25 Brady Irwin 26/1/25

[Gig Review] ENFORCER @ The Leadbeater Hotel, Melbourne 25.01.25.

What an honour! Our first local review as an official outlet in Melbourne, and it could’ve been a better pick to kick things off in that respect. Sweden’s Enforcer blazed The Leadbeater Hotel in Richmond last night with a level of NWOBHM/trad/speed-metal and classic rock bombast that was transcendent, skilled and heartfelt! Read on for full the review, including sets by support acts Burnout, Aardvark and Livewire, gig footage, pics and more!

Brady Irwin 25/1/25 Brady Irwin 25/1/25

[Riffs] Interview with Adelaide’s SUNDOWNER, Pre-Froth and Fury 2024.

Originally posted on our unfortunately now-defunct old website in November 2024, prior to our coverage (and their fantastic set) of Froth and Fury Festival in Adelaide, SA. Since then, we’ve added in additional artist links, footage of their set from the festival and more! Doom on, enjoy some of SA’s most groovy and hostile blues.

Brady Irwin 23/1/25 Brady Irwin 23/1/25

[Archive] ISC Podcast Ep. 32 - Feral ‘To USurp The Thrones’ & RVVKVS ‘Antithesis Of Prosperity’ LP REVIEWS.

Exhumed from the back-end of our old, dead website, which carked it suddenly on NYE 2024 (RIP), here’s a double-hitter - two full album reviews, in both blog and podcast formats! That’s right, it’s a stacked two-fer with a heavy analysis of both Swedish death-metallers Feral and their 2024 LP To Usurp The The Thrones, as well as New Zealands’ finest grinders Rvvkvs with their LP, Antithesis of Prosperity.

Brady Irwin 22/1/25 Brady Irwin 22/1/25

[Archive] Interview With OPETH’s MARTIN MENDEZ + Australian/NZ 2025 Tour Details.

Originally posted to our prior website, which died an unexpected and sudden death on 31.12.24 (RIP), we have revived a seminal interview from late ‘24 with Martin Mendez, long-term bassist for Sweden’s progressive-metal titans Opeth. Check the post for video interview, as well as full details (ticket links, bio, artist links, The Last Will and Testament order links etc) of their upcoming November 2025 Australian/NZ tour!

Brady Irwin 22/1/25 Brady Irwin 22/1/25

[Archive] Interview with OLOF WIKSTRAND of Sweden’s ENFORCER + Australian Tour Details.

AUSTRALIA! Are you ready to rock out in your finest leathers and gauntlets? You should be, ‘cause Swedish heavy/true-metallers Enforcer are on our shores and are about to show Newcastle the Steel! Check the link for my video interview with Olof Wikstrand, frontman/guitarist, which was originally posted on our website that unfortunately went down on 31.12.24. It’s too late, however - peep the link and get the scoop on tickets, artist links, new singles and more!

[Archive Review] Nest - ‘Metempsychosis’ LP.

ISC Podcast, Ep. 34: [INTERVIEW] with OBSCURA frontman/Guitarist STEFFEN KUMMERER.

[Heavy News] ALCEST Release New Video For 'Amèthyste'

[Heavy News] THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN Announce August 2025 Australian Tour

[Heavy News] NERVOSA Announce First-Ever Aus Tour in ‘15 Years of Nervosa’

[Heavy News] XOTH Announces U.S. West Coast Tour, Launching April 4th!

[Music Mondays] Mon 3rd Feb, 2025.

[Heavy News] MEPHETIC CORPSE’s ‘Sickness Attracts Sickness’ Out Now!

[Riff] Don’t give up, there’s hope on the horizon.

ISC Podcast Ep. 33: [INTERVIEW] w/ ROBERT ERIKsSON, Drummer of Sweden’s THE HELLACOPTERS.

[Archive] Interview with AARON TUCK of Black Metallers LUMEN AD MORTEM.

[Heavy News] Sludge-Soaked UK Rockers SLUNG Announce Debut Album, New Single + UK Tour.

[Podcast] A CONTENT-CHALLENGER Has Appeared! Please Welcome Newest ISC Team Member - Spiro ‘The Hype Guy’!

[Gig Review] ENFORCER @ The Leadbeater Hotel, Melbourne 25.01.25.

[Riffs] Interview with Adelaide’s SUNDOWNER, Pre-Froth and Fury 2024.

[Archive] ISC Podcast Ep. 32 - Feral ‘To USurp The Thrones’ & RVVKVS ‘Antithesis Of Prosperity’ LP REVIEWS.

[Archive] Interview With OPETH’s MARTIN MENDEZ + Australian/NZ 2025 Tour Details.

[Archive] Interview with OLOF WIKSTRAND of Sweden’s ENFORCER + Australian Tour Details.

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