WRETCH 32 - 6 WORDS SINGLE REVIEW

Apart from guest appearances on songs such as Hangover (by Starboy Nathan, 2011), Teardrops (Children in Need. Various Artists, 2011), Off With Their Heads (by Devlin, 2012) and Go In, Go Hard (by Angel, 2012), Wretch 32 hasn't really been on the scene. 

Sure, he dropped two singles last year; Blackout featuring Shakira and Doing OK featuring Jacob Banks. Despite those, Wretch really hasn't been doing much it seems. However, that's all changing now that he's just dropped his latest single which was premiered by Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1, who made it his "Hottest Record in The World", and MistaJam on BBC Radio 1Xtra: "6 Words".

The slow house-esque beat and lightly strummed guitar notes captivate your ears upon first listen, sucking you in and getting you lost in the moment. Wretch sings softly, speaking words of love.  Everything stays calm up until the build-up about a minute in where we start to hear a drum 'n' bass drumline fading in. 

The drop is climatic, hitting your eardrums like a ton of bricks. It's a mix of what sounds like jungle and house over the still softly sung lyrics. This club banger is so catchy you'll be singing the line; "I've found my treasure in you" over and over for days. 

This is a great release for Wretch and it makes me hopeful to hear more from him soon. My only disappointment is that he dropped it so late into the year. Releasing a track in November? I guess that means we won't hear anything else new until 2015. Fingers crossed that there's more killers like this.

Find the official video below:

You can download 6 Words By Wretch 32 on iTunes.

You can also listen to the single on Spotify.

Until next time folks, peace.

What did you think of Wretch 32's new single? Let me know in the comments below.

CASTRO - THE RIVER NEED

When I was younger, I was a big fan of The Distillers. Female fronted punk? What doesn’t rock about that? That’s what I love so much about my new favourite Norwegian post-hardcore punk rockers, CASTRO. Just released is their fantastic debut album: “The River Need”.

CASTRO are a brand new band, fresh to the ears of the punk community. However, those of the scene who are familiar with their Norwegian punk will definitely want to tune in. Featuring members from Israelvis, Angor Wat and boasting Katja Benneche Osvold from Life… But How To Live It  on vocals, CASTRO are essentially a Norwegian punk supergroup.  

The album kicks off with Our Loss. Weighing in at just over a minute long, the fast pace and snappy lyrics are enough to start a quick pogo pit. It’s short, sweet and punk gold.

Smooth Operator may look like a filler due to the length, but it’s much more than just a track to be glazed over. The lyrics are sung fast, the kick drum doesn’t find time to slow down, the guitar’s are doing overtime and before you know it, the fun is all over. If you want to fully appreciate this, you’re going to want to put it on loop a couple of times. Spin this track a couple of times, you won’t regret it.

“It’s a long, long way. It’s a long, long way”, Back To Basic. This has to be a highlight for me. The riff is metallic punk, the bass is heavy and the drums are pacy. The aggression of the instrumental behind the rock style sung vocals go hand in hand. From start to finish, you’re headbanging. You’ll be singing the chorus to this one for a while afterwards.

The best of The River Need to me is the short, essential straight up punk songs. (Your) Hidden Agenda (Is So Obvious) is just that. The snare is raw, the riffs are crunchy, the vocals kill and the band take it straight to the punch. There is no messing around on this one.

Named after the album, The River Need is another favoruite track. CASTRO manage to balance fast and slow perfectly, finding a good common ground inbetween key speed parts. The track is much more dark and personal. It’s a sad punk song.

Other tracks to keep your ears open for are Indigo, Detective, Pagan Lullaby and Paleface, which I personally recommend.

21st century punk is killing it. CASTRO have found themselves an exceptional sound and deserve recognition. If you don’t know them yet, get to know them right now. The River Need is an impressive release and I’m very excited to see what comes in the future for the Norwegian punk rockers.

You can buy The River Need by CASTRO on the Boss Tuneage store.

Listen to Our Loss by CASTRO below and form an opinion: 

Until next time folks, don't drink and drive.

What did you think of The River Need? Let me know in the comments below!

WWE SMACKDOWN - 7/11/2014

Friday night means one thing for me and one thing only. It means staying in bed watching my second favourite show of the week: "WWE SmackDown".  It's the sports entertainment battleground for storylines unfolding, excitement, drama, and feuds being continued and even started. All of this happening both inside and outside of the ring. When you watch WWE, you're always guaranteed some sort of action; be that verbal or physical.

As a writer, I feel that filling you all in with what's been going on is slightly risky and so to avoid spoiling the ongoings within the WWE Universe, I have decided not to follow through with writing up a five point recap just incase any of my readers are yet to see what's going on and would like to see it for themselves first as opposed to seeing it from me. I urge you all to keep up with both RAW and SmackDown. If you haven't watched either one or both of them yet, pick up the remote and get stuck in! Sorry if this disappoints anybody.

This Friday's edition of SmackDown which was filmed in Albany, NY was bound for glory from the beginning. The match listings alone were phenomenal. Here's a non-spoiler match listing for everybody:

• Stardust & Goldust Vs. The Usos in a Steel Cage Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship.
• Ryback Vs. Cesaro
• Adam Rose Vs. R-Truth
• Natalya Vs. Summer Rae
• Kane Vs. Dolph Ziggler in a Steel Cage Match.

It should also be mentioned that the one and only Captain Charisma, Christian held his controversial "Peep Show" this week. Known to many as both The Unstable One and The Lunatic Fringe, Dean Ambrose starred as a guest on the show.

What I found most special on this week's edition of SmackDown was the segment featuring the military veteran and hero, Sergeant Dan Rose. The WWE's consistent support and commitment to the military is heartwarming to fans nationwide and what they did this week to continue their support was nothing less than the best of standards. Read part of WWE's statement below:

"SERGEANT DAN ROSE TO BE FEATURED TONIGHT ONSMACKDOWN®

WWE has a longstanding commitment to the military, which includes our annual Tribute to the Troops holiday tradition, a partnership with Hire Heroes USA and regular visits to military bases around the world. Tonight on SmackDown, WWE continues its support with a special segment featuring Sergeant Dan Rose, an army veteran living with paralysis.

Sergeant Rose was in the Army Reserves for 10 years and served in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan until he was injured by an Improvised Explosive Device in 2011 that left him paralyzed from the chest down. Through the support of a non-profit organization, SoldierSocks, Sergeant Rose was provided with an Ekso Bionics GT™ robotic exoskeleton, a suit that enables individuals with paralysis to stand up and walk..."

WWE never fail to entertain me and as a fan, I feel completely satisfied with this week's edition of SmackDown. Tonight proves just why WWE are at the top of their game and why SmackDown is one of the most watched shows on television. WWE truly are the King of Kings of Sports Entertainment.

If you'd like to relive SmackDown, you can replay it on the WWE Network which is FREE for the month of November. This includes Survivor Series for free too. Unfortunately, for us in the UK, we will have to stick to Sky for now until further times such as being given The WWE Network here on our waters.

Watch the absolutely inspiring segment of Sergeant Dan Rose below:

Until next time folks, don't sell out; Buy In.

What did you think of SmackDown? What's your thoughts on everything going on? We, The People want to hear what you have to say in the comments!

WWE SUPERSTARS - HAZE OF GLORY

There's nothing that tickles my fancy more than WWE. Like their very own John Cena, I'm extremely passionate about the company. That's why I was so excited to plow into the extremely entertaining four part mini-series of WWE Superstars: "Haze Of Glory". Credits go to the incredible Shane Riches and WWE Hall Of Famer and former hardcore legend, Mick Foley who are the writers of these masterpieces.

When I was on Buchanan Street on Wednesday, my adorable girlfriend noticed me looking sad as we passed by the Glasgow branch of Forbidden Planet. Taking into account the amount of time she had made me spend looking at make up with her that day, she insisted that we went in to look at comics as a means of putting a big ol' smile on my face. 

Out of nowhere, I suddenly took an urge to find wrestling comics all the while at this time still being totally unaware of their existence. Luckily for me, a friendly man helped me find the WWE Superstars collection. 

With only nine issues published to date and the production coming from America, it deems a challenge finding all nine in the UK without paying over the odds for the whole bundle. I bought the four that were on offer and luckily in the selection available were two issues from the Haze Of Glory series.  During a sprawl of the internet when I got home, I managed to find out that my two issues were infact the middle parts to the story. Fortunately, the web came to my rescue, aiding me with two PDF copies of the two issues that I did not have physical copies of. This gave me the opportunity to read the full story and further, review something close to my chest: Wrestling (in the style of comics, but that's besides the point).

First of all, let me give you a summary of what to expect:

Expect influences ranging from Dungeons And Dragons to Conan The Barbarian. Our own Daniel Bryan certainly looks very similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger from time to time in this comic. Expect Monday Night Raw in full blown chaos and at the brink of complete desolation. Expect twists and turns. Expect epic proportions of complete madness. I don't want to really spoil anything for interested fans so please go out and read this so you can fully understand where I am coming from.

From start to finish, there's an abundance of laughs. It's comical, witty and definitely shouldn't be read too harshly. It's light heartedness makes for a good, entertaining read that'll have any regular wrestling fan smirking. HoG focused primarily on the antics of CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan and Hornswoggle. At first, I was like "you're pairing these guys up? Really?". By the end, I couldn't have imagined a different set of wrestlers taking their place. Guest features from the likes of the infamous Hulk Hogan and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat made for exciting reading. The illustration and plot both reminded me of Scooby Doo, but hey; who doesn't love Scooby!? A certain Big Show stuck inside a giant ape costume further backed this for me. Sure, it may sound bananas but that's what makes it so good.

It was refreshing to see a lighter side to the likes of The Undertaker. As menacing as he always has been and will be, he almost came across TOO face (face are the good guys in wrestling, heels are the bad guys) but his tough edges kept his signature Deadman personality. 

My favourite part out of the four was: "The Hour of the Dragon" or as it's also known as, "The Bryborian Age". This was the final part to the series and as clichéd as the saying is, they truly did save the best for last... Brother. Hulkamania certainly ran wild on this one.

Go out and pick this up. Read this and enjoy it just as much as me. Buy it for yourself, buy it for your kids, share it with your friends; let the world know about the WWE Superstars comics and tell everyone how Haze Of Glory rules. It's best for business.

You can find all the information you need about every issue of WWE Superstars over at Super Genius.

Until next time folks, don't stop BO-lieving.

What do you think of WWE Superstars? Better yet, what did you think of Haze Of Glory? Let me know in the comments below!

XAVIER WULF - BLOOD SHORE SEASON 2

2014 has been an amazing year for underground hip-hop. Many a good mixtape has been passed to the community to devour.  Now that the last few months of the year are upon us, releases are becoming fewer and further between.  On October 26th, Hollow Squad's finest Xavier Wulf gave us an exceptional early Christmas present. He dropped the phenomenal: "Blood Shore Season 2", the follow up to last summer's first tape in the Blood Shore collection.

The first thing you have to understand before you listen to this is that you are about to underground royalty. The dark, eery, trap infused tape is an incredible listen from start to finish. The beats are of usual standard which for the record is very high in terms of cloud trap. The lyricism and flow from Xavier are both held in high regards in my book and the tracks are tackled head on to provide that authentic dark hollowsquad sound.

The tape kicks off hard with Thunder Man. It's heavy, it's angry and it's sure to have you cooking like Lil B except you're going harder in the paint than Waka Flocka himself. The beat has a shady high tone over the deep, hypnotic killer bass. This is one for the squad.

A personal highlight for me on this mixtape is Pride Rock Wulf. The repetitive wind instrument that's looped in the instrumental has a strange sound as if its almost being played normally but meant to sound like it's rewinding. Xavier could pass his flow off as talking nearly with his speed taken down a few notches to give a more deadly vibe. The lyrics are grim as a new tone is set on this track. Do not piss off Xavier Wulf.

For the most, Blood Shore Season 2 is a lone Wulf release. Red Tide features the talented Chris Travis who has the only guest spot on the whole mixtape. The song is short but snappy with hard hitting lines being dropped like bombshells all over the instrumental.

Xavier signs off the tape with The Absence of Evidence, Isn't The Evidence Of Absence. The almost two minute long outro loops a sample from the popular Mr Brightside by The Killers. This goes on for the full track with trap inspired drumbeats playing over the top. The two blend in together well, making for what would be a very interesting instrumental to lay lyrics down on.

Blood Shore Season 2 has been an extremely enjoyable listen. The down tempo beats go perfectly with Xavier Wulf's energetic and at times aggressive verses spread across the mixtape. The Captain gives Hollow Squad a reputation to be reckoned with and dared to be tarnished. This is a record to be proud of and in the world of underground hip-hop, this tape is bound to be huge. Now to just sit and wait for this to blow up.

You can download Blood Shore Season 2 by Xavier Wulf right here or you can just listen below.

Until next time folks, stay hydrated.

What did you think of the mixtape? Did you dig it? Wasn't really your thing? Tell me what you're thinking in the comments!