This is a piece I’ve wanted to write about for a long time and its about the great lost Hair Metal album. If you enjoyed the late 80’s of Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Poison, Motley Crue etc. then this should be essential listening.

The self-titled (and only) album from No Sweat is a true Hair Metal classic and a victim of purely being in the wrong band, at the wrong time. Even now you will struggle to find the album on streaming services. 

I saw them play live once in Sheffield in possibly 1990, supporting Roadhouse which was a band put together by ex Def Leppard guitarist Pete Willis. Little did I know that was probably the career highpoint as Seattle was about to wipe out the whole genre 

No Sweat did have some chart success in their native Ireland, but nothing cracked the top 40 in the UK which is surprising.

The first single Heart And Soul was produced by Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) should have been a hit with its massive AOR radio friendly chorus and strong melodic/bluesy vocals from Paul Quinn.

However, it’s when you get to the credits of that debut album that its staggering they didn’t succeed.

Firstly, they didn’t have a full-time drummer at the time of recording, so James Kottak (Kingdom Come) helps out behind the kit. The producer is Keith Olsen (Whitesnake, Night Ranger, Pat Benetar), Michael Sadler and Jim Crichton of Saga help out with backing vocals and keyboards.

Bizarrely even Pol Brennan (Clannad) produces vocals on one of the tracks.

With that sort of backing, you wonder why no one has heard of them.

Musically the songs are catchy hard rock with the occasional twists – There is some stunning slide guitar on the intro to Mover and Stay is a high-level blues ballad.

Lyrically they may not have been the best. The line “Rock is rock and I’m rocking you” from Tear Down The Walls is unintentionally one of my favourite silly lyrics ever.

Over the last few years, I’ve been able to pick up both a vinyl copy of the album and a few of singles, while single handedly boring anyone that will listen as to what a great band this was.

If you can have a listen and enjoy. 

 All been a bit quiet recently for the blog and I was beginning to worry this year would be a write off for new music but in the last few weeks things are looking much, much brighter

Albums expected from all these great people

JJ Lovegrove – May 29

Abrasive Trees – May

A.A. Williams – June 6

Blueneck – Summer

Marillion – Autumn?

 Whilst not being overly familiar with Wolverine I had heard a track or two from them before including one (Liar On The Mount)  that sampled George Bush speeches! 

It’s taken them a decade to finish the new album, Anomalies, so these Swedes are not the quickest workers. They are however clearly talented musicians and there is a lot to like about their take on prog/metal but somewhere it’s just missing that extra something. 

You won’t see a single review that doesn’t mention the word ‘Katatonia’ and there is a very, very good reason for that. There are times when you could wonder if they were the same band. 

I have the same issue with the vocals of Jonas Renske from Katatonia as I do here in that there is only so much yearning melancholy you can take before it gets a little monotonous. 

Some tracks break away from the formula; Circuits adds some brass to the mix and Automaton is a lovely piano ballad. Nightfall is probably my favourite of the prog/metal tracks with a bit more drive behind the drums and a catchy chorus. 

So, there you have it, if you enjoy the music of latter day Katatonia then you will undoubtably enjoy Wolverine.

 It’s been a really quiet start to the year in terms of new music so I’m actually going to start 2026 with a part review.

The original Smoke & Mirrors from The Eden House was released in 2009. A beguiling confection of lush, sensual, string laden goth with a cast list to die for – Tony Pettitt, Nod and Peter Wright, Peter Yates (all Fields of the Nephilim), Simon Rippin (The Nefilim), Julianne Regan (All About Eve), Evi Vine, Monica Richards (Faith and the Muse) …

Now we get Smoke & Mirrors + Other Ghosts which extends the original album with six bonus tracks which is what I will be looking at.

Freakshow features the vocal talents of Candia McKormack (Inkubus Sukkubus) who didn’t appear on the album. A song very similar in style to To Believe in Something which is probably why it didn’t make the cut

Burn is a slower, swirling track with Amandine Ferrari doing a very good Kate Bush impression on the earlier part of the song. 

Maelstrom is a jaunty little instrumental lasting all of two minutes again with that instantly recognisable bass guitar.  

Half-Light with Evi Vine is the track that most easily could have slotted onto the album but feels unfinished and the abrupt fade out at the end sort of confirms that.

Killer is the most upbeat of the bonus tracks with another great vocal from Amandine Ferrari but it was correctly not included in the final track listing

To Believe in Something was the only track on the album to feature Monica Richards and here we get the Redshifted version which was released as a digital only single. It sounds like a demo of what was finally included on the album. A bit heavier, a bit less refined and with that throbbing Nephilim style bass of Tony Pettitt pushed more to the fore. 

Compared to some expanded albums where they are padded out with poorly recorded demos or superfluous live tracks, I think this is a worthwhile addition to the collection

 Drumroll please as it's album of the year time

for the fourteenth time and in alphabetical order - Five reviewed here and one very late entry

• Death Of The High Street - Bragging About Breaking
• Hens Bens - World's Strongest Band
• The Occasion - Songs Of The Night
• PERTURBATOR - Age Of Aquarius
• John Reed - A Proliferation Of Pointlessness
• Unreqvited - A Pathway To The Moon

 It was my best year for live music since Covid with 14 gigs and here are my favourites

February was a very poignant visit to Bristol as it was my final Fish gig, 36 years after the first one

March bought a trip to Truro to catch Public Service Broadcasting on the excellent The Last Flight tour

Onto May it was Grice at the Exeter Phoenix. Here paying tribute to Raphael Ravenscroft

October brought a new venue to visit (Things Happen Here in Dartington) to see the album launch for Abrasive Trees

And we rounded out the year with the ever brilliant Blockheads back for their annual Exeter Phoenix gig

 Probably the last review of the year and one of those albums you luckily stumble across by accident.

I was aware of PERTURBATOR as he had done some remixes for Alcest and Cult of Luna, but I’d never really looked at his albums.

Age of Aquarius is a fantastic analog synth driven album with thudding drums, think of it as a night club version of John Carpenter (especially Lunacy which could easily feature on one of his soundtracks).

Approximately half the tracks are instrumental but it’s those with the guest vocalist that caught my attention in the first place – Ulver, Author & Punisher and Alcest.

The opening track, Apocalypse Now features Ulver and would have fitted in perfectly on their Assassination of Julius Caesar album. Lyrically dark and deliciously unsettling.

The best is saved to last – the title track is a ten minute epic featuring the wordless vocals of Neige from Alcest. It ebbs and flows marvelously, almost coming to a stop at 7 minutes in before cranking up the drums for a suitable monumental finale   A note of hope after all the previous bleak dystopian sounds. 

I shall definitely be investigating the PERTURBATOR back catalogue after this.