In May of this year, it will mark the 30th anniversary of one of my all-time favourite albums, from one of my all-time favourite artists. For those unfamiliar with George Michael’s work and think of the upbeat popstar in Wham!, Older is actually a very dark and bleak record wrought by tragedy, suffering, and depression. However, what makes it so special, in spite of the sombre tone the album operates on, is the glimmers of optimism and hope nestled within the messaging. It’s a deeply personal album that has a very interesting backstory behind it, so I thought my next album analysis would look into this spectacular record for its 30th birthday.
Watch the full video here:
Stream the album here:
Recommended Tracks:
“Jesus to a Child”
“Fastlove”
“You Have Been Loved”
A boatload more content is going to be coming onto the YouTube channel in 2026, so consider subscribing so you don’t miss any of it:
Welcome, denizens of Sputnik, to my first-ever video essay! I’ve never done anything like this before, so I hope you enjoy it. I’ve wanted to do a review or an in-depth deep dive into not only one of my favourite soundtracks of all time, but one of my favourite albums, period, for a while now. I never get bored of listening to Human Revolution, so I thought I’d do a video that looks into the history of Michael McCann, the mindset behind the record, and then my personal opinion on why I love it. Let me know what you think, and if you want more content like this in the future, let me know.
Watch the full video here:
Stream the album here:
Recommended Tracks:
“Icarus”
“The Hive”
“Endings”
A boatload more content is going to be coming onto the YouTube channel in 2026, so consider subscribing so you don’t miss any of it:
You can read the full review I did for HumaningHERE.
After being on a decade-long hiatus, Earshot finally teased their return with a new line-up of members and a couple of singles to warm up with just before and during the Covid period. Yet, it was in 2025 where the band finally made their glorious return, dropping their first new album in 17 years and doing a 30+ date tour with Saliva to grease the engine and get things moving in a big way again. Simon (Dr.Gonzo) had an extensive discussion with Wil earlier last year to talk about the band’s history and their subsequent return, which you can watch here, however, in this new interview Gonzo catches up with Earshot to talk about Humaning at length, as well as the Spotify boycott, Lars v Napster, funny tour stories, new material in 2026, and much, much more in this monster discussion.
You can read the full review I did for Requiem HERE.
Primarily known for his dark folk project, Thurnin, Jurre Timmer is a no-nonsense solo artists with a wealth of talent under his belt. Coming off the back of last year’s fantastic third Thurnin album, Harmr, Jurre has resurrected his old melodeath project I, Forlorn 9 years after the release of his debut album, My Kingdom Eclipsed. This brand new 5-track EP, titled Requiem, is an appetiser for a full release later this year and can be listened to right now. With that in mind, Simon (Dr.Gonzo) recently had a chat with Jurre to discuss both I, Forlorn and Thurnin, as well as a soundtrack he has lined up for 2026, slop social media, mental health, and reflecting on Harmr nearly one year on from its release.
Ryan (Hawks) and Simon (Dr.Gonzo) recently caught up with David Moody and Chris Sheppard, the duo behind some of the most interesting black/death metal on the market today, to talk about Veilburner’s latest album, Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy, as well as a load of interesting subjects including world-building, playing live, influences, and a candid look at how the sausage is made in the Veilburner camp.
A candid, gritty, and sometimes shocking look at the Norwegian black metal scene in the early 90s. If you’re wanting to know more about the infamous immergence of black metal in Norway – the church burnings, the murder of Euronymous, the Count Grishnackh Kerrang! interview, and other disturbing internal conflicts – as well as its cultural impacts on music in 2008, with a decent amount of footage following Darkthrone’s Fenriz around and giving his insight into it all, this is essential viewing. Until the Light Takes Us is a very compelling and well-made documentary that, like the rest of the documentaries on this list, is surprisingly raw and unfiltered in execution.
This one was recently recommended to me by our very own insomniac15, diving into the cut-throat nature of the music industry, told from the perspectives of a freelance musician, and what an iconic artist like Billy Joel, Rob Zombie or Alice Cooper looks for in a hired musician. Two highlights in particular really knocked me back, which involves Billy Joel’s story and Filter’s Richard Patrick, but I won’t spoil the moments if you’re intending to watch this documentary, as both sections really encompass what the industry can do to people when they’ve been involved in the industry for any decent amount of time. Suffice to say, like Until the Light Takes Us, Hired Gun…
I’ve got with us today, musical prodigy, Raphael Weinroth-Brown, here to talk about his new album, Lifeblood, which comes out on the 3rd of October. It’s been a few years since we last spoke, so give us a bit of an up-to-date on what you’ve been doing the last few years.
Sure. I guess the last time we spoke was after the release of Inheritance, Musk Ox’s last record, so that would have been 2021. I released my live album Worlds Within Live and Inheritance within a week of each other in summer 2021.
A good year.
Yeah, it was a good year for releases, for sure. In 2022, I resumed touring with Leprous and got back on the road in the US and Canada in early 2022, then immediately after that I got involved in a contemporary dance project with Ottawa Dance Directive here in my hometown of Ottawa; that was a very immersive project which involved me performing my entire Worlds Within album. Following that, I started to play live quite a lot as a solo artist throughout 2022, so I was very active as a live performer, playing both material from Worlds Within as well as a plethora of new pieces that I was composing throughout the year, some of which ended up on Lifeblood. I did a very long tour with Leprous in the fall 2022-2023 with Apocalyptica; we did a European headline tour, 40 shows in 7 weeks, it was very long, so I was on…
Welcome to a very special interview with My Epic’s Aaron Stone, conducted by DrGonzo and Tyman. Founded in 2005, My Epic are known for their deep-rooted Christian themes and lyrics, over a sound that has gone through various transformations over the years – from post-hardcore and post-rock to indie and pop, all carefully crafted with lush, ethereal soundscapes with powerful breakdowns. Both Tyman and Gonzo hold a huge amount of reverence for My Epic, and we got chance to sit down with Aaron Stone, the band’s vocalist, to discuss the band’s history, future and all things in between. So, let’s dive in.
Tyler: For those of you who are listening and may not know, we are joined by Aaron. He’s the vocalist of My Epic. If you don’t know My Epic, what are you doing now? Me and Simon absolutely love this band and thought it would be fun to have a good little chat with them.
Simon: Jumping straight into the My Epic stuff, could you just give us a brief overview of the band and its history, if that’s cool?
Aaron: The band started my senior year of college with my brother Jesse and my best friends, Jeremiah and Maddie. After college we moved to Charlotte together and the band sort of whittled down to me, my brother and Jeremiah, and that had been the core of the band for a long time. We signed to Facedown Records in 2008 and released our first full-length [I Am Undone],…
“I don’t think I’d be in Skinny Puppy with Ogre if it was based on friendship – I don’t really see eye-to-eye with him all that much; he’s always been on a different plateau to me. He’s gone through his drug addiction and he’s basically put the face of the band as the face of his lyrics, turmoil and troubles, when in actuality, there’s a wide variety of opinions going on in this band.” – cEvin Key, 1992 telephone interview, Minneapolis.
While Skinny Puppy rightfully resides in the pantheon of industrial greats, the band never garnered the success or the same cultural impact as some of their peers. Indeed, Skinny Puppy’s influence, particular in their 80s and early 90s run of records, left an indelible mark on not just heavy and challenging music, but the arts in general. Unfortunately, their demise in the 90s was one of the leading factors in why the band never quite cut through the mainstream membrane, despite riding high during the impetus of the scene’s burgeoning popularity. What caused the band’s implosion in 1995 and subsequently stalled their trajectory? Well, predictably, the first reason was internal strife within the band; the second factor to consider was their unwavering tenacity in wanting to deliver something challenging and different, which ultimately made their appeal extremely limiting and niche. Ironically, as the scene was getting more mainstream attention in the early-to-mid 90s, Skinny Puppy were in the throes of making the most challenging music of their career, before…
Welcome, denizens of Sputnik, to the seventeenth edition of A diagnosis from a (faux) Doctor, a series where I run through a band or artist’s albums and give a diagnosis on their work. By popular vote, the people of Sputnik wanted the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, on the analysis table, and who am I to refuse them? MJ’s contributions to music are the stuff of legend and see a lot of interesting moments throughout his career, good and.. iffy. So, shamone, let’s grab a white glove and get into this.
Band/Artist: Michael Jackson
Origins: Los Angeles, California, USA
Founded: 1971
Members: Michael Joseph Jackson
Studio albums: 12 (2 posthumous)
Active: No
Got to Be There (1972)
The Doctor’s rating: 3/5
Analysis: While this debut feels a bit Jackson 5 lite at times, Got to Be There is still a solid foundation for Michael Jackson, allowing him to get his foot in the door as a solo artist and build what would become his world-dominating success. It’s pretty staggering how good Michael sounds on this thing when you consider he was only 13/14 years old, but right out of the gate, his impressive talents ooze out of these smooth Motown numbers. Got to Be There is…
Back in the early-to-mid 2000s, Earshot were key players in spearheading the American alt-rock movement, releasing massive hits like “Get Away”, “Not Afraid” and “Wait” respectively, with their influence and success getting them significant radio airplay, as well as being featured on a number of video games including Madden ’05, MX vs. ATV Unleashed, and Project Gotham Racing 2. However, despite all the success of 2002’s Letting Go and 2004’s Two, the band would go through several line-up changes and their momentum would gradually wane, not releasing their third LP, The Silver Lining, until 2008. After this, the band would recede into the shadows for over a decade, releasing only a 4-track EP in 2015 and a couple of singles during Covid. Thankfully, all of that is about to change: with a brand-new line-up that includes ex-Breaking Benjamin guitarist, Aaron Fink, Earshot are set to make a massive comeback in 2025 with their first new album in 17 years. The band’s first single “Where Were You?” recently dropped to a strong reception from fans, and the band are currently in the throes of planning their next moves. I recently caught up with the band’s founding member and frontman, Wil Martin, who candidly discusses the band’s history, its tribulations, and the bright future that lies ahead of them, so I hope you enjoy it. (Please note: the transcript from this interview was edited and some of the wording changed for a more concise reading experience. For the definitive version of this…
For any Sputnik regulars that have interacted with me in the thirteen years I’ve been on this site, you may already know that I play the bass and have done for nearly twenty years. So with that context in mind, for no reason at all, I woke up this morning and decided I wanted to pick out a bunch of tracks I think have awesome basslines. The criteria for the chosen ten songs on this list is rather arbitrary, but essentially the main purpose is to highlight some subtle (and not-so-subtle) basslines that aren’t immediate if you’re not a bass player yourself, maybe prompting you to listen to these songs and hearing the magic unfold within them from that perspective. Maybe you’ll even listen to them and never again be able to look at them the same way. After all, that is the beauty of the bass guitar – an instrument that has been treated rather thanklessly throughout history, but is nevertheless an essential ingredient needed to make a good song even better. With that, I hope you enjoy the playlist I’ve created and my thoughts on these fantastic songs.
Jennifer Paige
Let me tell you, as a guy riding hard in his 30s, basslines in pop tracks tend to have some of the best grooves you’ll ever hear. Of course, when you’re an impressionable teenage contrarian, or a knuckle-dragger in your early 20s like I was, looking for edgy NU-metal angst, putting-the-world-to-rights…
Welcome, denizens, to the fourteenth edition(!) of A diagnosis from a (faux) Doctor. Today’s examination is going to be a bit of a nostalgia trip, walking back into a liminal period where you crippled the family computer downloading music off Limewire after discovering a choice band you discovered playing a video game. In the case of Earshot, like the vast majority of us, I discovered this LA-based rock unit playing the classic Madden game: Madden…
As someone who was mercilessly ribbed for liking NU-metal at the height of its popularity in the late 90s and early-to-mid 00s, as well as Limp Bizkit themselves being one of the main punching bags for the movement, it’s somewhat bizarre and vindicating to see Limp Bizkit being one of the most revered live metal acts in the industry today. The funny thing is, even with the vitriol for the band at the time, my friends would haughtily dump on the band whilst occasionally letting out a gritted-teeth concession that they hate them, but “Break Stuff” is pretty “fun”. All of this cognitive dissonance and tribal nonsense out of the equation though, Limp Bizkit have always been a very talented band, with an unbelievable set of musicians making memorable songs with gargantuan payoffs, and a charismatic frontman who’s able to bring it all together. It’s this dynamic and chemistry that has, ironically, galvanised their sustainability and relevance for over thirty years, where other “more respected” bands in rock and metal have long since capitulated and fallen into the void of irrelevance. One of the main reasons for Limp Bizkit’s success, outside of their arsenal of classic tracks, is their reputation for putting on incredible live shows.
Despite loving their music for almost two-and-a-half decades, I’d never actually seen them perform live, which, getting straight to the point, they didn’t disappoint. One of the most alluring qualities was Fred Durst himself, who was once known for being the infamous, edgy…
