Louder Than War

single review Micko & The Mellotronics Misery Guts  Landline Records DL / Streaming Out 25 October 2025 Follow up to “Would You Believe It” and the LTW interview in July, comes another taster for the upcoming album ‘The Trinity’, scheduled for release in early 2026, Misery Guts finds the Mellotronics on sparkling and spikey form. Ged Babey believes the songwriter behind Guilty (about Ruth Ellis) Holloway Road (Joe Meek) and Autosexual (google it) is one of UK’s greats –…

Album Review It’s Karma It’s Cool    One Million Suburban Sunsets  DL / streaming Karma Cool Records Released 24 October 2025 From Lincoln, fourth album from a band who burst the confines of the genre they are best known for. It’s Karma It’s Cool are now a proper contemporary rock band in search of an audience who want big anthemic tunes, stadium-sized angst that somehow lifts you out of a generational mid-life crisis. Ged Babey waves his lighter…

Andrew Johnson: Exercise In Style (Shoebox Records) CD/DL/Streaming Available 24th October Buy Here Prolific Teesside artist Andrew Johnson releases Exercise In Style, his 21st ‘solo’ album since 2002 Whilst Exercise In Style is Johnson’s 21st solo album, the actual number of releases in his own name and those under nom de plumes since 2002’s debut Pure Thoughts must be getting close to a hundred by now. Described by the artist as ‘a clutch of punky pop songs that,…

The Peace Pipers: Pipin’ Up Self Released Out Now DL / Stream Every time you think everything’s been said and done before, music comes along and grabs you by the ears in a most unexpected but pleasant way. That’s definitely the case with The Peace Pipers’ first full-length album, Pipin’ Up. That’s not to say the Manchester band are without influences and references, and in any case, attempts to rip up the rule book and start from scratch…

Not Just Bits of Paper by Mickey Penguin and Greg Bull (Earth Island) 288 pages, A4, colour Hardback | Paperback | Ebook Out Now Editors Mickey Penguin and Greg Bull vividly bring the UK anarcho-punk scene of the early 80s to life on the printed page with a collection of first hand accounts, posters, handouts and other ephemera. Earth Island has worked with the authors to give this book a ten year anniversary reboot with extra content and…

The Story Of Skids: Scotland’s No. 1 Punk Band (2025) Directed by Mark Sloper Edited by Ethan Ungless Produced by Richard Jobson, Alan Byron Featuring Richard Jobson Few figures in Scottish punk history command as much fascination as Richard Jobson, part poet, part bruiser, part punk evangelist. Scotland’s Number 1 Punk Band – The Story Of Skids is, fittingly, his film. A deeply personal journey through post-industrial Fife, it’s both a social document and a self-portrait: Jobson in…

Kat Koan: The Tides Will Turn (Self Released) DL/Streaming Available 24th October Buy Here The Berlin based artist Kat Koan releases new EP, The Tides Will Turn, explaining she wanted to do something that has a sense of hope…   For The Tides Will Turn, Koan has been working with 2 x Grammy Award Winning Producer Ainsley Adams whose credits include artists such as Train and Beverly Knight to name but two. Anyone familiar with Koan’s work, her…

Manchester Punk Festival just hit us with their 2nd announcement for the 2026 edition. As always, they haven’t disappointed. San Francisco’s Dead To Me will be a moment to remember. The highly respected Brendan Kelly (The Lawrence Arms/The Falcon) and Dave Hause (The Loved Ones/The Falcon) are joining the party and there’s an album set from MPF favourites and DIY stalwarts CHEWIE. There’s a ton of other amazing acts from the UK and as far as South America…

Refuge: Nearly (Self Released) DL / Streaming Out Now Refuge, the London-based five piece fronted by Welsh singer and guitarist Joe Corbett, release their new single, Nearly, on October 24th. Nearly is Refuge’s third single, following their debut, Bored which came out in March. The Ultrasound/Kings of Leon-tinged track being about being frustrated at the way the world is going – prejudices against the colour of someone’s skin and who someone chooses to love or be loved by,…

Rett Smith’s fifth studio album, A Physical Persistence, captures the sound of an artist breaking through his own limits. Written, recorded, and produced entirely in isolation, the record finds Smith peeling rock music back to its purest, most volatile form, fusing analogue grit with the restless energy of post-punk and the storytelling spirit of Americana. Across eleven tracks, A Physical Persistence is a visceral study in duality: beauty and brutality, control and chaos, faith and fury. Every moment…

Fresh off their hugely successful six-date tour with Jesus Jones and BIS, EMF have tonight released a video for their song The Day The Music Died, from the Reach For Something Higher EP. Some of us here at Louder Than War think this is their best song yet… See what you think. The video is dedicated to Greenpeace, “in support of their unwavering commitment to peaceful protest.” You can sign Greenpeace’s petition to “Stop the crackdown on protest…

Tulpa: Transfixed Gaze (Skep Wax) DL / Streaming Out Now Tulpa, one of the latest signings to the Skep Wax label have released their second single, Transfixed Gaze ahead of their album and tour. Transfixed Gaze, following on from Let’s Make A Tulpa! which was an upbeat crunchy pop song that exploded into a huge chorus. Somewhat in a Breeders vein, that will encourage sober people to throw themselves around their living rooms. The new single is another…