Eric Mackinnon

Scotland

Newspaper & online, mag & video rock journalist 💙 Noah 💜 Daisy ❤ Tattoos ❤ Rock n' Roll ❤ Festivals ❤ Football ❤ Surfing ❤ WWE nerd ❤ Gaelic 💕Arlene💕

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Articles

FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Download Festival 2025

3 weeks ago | bringthenoiseuk.com | Eric Mackinnon

Close your eyes. Seriously, do it. Hear that? That low, guttural rumble rolling over the hills? That ain’t weather. That’s the beast stirring. That’s Donington Park flexing its tattooed muscles, firing up its amps, and preparing to scream back into life like it’s just chugged a twelve pack of Monster and a giant jar of jalapenos.
ALBUM REVIEW: Pop Evil - What Remains

4 weeks ago | bringthenoiseuk.com | Eric Mackinnon

Some bands mellow with age. Pop Evil, on the other hand, have gone the other way – getting noisier, heavier, and more unrelenting with each passing album. What Remains, their eighth full-length release, is the culmination of that journey. This isn’t just another Pop Evil record; this is the sound of a band snapping off the handbrake, baring their scars, and smacking harder than ever before. Right from the opening notes, What Remains grabs you by the throat.
LIVE REVIEW: Limp Bizkit, OVO Hydro, Glasgow, 08/03/2025

1 month ago | bringthenoiseuk.com | Eric Mackinnon

Photo Credit: Abbi Draper (16th March 2025 – OVO Arena Wembley) Is it 1999? Have we somehow woken up in our teenage pomp before the world went down the toilet? It’s a rare and beautiful thing when a band turns a gig into something that feels like a full-blown event. A seismic, once-in-a-lifetime, oh-my-god-we-were-there kind of night. And if you were lucky enough to witness it then strap yourself in, because you know exactly what went down.
ALBUM REVIEW: Bloodywood - Nu Delhi

1 month ago | bringthenoiseuk.com | Eric Mackinnon

Picture the scene if you will. Out the back of a sweaty, packed metal venue and System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, and Gojira are having an almighty tear up. A chaotic, sweaty, riff-fuelled rager in a back alley. And just when you thought it was over, they grabbed a meaty, bone rattling chorus, smacked you in the chops, and threw you into the pit. That’s Nu Delhi, the second album from India’s loudest, proudest, and most unapologetically ambitious metal export, Bloodywood.
ALBUM REVIEW: Crazy Lixx - Thrill of the Bite

1 month ago | bringthenoiseuk.com | Eric Mackinnon

Photo Credit: Nils Sjöholm If you ever needed proof that the ‘80s never truly died, Thrill of the Bite is the irrefutable, iron-clad, smoking-gun evidence, swaggering into 2025 with more leather, hairspray, and fist-pumping bravado than Motley Crue on the Sunset Strip in their pomp.
ALBUM REVIEW: Lacuna Coil - Sleepless Empire

2 months ago | bringthenoiseuk.com | Eric Mackinnon

Photo Credit: CUNENE Lacuna Coil’s latest album, Sleepless Empire, isn’t just another chapter in their ever-impressive catalogue – it’s a bold statement of intent. Their tenth studio album dropped earlier this month and saw the Italian icons embracing their gothic roots, while fearlessly pushing their sound into unexplored sonic spectrums. If you thought you knew what to expect from Cristina Scabbia and company, you might want to reconsider that opinion.
EP REVIEW: Dead Air - Elements

Feb 13, 2025 | bringthenoiseuk.com | Eric Mackinnon

Photo Credit: Joe Bannister From the depths of the South London alt-rock underground a band has emerged who aren’t here just to play nice or make up the numbers. They’re here to drag you into their world of suffocating atmosphere, raw emotion, and rock n’ roll devastation. Their sophomore EP, Elements, is an emotional rollercoaster through the chaos of the human condition, an unrelenting dive into the depths of inner turmoil, wrapped in a package of searing alt-rock grit.
Pars move for Keith Bray

Feb 7, 2025 | stornowaygazette.co.uk | Eric Mackinnon

Lewis football wonderkid Keith Bray made a transfer deadline day switch to Scottish Championship side Dunfermline for a fee which could potentially reach six-figures. The 18-year-old from Tong has been a key player for Inverness Caledonian Thistle this season but in the final hours of the January transfer window the club confirmed that Bray has made the move to the Pars although as part of the deal, the teenager will return to Caley Thistle on loan until the conclusion of the current campaign.
MUSIC INTERVIEW: Kelsey Karter & The Heroines - Download Festival

Aug 9, 2024 | bringthenoiseuk.com | Eric Mackinnon

By the time we meet Kelsey Karter & The Heroines backstage at Download, not only are the gang still in all their stage-worn clobber, but they are still breathless and grinning smiles as wide as the nearby East Midlands runway, with their set literally wrapping minutes before. “That was really fun…. a lot of fun,” beams Karter.
MUSIC INTERVIEW: Asinhell - Download Festival

Aug 8, 2024 | bringthenoiseuk.com | Eric Mackinnon

Michael Poulsen is no stranger to playing at Download. The main man, front and centre, of Danish metal gods Volbeat, has played so often on the hallowed Donington turf he could probably be liable for council tax. But this year. This time. In the mud filled carnage of 2024, Poulson is right of centre and as happy as a pig in mud, as the guitarist and UK live festival debut of Asinhell.