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Russell Miller

Russell Miller is the front-of-house/monitor engineer for Red Gate Sound & contributes reviews and an occasional snarky op-ed here at UNDERGROUND PRESS. If the music has a strong melody, a drive, or ambition, chances are that it’ll have my attention. Knowledge.

Posted in Hidden Gems.

Hidden Gems 2021

Ah, here we are at the start of a fresh new spin around the sun. 2021 felt in many ways like 2020 but in extra innings (or overtime, or extra time… apologies for my America-ness...

Review: Sani Lockeheart – Solar Avenue

Some artists try to reinvent the wheel when making new music and some take wheel and keep rolling with it. Cape Town native Sani Lockeheart’s 2020 EP Solar Avenue arrived in the...

Review: Fear of Falling – 'Breaking Point'

2021 is almost at its halfway point and for a lot of the world, it has been accompanied by recovery, rehabilitation, and an embrace of new norms. After recruiting bassist and mi...

Posted in Album.

Review: Oooth – Nothing’s Gonna Change

Rest assured that the more things change, the more things stay the same and South African rockers OOOTH ready willing and able to present Nothing’s Gonna Change to capsulate tha...

Posted in Hidden Gems.

Hidden Gems 2020

If you find yourself reading this, then congratulations are in order; you have survived 2020. In a year that found itself swallowed whole by a worldwide pandemic, one would be w...

Posted in Album.

Review: The Compulsions – Ferocious

It is the end of a tumultuous year that has left many at the end of their rope and begging for some respite from their woes. For many, a nostalgic trip back to the rowdy, alcoho...

Review: DÖ – Black Hole Mass

The band have christened Black Hole Mass to be their offering of praise to the mysterious forces of the universe. DÖ have been doing the work of the cosmos for more than half a ...

Review: BRZASK – Brzask

The band first formed in 2019 as a tribute to the old guard of black metal and in-turn celebrate inking their new worldwide promotion deal with The Metallist PR. Coming in at a ...

Posted in Album.

Review: Silentium – ‘Motiva’

Gothic Doom, symphonic are all typical tags you would find attached to this band since its birth in 1995 and though the roots are still here, 'Motiva' marks a clear evolution fr...

Posted in Album.

Review: Ryno Theron – ‘Howling Rush’

Even after centuries of pairing voices to music, the presence of the quintessential human instrument is something that often goes underappreciated. A vocal performance lifts pas...

Posted in Album.

Review: Fangs Vol.I – Mongrel Records Compilation

The record label in many respects has become antiquated relics in an era that seems hell-bent on eliminating them altogether. As artist move from FM radio to internet radio, and...

Posted in Album.

Review: Riaan Nieuwenhuis – 'Bleeding Moon'

What we as listeners consume is the sum of a plethora of emotions, memories, and lived experience filtered and reorganised into something that's artistically palatable; oftentim...

Posted in Editorial.

Bedroom Music Wars

First and foremost, no, this is not about that kind of bedroom antics and for the purpose properly digesting the rest of this article I would oblige you to retrieve your mind fr...

Posted in Hidden Gems.

Hidden Gems 2019

Congratulations, if you are reading this you're more or less already in the brand-spanking-new 2020 calendar year. Resolutions made, vacation days mapped, and space in your libr...

Review: Forsaking Fate - 'Forsaking Fate'

The project began in 2016 with the union of guitarist Grant Hensburg and drummer Rory Towens. What resulted from this was the release of a strong self-titled EP. Though they've ...

Posted in Album.

Review: No Requests - 'No One Knows What We're doing'

Many musicians poke around and prod at the fringes of music in attempts to bring to the masses something new. With today's release of 'Nobody Knows What We’re Doing Neither Do W...

Posted in Interviews.

INTERVIEW with Riina Rinkinen of Silentium

SILENTIUM’s signature blend of melody and power come from their use of orchestral sounds accompanied by guitar riffs. Since joining the band in the mid-2000s however, vocalist R...

Posted in Album.

Review: Black Pistol - 'Sins of the Father'

It doesn’t take much to sit back and let the intensity of a good headbanger take over and wash you away. Cape Town rockers BLACK PISTOL are leaning on that sentiment with their ...

Posted in Album.

Review: Flèche – 'Do Not Return Fire'

If you said FLÈCHE, you would most definitely be right! These gentlemen are set to release their second full-length album, ‘Do Not Return Fire’ and we got our hands on a copy ea...

Posted in Hidden Gems.

Hidden Gems 2018

Currently, at the time this was written was still 2018, if you’ve already crossed over to 2019 (…or beyond); 1) Greetings from the past, 2) There’s some music that you left back...

Posted in Album.

Review: Emerger – 'Bloom'

At eight tracks in length, 'Bloom' showcases the production and song-writing talents Emma de Goede (vocals/piano) and Gerrit Matthee (producer/multi-instrumentalist) honed ...

Posted in Album.

Review: Wire Love – 'Leave the Bones'

If the human condition and the certainty of uncertainty that accompanied it were a motion picture, WIRE LOVE’s latest effort 'Leave the Bones' would be the soundtrack. Hardcore-...

Posted in Album.

Review: Glory Fades – 'Everything Is Lost'

Angst, anger, scorn, longing; emotions that were a mainstay of an early to mid-2000s (as well as its revival a decade later) movement that brought forth acts such as BRAND NEW, ...

Posted in Album.

Review: Medicine Boy - 'Lower'

In the case of MEDICINE BOY’S latest offering, 'Lower', the dream noise duo acknowledges this with a collection of songs that explore and reflect what is beyond and beneath...

Posted in Album.

Review: Riaan Nieuwenhuis – 'REMINISCENCE'

NIEUWENHUIS is a veteran of South Africa’s music scene and is a veteran of the music community who possesses a girth of talent with a seemingly limitless capacity for composing ...

Posted in Album.

Review: Basson Laubscher & The Violent Free Peace – 'Testify'

The blues-rock revival is in full effect with 'Testify', the latest effort from BASSON LAUBSCHER & THE VIOLENT FREE PEACE. Typically, modern music increasingly relies on the...

Posted in Album.

Review: Surya – 'Adolessence'

It is no secret that the international footprint of hip hop has grown steadily and mightily since its inception in South Bronx, New York project buildings. Today the genre is fl...

Posted in Hidden Gems.

Hidden Gems - 2017

Even though 2017 has lasted less than half a New York minute, in that infinitesimally short amount of time new music has been cropping up left and right. Of course, there have b...

Posted in Album.

Review: Aidan Martin – 'Refugee'

From JIMI HENDRIX’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’ to NIRVANA’s ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’ the authenticity of life’s doldrums inspired staples of rock greatness. With his latest eff...

Posted in Album.

Review: K. Sparks – 'Urban Couture'

Hip hop at its highest ambition is a narrative of urban life and a tribute to the struggles that drapes life in the inner city. It is to that story that K. SPARKS –a native of Q...

Review: Caelo – Visions EP Review

CAELO is the brainchild of frontman Bronner after a rush of inspiration while attending a BIFFY CLYRO show some years ago. ‘Visions’ is a full serving of arena rock garnished wi...

Posted in Interviews.

After Robot - Building Up To Krank'd Up - Interview

Krank’d Up 2017 is almost upon us and there is no doubt that anticipation is building to a fever pitch. From top to bottom the bill is filled with bands that’ll satiate palettes...

Posted in Album.

Review: Jay-Z – '4:44'

Since his debut the mid-nineties with the iconic ‘Reasonable Doubt’, JAY-Z has built and maintained an illustrious hip hop career. Throughout that time, the Brooklyn native has ...

Posted in Album.

Review: Dragoons - 'Anomaly'

There is a new player in a populated South African rock-&-roll scene in the form of DRAGOONS and their debut record, 'Anomaly'. As with any market that appears oversaturated...

Posted in Album.

Review: Four King Ace - Never Aim To Please

FOUR KING ACE have released their first full-length album 'Never Aim To Please'. The South African four-piece lays claim to a heavy late eighties to early nineties rock influenc...

Posted in Album.

Review: Lucy Kruger & the Lost Boys - Summer’s Not That Simple

Listening to each track as one would listen to a partner in conversation opens up a unique experience. Thematically and lyrically, Summer’s Not That Simple functions as a monol...

Review Duncan Park – 'The Hideous Blues'

DUNCAN PARK is bucking every trend of modern mainstream music with his sophomore offering. Turn on the radio and you’ll be bombarded with perfectly tuned vocals, crisp percussio...

Posted in Interviews.

A Dose of Medicine Boy

If their lead single E.V.I.L is any indication, MEDICINE BOY straddles the line that divides the boundaries of the mundane world and the obscure dreamscape of limitless imaginat...

Posted in Interviews.

Returning To Love with The Graeme Watkins Project

Hit singles, rigorous gigging, and various side projects often leave artists yearning for the opportunity to take a step back and re-centre. Between the release of their 2013 so...

Posted in Opinion.

Cultural Appropriate

When is appropriation appropriate? Social justice warriors the world over have been fighting the good fight across a myriad of issues. With a mandate from no one, in particular...

Posted in Album.

Review: Riaan Nieuwenhuis – Collaborator

RIAAN NIEUWENHUIS takes the normally arduous task of creating instrumental hard rock and puts on a songwriting clinic with ‘Collaborator’. This 2016 offering is a departure by N...

Posted in Album.

Review: ADELE – '25'

The release of '21' came 4 long years ago and brought with it a ferocious combination of musical substance and cross-cultural appeal. It was a more polished and more focused ver...

Posted in Album.

Review: Lindemann – Skills and Pills

This dynamic duo agreed to begin writing for a new project after a 2013 music festival headlined by Rammstein and after running through countless name suggestions, Lindemann was...

Posted in Editorial.

Acquisition Ex-Machina

Weeks ago, indie Hard Rock and Metal label Century Media (Devin Townsend, In This Moment, Arch Enemy) had become the latest acquisition of major recording label, Sony BMG. Near...

Posted in Editorial.

A Music Video's Assets

‘Sex Sells’ is one of mankind’s most well-known advertising philosophies and nowhere else is it more relevant than in Pop Culture and less specifically nearly everything on the ...

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