Devil’s Dandruff bursts into life with taught ball of high octane audio ‘In the Pit’. Bozos’ ability to revel in the straightforward then add neat breakdowns and slick solos without taking any of the nuances too far is ever present Continue reading
Full Blog Feed
The Book of My Silent Wake: a chronicle of the final live ritual; plus MMV – MMXXV reviewed
- The Beautiful South
- In the Beginning (2004):
- ‘The Festival of Ostentatious Raffle Calls’
- My Misplaced Concern for Plymouth’s Piss-Poor Pubs
- Gig Day
- The Gig
- The Cold Bleak Light of the Following Day
- The Review
The Beautiful South
Friday 29th August I set off to see the last ever live performance of UK doom legends My Silent Wake. It was taking place the following day at the One For Sorrow festival @ the Junction, Plymouth.
Scarebears’ ‘Scapegoat’: the scorching debut single reviewed
Scarebears debut single ‘Scapegoat’ opens with stern spoken word that acts as launch pad for an audio OOF! factor ten take-off, each note from there unleashing like a tightly coiled spring so embroiled are they in the energy and conviction of the lyrical message; one that takes serious issue with the idea of the far right actually having Continue reading
Sock Drawer
My sock drawer
Isn’t so important
As I think
Soon won’t matter
What will happen—
emptied forever
or refilled in the name
of another—
I don’t know
Except to be certain
The day will come
When my sock drawer is opened
In permanent absence of me
And whoever has done so
Will express something or other
When looking down upon
The pieces of cloth
That once adorned my feet
I wonder what they’ll think
Whether eyes brimming with love
Will be blinded by tears
Or more likely
Will ones of indifference
Judge—for they won’t
be able to help it somehow—
In favour or against
Think stylish or stingy
Maybe even poverty stricken
Or someone who just didn’t care
I wonder what they will see
During the last ever look
Into my sock drawer
Before its contents are cast
Into the dark depths of a black bin liner
Or the whole piece of furniture
Stuck on top of a bonfire
I imagine these possibilities
While remembering
The next time grabbing a pair
Could be the last time of mine too
With thanks to D. D. Buck^ for use of the header image (licensing).
Thanks for reading 🙂
N. P. Ryan
To receive notifications of future posts of poetry—be they happy, sarcastic or sad—music history and reviews, the odd bit of this and that plus the occasional stab at promoting my books, please enter an email address below.
Rites of Hadda / Hermeticus live @ Café Kino, Bristol: plus Inevitable Machete album review
I first caught Rites of Hadda at the Easton Punk Festival, 2024.
During the set singer Wasperella jumped into the crowd to embrace members of the audience; in the process, I was lucky enough to be recipient of a juicy Continue reading
vengacats: bosscat – an electro punk cat’s whiskers
vengacats’ bosscat makes for compelling listening across its six tracks.

Always punk, the album can be Strawberry Switchblade poppy to having a dark sinister, yet playful, edge similar to that of the legendary Continue reading
BELZEBONG: The End Is High EP Incoming
The 20th February, 2026, will see the release of BELZEBONG’s The End Is High EP; in the meantime track ‘420 Horseman’ is available for a listen and to download for pre-orders. Continue reading
Poem #637
How did it . . .
Where did things . . .
How did things get . . . Continue reading
That’s Interesting (hand-in-hand)
Let us go
Hand in hand
Around halls
Warm in winter
Sheltered in summer
While calling the things Continue reading
It’s Possible If
It’s possible that:
there’s a lovely day behind those grey clouds;
a shy snout is stifled by the bravado of snarling; Continue reading