Mad About Rock

  We’re excited to announce 22 new band additions and a venue update for Mangata Festival 2026, taking place on Saturday 5 September 2026 in Nottingham. With five stages spread across three city-centre venues, this is shaping up to be the biggest edition of Mangata Festival yet. We’re pleased to confirm that Mangata Festival 2026 will once again feature five stages, working closely with Rescue Rooms, Rock City, and The Tap & Tumbler. Rescue Rooms will host the Main Stage, with the Red Room stage upstairs, located at Masonic Place, Goldsmith Street, Nottingham (NG1 5LB). Just a few minutes away, Rock City on Talbot Street (NG1 5GG) will host the Beta stage and the Black Cherry Lounge stage. Around the corner, the Tap & Tumbler at 33 Wollaton Street (NG1 5FW) will host our fifth stage, which will be free entry with no ticket required. On the Rescue Rooms Main Stage, joining previously announced Raised By Owls, Red Method, and In Search of Sun, we’re thrilled to welcome our ...

  UK metalcore band THE FIVE HUNDRED are thrilled to announce the release of their upcoming third studio album, ‘GHOSTWRITER’, set to drop on February 28th 2025 via Prime Collective. In celebration of the announcement, the band has unleashed a fierce new single, ‘RAINMAKER’, which features guest vocals from Aaron Matts of ten56. Delving into the dark narrative of a bleak, authoritarian dystopia, ‘RAINMAKER’ paints a vivid picture of a society suffocated by oppressive control, where hope is a distant memory - watch the accompanying video below. The band explains,"’RAINMAKER’ builds an intense, foreboding atmosphere through relentless riffs and haunting melodies, reflecting the desperation and simmering rage of a people on the brink of rebellion.The fiery crescendo, punctuated by Aaron Matts' brutal vocal delivery, symbolizes a violent upheaval as fire rains from the sky, obliterating the old order." Since their emergence in the early 2010s, THE FIVE HUNDRED have captivat...

  South London metalcore heavyweights After Smoke Clears have shared a cutting and emotive brand new single titled "Animal", featuring Stephen MacConville (Confessions of a Traitor). The single comes alongside a music video directed by bassist Aaron Dohnt, and the release date announcement of their long-awaited sophomore LP, Intentions, out November 19th via self-release. The eight-track LP, featuring the newly-released "Animal", as well as recent heavy-hitter "Unintelligent", containing further vocal features from the likes of Damien Bigara and Jimmy Dahmer, is a rallying cry; a defiant and emotionally potent metalcore romp that yearns to be heard, and firmly cements AFTER SMOKE CLEARS' place as the kings of the UK underground. Whilst valiantly standing as the group's strongest and most complete work to date, Intentions boldly follows the release of 2023's The Fear, which received an 8/10 from Metal Hammer, with the publication declaring that ...