No Open Mic album or Question this week as Steven prioritised the wrestling that was on instead of rational thought.

Nevertheless, Desolation Sounds Podcast is back with a brand new episode with 2019 now in full force. There's more festival news as both Download and Arctangent announce acts to play at this year's renditions, studio updates from Testament, Tool and Rammstein and album news from Blood Command, Brutus, and Employed to Serve.

Album reviews continue in the theme of Steven picking albums from worlds he knows mostly nothing about as he looks at the americana experiment EP from Cane Hill, black metal savagery from Barshasketh, dark neofolk courtesy of Rome, and as promised last week, an eagerly anticipated look at the debut album from rapcore supergroup FEVER 333.

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Albums are thin on the ground this week, mostly due to Steven dropping water on his laptop but these things happen (apparently).

News coming into the Desolation Sounds Podcast this week includes studio updates from Incubus and DevilDriver, there's more festival announcements from 2000 Trees and Slam Dunk, and Canadian punk outfit PUP have gone DIY with their album with the launch of their own label Little Dipper.

There's also news on all the new music from the week, featuring Architects, Blood Command, Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, Devin Townsend and the aforementioned PUP.

For album reviews this week, Steven is taking one big, floaty step out of his comfort zone into the worlds of indie pop with newcomers Tallies and post-metal with favourites A Swarm of the Sun. Finally, to celebrate the announcement of their third album, the Open Mic album for this week goes to the debut album of Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes: Blossom.

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For a guy in his mid 20s, Steven does like to bang on about how bands used to sound like...

On this week's edition of the Desolation Sounds Podcast, there are some new supergroups forming on the horizon, an update from supergroup The Damned Things' camp, and a look at the first announcement from 2000 Trees Festival. Which is just super.

There is also a line-up of all the new music released this week, and the hairy lad himself will be finding answers for the question 'which bands have transitioned from rock/metal into pop well?'

And to top things all off, there are album reviews from California powerviolence mob Plagues; a return for rapcore revivalist Hyro the Hero; a possible EP of the year in Gulch; and perhaps the most bonkers album heard in a long time in Papa Roach.

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While you could do all that '#NewYearNewMe' stuff, where's the fun in self-growth and evolving as a person? Exactly.

Back to normality now and the Desolation Sounds Podcast returns to cover some of the albums missed over 2018. As well as who is currently recording vocals for a new album; the latest news from the Tool camp (along with A Perfect Circle and Puscifer); the return of Oathbreaker; and the a-bit-beyond-mistletoe gift between former Blink-182 bandmates Travis Barker and Tom DeLonge.

There's also a round-up on the new music from this week, along with music reviews for German industrial rock project Emigrate, American pop punk titans The Story So Far, Scandi prog rock outfit VOLA and experimental post-hardcore veterans Thrice.

Lastly, in the debut appearance of the 'Open Mic' segment, Steven will be looking at the forgotten stoner/prog epic Prior to the Fire by Priestess.

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Part 2: Electric Boogaloo is here!

Steven completes his top 20 albums of the year journey with entries 10-1. Who will claim the number 1 spot (spoilers: it's bounced between 2 for about 6 months). Also discussed will be some of the worst albums of the year, the best of the bands no one's heard of, the surprises from the year and some additions to the Desolation Sounds Podcast lineup.

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It's nearing the end of the year of subsequently, Steven's favourite time of the year; it's end of year list season!

This week, he'll be looking at numbers 20-11 with the top 10 occurring next week as well as the albums that just missed out on the top 20 including the non-rock/metal album of the year.

Tea and stumbles at the ready!

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Twas the week before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for Steven slurring his words on half a can on Pepsi Max.

Desolation Sounds Podcast returns once again this week using an excellent knowledge of the English language to look at:

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Steven is back with episode 2 of the Desolation Sounds Podcast. Sponsored by poor time management!

This week, he'll be looking at the new albums from US hardcore troupe Beartooth, former Turbonegro frontman Hank von Hell, and UK metalcore stalwards Bury Tomorrow.

Also, a (very) brief rundown of this year's GRAMMY nominations for rock and metal, Oli Sykes' recent comments about rock music, whose announced new music this week, and the next chapter in the story of viral Canadian doom metal outfit Witchrot.

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Welcome to the Desolation Sounds Podcast!

Hosted by Steven Hooke, this podcast aims to talk about and highlight all the goings on in the world of alternative music, be that rock, punk, metal or extreme metal.

On this week's show:

Steven discusses the break-ups of UK post-hardcore-turned-arena rock titans Lower Than Atlantis and Canadian doom metal troupe Witchrot in what is perhaps the most spectacular split in recent memory.

New music announcements from Faith No More and Deftones.

Live reviews for Skindred (supported by Borders and Aaron Buchanan & The Cult Classics) and Enter Shikari (supported by Modern Error and Milk Teeth).

Album reviews from Shining (NOR), Basement, Unflesh, and Architects.

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