Alexander Hay, Author at Trebuchet

Theresa May's pursuit of Brexit - where does it all lead?

Theresa May Brexits English to Death

08/03/2018

Theresa May's Brexit speech was delusional, vapid and debased the English language. Didn't she do well?...

Totally Clucked: The 2018 KFC Famine

01/03/2018

As KFC is forced to close scores of branches, what does this reveal about our ever-so-slightly dysfunctional society?...

Boris Johnson is represented here by a wax-work. But can we tell the difference?

Boris Johnson – the blonde bomb site returns

22/02/2018

It's perhaps too easy to mock Boris Johnson. And yet he remains an ominous symptom of a society in decline....

Who needs Web Porn when you've got Hot Swan on Leda action?

Web Porn: The War on W*nk

15/02/2018

Plans to restrict Web Porn is more informed by humbug than serious debates, and reflects a deeper social dysfunction....

Trump gives the 2018 State of the Union address with Vice President Pence and Speaker Ryan in the background.

SOTU 2018: Donald Trump Colonises America

08/02/2018

Donald Trump's State of the Union speech last week revealed many things and (surprise) more than a few echoes of colonialism....

Blackmail, Sexism, Bias: RIP BBC News

25/01/2018

It is time for BBC News to die. It is in a dreadful state, like a horse in the Grand National that's about to be shot....

You may like privatisation, but not a lot.

Carillion’s fall – privatisation and magical thinking

18/01/2018

In the aftermath of Carillion's collapse, and its winning of government contracts despite clear profit warnings, where does this leave privatisation?...

Brexit Lemmings, leaping off a patriotic cliff

Year Zero – Brexit and Nihilism

11/01/2018

Sometimes we just have to state the obvious. Brexit is a bad idea. It has already split the country and gave voice to all manner of nasty beliefs once thought dead and buried....

Sacrilege! Profanity! Err, Isn’t That the Point of Black Metal? Myrkur

20/12/2017

Myrkur proves, by dint of sheer talent, that magnificent Black Metal can be made by those there lady women people....

The Many Uses of Dead Baby Whales

29/11/2017

Blue Planet II's weekly reminder that you are a sh*t...

Gloomy Doomy Scandi Metal Mashup (Monolord, Enisferum, Cardinals Folly)

06/11/2017

Guts and Gusto win out whilst Grammar Gets Gutted. ...

Mindkult, No Funeral and Livid (Reviews)

04/09/2017

Morbid, Miserable and Doomy as a 1990s first-person Shoot 'em Up. ...

Death, Thrash, Horror. No Garlic: With Primeval Force (Vampire)

11/05/2017

Vampire's second album, With Primeval Force, has all the fangs it needs...

Oozy Bluesy Doom: Sacred (The Obsessed)

12/04/2017

Doom metal with passion and refinement - The Obsessed are back after a brief 23-year break...

Buckingham Palace, The Will of the People

Democratic Stitch Ups and the Untouchable Will of the People

01/03/2017

Autocracies fail in the long run because the people much prefer to oppress themselves than be oppressed...

Kings Of The Ballot Box – What Democracies & Monarchies Have In Common

22/02/2017

2016 was not a good year for democracy. This year could be worse. ...

The End of Electricity (Domkraft)

01/01/2017

Simultaneously doomy and a little dotty, Domkraft freshen the formula with The End of Electricity...

Clever, Inventive, Versatile… and Dull: Vozrozhdeniye (Arkona)

03/12/2016

Accomplished and precise, Arkona's rework of Vozrozhdeniye nevertheless fails to ignite...

Death (and Rebirth) Metal: Enemy of Duality (Rudra)

23/11/2016

Avoiding kitsch and staying extreme, Rudra integrate south Asian influences into metal mayhem...

Mirroring the Zeitgeist with Doom, Death and Gothic Gloom

10/11/2016

Convenience death metal, giant wicker cocks. If politics has gone weird, why shouldn't music? Review of Gatecreeper and Abysmal Grief albums...

Swedish Heavy Metal Monday Mashup

07/11/2016

HammerFall and Civil War prove there's more sludgy grind to Sweden than Ikea's meatballs...

Kargeras Returns From The Land of the Almost Ignored (Root)

28/10/2016

Czech dark metal act Root are a band you haven’t heard of, but should have...

Brudging the Issue With the EU Referendum

31/08/2016

We keep getting what we deserve and we never ask why. ...

Summer Dies Slowly: August Metal Meltdown

08/08/2016

A summer of death, filth, junkie Olympians and the Zika virus needs an appropriate soundtrack. Metal meltdown ahoy....

April Metal (Grimner, Miasmal, The Wolves of Avalon)

15/04/2016

The nightmare of history menaces the month's metal releases...

Dark, Relentless Glory: Monthly Metal Medley

27/01/2016

In the midst of death... Heavy Metal, that most persistent and insidious weed, offers up new releases from Witchcraft, Ghost Witch, Gomorrah and Conan. We review....

Only Death is Real! Indiscriminate Biochemical Dispersion Merry Christmas Panama Deathgrind (Abatuar)

19/12/2015

Interview with Panamanian deathgrind's prime mover - Cadaver, the singer/drummer of Abatuar, opines....

Strive to Shirk, Why Hard Work Doesn’t Work

14/11/2015

No wonder governments like to advocate 'hard work'. The last thing they want is people with minds and lives of their own. Overworked people know their place. ...