Author: Alexander Hay

Alexander Hay is a writer and polemicist based online and in print.
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?...

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One of many downbeat rivals to KFC.

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?...

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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....

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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....

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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....

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BBC News? More like BBC Nope.

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....

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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?...

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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....

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Myrkur

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....

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The Many Uses of Dead Baby Whales

29/11/2017

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

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Ensiferum

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

06/11/2017

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

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No Funeral/Livid

Mindkult, No Funeral and Livid (Reviews)

04/09/2017

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

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With Primeval Force

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...

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The Obsessed, Sacred

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...

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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...

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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. ...

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Domkraft, End of Electricity

The End of Electricity (Domkraft)

01/01/2017

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

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Arkona, Vozrozhdenie

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

03/12/2016

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

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Rudra, Enemy of Duality

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

23/11/2016

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

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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...

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Swedish Heavy Metal Monday Mashup

07/11/2016

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

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kargeras

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...

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suicide platform

Brudging the Issue With the EU Referendum

31/08/2016

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

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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....

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devilsfingers

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

15/04/2016

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

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new metal monthly 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....

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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....

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workers by Skeeze

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. ...

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‘The sea is its own vast universe’ (AHAB talk about The Boats of the Glen Carrig )

22/10/2015

We play the music for ourselves and if people like it, that’s OK - Daniel Droste, AHAB...

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science-fiction

TV at its most cynical. The Magician’s Apprentice (Doctor Who)

23/09/2015

Audience figures for Saturday night’s mess are the lowest ever for a Who series opener. You’d think they would have got the hint....

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