Single Review

Where brand-new songs get cranked through the speakers, the volume gets pushed considerably higher than necessary and we decide whether the latest riffs deserve a permanent home on the playlist. 🎧🎸🔥 A single might only last three, four or five minutes, but sometimes that’s all a band needs to completely grab your attention. One enormous riff. One ridiculous guitar solo. One crushing breakdown. One chorus that gets lodged inside your brain and refuses to leave for the next fortnight. That’s the magic of a great single. Our Single Reviews dive into the latest tracks from across rock, metal, punk, alternative, hard rock and everything loud, heavy, melodic, weird and wonderfully difficult to categorise. We’ll be listening to releases from legendary artists and established favourites alongside rising stars, independent musicians and grassroots bands making their first serious noise. Because discovering a brilliant new track from a band you’ve never heard before can be every bit as exciting as hearing the latest single from one of the biggest names in rock. Sometimes even more exciting. We’ll look at songwriting, vocals, guitar work, riffs, rhythm sections, production, lyrics, atmosphere and those little moments that make you immediately reach for the replay button. But we’re not interested in turning every review into a university dissertation about whether the snare drum at two minutes and seventeen seconds represents the existential collapse of modern society. Sometimes a massive riff is just a massive riff. And massive riffs are bloody brilliant. 🎸😂 We want our Single Reviews to capture that immediate excitement of hearing something new while still giving you a proper idea of what the song sounds like, where it fits within the band’s musical journey and, most importantly, whether we reckon you should give it a spin. The Riff Report is especially passionate about supporting grassroots and independent artists. For an emerging band, a single can be the first opportunity to introduce themselves to a much wider audience. One great song can lead to new listeners, playlist additions, radio plays, gigs, festival opportunities and people suddenly paying attention. So if something catches our ears, we want to shout about it. Being proudly Welsh, we’ll naturally be keeping a particularly close ear on new singles coming from Wales and the Welsh rock, metal and alternative community, while continuing to explore releases from across the UK and around the world. There’ll be songs that absolutely flatten us on the first listen. There’ll be slow burners that reveal something new every time we play them. There’ll probably be the occasional track that sends the Riff Report office into a heated debate about whether we’ve just heard genius or complete madness. That’s part of the fun. So stick the headphones on, fire up the speakers and prepare to hit repeat. Your next favourite band might only be one song away. Fresh tracks. Killer riffs. Honest opinions. New discoveries. Welcome to The Riff Report Single Reviews. 🎧🎸🔥🤘