In a sense, this review finds itself in an onerous position. Recorded in the wake of Finnish singer Aleah Stanbridge’s death, its subject marks the return to the music of her partner, Juha Raivio, and his Epic Goth Metal band, Swallow The Sun. In fact, the press release goes so far as to describe the new album, When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light (Century Media), as being “fuelled by personal loss and powered by the will to continue.”Continue reading
After their split and fallout, following a near-constant touring and release schedule for years, I did not expect to be covering another Blood Red Shoes album, especially since Laura-Mary Carter truly walked away, across to the USA. I first found them a number of years ago, before rediscovering my liking for their music following their set at Leeds/Reading in 2016, so to find a new release being offered was a welcome surprise. In an age where duos are becoming more and more fashionable, it’s a strong return from an act that has worked exceptionally hard for over a decade. Continue reading
“Actions speak as loud as words!” is the roared hook in ‘Leech’, a combustible, fist-swinging mid-album anthem, as Incite know that, five albums in, there is no resting on their laurels. One of a host of bands caught in a mosh, struggling and jostling for position to tip them from the mid-tier; definitely proficient but without that mainstream or commercial weight to establish them as true heavyweights in their field.Continue reading
The early-to-mid 1990s was a wild time for heavy music. With the Seattle bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana blowing up and killing off a lot of hair metal bands, and Metallica and Pantera dominating, and death and black metal gaining steam and mainstream success, other kinds of rock bands struggled to cut through. King’s X already had four albums out by the time Dogman (Atlantic) landed in shops. Their heavy rock flirted with metal, but really they have always bucked trends and classifications. Interpreting their influences and their bare lyrics full of religious symbolism and metaphors have earned them a legion of fans and lengthy career worthy of respect. Continue reading
Studies show that heavy music inspires some of the most loyal listeners globally among fans of all genres. This isn’t a surprise to most of us with a taste for heavier music, since most mainstream music is mildly annoying at worst and nails on a chalkboard horrid at worst. One style of music that often doesn’t get enough credit is post-Rock, often a sonic kaleidoscope of moods, ebb, and flow, and cathartic releases. Even though it’s many fans will shout from a mountain top, or in a Reddit community about their undying love for these bands, they are still not often top of mind when average fans rattle off “Most Anticipated albums lists”. Still, The End Of The Ocean is a band that inspires the highest devotion, since their last full-length album until now was Pacific-Atlantic and their 2012 EP In Excelsis was their last new music until now. The band spent 2018 reconnecting musically and writing again, producing the comeback album, -aire (Equal Vision).
After seven years of relative silence since their debut, the excellently monikered The Mound Builders use the opening minute of their self-titled sophomore album (Failure Records and Tapes) to well and truly set the scene. There’s a triumphant opening chord ringing out, with more than a hint of Volume 4 (Vertigo) about its tone, Ryan Strawsma hits a vintage clanking bass run and the swinging drums come in. By the time Jim Voelz’ raw shouts come in on top, we’re well underway to establishing this is going to be a fun, riffy, High On Fire fuelled uptempo Sludge Metal romp, with all the essential hints of Hardcore to pepper things up.Continue reading
There’s a bit of a misconception about Bowling For Soup outside of their committed fanbase. Maybe it’s their look, the fact that they’re not über (or even always semi) serious, or maybe it’s the ubiquity of several of the tracks from their Drunk Enough To Dance (Jive Records) smash-hit album that littered our music TV lives throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century, but BFS are rarely given the credit for their song-writing that several of their contemporaries get. Whether you like it or not ‘The Bitch Song’, ‘Punk Rock 101’, ‘Emily’, ‘1985’ and ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ are all bonafide bangers, and an integral part of a pop-Punk soundtrack to our lives.Continue reading
I always found it interesting how so many Sludge Metal bands can have the same foundation for a sound but then branch out to sound completely unique from each other. WOORMS has done just that with their latest release, Slake (Hospital/Sludgelord). A ten-track journey a bit over 30 minutes felt just like the right amount of material to quench my Sludge thirst but not be overkill. Meanwhile the emotions on the album span pretty wide between depressing and almost psychedelic sound sample intros to aggressive guitar riffs and song lyrics. Both of which made this album stand out early on in 2019.Continue reading
With a name inspired by – no, not the Def Leppard power ballad or the hickey Accept were screaming for – Halestorm’s ‘Love Bites (So Do I)’ is the all-female Japanese Metal band Lovebites. If you like your Metal relentless, big, bombastic and with one foot in the eighties then you have come to the right place, Clockwork Immortality (JPU Records) is their second album in their short three-year life and it is not for the timid.Continue reading
2019 may only be two weeks old, but as shown by our Underground Albums Roundup, the great and the not-so-good of our world are determined to start the year with a bang. Or at the very least, to bury us in a deluge of albums. Seeing as the mean and the nasty had been given a platform, we thought it only fair to shine the light on some of January’s releases beholden of a more melodic or traditional Metal bent to their finery…