ALBUM REVIEW: The Dangerous Summer – Coming Home


 

Maryland rockers The Dangerous Summer‘s new record Coming Home (Rude Records) starts with the evocative title track – with its hypnotic piano riff and prominent Pixies influence. This is TDS’ sixth album, and it is a rockier affair than its three-year-old predecessor, Mother Nature.

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Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Red Hot Chili Peppers To Perform At ‘Global Goal Live’ Concert In September 2020


In 2020 Metallica has announced they will take part in the Global Citizen’s 10-hour “Live Aid”-style concert event happening on September 26, 2020 on five continents: Central Park in New York, Lagos in Nigeria, and to-be-announced cities in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The event will be the culmination of a yearlong campaign dubbed “Global Goal Live: The Possible Dream” that will benefit United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals with aims at ending extreme poverty and tackling climate change. Also set to perform are Billie Eilish, Coldplay, Eddie Vedder, MUSE, Ozzy Osbourne, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pharrell Williams with co-hosts for the event Deborra-Lee Furness, Hugh Jackman, Idris Elba, Jill Vedder, Katie Holmes, Rachel Brosnahan, Trevor Noah, and Uzo Aduba.Continue reading


Gorilla – Treecreeper


 

Perhaps it’s churlish at this point to note that UK Stoner Rock band Gorilla is being just a bit misleading with the title of its new album, Treecreeper. (Heavy Psych Sounds.) Put simply, gorillas don’t climb trees. Well, alright, juveniles and lighter adults have been observed to do so in the wild. But the metal-as-fuck silverbacks don’t, because they’re too heavy, MAAAAAN. Continue reading


The Color Morale Streams Entire New Covers EP


The Color Morale has released a new EP, The Artist Inspiration Series via their label, Fearless Records. The EP is an exploration of the artists that have heavily influenced the band, and includes covers of bands such as Comeback Kid, Thrice, Coldplay, Jimmy Eat World and Misery Signals. Stream the full EP below and order it now! Continue reading


The 2017 Billboard Music Awards Nominees Include Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers And More


The 2017 Billboard Music Awards will air on May 21st at 8PM on ABC. Today the nominees have been announced, and after scrolling through all of the categories none of us care about, we’ve come to find out that artists like Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead and others have been nominated this year. Continue reading


Our Hollow Our Home – Hartsick


There is something other than faeces and fluoride in the water down on the South Coast of England. And it’s contributing to a burgeoning scene of some repute; while the energetic and promising Saint(The)Sinner passed into the night, Southampton’s Creeper stand the dark denizens hotly tipped to become the UK’s next mainstream breakthrough. So where in the pecking order do melodic Metalcore merchants and fellow Hampshire dwellers Our Hollow Our Home sit Continue reading


Von Hertzen Brothers – New Day Rising


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I suppose that fifteen years is quite a long time but, for your average music fan, the Von Hertzen Brothers represent something of a “new” thing. Certainly, the band’s recent success is testimony to the benefit of hard work; it’s also testimony to the fact that as they have honed their art so it has become increasingly accessible. New Day Rising (Spinefarm) is unquestionably their most accessible record to date and will, as sure as night follows day, ensure a wider audience and even greater success for this most agreeable of Finnish bands. It’s a record packed to the rafters with ideas; if truth be known, probably a few too many.

Matters get off to what can only be described as a rip roaring start with the title track throwing down the gauntlet: it’s sprightly and full of chutzpah, an energetic tour de force. You get the impression of a band comfortable in their skin and ready to take us on new musical adventures with gusto. ‘You Don’t Know My Name’ lightens the frenetic pace somewhat but the straightforward rock style is maintained in earnest. ‘Trouble’ is initially disingenuous with its soft opening, soon breaking out into an expansive number and a clear progression from the album’s opening two cuts. So far, so very agreeable.

The brakes come on for the melancholy of ‘Black Rain’, which has a nice gentle melody that supports the mood of reflection and introspection. ‘Hold Me Up’ is, make no mistake, Coldplay through a Helsinki misty rain, and is as arch and contrived as that sounds. It’s a self-consciously “big” ballad and I’m not sure it works: if someone said it was Finland’s Eurovision entry, I wouldn’t bat an eyelid. I don’t actively dislike it but it jars the overall tenor of the record.

One of the interesting things about Von Hertzen Brothers has been their fearlessness in trying something new and different, keeping the listener on their proverbial toes and demanding your undivided attention. Despite the relatively straightforward nature of New Day Rising, the quirky nature of ‘Dreams’ demonstrates that this sense of gentle provocation remains firmly in place. It’s quirky and fun, lightweight and unassuming.

‘Sunday Child’ is much more serious stuff, and whilst the Coldplay echoes and sense of impending drama remain leitmotifs there’s also a whiff of Biffy Clyro invading the melody giving it a sense of defiance in its melancholic timbre. ‘The Destitute’ is much more traditional Von Hertzen fare, with a glitzy bassline that recalls U2’s Berlin period. Again, like much of the record it dashes and dances through pace and time signatures as all Prog records tend to but, despite what appears to be wilful exuberance, the core song holds its own. The album coda, ‘Hibernating Heart’ brings the pace and mood down again: an archetypal reflection of times past, of mistakes made, it’s a heartfelt and impassioned ballad and a more than decent sign off.

New Day Rising is an album of progress and advance from the Von Hertzen Brothers: there are some brilliant new songs that build on a growing reputation. However, it’s a record that also has a few jarring moments and, weirdly, too many ideas for its own good. What we’re left with is a very good record but not a nailed on classic. Greatness though is surely round the corner. As it stands, less would, in this instance, have probably been more.

7.5/10

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MAT DAVIES