NEW MUSIC FRIDAY: April 19th New Music Releases


Check out all of today’s new releases in the music world!

Accept – Life’s A Bitch (7″) (Nuclear Blast) (Buy)

After The Burial – Evergreen (Sumerian Records) (Buy)

Allegaeon – Apoptosis (Metal Blade Records) (Buy)

Alpha Wolf – Fault EP (SharpTone Records) (Buy)

Alter Bridge – ABIII (MusicOnVinyl) (Buy)

American War Machine – Unholy War (Bridge 9) (Buy)

Archaic Tomb/Cryptworm – Split EP (Blood Harvest) (Buy)

Atlas Pain – Tales Of A Pathfinder (Scarlet Records) (Buy)

Black Sites – Exile (Hoove Child) (Buy)

Blood Command – Return Of The Arsonist EP (Fysisk Format) (Buy)

Cage The Elephant – Social Cues (Newbury Comics Exclusive Color Vinyl) (Buy)

Chalice Of Suffering – Lost Eternally (Transcending Obscurity) (Buy)

Chemical City Rebels – A New Plague (Self-Released) (Buy)

Chokehold – With This Thread I Hold On (Good Fight) (Buy)

The Chris Rolling Squad – Spitfire (Wormholedeath) (Buy)

Cirith Gorgor – Sovereign (Hammerheart) (Buy)

Corrosion Of Conformity – Wiseblood (Vinyl) (MusicOnVinyl) (Buy)

Cosmic Putrefaction – At The Threshold Of The Greatest Chasm (I, Voidhanger) (Buy)

The Cringe – Everywhere You’ve Never Been (Listen) (Buy)

Crooked Royals – Rumination EP (New Industry) (Buy)

Dawn Of Demise – Into The Depths Of Veracity (Unique Leader) (Buy)

Dead Superstar – I Did It For The Rock Gods (Self-Released) (Buy)

Dead To A Dying World – Elegy (Profound Lore) (Buy)

Druids – Monument (The Company KC) (Buy)

False Gods – The Serpent And The Ladder EP (Self-Released) (Buy)

Fatal Curse – Breaking The Trance (Shadow Kingdom) (Buy)

Fractal Universe – Rhizomes Of Insanity (Metal Blade Records) (Buy)

Gaslight Anthem – American Slang (Newbury Comics Exclusive Color Vinyl) (Buy)

Gods Forsaken – Smells Of Death (Soulseller) (Buy)

Grand Magus – Wolf God (Nuclear Blast) (Buy)

Haze Mage – Chronicles (Grimoire) (Buy)

Heavy As Texas – Heavy As Texas (Crunchy Western) (Buy)

Hosemen – Saturday Nite Conformity (Self-Released) (Buy)

Incantation – Upon The Throne Of Apocalypse Re-Release (Relapse Records) (Buy)

Jordan Rudess – Wired For Madness (Mascot) (Buy)

Joyous Wolf – Place In Time EP (Roadrunner Records) (Buy)

L’Acephale – L’Acephale (Eisenwald) (Buy)

Magnum – Chase The Dragon (MusicOnVinyl) (Buy)

Mayhem – Live in Sarpsborg (Buy)

Ministry – Twitch (Vinyl) (MusicOnVinyl) (Buy)

Mork – Det Svarte Juv (Peaceville) (Buy)

Pagan Altar – Judgment Of The Dead Re-Release (Temple Of Mystery) (Buy)

Pagan Altar – Lords Of Hypocrisy Re-Release (Temple Of Mystery) (Buy)

Pristine – Road Back To Ruin (Nuclear Blast) (Buy)

Sad Planets – Akron, Ohio (Tee Pee) (Buy)

Samael – Lux Mundi Re-Release (Napalm) (Buy)

Samael – Solar Soul Re-Release (Napalm) (Buy)

Sangue – Culs (Nuclear War Now!) (Buy)

Shotgun Sawyer – Bury The Hatchet (Ripple Music) (Buy)

Status Quo – Collected (MusicOnVinyl) (Buy)

Totengott – The Abyss (Xtreem/Burning World) (Buy)

Tripsitter – The Other Side Of Sadness (Prosthetic) (Buy)

Uncured – Epidemic (Seek And Strike) (Buy)

Various Artists – Industrial Accident: The Story Of Wax Trax! Records Soundtrack (Wax Trax!) (Buy)

Various Artists – A Tribute To Death (Antichrist) (Buy)

Vitriol – Chrysalis EP (Iron Bonehead) (Buy)

Walking Corpse – Walking Corpse EP (HPGD) (Buy)

The Wolf Howls When I Scream Your Name – To Be Where There Is Pale Light (Self-Released) (Buy)

The Wonder Years – The Greatest Generation (Newbury Comics Exclusive Color Vinyl) (Buy)


Creeper – Eternity, In Your Arms


Rocking horse shit. That’s about the only thing as rare as a band nailing aesthetic, mystique, live shows, credibility, a groundswell of genuine interest, a devoted fanbase and SONGS on their debut album. Rocking horse shit. And Creeper’s Eternity, In Your Arms (Roadrunner).Continue reading


Biters – Electric Blood


11173371_10153314319258984_2489443671804947239_n

It’s taken them 20 years to rediscover their midas touch, but of late Earache Records have been on a roll. A rock n’ roll, if you will. Whether Dig installed a Hot Tub Time Machine or not is open to scandalous rumour, but the label has been plucking 70’s rock success after retro-fuelled triumph, seeing the likes of The Temperance Movement, Rival Sons and Blackberry Smoke bring home the bourbon. Atlanta, Georgia’s Biters look set to be the latest in the line of acts on their roster recreating the magic of yesteryear, adding a street-smart proto-punk bite to their rock, rather than the smokey Southern vibe of their new label mates.

Kicking off with ‘Restless Hearts’, rocking a brilliant earworm of a bubblegum chorus, whose conception seems rooted in a world where punk and rock first met, as if Social Distortion had rocked out a couple The Sweet covers, Electric Blood manages to be effortlessly cool in its’ skin-tight Ts and tassle leather jackets. All through, the effortlessness with which the choruses lodge in the brain is to be admired, as Biters bring the pop of 80’s hair metal, mixed into a cocktail of the rough, sleaze and cool of The Rolling Stones and the panache (and tambourine) of 70’s Glam Rock.

Swagger, nonchalance and above all quality simple rock songs dominate the skyline of their début. ‘1975’ and ‘Heart Fulla Rock n’ Roll’ overload with lyrical cliché but this is no parody as they swing authentic, with the latter breaking out into a Gary Moore descending guitar harmony and old-school bass-led breakdown. Vocalist Tuk is part-cheerleader, part-rabble rouser and full-time tunesmith, his simple tones knowing their limitations, but infusing these straight-forward good time songs with the melodies and hooks they need.

Don’t go into Electric Blood expecting anything other than oh-so-cool pop rock, and a love of yesteryear. In the heaviness stakes, Biters are more Gaslight Anthem than Green Day, and at times both are brought to mind. With traces of Americana lacing tracks like ‘Dreams Don’t Die’ and nods to AC/DC (‘Electric Blood’) and Thin Lizzy (‘Space Age Wasteland’), this is an album that demands the top (or at least the windows) down, the open road, the speed-dial nudging naughty and voices raised in joyous communion.

These songs have teeth. Biters just bit hard, and these songs aren’t letting go.

 

7.5/10

STEVE TOVEY