Another week, another six new rock albums to sink our teeth into. let’s not waste any time, let’s get into it.

The Darkness: Motorheart

One of the biggest British rock bands of the early 2000s, while The Darkness may not be at their peak in terms of popularity these days, they are still on a run of form quality wise. Now onto their seventh studio album, the band are seeming like they are on a run of form if their previous release and the singles are any indicator. I intend to review this in full, however, so I shall leave the score out until that is done…

Exodus: Persona Non Grata

Bay-area thrash legends Exodus are often regarded alongside Testament as the forgotten extra members of the Big Four. It’s a fair assessment, given how good their musical output has been, even in this century. Blood In Blood Out was a fantastic and triumphant return from Zetro and their others recently were also great. This new album was no different. It’s a punch in the face from the very first note of the opening and title track and I love it. It’s thrash at its absolute best and I’d put it up against any other of the older thrash bands’ 2000s albums, and maybe even a lot of their albums in general. Highlights include the title track, ‘The Beatings Will Continue’ and ‘Lunatic-Liar-Lord’. 8.5/10

Converge: Bloodmoon I

Hardcore punk band Converge have gone a bit of a different direction with their latest release after adding Chelsea Wolfe to it. It’s definitely got some heavy parts and elements to it, but the more open cleaner parts on tracks like ‘Scorpion’s Sting’ and the opening track give it a real atmospheric feel to it. Add that to the fact that Chelsea has brought so much to the sound here, she’s been used perfectly, and we have the workings of a really good album. Oh, and ‘Coil’ is another massive highlight on the album. I had heard nothing about this band before today but I have come away damn impressed. I can’t wait for part 2! 8/10

Deap Vally: Marriage

Changing direction rather abruptly into female-led punk music, Deap Vally released their fourth album this last Friday, too. Another band that I hadn’t listened to before this, they were another band that rather impressed me. It’s not the sort of thing I typically listen to as I feel like it all sounds like a Runaways rip-off, but there was something about this that at least felt a little fresh. Parts of it even felt like it had pretty heavy Dorothy or White Stripes vibes to it, both fantastic modern artists. Highlights are the opening track and ‘Tsunami’. 7.5/10

Me And That Man: New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 2

And now to change it up even more again, we have a dark country/folk album from the man behind the extreme metal band Behemoth. Me and That Man have been going for a while now as an interesting solo project for Nergal, and this album is just as out their and fun as the last. It’s an interesting album for sure, with somehow just as many Satan references as his main project. ‘All Hope Has Gone’ is a particular highlight as it gets to show off Garry Holt and Blaze Bayley in much different genres as they are used to doing, and it shows both have tremendous ranges. The same can be said for ‘Goodbye’ with Alissa White-Gluz and the legendary Devin Townsend. It’s so impressive hearing Alissa actually sing after only hearing her with Arch Enemy, she’s got a cracking clean voice. 8.5/10

Mirrors: The Ego’s Weight

Last but certainly not least we get metalcore/hardcore band Mirrors with their debut album. I had checked out a couple of singles from these guys already after their album announcement email, and tracks like ‘Beneath the Sand’ and ‘Purple Static’ are awesome, as are album tracks like ‘Hereditary’ and ‘Automata’. It’s a good album and a very good debut overall. I look forward to hearing more from these guys! 7/10

And there we have it, a VERY good week for new music, if I do say so myself. Check back next week when we will have another awesome few albums out!

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