I hope you’re ready for a weird week! There’s a lot of new music, most of it is heavy AF, and then there’s Jethro Tull. Let’s just get straight to it.
Steve Vai: Inviolate
It’s Steve Vai, what more can I really say? If anyone is a fan of guitar playing of any genre, listen to this. The man has very much still got it and is one of the best guitarists and composers of all time. However, for everyone else it is nine tracks and 45-minutes of instrumental, there are no vocals. It’s not for everyone, but as a musician I loved it! Highlights include ‘Zeus in Chains’ and ‘Avalancha’. 7/10
Jethro Tull: The Zealot Gene
Yes, that odd band that once denied Metallica a Grammy are still going and have just released their first new music (excluding a Christmas album) in 23 long years. One of the longest gaps between albums (more on that later) I know about, the band have still maintained their odd blend of blues rock, folk and jazz after all these years. It’s a weird combination but it somehow still works for Ian Anderson and co after nearly five and a half decades. Highlights include ‘Shoshana Sleeping’ and ‘The Betrayal of Joshua Kynde’. 7.5/10
Eels: Extreme Witchcraft
US punk(ish) rockers Eels returned with their 14th studio album this week. After a promising, up-tempo start to the album with a great opening track, it soon slows up massively and doesn’t really speed up again. There are still highlights to it like single ‘The Magic’ and the RHCP-esque ‘Grandfather Clock Strikes Twelve’, but the rest left me a little disappointed. 6/10
Pinegrove: 11:11
This is an interesting one for me as it’s pretty different from most of the other stuff we cover here. However, it’s really good. It reminds me a lot of the late 90s pop-rock of the likes of Matchbox 20 and Hootie and the Blowfish, and R.E.M, but with an ever so slight pop-punk edge at times. ‘Alaska’ may be one of my favourite songs of the year so far, it’s at least up there with the new Muse one! If you want to take 40-minutes to chill out, especially before the next few heavy bands, this is the perfect choice. Not a bad song on the album, hence why it gets a solid 8.5/10
Lawnmower Deth: Blunt Cutters
Local comedy-thrash band Lawnmower Deth have been on the receiving end of one hell of a resurgence in recent years. From their pretty high billing on festivals to their collaborations with Kim Wyld, they are going strong. The band’s fourth studio album, and first in almost three decades, was finally released last Friday. It’s everything you could imagine seasoned veterans of thrash metal would write when not taking it massively seriously. If anything, the band have gotten even better over the last 29 years. I would put ‘Into the Pit’ up there with any other true thrash anthem, and the silliness and punk-rock energy of the likes of ‘Swafega’, ‘Now he’s a Priest’, and ‘Raise Your Snails’ are all awesome. Hopefully the guys keep pumping out music after this, because damn, wahat an album. 8.5/10
The Last Ten Seconds of Life: Self-Titled
The deathcore band with the far too long name are back with their sixth album. It’s heavy, and it’s great. Some of it may be a little much, heavy for the sake of it instead of being ‘good heavy’, but there is enough great stuff here to make it worth a listen. Highlights include the opener, ‘Sabbath’, and the wonderfully weird ‘Vampire (A Blood Ballad)’. Worth checking out if you’re into the heavy stuff, but may scare more than a few off! 7/10
Shoun Shoun: Monsters & Heroes
The debut album of garage-rock band Shoun Shoun is one that I that I am in the midst of doing an in-depth review of, so I shan’t go into too much detail about it. However, it is very good from start to finish, so keep an eye out for that review! For now, I leave you with the awesome track below!
Burned in Effigy: Rex Mortem
US-based metalcore/death/extreme/whatever other sub-genre they want to be called band Burned in Effigy put out their debut album on Friday. It’s another album that goes HARD from start to finish, and honestly it’s awesome. The band show off their talent for both their instruments and song writing throughout, and the album is full of highlights. It’s like a groovier Cradle of Filth, which is definitely high praise! A damn good debut album, and I can’t wait to hear where they go next! 8/10
Vvorse: Kurjien elegia
The Finnish hardcore/Neo-crust (yep, I had to google it too) band Vvorsde put out their second album over the weekend. According to the press release we received from our good friends over at Inverse Records (because I don’t speak Finnish , the album explores ‘dystopian and existential levels’. All I know is that it’s another very heavy album. This one may even be too much for me. I like me some heavy music, but this was just a wall of uncomfortable noise. There really wasn’t much to it aside the heaviness, and it may have been a mistake for me to leave it until last. I have never felt so old as I do typing this, but it honestly gave me a bit of a headache. 2/10
And thus we finally reach the end of this weeks New Music Mondays and damn, was it a big one. A lot of good stuff and some not so great stuff, but it’s still been a great week overall! And next week is just as big, with the likes of Slash and Korn!
Did you enjoy the article? Check out our more in-depth reviews here.