Another week chocked full of amazing new music, from classic rock to metalcore and some heavy stuff too! Check it out down below!

Journey: Freedom

The Kings of AOR themselves return with their 16th studio album, after having the longest gap between releases in the band’s nearly half-centry career. It’s epic, fun and showcases major talent. So the usual really for Journey! Yes, it’s slow, and after a full nearly 75 minutes that can get a little much. But tracks like ‘Let it Rain’, ‘United We Stand’ and the opener definitely make it a good listen. For a band that have written one of my favourite tracks of all time (Separate Ways, what a bop) this is definitely something I love and will listen to a fair bit over the coming months. 7.5/10

Coldrain: Nonegative

The Japanese metalcore band put out their seventh studio album last week. They are a name I have been familiar with for a while but for some reason I have never really checked them out. That was a massive mistake. This was fucking awesome. From start to finish, this was a really solid metalcore album. It had plenty of heaviness and harsh vocals while also having a catchy, radio hook in almost every track. The first three tracks are metalcore brilliance while tracks like ‘Before I Go’ almost give off Linkin Park vibes with their slower, cleaner sound. There really isn’t a bad song on the album, and even the slightly cringy intro to ‘2020’ was made better once the track kicked in. Awesome stuff and I REALLY want to check out theband’s back catologue after this! 8.5/10

Blind Channel: Lifestyles of the Sick & Dangerous

The Finish Eurovision alumni put out their fourth studio album on Friday. When I first heard them on the show, I definitely enjoyed them. They were a breath of fresh air for the pop-heavy brand and I honestly thought they were better than the eventual winners. Unfortunately it’s the best track on the album by quite a margin. I completely understand that English won’t be their native langauge, but the lyrics are cringe. ‘Opinions’ is one of the worst rock tracks of the year and tracks like ‘Bad Idea’ and ‘Balboa’ giving it a run for its money. Whoever said on the band’s Wiki that the band are post-hardcore is having a great laugh, this is just various eras of Linkin Park rolled into one. Plus, it’s never good to hear how much fame gets to someone’s head. It’s definitely not for me, so I have to unfortunately give it a 3/10

Beth Blade and the Beautiful Disasters: Mythos, Confession, Tragedies and Love

The third album from the blues/hard rock frontwoman is maybe her best yet. From the very opening track you get a great example of her sound and talent, and it continues throughout. ‘Tonight I’m With You’ gives off awesome, early Halestorm vibes while ‘Undo Me’ is a fantastic stadium rock song. Another album that is straight through good songs, too, though I do have to say I think she does a better job with the heavier stuff over the ballads. 8/10

Viagra Boys: Cave World

Channelling their inner early punk vibe, Viagra Boys infuse it perfectly with new wave and indie with this album. While it’s not exactly my sort of thing, I can definitely hear the quality and appeal. The lyrics are the definite highlight, especially given that there isn’t a massive deal ‘to’ the instrumentation. ‘Troglodyte’ is the definite highlight for me, but ‘Punk Rock Loser’ and ‘ADD’ are also fun. 6.5/10

Vomit Forth: Seething Malevolence

Annnnd we’re onto the heavy stuff. A mixture of death metal and grindcore/beatdown but sadly with the production of a black metal album. Do I really need to say more? Y’all know I’m not going to like it, there isn’t enough melody or enough breakdowns. I struggled to get more than 4 tracks in, sorry guys. If you like it then awesome, but in my personal opinion it’s a 3/10

Amongst Liars: Self-Titled

I had no idea what to expect heading into this. Fuck was I impressed. It’s heavy indie/QOTSA sort of vibes, combining heavy, fuzzy riffs with infectiously catchy radio-rock. From opening track ‘Cut It’ the band had me hooked and I listened to the full album in one sitting. It’s not often I do that on this series, especially with a smaller band. The band even channel some Placebo influence in there at times, another band I’m a huge fan of! For a debut album this is off the charts impressive, and I cannot wait to hear what the band do from here! 8/10

Telekinetic Yeti: Primordial

Another album that isn’t produced very well, the vocals being hard rto make out. It’s a shame too as I was enjoying the riffs and this particular brand of desert rock quite a lot! Instrumentally it’s like The Sword meets Masters of Reality and I am all for it, I just wish the vocals were turned up a tad or were a bit clearer. However, the vocals seem like a much lower priority than the riffs and drums, so I can hardly blame them. It almost feels like they want to be an instrumental band but know that comes with a ceiling when it comes to the mainstream, so have put whatever vocals they can to it. I still thoroughly enjoyed this and would definitely recommend checking it out for the insane songwriting alone. I just wish it had a big chorus or two. 6.5/10

Lord Elephant: Cosmic Awakening

Not too dissimilar to the previous band but this one is actually instrumental. I feel like a hypocrite as I actually felt myself wanting and missing vocals. It was okay but not quite as enjoyable as Yeti were with the sound. Still, there was some fun, dynamic songwriting in here and it is worth a listen if you like the more prog, psychedelic side of rock music. 5.5/10

The Machinist: All is Not Well

We finish off this week on more heavy. The industrial death metal band put out another angry, hate-filled album that grew on me a lot as it went through. Filled with crushing riffs and impressively brutal screams no matter the gender of the vocalist doing them, the albums is definitely for the fans of heavy. I struggled to pick a highlight because it’s not quite my sort of thing, but as with others on this list damn was it impressive. I feel like they’re a band I need to see live to really appreciate them properly. For now, I’ll give it a 6.5/10

Did you enjoy the article? Check out more from our Facebook page here.