A stacked week of pretty varied new music this week, and trust us, the quality is insanely high. Join us in checking it out!
Hozier: Unreal Unearth
Charlotte: Hozier became famous overnight with his hit ‘Take Me To Church’, transforming his career as a singer-songwriter. He continues his success with the alternative-rock, soul and funk sound created from his third studio album Unreal Unearth. The album begins moody with a hair-raising introduction with ‘De Selby (Part 1)’ before the funky switch with ‘De Selby (Part 2)’, setting the tone for the rest of the album that takes you through quiet folky ballads and souly rich beats. Unsurprisingly, Hozier’s lyrics are beautifully poetic that you could spend all day untangling with personal meaning. Favourites from Unreal Unearth would have to include ‘Unknown / Nth’. Every word from every song is chosen and sang with purpose. Hozier has taken his songwriting to new heights with this transformative and cathartic album 8/10
Joe: I have to admit, outside of ‘Take Me to Church’, I don’t think I know any other Hozier. So, when I heard the opening track, I was close to giving up and leaving it for Charlotte on her own. However, some of this was kinda jazzy and funky, like the second part of ‘ De Selby’, and there was a lot of great US indie vibes throughout a lot of the album. It’s a good album to sit back and chill to, and is a lot of fun. His voice is just as good as ever and his effortless blending of genres and styles creates a great blend of sounds. ‘Eat Your Young’ is an R&B/indie crossover classic already while ‘Anything But’ will be an underrated awesome track. My only issue is that he’s gone all country up in this bitch. Over an hour and 16 track is too long. Still, 7.5/10, good fun!
Orbit Culture: Decent
Joe: The Swedish melodeath band are back with their fourth studio album. I was a big fan of their last one, so was excited to hear what they came up with this time.
Honestly, it’s phenomenal. Doing this series hasd given me a massive appreciation of atmospheric death metal, and tracks like ‘Black Mountain’ and ‘From the Inside’ are really the peak of the genre. I really can’t praise it all enough. The perfect blend of In Flames, Gojira and Fear Factory, yet having the added layer of huge, epic clean-vocalled choruses. I know a lot of people are complaining about clean vocals in death metal these days, but honestly it adds another layer of amazingness to the tracks and doesn’t take away from the heaviness at all.
It is honestly impossible to pick highlights from the album. The whole thing is incredible and, dare I say, flawless. I loved everything about this album; the crushing riffs, insane drumming, amazing screams and impressive, uplifting cleans. If you are a fan of anything heavy at all, give this a chance and I’m sure it’ll blow your socks off. And be sure to listen to it all the way through, as the flow and energy through it is amazing. It’s very well put together. 10/10, a second masterpiece this week!
Rhiannon Giddens: You’re The One
Joe: This album was a lot more jazzy/bluesy/rocky than I was expecting from a ‘folk’ artist. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still elements of it in tracks like the title one, and there’s some country elements in ‘Yet to Be’ and ‘You Louisiana Man’, but overall it’s a lot more modern than I was thinking it would be. The former track, featuring the awesome Jason Isbell, is a huge highlight of the album, as is ‘Way Over Yonder’. Rhiannon’s vocals are phenomenal and the instrumentation behind them make it that much more impactful. This album definitely won’t be for everyone, but I enjoyed it! 7/10
Fiddlehead: Death is Nothing to Us
Max: Two years since their previous album, Fiddlehead is back with another quintessential album. The post-hardcore supergroup’s new album is another fitting addition to their ever expanding catalogue and it another really easy listen. If you aren’t familiar with post-hardcore or emo then then vocals that seems like they are just being yelled at you can be rather strange however when that is combined with the more melodic vocals and the guitars, drums and bass that are trying to show so much emotion then it all starts to make sense. My first listen through the album and then every subsequent listen from then on has pointed out one song in particular that is my personal favourite, ‘Queen of Limerick’ and I’m truly not sure what it is that makes me enjoy this song so much, all I know is that it is a song and an album that everyone should experience. 9/10
Joe: I enjoyed this, but it felt like nothing had enough time to breath or get going before it was all over. Tracks like ‘Sleepyhead’ and ‘True Hardcore (II)’ are great, but with both of them being well under three minutes, by the time I’d really decided “hey, this is awesome!” they were done. It’s pretty punk rock, don’t get me wrong, and they’re a great post-hardcore band. I just wish we got a little more from them! 7/10
Osees: Intercepted Message
Charlotte: Osees’ tenth album begins with a crossover between eighties gaming synth and punky vocals – think Mario Kart, Stranger Things, your Nintendo reminding you it’s on low battery, new-wave dance and the Sex Pistols all at once? Sounds weird, but it works. Fittingly titled Intercepted Message, Osees create their distinctive sound with a chaotic composition that fits. 7/10
Shadow Smile: Signed in Blood
We’ve already reviewed this awesome album! Check it out here.
Bobby Rush: All My Love For You
Joe: The fact that the blues legend is still releasing new music at nearly 90 years of age is massively impressive. The fact that it’s also still to this high quality is utterly ridiculous. It’s hard not love hearing someone still have so much passion for their art and genuinely enjoy what he’s dedicated his life to. His lyrics and playing still ooze so much emotion, too. It’s simple stuff, but it’s some of the best traditional blues I have heard released in the modern era. Highlights include the emotional opener, ‘One Monkey Can Stop a Show’ and ‘I’ll Do Anything For You’. Is he on track for his third Grammy win? I certainly think so! 8/10
SKÁLMÖLD: Ýdalir
Joe: It feels like we don’t do enough Viking metal here, so I’m excited for this one! And honestly, it’s a really interesting listen. It’s definitely Vikingy in every conceivable way, but has more of a both thrash and extreme edge than a band like Amon Amarth do. The duelling vocals were cool, one being lower while the other more Dani Filth, reminding me a fair bit of 3 Inches of Blood. However, the riffs remind me more of Iron Maiden or other NWOBHM contemporaries. It blends together power metal, speed and extreme exceptionally well.
The opening title track is the perfect showcase of the bands sound, while single ‘Ratatoskur’ is an amazing track that really shows off the bands skill in playing and songwriting. I also love the proggy closing track, ‘Ullur’. The plodding pace was a nice change, as was the quieter folky bit in the middle. I loved the epic, medieval feel to it all, and it’s definitely a highlight of the album.
It’s a solid album and if you like the styles it presents, you’ll love it from start to finish. I enjoyed a fair bit of it but it didn’t quite hook me as an album as a whole. 7/10
The Xcerts: Learning How to Live and Let Go
Charlotte: The XCERTS bring together themes from different genres to create their own style for Learning How To Live And Let Go. Opening track GIMME is reminiscent of Nothing But Thieves with a fuzzy, alternative rock sound, but it wasn’t long before pop-punk and playful synths came into the mix to create an angsty, thumping album – emotional ballads aside, whilst still in keeping with the album’s nostalgic tone. Favourites include ‘Ache’, ‘GIMME’ and ‘My Friends Forever’. 8/10
Alana Springsteen: TWENTY SOMETHING
Joe: Firstly, this modern trend of having an all-capitalised album title and then not having a single other capital letter in any of its song titles is real odd. I can’t tell if there’s some message behind it I’m not getting? I just thought I’d put that out there.
The album itself is great. Right from the opening track, ‘you don’t deserve a country song’, the quality, catchiness and radio-country feel is there, and sticks around until the very last note of the album. It walks the line between modern country and a more old school twang perfectly. It’s clear Alana has a huge love and appreciation for the country greats, yet has her own sound and a modern feel too. This is what I wish Taylor Swift had evolved into, honestly.
Both guests, Mitchell Tenpenny and the legendary Chris Stapleton, do amazing, with the latter being my favourite tracks on the album. However, not having Chris sing, just play guitar, was a very odd yet ballsy choice. Other highlights include the title track, ‘hypocrite’, ‘cowboys & tequila’ and ‘thinkin’ straight’.
My only slight issue, as I have mentioned about a lot of modern country albums, is the length. The way the album was released definitely helped with that, putting it out in three parts, with the third and final one being the full album. However, doing this review still had me sitting down and listening to 18 tracks that were all fairly similar for nearly an hour. There is a lot of amazing stuff here, but it definitely dragged in parts. I get why such long albums are put out, and it seems to definitely be a Sony thing as it’s a lot of their albums the last couple of years, but a more concise album could have been phenomenal. For now, it still gets a very respectable 8.5/10
Spirit Adrift: Ghost at the Gallows
Joe: The Texan heavy metal band released their fifth studio album last week. Having never even heard of them before, I really enjoyed this! Maintaining some of the doom elements from their earlier days, this also feels like it draws in heavy inspiration from the likes of Mastadon and Coheed & Cambria. Heck, there’s also some prog elements through the ever changing riffs. When mixed with the sludgy doom stuff it’s very The Sword.
Overall, it’s just a damn fun album to listen to. The talent in playing being showcased is off the charts, the riffing being some of the best I’ve heard all year. And honestly, some of it has an almost freeform jam feel to it, something you can’t help but enjoy. Even the slower, ballad track, ‘These Two Hands’, is great and builds up to the heaviness perfectly.
As seems to be a recurring theme this week, there isn’t a bad track on the album. It’s the perfect 45-minute listen for anyone into old-school metal, and I’d highly recommend listening to it front-to-back. If I had to pick and choose, though, ‘Death Won’t Stop Me’, ‘Hanged Man’s Revenge’ and the album’s epic closer are massive highlights. I can’t recommend this album enough, great stuff. 9.5/10