A stacked week of New Music Mondays as per usual this week, featuring plenty of big names! Let’s check it out!
Frank Turner: Undefeated
We’ve already reviewed this album in full! Check it out here!
P.O.D.: Veritas
The nu-metal titans are back with their first new album in six years. While not long compared to most bands, it is the biggest gap in releases in the bands career so far. However, after a bit of a gap, it’s nice to hear the band still go as hard as ever. It was a very good idea to open the album on the Randy Blythe featuring ‘DROP’, it’s high energy, heavy and one of the best songs on the album. However, that’s not to take away from the rest of the album, it all goes pretty heavy for a more rap-centric nu-metal band. Don’t get me wrong, none of it reinvents the wheel or anything, but songs like ‘DEAD RIGHT’, ‘I WON’T BOW DOWN’ and ‘THIS IS MY LIFE’ I’d put up there with a lot of their classics. The band seem to do better with tracks featuring others than when it’s just them on their own. I was never the biggest fan of the band back in the day, there were always one of the more meh nu-metal bands. However, I certainly didn’t hate this and wouldn’t be against listening to the album again in the future. It’s an easy 7.5/10 from me!
Dea Matrona: For Your Sins
The debut album of the Irish duo has a lot of hype around it. The band have been gathering a lot of momentum over the last few years thanks to a stream of awesome singles, even garnering a reaction video from us not long back! I’ve been familiar and a fan of the girl’s neo-traditional folk/pop rock style for a while, so am excited to finally hear a full release!
It’s certainly a good, fun soft rock album. I was already familiar with the awesome ‘Red Button’, obviously, but songs like ‘So Damn Dangerous’, ‘Did Nobody Ever Love You?’ ‘Dead Man’s Heart’ are also massive highlights and favourites. There’s elements of everything, from pop to alt-rock to folk to even country in the back end of the album, and the duo shift between the genres effortlessly. I’m honestly a tad jealous at how easy it is for them to switch between genres while seamlessly managing to make it still sound like Dea Matrona. I can certainly see why this band is gaining such traction, there is a lot to love here. It’s not even typically something I’d be that into, so that should be even more of a testament to the quality, that I loved every track. It’s a fantastic, chilled out album that is an easy listen from front to back; it goes by in a flash. The sky is the limit for these two, and this album is set to push them to the stratosphere. 8.5/10
Tenille Arts: To Be Honest
We’ve also already checked out this awesome album already, aren’t you lucky?! Read the full review here.
Raised by Owls: Vol. 3: (The Satirical Verses)
Comedy in music is a very hard line to walk, especially these days. So, for Raised by Owls to do it so effectively is incredible. Heck, the song titles themselves had me howling, let alone when I checked out the music or even the videos. And, as is fairly rare for parody music, the actual music is also awesome. Comedic black metal isn’t something I’d have expected, or thought I needed in my life, but it turns out I most certainly do! I’m usually so very on the fence with black/blackened death metal, but this has certainly won me over! Don’t get me wrong, it’s still not 100% my thing, but songs like ‘Robert Zombie’, ‘The Dark and Twisted Realm in which Fred Durst Resides’ and ‘Strictly Come Danzig’ are all heavy bangers. The instrumentalists are all immensely talented, while the lyrics are fantastic, as well as screamed perfectly. If you’re into the heavy stuff, you’ll love this. And I can imagine this all being awesome and great fun live. I certainly wouldn’t turn any of this off if it came on again! 7/10
The Karma Effect: Promised Land
One of the fastest rising stars in the NWOCR movement, the hype surrounding this album over the last few months has been massive. I’m also a couple of days late to it and have heard nothing but good things about it, so am damn excited to dive in and see what it’s like.
I see why everyone was hyping this album, it’s excellent! It’s the perfect blend of 70s hard rock, 80s glam and a modern edge, and is packed full of incredible riffs and melodies. It has bits of Quireboys, Rolling Stones, Ratt, Extreme, Bad Touch and many others, and it’s all combined together fantastically. Songs like ‘See You Again’, ‘All Night Long’ and ‘Be My Salvation’ are all awesome. However, there really isn’t a bad song on the album. The vocals are a massive highlight overall, as are some of the insanely catchy melodies they hit. However, the whole band have worked their asses off to construct something really special here. My only slight issue is that it isn’t anything that hasn’t been done before. However, when it’s this good, that kinda goes out of the window! Along with Florence Black, These Wicked Rivers and South of Salem, the NWOCR movement has once again reached another epic peak of awesome albums, and this is easily up there with those. I’ll certainly be rocking this for months to come, and it’ll surely end up high on our albums of the year come December! 9/10
The Lemon Twigs: A Dream is All We Know
The indie rock brothers are back with their sixth album. While it’s not particularly my sort of thing, there is no denying their talent and the quality. It almost has a Beatles element to it as much as anything traditionally indie. The songwriting, and surprisingly the guitaring, are both awesome. And if you’re into the genre I’m sure you’ll love this whole album. It’s not a bad album by any stretch, and songs like the title track and ‘I Should Have Known Right from the Start’ are personal highlights. But I certainly won’t be rushing to listen to this album again, put it that way! Still, it gets a 6/10 from me!
My Silent Wake: Lost in Memories, Lost in Grief
This isn’t just doom metal, this is ‘epic doom metal’. As if the main genre doesn’t get me excited enough… don’t make promises you can’t keep, My Slient Wake!
The band certainly deliver on their promise, thank god! This truly is an epic album, as well as being plenty doomy enough too. It also has just a touch of black metal to it, which was awesome and really interesting. Opening on the grandiose ‘The Liar and the Fool’, the track is already a journey on its own, let alone with another four tracks following it. Every track was incredible, with ‘Lavender Garden’ being an insane personal highlight. However, this is an album that deserves to be listened to all the way through. And, with the shorter length of the album, it’s not that hard to do. That’s my only real issue with the album, is that I simply need more of it! The lines between EPs and albums have been blurred a lot over the last couple of years, but 25 minutes really isn’t long enough! H
However, as I said, it’s an excellent release. Both the clean and the harsh vocals are incredible, and fit over the top of the exceptional instrumentation perfectly. If you’re into doom, or just metal in general, I would highly suggest checking this out, you won’t be disappointed! 9/10
Return to Dust: Self-Titled
I didn’t know what I was getting myself into with this release, not knowing anything about the band aside for the fact that they burst onto the scene last year and put out their debut, self titled album this last Friday. Part of me is glad, because being surprised by an incredible, Alice in Chains style album was amazing. Opener ‘Black Road’ set the tone for the album perfectly, and lead the charge for 35-minutes of awesomeness! I LOVE darker, heavier grunge like this, and my god, I need this shot right into my veins. It has just a tinge of indie to it too, at least the heavier, Highly Suspect end of the genre, anyway. The attitude and swagger dripping from each track was amazing, and the Jerry-Layne-esque harmonies on them all are breathtaking.
Slower, ‘Down in a Hole’-type songs like ‘Anyway I die’ and ‘Live Like This’ are just as amazing as the heavier stuff like ‘Cellophane’ and ‘When You Look at Me’. I would recommend this album to anyone, not just grunge fans, and I honestly can’t get enough of it. The band have done something really interesting with this release, and I’m so glad they’re already making waves in the US and playing shows like Sonic Temple and Rockville. The dynamic between the vocals are a massive highlight, but so are all the amazing riffs throughout. I’ve had some great grunge come through my emails recently and I really hope this band lead the charge for its inevitable revival! I’m a be listening to this album so much in the coming weeks. It’s a very easy 9.5/10 from me, though it may change to top marks still with more listens!