A typically stacked week of New Music Monday this week, featuring some awesome rock, metal and country music. Let’s check it all out!
Smashing Pumpkins: Aghori Mhori Mei
This is somehow the fourth Smashing Pumkins album I’ve covered here at Overtone, after the three acts of Atum over the last couple of years. It’s not secret that I wasn’t a fan of those self-indulgent releases, and that I typically haven’t been into much of the band since Zeitgeist. So, imagine my shock when it turned out I didn’t hate this release! It feels like losing Jeff Schroeder has tightened and heavied up the riffing; putting a greater focus on the guitaring and almost giving it Tool vibes at times. I also feel like the band not forcing themselves into a corner of having to write three albums worth of stuff has really let the best of the bunch shine, as this is a solid, concise collection of 10 tracks. A lot of it, like the opening two tracks, even border on prog in the best possible ways. And Corgan, despite having a Marmite voice, sounds pretty great over the instrumentation of the album, and has written some pretty great lyrics throughout.
It’s the best, most focused the band have sounded since at least the mid-2000s, in this writers opinion. Is it perfect? No. But it’s an epic release that is genuinely fun and interesting to listen to, which I didn’t think I’d say about Smashing Pumpkins in this decade. The opener, ‘Pentecost’ and ‘War Dreams of Itself’ are my personal favourites, but every track is pretty decent. Smashing Pumpkins are back baby, and if you’re a fan of the band or 90s rock in general, I’d certainly recommend checking this out! 8/10
49 Winchester: Leavin’ This Holler
The alt-country legends have been gathering a lot of steam over the last few years, and return after 2022’s mammoth Fortune Favours the Bold with another stellar album. From the catchy, folk/Americana opener to foot stomping country-rock tracks like ‘Hillbilly Happy’ and ‘Make it Count’ to emotional ballads like the title track (Maggie Antone adding so much to the harmonies) it has a little bit of everything, and does it all perfectly. Also, ‘Rest of My Days’ is as beautiful a blues-ballad as I’ve ever heard one. Honestly, my only issue with it is that it’s only 10 tracks long. Most country albums these days are bloated messes, so it’s kinda ironic that I’d have happily taken much more of this! There is just so much variety throughout, be it different walks of country/Americana or just constant pace changes, keeping it consistently interesting. This is a must for any fans of country music, and a very good follow-up to the rest of their already stellar discography. An album I’ll be spinning a lot moving forward, and an easy 9/10 from us!
X: Smoke & Fiction
The 80’s punk legends are back with their first album since 2020. They’ve also announced that it will be their last album, and announced a farewell tour alongside it. I have to admit I haven’t listened to their last couple of albums, but this is a lot of fun, and pretty similar in style and execution. If this is what they are going out on, they should be proud of putting out a damn fine final album. Skirting the line between punk, soft rock and even desert rock masterfully, the band somehow sound just as good as ever. Tracks like ‘Flipside’, ‘Struggle’ or ‘Sweet Til the Bitter End’ take me back to my skater-punk youth listening to Los Angeles, while ‘Face in the Moon’ and ‘The Way it Is’ give off more QOTSA or even Iggy Pop vibes. It’s certainly one for the old-school punk fans, and does sound and feel a touch outdated these days. However, asa fan of the band I can’t not love it, and it’s more than a fitting swan song. John and Exene still sound amazing together, and I’d definitely recommend this album for anyone even slightly into punk. 7/10
Orville Peck: Stampede (Vol. 1?)
This is an interesting release from the South African masked country singer. His third album, and first after his self-imposed hiatus last year, also pips Post Malone to the post of a big duets album in country recently.
Firstly, we’ll address the elephant in the room, it is a fair amount of covers. Between the amazing opener/lead single, ‘Saturday Night’ with Elton himself, and the iconic ‘Rhindstone Cowboy’ with a host of great guest vocalists on it. Then you have tracks with Margo Price, Noah Cyrus and Nathaniel Rateliff where Orvelle is playing songs they’ve written. Still, he has writing credits on half the album, and those that he does have a hand in are some of my favourite tracks on the album. ‘Chemical Sunset’ is awesome, and Allison Russel’s voice sounds so perfect with Orvelle’s. Then you have ‘Death Valley High’ featuring Beck, which feels as much like a Beck or even BNL mixed with country, which was awesome. And the more Mexican ‘Miénteme’ with Bu Cuaron is Latin-pop awesomeness.
I’d not really checked out Orvelle before, but his voice is phenomenal. It seemed to fit every style thrown at it here. And every guest is complimented pretty perfectly; it making every track sound completely different and unique. It certainly won’t be for everyone, and it all has a rather neo-traditional feel to it, but it was a fun release that I will definitely listen to again! 8/10
Mister Misery: Self-Titled
The Swedish metalcore band are back with album number three. I had somehow never heard of the band before now, and they have definitely gained a new fan in me! The band span not just metalcore, but power/folk elements and even some theatrical stylings come in regularly too, being a pretty incredible blend! This is non more evident than on songs like ‘Erzsebet’ and ‘Crooked Man’, feeling like Europe’s answer to Ice Nine Kills, in all the best ways! Other tracks, like ‘The Doomsday Clock’, have more of a heavier Linkin Park feel, while ‘Until the End’ gives off Motionless in White vibes, as well as being another Resident Evil track. And yet, all of it has just a twang of that European power/traditional metal that sets it apart from all the other bands spoken about above.
Every track I’ve mentioned already is a massive highlight, but there really isn’t a bad song on the album! This is 46-minutes of metal awesomeness, being packed full of catchy radio hooks and heavy moments in equal measure. Every member of the band are insanely talented players and songwriters, and they have a huge new fan in me. I’d recommend this to any metal fan out there. And it gets a massive 9.5/10 from us!
Ella Langley: hungover
Modern country superstar Ella Langley is back with her brand new album, and this time with a lack of capital letters, maybe to counteract all the albums that shout everything. The fully lower case titles kinda make sense with the release though, as it’s rather chilled out. It’s low energy (in a good way), and pretty slow for a mainstream country album these days. There’s the obvious TikTok famous ‘you look like you love me’, but that’s certainly not the only good thing on the album. If you like this style, it’s a solid release from front to back, and is a very good album to relax to. Songs like ‘nicotine’ and ‘cowboy friends’ are personal highlights. However, it did get a little old by the end, 45-minutes of the same chilled-out music is a lot when analysing it, not just having it on in the background or while driving! still, it’s an easy 7/10
I Love Your Lifestyle: Summerland (Torpa or Nothing)
The Swedish emo-indie band are back with album number four. At only seven tracks and just under 30-minutes, it’s the shortest album on this week’s list, and almost boarders on EP lengths. However, the short, concise nature helped it, at least for me. It’s not exactly my sort of style of punk-inspired indie, and much more and I’d have definitely started to get bored. However, the album as a whole is a pretty enjoyable listen, even if for background or driving music. While I wouldn’t say there is a particular highlight track that stands out to me, they all work perfectly together and the album has a great flow to it. The band are clearly all immensely talented songwriters, and I can imagine this being a very popular album in the indie scene. But I sadly won’t be rushing to listen to it much in the immediate future. 5/10
Gavin Adcock: Actin’ Up Again
The country boy’s sophomore album, and follow-up to last year’s Bonfire Blackout, is just as good as the previous release. While still firmly rooted in country, there is also an air of rock to it, be it in a Lynyrd Synyrd vein or even an early 2000s radio-rock kinda way. Songs like the opener, ‘Sweetheart’, ‘Four Leaf Clover’ and ‘Run Your Mouth’ are all awesome and sure highlights. Don’t get me wrong, 55-minutes is definitely too long, and there is a clear lull in the middle as the pace slows down, but generally it’s a good album overall. If you’re a fan of modern country with a slight rock tinge, I’d recommend checking this out! 7.5/10
Gravemind: Introsphere
Oh look, it’s another amazing modern metalcore band from Australia, who’d have known! In all seriousness, I’d never heard of the band before checking out this album, and they very much have a new fan in me. This went hard from the opening track, and I loved every minute of it. There are even elements of deathcore and black metal throughout, making for a very interesting, heavy release. Some of the riffs are dirty, the breakdown are heavy and the screams are crushingly brutal. Tracks like the opener, ‘House of Cards’, ‘True Life’ and the DOOM-god Mick Gordon-featuring ‘Failstate’ are all massive highlights, but there isn’t a bad track on the album. Even the more synth-lead, ballad-like ‘Aloy’ goes hard at times.
If you are into the heavy stuff or the more modern style of metalcore, this is definitely the album for you. It’s lacking clean, melodic hooks of the likes of Bad Omens for much of it, but that’s not at all a bad thing. It’s a heavy album packed full of great riffing, screams and emotion, and everyone worked their asses off to make it an amazing release. 9/10
Black Smoke Trigger: Horizons
The New Zealand rockers join Return to Dust in putting out a fantastic grunge-inspired album this year. Right from the opener it has heavy modern Alice in Chains vibes, and I am all for it! There is plenty of NWOCR sound as well throughout, which is also more than welcome. From ‘Proof of Life’ to ‘One More Chance’ to the epic ‘Perfect Torture’, it’s all pretty excellent! It’s an incredibly varied album that never once gets boring or feels too long, and that’s a real testament to the bands writing abilities. They are going to be a massive name in the rock scene, later if not sooner, and this is certainly going to be an album people will look at when talking about why. I’d recommend this to any rock fan, and the band certainly have a new fan in me, too! It’s an easy 8/10 from me.