A pretty stacked week of New Music Mondays with some absolutely huge releases and some amazing hidden gems. Let’s check it out!
Falling in Reverse: Popular Monster
We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read the full review here!
Post Malone: F-1 Trillion
This feels like it’s been a while coming. From Post starting to play some country songs live through to the constant teases of ‘I had Some Help’, rumours of this album had been running rampant until they were finally announced. Now it’s finally out, this nearly-hour long slab of duet country will surely be massive and topping the charts. But let’s see what we think of it, shall we?
I’ve seen a lot of love for this album online, and while I don’t feel the ’10/10′ or ‘best album of the year’ sentiment a lot of people have thrown out, it is a damn good, enjoyable, fun album. Post’s vocals fit the country style perfectly, and he really gets to show how fantastic a songwriter he is. He’s also managed to write a song similar to each of his guests’ styles, which is even more impressive. Hearing the instrumentation of album highlights like ‘California Sober’ or ‘Finer Things’, you can tell they’ll feature Chris Stapleton and Tim MacGraw, respectively. And goddamn if ‘Pour Me a Drink’ isn’t one of the best country songs over the last few years. Every guest does a great job, and even the three tracks where he’s on his own are fantastic.
Don’t get me wrong, while every track is at very least good, 18 tracks across nearly an hour is a touch long for my attention span. But then again, God knows what songs I’d cut. Post is just such a charismatic, likeable guy too that it’s so hard to actually dislike anything he does. It’s one hell of a country debut, and hopefully he keeps up this style for a while, as he seems to be really enjoying it! 9/10
Foster The People: Paradise State of Mind
The indie band famous for the highly controversial ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ are back with their fourth studio album, and first in seven years. I have to admit, as much as I enjoyed that song and album, I haven’t really listened to much from them since. This, however, is a fun release! It somehow combines the modern indie sound with the early 2000s disco-pop-rock of the likes of Basement Jaxx, which is awesome! ‘See you in the Afterlife’ is the perfect opener, setting up the tone of the album masterfully, and being a big highlight. However, there isn’t a bad track on the album, each song being damn enjoyable and interesting. It’s very different to what we usually cover here, but I think that’s another reason why I enjoyed it so much! It’s a fun, chilled-out listen, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone into the calmer, quirkier stuff! 8/10
Dark Tranquility: Endtime Signals
The melodeath Swedes are on album number 13, and still sound just as fantastic as they did on their debut. This is 50-minutes of epic, heavy death metal excellence. Tracks like ‘Unforgivable’, ‘Neuronal Fire’, ‘The Lost Imagination’ and the epic ‘One of Us is Gone’ are all awesome and huge highlights. However, there truly isn’t a bad song on the release. The screams are amazing, but so too are the occasional clean vocals. Meanwhile the guitaring is a huge highlight throughout, the riffing being amazing, and the drums hold everything together perfectly. It’s a welcome return from the band after four years off full-length releases, and is just as good as Moment or Atoma. I’d even put it up there with a lot of their 90s stuff, too! It’s certainly not going to be for everyone, and there is a lot of stuff here that trve death metal fans will hate, but I loved every single second of it. It even flirts with power/symphonic metal at times, blending perfectly with their typically-heavier style. I’m gonna be listening to this a lot moving forward, and would recommend it to any heavy fans out there! 8.5/10
Dig Lazarus: Under the Trees
Our good friends have been through a lot in the last three years since their debut album. Between some awesome tours and festival slots, Ash’s solo album and playing with Stevie R. Pearce to the band losing their bassist and going on as a two-piece, this is a very different band to when we last saw and spoke to them. We actually spoke to Ash about the album just the other day (link will be here when it’s up) and he’s explained the sound of the album and seemed rather very excited, so we are even more so here at Overtone, too!
It’s a pretty cracking album, and a fantastic follow-up to their debut. It’s heavier than the previous release; inspired by desert rock but making it sludgier. The band weren’t wrong when they said they were in their ‘swamp era’! From bangers like ‘Ivory Tower’ and ‘Paws’ to even an incredible, heavy cover of one of my favourite Bowie songs, it’s packed full of great tracks. It’s such an interesting evolution from the band. The riffs and catchy vocals are still there, but them dropping back to a two-piece has forced them almost to get a bit more back to basics, and it has resulted in a heavier, darker, sludgier album. Whether you’re a fan of the band already, the NWOCR scene or bands like QOTSA or Soundgarden, you’ll love this! 8.5/10
Morgan Wade: Obsessed
The country breakout star is on her third album in three years, and continues her stellar run of releases. I somehow missed her last one upon its release, but have since gone back and listened, and have become a fan. This very much scratched every itch I wanted it to when it came to Morgan. Chilled out, catchy country music with airs of both pop, rock and folk. It feels like the perfect blend of Stevie Nicks and Lainey Wilson, and it’s awesome! It even also has slight tinges of the 2000s pop-country-rock, like Miley Cyrus or early Demi Lovato. Tracks like ‘Department Store’, ‘Juliet’ and the beautiful piano ballad with Kesha, ‘Walk on Water’, are all highlights. However, if you like the slower side of country, you’ll love every track! It is certainly slow though, and I did find the 54-minutes dragging a little towards the back half. Still, there is no denying the quality of the songs or her talents. 7.5/10
Brave Rival: Fight or Flight
Some awesome blues/hard rock up next with the bands sophomore studio album. It’s an awesome, fun, stomping album from start to finish, and has made me a huge new fan of them! ‘Bad Choices’ is a phenomenal album opener, showcasing the bands talents and style perfectly. However, the album is packed full of highlights, including ‘Stand Up’, ‘Fairytale’ and ‘Sink or Swim’. The powerful, harmonised vocals throughout are incredible, and are complimented amazingly by the great riffing. It’s a fantastically varied album too, 52 minutes going by in a flash of changing tempos and emotions. The band do both the softer and rockier stuff just as well as each other, too. It honestly feels like that first Inglorious album in terms of quality and size of scope and impact on the NWOCR style. Chloe and Lindsey’s vocals are utterly phenomenal, and have made me fall in love with this album. I’d recommend it to anyone at all, rock-lovers or otherwise. And I can’t give it any less than 10/10
Left to Suffer: Leap of Death
What the fuck is happening on this album? That opener gave me whiplash that I’m still recovering from two days later. Having a pop vocalist open to then just go fucking br00tal took me completely off guard, but kinda worked. The instrumentation reminded me of Darko US at times; some real interesting deathcore. Plus, the growls are amazing, and surprisingly contrast with the pop-cleans well. And that’s not just on the opener, either. Five of the eight tracks feature guest vocals (granted one is Paleface Swiss and makes it even heavier), making it a really interesting, varied and surprising semi-duet album.
Honestly, I’ve listened to the whole album three times since starting this review, I can’t get enough of it. The band effortlessly switch from filthy deathcore to more melodic metalcore to pop (with the features), and it creates a real soundscape that I can’t get enough of. The band have really pushed the boat out and experimented, and it’s paid off in spades. It certainly won’t be for everyone, but if you’re a fan of all things heavy, check this out. There really isn’t a bad track on it. 9/10
Extinction A.D.: To the Detested
The New York hardcore thrash band are back with album four. I’ve been a fan of the band a couple of years now since hearing their last album, and this is arguably even better! It’s fast, heavy and packed full of attitude in all the best ways. Some of the riffs are incredible, especially the Dimebag-esque ‘Escape from New York’ ones. I cannot get over how fantastic the harmonics from the guitars are. That whole song, in fact, is phenomenal, and is an easy highlight of the album. The harsh vocals throughout are both heavy but also pretty catchy and melodic, and the drums hold everything down perfectly and add plenty of groove to it all. Other highlights include the Sepultura-like ‘Burnt Sienna’ and the Matthew K. Heafy-featuring ‘Impervious’. However, if you’re a thrash/groove metal fan like me, you’ll love all 40-minutes of this, from front to back. These guys NEED to tour the UK/Europe again soon as I NEED to see this whole album live immediately. It’s an easy 8.5/10 from us!