Lainey Wilson: Whirlpool
We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read the full review here!
Zeal & Ardor: GREIF
This is an album I’ve been very curious about. We loved their last album. However, so far the singles I’ve heard haven’t quite gripped me as much as anything from their last couple of releases. So hopefully the album as a whole does it for me instead!
It’s certainly interesting! I think it’s certainly more of a grower than their self-titled release. There’s a lot that I love on it, but it never quites hits as hard or gets as heavy as I’d want it to. A lot of the sounds and concepts are cool but, like my criticism of ‘Clawing Out’, they don’t really go anywhere. If anything, it makes me like the fully lighter, quirkier stuff like ‘369’ and ‘Thrill’. The riffing feels more like the heavier end of QOTSA, which overall is awesome, I just miss the breakdowns of tracks like ‘I Caught You’ and ‘Death to the Holy’.
It’s a damn good album as a whole, though. Listening through all 43-minutes, it certainly takes you on a journey. Honestly I think it flows better than anything else they’ve released, too. It just doesn’t have a couple of individual tracks to have me coming back for shorter listens. The closest I have are the aforementioned ‘Thrill’, ‘Kilonova’ and the more old-school ‘Hide in Shade’, easily the album highlight. As I said, it might grow on me, but for now it gets a tentative and curious 7/10
Koe Wetzel: 9 Lives
Yes, this did technically come out last Monday. However, I didn’t have time to cover it on Monday, so it’s going on this week’s one. Plus, it means I’ve had a full week to digest the album, something rate for me these days.
I’ve always had an interesting relationship with Koe’s music. I loved his first three albums. However, Sellout really did nothing for me. In fact, I even remember reviewing it at my old place pretty harshly. I disliked it so much, in fact, compared to the other three, that I still haven’t gotten around to checking out Hell Paso. So I went into this album really not sure what to expect.
Overall, I really enjoyed it! I still don’t think it quite compares to Noise Complaint, but both are such very different albums. This very much continues the mainly-slower sound from Sellout; the indie-infused moody country-folk. However, weather it’s a case of me growing to enjoy that style more, or him simply doing it better (or a mixture of both), I enjoyed a good portion of it. Tracks like the title one, ‘Hatchet’ and ‘Runnin’ Low’ are all highlights, while ‘High Road’ is a highly emotional, bittersweetly beautiful ballad duetted with Jessie Murph, and is my favourite track on the album.
However, two of the tracks I’ve named prior are the only two more up-tempo songs on the album. Don’t get me wrong, he does some interesting stuff with the slower pace, some of it feeling epic like the awesome ‘Bar Song’. But I do love it when he cuts loose and has some fun with a rockier track, and I just wish we had a bit more of them from him these days. At nearly 40-minutes and a lot of it sounding similar, it does get just a touch receptive eventually. Still, it’s a damn good album that I certainly enjoyed more than Sellout. He has a very unique sound that is clearly doing him well as he’s getting pretty big. And it’s certainly made me wanna go back and try out Hell Paso! 8/10
Stand Atlantic: WAS HERE
I remember reviewing the band’s last album rather harshly (I’d definitely rate it higher now), but wasn’t expecting the band to put something like this out just two years later. It’s certainly more rock based, for the most part, and reminds me more of Hot Milk/Blind Channel’s stuff than the Avril/Olivia of the previous album. However, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. Tracks like the epic ‘FRENEMIES’, the Sueco-featuring ‘NOSE BLEED’ and the heavied up ‘CRIMINAL’ thanks to Polaris are all huge highlights of the album.
However, I do feel like 15 tracks is a touch too long, at least for me as a listener. It only made it up to 42-minutes, but once Polaris blew my socks off with that breakdown, it was hard to top and I struggled with the last few tracks (though ’17’ is pretty fun in isolation, that ending, damn). If you’re fully into this sort of music, I’m sure it’s a lot more manageable a length, but for me it did get a slight slog. Still, I found myself enjoying this album more and more with each listen. It’s certainly better and more varied than their previous one. And the band have much more of a fan in me. 8/10
Nile: The Underworld Awaits us All
The technical death metal titans put out their 10th studio album last week, and is just as crushingly brutal and awesome as you’d expect! ‘Stelae of Vultures’ sets the tone for the album perfectly, showing off the band’s heaviness and technical prowess in equal measure, as well as providing just enough melody too. Following that is not only the awesome lead single for the album, but the winner for most insane song title of the year, which is way too long to type out here. The two other singles are also big highlights of the album, but if you’re a fan of the genre you’re bound to enjoy all of it. It’s almost an hour of death metal goodness, and is hard to really pick fault with outside of the usual death metal drawbacks. 8/10
Thomas Rhett: About a Woman
One of the kings of pop-country is back with a brand new album, his first since 2022’s Where we Started. I have to admit, I never quite got into Rhett’s music. I don’t know why either; I like a lot of cringe bro country from his sort of era, but his never really resonated with me for whatever reason. However, I found myself really quite enjoying this. Tracks like the infectiously-catchy-whistling opener to lead single ‘Beautiful as You’ to the likes of ‘After All the Bars are Closed’ and ‘Back to Blue’, there is plenty to love.
It’s simple, lowest-common-denominator country-pop music, and it’s glorious. It certainly won’t be for everyone, and will get a lot of hate from country fans and non country fans alike, but it’s a harmless, fun listen, and 44-minutes went by in a flash. 7.5/10, good stuff!
All for Metal: Gods of Metal (Year of the Dragon)
The second album from the rising power metal band is somehow even better than their previous one. And as you can see from our review of it, we loved that one! Much like the previous entry into this list, it’s beautiful cringiness in the best way possible. All the band are insanely talented songwriters and players, and have crafted an excellent album from front to back here. There is plenty of awesomeness on it, from the title track to ‘Temple of Silence’ to ‘Like Thor and Loki’, but there really isn’t a bad song on the album.
The band are gathering plenty of momentum with their music and live shows, and when they put out an album this good it’s easy to see why! The band are going to be massive in the power metal scene sooner rather than later, and if you’re into the genre at all, I’d highly recommend this album! 8.5/10
Within the Ruins: Phenomena II
A decade removed from the metalcore band’s biggest album, we get a sequel, and it goes just has hard as part I. This is 50-minutes of perfect melodic heaviness, and somehow even surpasses the original, I feel. The band certainly don’t get the credit they deserve, as their last album, 2020s Black Heart, is also phenomenal. But damn man, this should push them to the top of the heavy music sphere, if it were only fair. Songs like the opener, ‘Daywalker’, ‘Eater of Worlds’ and the instrumental awesomeness that is ‘Death Mask’ are all highlights, but the whole album is honestly packed full of them. It boarders on deathcore most of the time with how heavy it is, as well as touching hard on the hardcore elements of the genre, and I love every second. And, with multiple instrumentals, the album ties itself together perfectly.
It’s certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but I thought this was excellent, and will certainly be up there in the album of the year discussion come December. Any metal fans should check this out, there’ll be something to love! 9.5/10