The usual stacked lineup of awesome albums this week. You know the drill, let’s look at them!

Bastille: “&” (Ampersand)

Another band in the same vein as Rag n Bone Man last week that I nearly didn’t cover, but they are so intrenched into the UK alternative/indie pop scene that I felt like I couldn’t not. The fifth band from the English megastars comes more than a decade after the breakout success of their debut, and honestly I can’t say I’ve even heard much of them since then, aside for the odd song. But, I love that album, so am super curious to hear what they sound like all these years later!

Insanely, 11 years later, the band still sound almost exactly the same. So, if you’re a fan of the band, you’ll love this, I guess! It’s not a bad release, by any stretch. It is, however, a touch boring. 14-tracks pushing nearly an hour of the same vibe and pace of sound was a bit much for me, and I found it starting to drag hard by the halfway mark. And that’s not to say there aren’t good songs on it, either. The likes of ‘Blue Sky & The Painter’ and ‘Drawbridge & The Baroness’ are good listens! But overall a lot of the tracks felt pretty low energy, and neither lived up to the bangers from All This Bad Blood. It’s not a bad album at all and I’d highly recommend it if you want some chilled-out indie music (and the album concept is kinda cool), but overall I couldn’t get into it as a whole. 5.5/10

Beth Hart: You Still Got Me

Charlotte: One of the greatest vocalists in rock and blues, powerhouse Beth Hart has released her first album of original tracks since 2019 (if you haven’t already, you really should listen to her covers album ‘A Tribute To Led Zeppelin’). You Still Got Me features Slash and Eric Gales in the opening tracks, which really sets the 11 track album up for the ideal combination of thumping blues and gritty rock – which is of course Beth Hart’s wheelhouse. The beauty of Beth Hart is her rich authenticity and soul, which you can hear in both a live performance (both acoustically and with a full band) just as much as you can a produced album. Highlights include Savior ‘With A Razor (feat. Slash)’, ‘Wonderful World’ and ‘Don’t Call The Police’. 8.5/10

Lainey Gardner: A Songwriter’s Diary

We’ve already checked out this awesome release! Read the full review here!

Twisted Mist: Gehenna

This was a surprisingly awesome slab of blackened folk metal. I’d not heard of the band before now but found myself sitting and listening to the whole hour of this in one sitting, getting lost in the atmosphere and epicness of it all. It’s not normally my sort of thing either, so clearly their sheer creativity and talent won me over! It’s probably not something I’d listen to much or individual tracks of, though the likes of ‘Limbes’ and ‘Furor Minos’ are very good, but as a whole first experience, I found myself really enjoying it! I’d love to see this whole thing live too, I feel like it would be incredible. If anyone’s into the heavier or even folkier side of metal, this is certainly the album for you! 7/10

Seething Akira: Cancel Estate

We’ve also checked out this album! Check out our thoughts here!

Cats in Space: Time Machine

Charlotte: Cats in Space’s latest album Time Machine really does transport you to a time of peak British class rock. As a highlight of the new wave of classic rock era we’re currently in, it’s no surprise they’re making their way through the ranks of popularity.

Reminding me of bands like Bon Jovi, Thunder and even a little Del Amitri, Cats in Space have created a fun, uplifting album that I can picture being performed with all the eccentricities of a grand festival headlining act – think fireworks and lasers to really set the space and time themes. Highlights include ‘My Father’s Eyes’, ‘Occam’s Razor (Not the End of the World)’ and ‘Immortal’. 8/10

Kelsea Ballerini: PATTERNS

Pop-country really feels like it’s had a renesance the last couple of years or so, and Kelsea has certainly been up there leading the charge alongside the likes of Morgan Wallen. We’ve checked out a Ballerini album before, 2022’s SUBJECT TO CHANGE. We somehow missed her EP release last year in between, but really loved her 2022 output. So, hopefully this one will live up to the hype we have from that release!

It’s a bit of a mixed bag, honestly. I think kicking the album off with two slower, balladier tracks maybe wasn’t the best idea, as it did set a gloomy tone for the release. Having said that, a lot of this album is slow, gloomy songs, so I guess it sets the right mood? There’s a couple of good tracks that have at least something to them like ‘Baggage’ and ‘I Would, Would You’. Plus, there’s some amazing lyrics sprinked throughout, from ‘Sorry Mom’ to ‘How Much do you Love Me’. Sadly, there are still another 11 tracks from the album that I haven’t mentioned, as this is yet another loooong country-pop album, just like her last one. 

If you’re into pop music with a little bit of a country twang, this may be for you! However, after her last album, this was a bit of a disappointment for me, and not particularly the style of ‘country’ I’m into. Sadly, it gets a 5/10 from us!

Fit for an Autopsy: The Nothing That Is

This album had no right being this fucking GOOD. A band that have always flown under my (Joe) radar, even if their last one made it pretty high on our top albums of 2022. So, to finally be sitting down to check out an album by them and it’s this incredible release… damn, where have I been all these years?! Right from the crushing opener through the more sombre, slower (kinda) ‘Lurch’ to EPIC closer, this is nearly 45-minutes of heavy awesomeness from start to finish. And, not only are the riffs and screams brutal, but there is plenty of melody and even some clean vocals throughout too. It almost made me consider calling them melodeath, but they are very much still a deathcore titan of a band. It feels almost impossible to pick a highlight track or three from this release, as I love every track on this thing and plenty of it ended up on my playlist! If you are into the heavy stuff, this is DEFINITELY an album of you, and the band have a new pretty huge fan in me! 9.5/10

Skarlett Riot: Caelestia

The UK modern metal quartet are back with their first new album in three years. They’ve been gathering a lot of steam in the underground scene for years now, straddling the line perfectly between the metal and NWOCR scenes, and have gained plenty of fans in that time, including myself. We were sadly a little too late to review their last release, but I have loved it since it was first released, so have been impatiently waiting for this album to finally drop.

It certainly did not disappoint, either! The heaviness is present right from the offset, with ‘Chemicals’ opening on some fantastic screaming before bursting into an amazing riff. However, it also has plenty of melody from Chloe, it giving it almost a symphonic metal edge at times alongside the synth. And honestly, that’s very much the tale of the album as a whole; awesome heavy riffs and screams coupled with incredibly catchy, melodic vocals and moments. It very much fits in with a number of bands they share a scene with, be it Fahran or Dacara or Phoenix Lake, and I feel they were very much an inspiration for a lot of these bands. Heck, it even gives slight Coheed and Cambria vibes throughout, which I am certainly not complaining about! Tracks like the opener, ‘Run’, ‘Shatter’ and the epic ‘Limits’ are huge highlights on an album full of them!

The band have gone from strength to strength recently, and this is surely going to be the album to push them to the next level. It’s a damn good release that I’d recommend to any rock or metal fan out there, and is one that I’ll be spinning a lot in the coming weeks and months. It’s an easy 9/10 from us!

Courteeners: Pink Cactus Café

The first album from the English indie rockers in four years finally dropped last Friday. It’s a fine, chilled out album like Bastille above. It’s a very easy comparison, too. Both are chilled-out, slower indie-pop releases that, while I enjoyed, did lack a bit of variety the later in the album I got. However, I did find this more entertaining, interesting and all-round fun than the Bastille album. There’s a touch of funkiness and quirkiness that I can’t help but love. Tracks like ‘Weekend Shy of a Feeling’, ‘First Name Terms’ and ‘Lu Lu’ are all highlights, but there isn’t exactly a bad track on the album! If you’re a fan of this kind of music, you’re bound to love this, and even if you just want something to put on in the background and relax to, this is very much a great album for that. 6.5/10

Amyl and the Sniffers: Cartoon Darkness

The Aussie punk/pub rockers are back with album number three. The bands unique brand of crass, chaotic energy is certainly a lot of fun, even if I do think the some of the lyrics are edgy for the sake of hunting controversy over anything else. Tracks like ‘Chewing Gum’, ‘It’s Mine’ and ‘Going Somewhere’ are not only fun, good tracks, but lyrically tolerable, as well. I completely get that the crassness is part of the genre and the charm though, and this is completely my own opinion. If you’re into some old-school punk vibes but brought into a newer age of a dirty, gritty Melbourne pub scene, I’m sure you’ll love this. I certainly don’t hate it, and won’t turn off a number of the songs if they came back on! As for me, I’ll give it a tentative 7/10

Gone Savage: Retrograde

We reviewed the band’s debut album back a couple of years ago and of course loved it! As soon as we got an email through saying they had a new album coming out, we’ve all been pretty excited, and can’t wait to finally check it out and see if it builds on their last!

They have certainly gone bigger and better with this release, that’s for sure! Everything from the riffs to the vocals to the production seem a step higher this go-around. The opener/single is incredible, and sets the tone for the rest of the album perfectly. Then you have tracks like ‘Shameless’ and ‘World Gone Crazy’ that show this band are ready to earn their spot high in the UK underground rock scene. Plus, there are some truly awesome ballads on here, like ‘Soul Sister’. Every track on the release is pretty damn excellent, though! It’s AOR at some of its very best. I’d recommend this to any rock fan out there, and it’ll certainly end up on our top albums of the year list come December, I’m sure! It’s an easy 8.5/10!