An absolutely massive week of new music featuring some amazing releases in the rock, metal and country world. Let’s check them out!
Primal Scream: Come Ahead
The first new album from the Scottish alt-rock band in nearly a decade, and it’s sadly kinda boring. I, like so many other people, absolutely adore Screamadelica, but this is a far-cry from that seminal release, even if the foundations are similar. The gospel influence is still very much present, as is the funky bass playing, disco beats and overall interesting instrumentation. In theory, there is nothing that’s stopping this from being awesome; it should be enjoyable. In practice though, it sounds tired, bored, and thus uninteresting. I was done by the third track, but powered through the whole of the ‘first disc’ in the hope that something, anything caught my ear. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. As I said, some of the instrumentation is fun, but the vocals sound so uninspired it drags everything down to the same level. The closest thing to enjoyable I had was the disco-y ‘Innocent Money’. Everything is just slow, self-indulgent indie meh, honestly. And for nearly an hour, too! I’m sure there will be plenty of fans of this release, but I am certainly not one of them. 3/10
Massive Wagons: Earth to Grace
The NWOCR pioneers are back with their seventh album, just two years removed from their last one. Those who aren’t new here will know we’ve covered a lot of the band before, be it interviews, live reviews or even checking out said last album, so we are clearly fans here! So we’ve been eagerly anticipating this release since it was first announced, like most of the UK rock fans have been.
And honestly, it’s yet another solid release from the band! It’s more of what the band do best; punk-infused, foot-stomping hard rock with big riffs, big production, catchy melody and plenty of great social commentary. I found myself enjoying the lighter ones than the heavier stuff too, shockingly. The opener didn’t hook me anywhere near as much as the following two tracks did. ‘Night Skies’ hit home far too deeply for me, while the almost pop-punk ‘The Good Die Young’ is another huge album highlight. And we’re only halfway through the album, at this point! Then you have the bluesy ‘Cool Like a Fox’, the glammier ‘Fun While it Lasted’ and the heavy ‘Rabbit Hole’ and the album is PACKED FULL of awesomeness.
Honestly I’ve never been the hugest fan of the band’s albums, more enjoying individual tracks while appreciating and understanding the appeal of the band as a whole. However, every track on this release slapped and really impressed me. It’s my favourite album from them since at least Welcome to the World, maybe ever! I really feel like I ‘get’ them more than I ever have before. If you’re a fan of any of the genres I’ve already mentioned, I can’t recommend this enough. It’s a great stadium rock album which will surely push the band to even more incredible heights than they’ve already reached! 9/10
The Browning: OMNI
The Kansas City elctronicore/deathcore trio return with their first new music in three years, and it’s just as awesome and heavy as they’ve ever been. Right from the intro into the crushingly awesome ‘HIVEMIND’, the band don’t pull any punches and let the listener know what they’re in for immediately. Some amazing riffing, solid drumming, interesting electronic elements and DIRTY screams and breakdowns combine together perfectly to make this aggressive wall of sound, complete with a surprising amount of melody. Then you have awesome guest slots from the likes of YouTube star Nik Nocturnal (who kills it) and THE DEFECT on the album’s title track, which is another huge highlight of the release. In fact, it could honestly be a huge hit with that Poppy-like vocal hook. There really isn’t a bad track on the album, though, and if you’re a heavy fan I can’t recommend this enough. The band have been gathering a lot of momentum in recent years, and this release will easily push them even higher in the scene. It gets an easy 8/10 from me!
State Champs: Self-Titled
The modern pop-punk legends return with album number five. I have to admit that, while their debut came out at the height of my teenage angst years, I never really got into this generation of pop-punk, always leaning to the older stuff or heavier/more different releases. And, while I do appreciate the quality of songwriting on display on this album, I still kinda have the same feelings. It’s fine. It’s not bad at all, but the fact that we are still playing the same Sum 41/Simple Plan variation decades after their hits is whack. Heck, the fact that the band are on album five now, nearly a decade and a half into their careers, and they’ve not changed up or experimented with their sound at all, and still put out this vaguely cringy stuff in their thirties now is kinda insane. It’s probably my fault though for hoping for any variety in the genre after 10+ years!
Having said all of that, though, it really isn’t a bad album. It’s fun, chilled out release, and somehow gives me nostalgia to both the early 2000s and my teen years when my friends all listened to this band and their cohorts. Tracks like ‘Silver Cloud’, ‘Too Late to Say’ and ‘Just a Dream’ are all personal highlights, but there isn’t a bad track on the album, really. If you like this style, you’ll love this, but it’s sadly nothing special or groundbreaking, just a solid pop-punk album! 7.5/10
Flatland Cavalry: Flatland Forever
The country-Americana legends are back with their fourth studio album, just a year removed from the massive Wandering Star. I have to admit I wasn’t familiar with this band before this year when they were announced for The Long Road (review of their set and others’ here) but have become an increasingly big fan over the last few months. It almost feels like a culmination of that feeling with this release, as it’s excellent and has definitely cemented me as a big fan! It’s an incredibly chilled, fun traditional release jam packed with plenty of highlights. Songs like ‘One I Want’, ‘War With My Mind’ and ‘Gettin’ By’ blew me away, and of course the duets between frontman Cleto Cordero and his wife, Kaitlin Butts, are incredible. But every track is awesome and the album has an incredible flow to it. It’s certainly not going to be for everyone, and the hour and a half, 25-track long release sure seems daunting and would put some off (it certainly dragged by the end) but if you’re into this style of music, there’s so much to love about it! It’s a good fun release that, aside the bloating, I still loved. 8/10
King Stingray: For the Dreams
The sophomore album of the Australian indie/surf rock band continues right where their self-titled debut left off. It’s 40-minutes of chilled out, traditional-style rock music that somehow pays the perfect tribute to their influences and heritage. Tracks like ‘Best Bits’, ‘Through the Tress’ and the slower, beautiful ballad ‘Nostalgic’ are all big highlights for me, but every track is pretty damn good! The band are insanely talented at crafting this sort of style of music, from the riffing to the drumming to the incredible vocal harmonies. It’s just a damn fun album to listen to, and went by in a flash. Honestly there isn’t much else to say about the album, if you like the more chilled out, light-punk end of rock, I’d definitely recommend checking this release out! It’s an easy 7.5/10!
Ray Hawthorne: Ray Hawthorne Sucks
Self-deprecating, comedy pop-punk was certainly not on my bingo card for this weeks releases when I started out. However, goddamn if this isn’t a solid album! So often with more humorous releases the music takes a backseat, but the actual tracks here around the lyrics are genuinely as high quality as you can get in the genre. It’s like Frank Turner meets Neck Deep and I kinda love it. Tracks like ‘All My Happy Friends Tell Me I’m Depressed’, ‘Panic Mode’ and ‘Shelter’ (feat. bren.). Heck, all three guest slots on this album actually go hard, so shoutout to both Caroline Reilly and modern feature-whore Kellin Quinn.
Plus, the album is in and out in 35-minutes, and that’s including two demos at the end, so is short, sweet and to the point, not overstaying it’s welcome. Don’t get me wrong, it does still get a touch repetitive by the end, and it’s not 100% my sort of pop punk, but it is easily a great album, and one for fans of the sound. It gets an easy 7/10 from me!
Earthburner: Permanent Dawn
This is a short, meaty slab of old-school death metal. It’s classic Cannibal Corpse with just a few Dani Filth screams thrown in over the top for good measure. Thankfully it has far better production than early Cannibal Corpse too, or I may not have been able to last! And at just 21-minuites long, even across 11 tracks, it’s barely more than an EP. I think that’s why I got into it so much; it didn’t overstay it’s welcome. That and I’m really getting into the ch0nky stuff these days. It’s something that whole I’ll probably not listen to a lot, I definitely enjoyed and would LOVE to see live! The band are clearly talented at what they do and have really come out of the gate swinging with their debut album. My favourite track was probably ‘Broken Head’ because of those screams, but if you’re a fan of heavy you’ll probably love all of it, like me! 7.5/10
Sara Lew: Loud
Man, this was slow, and sadly not particularly my sort of thing. It’s brilliantly written and performed, but my tiny-ass attention span couldn’t cope with it. After three tracks I was sadly close to tapping out. There’s certainly stuff I liked more, like ‘Out of Nowhere’ and ‘Love For Life’, but generally it was a little too slow and depressing country/indie music for me. As I say, she is clearly talented, and her vocals are really interesting at the very least, but it isn’t up my street at all. There’s certainly a big market for this and I’m sure that Sat will continue to find it if she keeps putting out releases like this! But for me, it’s a 4/10
Jamey Johnson: Midnight Gasoline
One of the most underrated names in country music returned last week with his first new studio album in a whopping 12 years. And honestly, not only has he not lost a step in said time off, I’d argue he somehow got even better! This is an absolutely incredible release, and one that isn’t going to get anywhere near the recognition it deserves! His vocals, guitaring and songwriting skills are all of the charts, and each different style throughout is a real testament to that.
I’ve never heard someone so perfectly replicate a classic country sound and do it so well. Then out of the blue you have the New Orleans-tinged blues rock of ‘Trudy’ (featuring the incredible Randy Houser) and the jazzy ‘Saturday Night in New Orleans’ that break the album up perfectly. Every track is amazing though, and everything flows together amazing; there’s no dud in sight. He takes the best parts of Hank Jr, Don McLean and even Cody Jinks and rolls them together into a perfect package that certainly doesn’t feel like nearly 50-minutes long. If you’re a fan of the neo-traditional stuff I cannot recommend this enough. It’s an easy 9/10!
We Three Kings: By Royal Appointment
The debut album of the British NWOCR/heavy indie rock band is somehow even better than I anticipated! ‘Blackout’ is the perfect way to open things; it giving heavy Wolfmother vibes, but with a bit more of a punk edge to it. It sets the tone for the rest of the album perfectly! Then you have the Sweet-like ‘Do It’ and ‘The Edge of Death’, and this album doesn’t dip in energy or quality even slightly in the opening songs. Honestly, I could continue to gush happily over every track on this 37-minute release in order, but instead you should just go and check it out for yourself to see how truly awesome it is! Like I also love the MCR Danger Days feeling ‘Give it To Me, GO!’, but every track is pretty excellent, and it’s very hard to pick specific highlights.
It’s giving off the same energy as Mother Vulture’s last album, that punk-infused hard/blues rock, and it’s up there with that same level of quality, too. The band have been gathering a lot of steam over the last couple of years, and for every good reason. This album is surely going to kick that into an even higher gear, and with how talented the duo are they more than deserve it! This is easily a 9/10!
Kade Hoffman: Relics and Remnants
Another release that straddles the line between EP and album this week, as the young neo-traditional country star put out his first full-length on Friday, even if it’s a concise 8-tracks and 20-minutes. However, that doesn’t stop it from being awesome! I almost feel a touch hypocritical, given that I winged about Sara being mainly a slow guitar and her vocals and then here is Kade doing a similar thing. However, the sheer emotion and cadence in Kade’s vocals throughout hooked me immediately, and his traditional country style is much more my sort of thing. It’s giving me Cody Jinks, Shane Smith, Zach Bryan and even a bit of Last Knife Fighter vibes in the songwriting and vocal delivery, and I love it! It’s also impossible to pick highlights, as every track is so damn impactful and bittersweetly beautiful. I’ll be listening to this a lot in the coming weeks and months, and I’d urge any fan of country music to check this out as I’m sure you’d end up doing the same! He’s got a big future ahead of him if this album is any indicator, and I can’t wait to hear where he goes next. As for this, it’s an easy 8.5/10!