A real interesting week this week for various reasons, and some big releases marred in controversy. But still, there’s plenty of awesomeness to check out, so let’s do just that!
Linkin Park: From Zero
Oh boy do I have some thoughts on this. Strap in, ladies and gents, it may be a long one…
They are very much a band that need no introduction. One of the biggest bands of the millennium finally reuniting after years with a new singer has been one of the biggest things in music this year. As someone born in the late 90’s, Linkin Park were a huge part of my childhood. And, Emily’s questionable beliefs and morals aside, I really wanted to like this. And there are certainly parts of this album I do like. And, to my surprise, it’s mainly Emily’s vocals. Her parts in ‘The Emptiness Machine’, her screams in ‘Casualty’, and ‘Two Faced’ aND ‘IGYEIH’ are as old-school LP as you can get.
However, that’s four tracks out of the 11 on the album. Four awesome tracks (five I guess thanks to the scream in ‘Heavy is the Crown) and then a bunch of what honestly feels like filler. That much filler alone is bad, but when the album is real short too, only 31-minutes, that’s not good. There’s a lot of slow, rather boring pop stuff on the record that focuses way too hard on Mike. And honestly, he’s the worst part of the album for me. It’s a really weird look that the band baited us in with these heavier, old-school songs, and then most of the album is Mike trying to sound like mgk or Trench. It almost feels like Mike has brought LP back just to push his songs more, as his solo stuff was markedly lower.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand why they have done it like this. Combining their different eras together on one album is certainly an interesting idea. And there will definitely be fans of this out there, or at least die-hard LP fans stockholming their way into liking it. But as a fan of their heavier stuff, it was a letdown to be teased with that sort of album and then half of it is crap. It’s a decidedly meh album, and while I’m still glad they’re back, it’s not made me want to rush out and get tickets to their Wembley show. It can get a generous 5.5/10
As I Lay Dying: Through Storms Ahead
From one controversy to another. I’m honestly surprised this album even came out, given that the entire band left en mass. I guess the sheer cojones on Tim for still putting it out is admirable? As if he’s not been problematic enough in the past…
The eighth studio album from the metalcore band(?) is actually pretty damn good, too! Phil, Ryan and Nick deserve all the credit in the world for crafting this album alongside Lambesis, especially when they won’t get nearly the credit they deserve for it, now. Right from opener ‘A Broken Reflection’ I was hooked, and the album is packed from highlights from then on out. It’s 42-minutes of modern, heavy metalcore greatness, honestly. To the point where I had to stop myself from adding every track onto our playlist because it started getting silly! Other highlights include the Alex Terrible and Tom Barber featuring (and insanely heavy) ‘We Are the Dead’, ‘Strength to Survive’ and the album’s title track. However as I said, there really is a bad track on the release. Tim’s vocals, both screams and clean, are just as good as they’ve ever been. This may be blasphemous, but I’d honestly put this up there with the likes of An Ocean Between Us and Shadows are Security, it’s that solid of an album. It’s just a shame it’s come at a time when the whole band have left due to Tim’s personality again. So it gets a begrudged 9/10 from me!
Dwight Yoakam: Brighter Days
The country singer-songwriter legend is back with his first new studio album in nearly a decade, yet it’s clear the man has not lost a single step! This was nearly an hour of classic country and western, country/blues rock and Americana, and is packed full of highlights. Tracks like the opener, ‘California Sky’, ‘Can’t Be Wrong’ and ‘Keep on the Sunny Side’ are all personal favourites. So is ‘I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye’, given that it has everyone’s favourite musician at the minute, Post Malone, killing it in his feature. However, this whole album is a lot of fun, and there isn’t a bad song on it! If you’re a fan of old-school, upbeat, and chilled out country music, I can’t recommend this album enough. It also went by in a flash, not at all feeling like it was 14-tracks long. It’s a solid 8/10 from us!
Sergeant Thunderhoof: The Ghost of Badon Hill
Now for a band that I have loved since we checked out their last album a couple of years ago. The highly anticipated fifth album from the psychedelic doom riff masters is nothing short of extraordinary, either. A concept piece brimming with emotion and packed full of excellent prog elements across its 45-minute, 6-track runtime, it really is something special. Everything I said about the band’s last release still applies, but is very much turned up to 11 in all the best ways. It draws together the best elements of the likes of Tool, Red Fang, The Sword and even the likes of Pink Floyd and My Dying Bride, mixing it together into truly fantastic results. And it’s also impossible to pick out highlight tracks, as it all flows so cohesively and perfectly. Like ‘Badon’ is such a fantastic opener, building perfectly into that riff, but that shouldn’t dismiss the awesomeness of the slow, doomy ‘The Orb of Octavia’ or the slow, epic menace of the 10+ minute closing track. It’s really an album that you should listen to in full, and I will certainly be doing so a lot in the coming weeks and months. However, each individual track also stands on its own merit pretty perfectly. If you are a fan of any of the genres or bands I’ve already mentioned, check this out, you certainly won’t be disappointed. It gets an easy 8.5/10 from me!
Poppy: Negative Spaces
This is an artist that I really feel like I’ve grown with while doing reviews for Overtone. The quirky YouTube personality-turn vocalist really didn’t do much for me when she first started dipping her toes into metal, it feeling more of a gimmick, a passing trend. I wasn’t particularly a fan of Flux when I reviewed it, and though I missed reviewing Zig, I did enjoy listening to it. This album, however, has fully gotten me onto the bandwagon. It’s modern metal awesomeness from front to back, and it really feels like she’s come into her own in terms of sound and songwriting. Whether it’s the industrial-leaning opener or the brutally hardcore ‘they’re all around us’ or the essentially synth-pop ‘Crystallized’ and metalcore ballad ‘Vital’, there is plenty of variety throughout, yet it still all feels inherently Poppy. Don’t get me wrong, some of the sounds are more my sort of taste than others, but there is no denying all of it is good and well-written. ‘nothing’ is another big highlight for me, as is ‘the center’s falling out’ and the heavy punk title track.
There’s a lot to love on this album and I’ve seen it get a LOT of positive buzz already. It’s easily my favourite album by her and, though it may be a track or two too long, I’ll certainly be spinning it again soon. My only slight complaint, or more shock, is that ‘V.A.N’ isn’t on here. But despite that, it’s still solid. An easy 8.5/10!
The Rattlebacks: Sidewinder
This sleazy slab of southern-tinged alt metal is awesome, and right up my street when it comes to sound and genre! Honestly, my teenage self would have been hugely into this, and my old ass is still pretty down! I’d never heard of the band before but this debut album was the perfect introduction for me, and they have a big new fan in me. ‘The Taste’ is an incredible opening track to set the scene for the album, reminding me of everything from Soil to Falling Red to modern Skynyrd to Burn Halo. Following that up with the tour de force that is single ‘Dementia Lounge’ and keeping the energy high with ‘Gods’, the album opens powerfully and full of energy. Then we get a lighter, rockier, almost heavier-Lenny-Kravitz track in ‘How Calm the Silence’, which is another huge highlight song! Other personal highlights include ‘Please Me’ and ‘Waste’, but honestly there isn’t a bad track on the album!
The band have set themselves up for a huge future with this release. It’s insanely high quality for a debut album, giving off South of Salem vibes in that regard. They’d fit perfectly into the UK underground/NWOCR scene, and hopefully they fall into it as I’d LOVE to see them live! I’m certainly going to be listening to this again regularly, and would recommend it to absolutely anyone! 9/10
Dolly Parton & Family: Smoky Mountain DNA
This is a really interesting, fun and honestly cute project. The Parton family autobiographical album featuring Dolly and her family revisiting some old work is an awesome idea, and is at very least really interesting in execution. However, with the sheer amount of different sounds, moving parts and styles, it does lead to varied results from a purely listening standpoint. The album opens strong with the classical country ‘My Tennessee Mountain Home’, and the instrumental afterwards was folky goodness. However, then you have tracks like ‘I’ll Live in Glory’ and ‘I’ll Meet You in the Morning’ where the production is that grating and terrible that it makes the tracks so hard to enjoy. And as I said, I completely understand the decision behind doing the tracks in that style, but that still doesn’t mean it’s good to listen to. The quality and pace picked up again around ‘When Possession Gets Too Strong’, but even then that’s 10 tracks in. This album is 37 tracks long, which is INSANE, and far too damn long. In the last two years I’ve listened to a full FOUR HOURS of new Dolly music over just two albums. The woman needs to chill out.
Songs like ‘Take it Slow’, ‘Crops Came In’, ‘The Orchard’ and ‘A Rose Won’t Fix It’ are all more great tracks. Also, the hip-hop infused ‘Holy Water’ was at least interesting! However, there is an awful lot of averageness on the release, and a lot of the tracks even sound pretty similar. Even if it does skirt from country to roots to gospel to blues, it still feels samey due to the sheer volume. It’s a really cool idea executed sadly pretty poorly, and feels hugely bloated and self-indulgent. Only the most die-hard of traditional country fans should even attempt this album, and it gets a 4/10 from me!
Beyond Unbroken: Destruction
The opening couple of tracks of this release really excited me. The almost deathcore opening track that then went into the Rev-era A7X-arranged, Panic! infused ‘Dance With the Dead’ (completely with an awesome flamenco guitar part) was amazing. Plus, both choruses are great and so amazingly catchy. However, somewhat sadly, after that the album settles into a BMTH/Linkin Park-inspired synth-led radio-metalcore formula that wasn’t anywhere near as interesting. Some of the breakdowns were fun and the screams throughout were pretty dirty, but they felt like they were pretty predictably placed for the most part. However, the production helped, it being absolutely phenomenal, honestly. It added more of a punch to the heavy moments, and so much atmosphere to the lighter rest of it. Like the breakdown of the title track is another big highlight of the album, as is the ballad, ‘Last Goodbye’.
It’s not a bad album by any stretch, but is a lot of similar stuff to what is already out recently, aside for the opening couple of tracks, and it simply isn’t my sort for thing. It continued to get lighter and lighter throughout, and at only 33-minutes long that didn’t leave long for heaviness! There will be plenty of fans of this as it’s similar to a lot of modern metalcore out there, so if you like the likes of Bad Omens and BMTH, you’ll probably love this! But for me, it gets a 7/10, and mainly because of those opening few tracks.