Yet another stacked week of awesome new albums for us to check out. Let’s dive right in!
Dream Theater: Parasomnia
The first album from the prog legends with Portnoy back behind the kit since 2009’s Black Clouds may very well be, like other critics have claimed, their best release since that album. And while Mike is certainly not the reason for that, let’s address the huge pink elephant in the room early: his drumming is phenomenal throughout this. He brings such power and technical mastery that matches the other band members truly perfectly. I’m so glad he’s back. And that’s not to take away from any of the rest of the band. Petrucci, Myung, Rudess and even LaBrie are all working their asses off and have plenty of personal highlights throughout.
As for the tracks themselves, this was 70 minutes of prog metal awesomeness! From ‘Night Terror’ to big single ‘Midnight Messiah’ to the epic closer, it’s all incredible and flows perfectly together. It’s certainly not going to be for everyone, but if you’re a fan of prog I can’t recommend this enough! For the first time in at least a decade, if not a fair bit longer, Dream Theater are back to firing on all cylinders, and it’s awesome! It gets a solid 9/10 from me!
Jinjer: Duél
We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read the full review here.
Thundermother: Dirty & Divine
The Swedish female rock powerhouses are back with yet another slab of awesome classic rock. Two and a half years after the band released their critically acclaimed Black and Gold, they sound vocally and instrumentally as good as ever. However, if I’m being completely honest, I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as their 2022 album. I don’t know what it was either, as it all still sounds great! I just don’t think anything especially grabbed me, or at least as quickly, as their previous stuff. Tracks like ‘Can’t Put Out the Fire’ ‘Take the Power’ and ‘Dead Or Alive’ are still great, but didn’t instantly connect with me like my favourite tracks from B&G. If you want a good time listen and a powerful, foot-stomping classic rock album, I’d definitely recommend checking this out. And I’m sure this will grow on me with more listens, which will definitely be happening moving forward, but for now I’m still just a touch on the fence with it. Heck, I feel like it’s already growing on me already with a second listen, I think I just got myself a touch too hyped for it heading in! It’s still a solid 8.5/10!
Chris Harms: 1980
The Lord of the Lost frontman’s long awaited debut album is gothic-synth awesomeness, and I honestly enjoyed it more than his main bands stuff. It’s Lost Boys as fuck and I love it! The darkwave sound fits his vocals perfectly, and is great in its own right. Tracks like the opener, ‘Missed Call’ and ‘Lunamor’ are all huge highlights, but there really isn’t a bad track on the album. It’s another fun, genuinely unique and interesting listen that I’ll certainly be coming back to again and again! It feels like a combination of everything from Carpenter Brut to Birthday Massacre to Soft Cell. It won’t be for everyone, but it’s an incredible easy listen, nearly 50 minutes going by in a flash. Heck, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I do, especially when it’s not particularly my sort of thing. It’s an easy 8/10
Juliet’s Not Dead: This World Is Ours
The former Twister are back with their sophomore album, five years after the fantastic Cursed & Corrected. It’s got a lot of hype around it, but honestly I’d say it about lives up to it! It was a rather epic slab of AOR/NWOCR packed full of great songs and moments! From the riffs to the vocal hooks to the soloing, it’s all awesome! Songs like the opener, ‘Open Fire’, ‘Notorious’ and ‘Kings & Queens’ are all huge highlights, but the whole album is pretty great. It flows well too, with plenty of peaks and troughs. They have a pretty unique sound, being heavy for their general scene, and it certainly makes for an interesting listen. Like a combination of the Crows and modern Skid Row, almost with just a touch of modern metal to the mix too. It’s a damn good album throughout, and I’m desperate to see it all live! If you’re into well-produced, contemporary rock music, check this out! 8/10
Guided By Voices: Universe Room
I somehow missed the one album the indie rockers put out last year, but did review both their 2023 releases. As you can tell by them, I’m rather meh on the band as a whole. And, the seven month gap between this and Strut of Kings sadly didn’t help them produce much more interesting music. This was messy, folk/rock’n’roll inspired indie music that honestly hooked me less than their other two albums. In fact, there wasn’t anything really across this whole 40 minutes that was really memorable for me as soon as I’d turned it off. There was some interesting instrumentation and production choices on the likes of ‘The Great Man’ and ‘Fly Religion’, but the songs themselves were average at best. Heck, the former honestly kinda reminded me of Dayman in its lyrics and melody/delivery.
It’s not a bad album per say, there will certainly be fans of it, but I’m not one of them. I honestly find it kinda sad that I’m enjoying their releases less and less too, as I came into this still kinda hyped. It’s okay if you like older soft/indie rock, and is an alright album to have on in the background. But, it’s a 4/10 from me.
Saor: Amidst the Ruins
This entry into this list alone shows how much my music taste has changed thanks to Overtone. We were still relatively new when we covered their last album, and I didn’t really get it, giving it a 4.5/10. However, nearly three years removed from that when the proggy, atmospheric black metal band put out their sixth studio album, I fucking LOVED it. The mix of traditional Scottish folk music into the brutal riffs and epic song structure and production was incredible throughout. I ended up sitting down and listening through this whole hour in one setting; being transported to some Lord of the Rings-like environment and loving every second. It’s only five tracks but each is a full, epic journey and a highlight in its own right. It’s another one that of course won’t be for everyone, but if you like your metal proggy, heavy and atmospheric, this is certainly the album for you! 8.5/10
Tumbleweed Dealer: Dark Green
The Canadian instrumental psychedelic groove rockers returned on Friday with their currently-bandcamp-exclusive fourth studio album. Now don’t get me wrong, I know most of you read the word “instrumental” and thought about immediately skipping to the next entry on this list, but I’m explore you to give this a spin, it’s well worth it! The stoner-psychedelic rock/metal sound kinda works perfectly for proggy instrumental stuff. Heck, I put this on while I cooked and barely even noticed a lack of vocals, I just got lost in the sheer brilliant musicianship. The band are all insanely talented! And while it’s very much an album designed to be listened to in full, I did find myself enjoying ‘Trudging Through an Egyptian Swamp’ the most, what a tune. I’d absolutely love to see this live, but for now I’ll happily settle for it on track! As I said, check this out if you are at all curious, you won’t be disappointed. 7/10
Black .44: Bloodlines
The first new album in a decade from the Finnish stoner metal band, and it kinda slaps! It’s riff and guitar heaven, of course given the genre, but the vocals and melodies are also catchy as anything! And the guitar tones and production… *chef’s kiss*. It’s very Corrosion of Conformity/Crowbar/Down and all that sort of group/scene, and I love it. We really don’t get enough of this sort of sound any more, especially not to this calibre. Tracks like the opener, ‘The Kingdom’ and the almost doomy ‘Vril’ are all personal highlights, but there really isn’t a bad song on the album! It’s become quite the European sound these days, but every band that I hear that does it from the continent does it so well, and this is no exception. I’ll certainly be listening to it again in the coming weeks, and I’d recommend it to anyone into the stonerer side of rock and metal! 8.5/10
Inhaler: Open Wide
The Irish alt/indie rockers are back with album number three. If you know the band or genre in any way, you’ll know exactly what to expect heading into this. It’s modern indie rock-pop I’m the same vein of Sam Fender though not quite as inventive or good. Still, it’s not a bad release by any stretch. Tracks like ‘Billy (Yeah Yeah Yeah)’, and ‘Again’ are highlights for me. The whole album is about the same level of quality and sound, though! It’s a good album to chill out too, even if it is a little samey for the length for me. I mean heck, the style/genre hasn’t really evolved in at least a decade at this point, be it US or UK, they all borrow the same things from each other. It’s a VERY standard album, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t well written, performed or recorded. If you like this style, you’ll like this, it’s simple as that. It does nothing unexpected, it simply exists. But hey, I don’t mind this sort of thing, so it gets a solid 6/10 from me!
STUD: Under Silver Sky
Another Finnish band this week, this time fifth album from the heavy/melodic rockers. Overall, it’s a great album, too! It’s got a real old-school feel to it, be it the 80s AOR and hard rock or even older, softer rock, yet the production keeps it very modern in the best ways. The band are very good songwriters and everyone plays their parts to perfection. Mika’s solos throughout in particular are incredible! Songs like ‘Spell of Emotion’, the title track and ‘Battle of a Boozer’ are all great and personal highlights. It’s very hard not to have a good time listening to this album, and if you are into any of the genres or styles listed above, I recommend it heavily. I know I have a soft spot for this sort of music, but even then it’s incredibly well made and performed, and would do amazing if it made it out to the UK or US scenes. It gets a solid 7.5/10 from us!
Sarkasm: Carnival of Attocities
The sophomore album from the Canadian death metal legends is the perfect follow-up to their 2023 debut. It’s heavy, lightening quick and brutal throughout. It’s also very old-school and straight-forward in its approach to the genre, feeling a step beyond Slayer as opposed to the modern likes of Cattle Decapitation or Sanguisugabogg. So, if you like straight-up death metal, like me, you’ll love this! It’s 35-minutes of great riffs, quick drums and harsh-ish vocals, and is a lot of fun on track (I can only imagine how awesome it is live!). It’s also very hard to pick highlight tracks because, while they’re of course all pretty similar, they’re all also great! It’s insane that we didn’t get a full-length release from the band for so long, but now they are putting them out, they are better than anyone could have expected! Check this out if you’re in any way into the heavy stuff! 8/10