An absolutely huge edition of New Music Mondays this week, with so many awesome releases for us to sink our teeth into. Let’s dive right in!

Killswitch Engage: This Consequence

Max: Killswitch are back with their ninth studio album and as always, it is very, very well polished and the standard that the band has are on obvious display through this release. There are some phenomenal tracks, and every song is good. The production is absolutely amazing as always and it’s great to see that the band aren’t allowing their standards to drop. There is one issue; it’s a little inconsistent. None of the tracks are bad, like I said, every song is good. But some are just so much better than others. whilst this is a somewhat bemusing criticism, I know, it just makes some parts of the album shine so bright whilst the other just seems a little… standard. I think if pretty much any other band released those songs then they would have a great album on their hands but with everything on this album, it just falls a little flat. 7/10

Chase Matthew: CHASE

We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read our full review here.

Sin of God: Blood Bound

Fun little behind-the-scenes fact: I first had this on in the car on the way to work. I had some industrial builders lorry cut me up and force me to reverse half-way back down the road. This album helped me get my rage out and was exactly what I needed to mellow me out before I got to work!

In all seriousness though, I fucking loved this. I went in with no expectations but from all the description of them I wasn’t sure if I’d be into it or not. But nope, I am all of the way in. It’s brutally heavy but also so well written and technical. While the main layer is death metal, there is everything from doom to black metal to djenty prog throughout, and the band pull it all off masterfully. Some of the screams are incredible, as are the riffs, and the drummer is working overtime throughout. Just something about the atmosphere they created throughout blew me away. Tracks like ‘Black Waves’, ‘Diabolical Agitation’ and ‘Obulus’ are all huge highlights. However, that’s nearly half the album, and the rest of it is also packed full of bangers! If you are a fan of the heavy stuff in any way, check this out, I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I do. I’m desperate to see all of this live, too. It gets a solid 9/10 from me!

Kameron Marlowe: Sad Songs for the Soul

The third album from the Sony Nashville star is a bit of a departure (or rather detour) from his previous two. It’s a bit more stripped-back and simpler, focusing on more of his sombre style over the crazy big hits of his wonderful last album. We gave that one an 8.5/10, so no pressure on this one. Also, just to add to the no pressure, the album starts with a cover of one of my favourite songs by an artist I adore. However, the cover ‘Burning House’, is amazing, putting a new spin on it while keeping all the same level of emotion. It’s a highlight track for sure, but them again all the other songs are also great! ‘Hello Whiskey’ and the beautiful ‘Highway Song’ are other huge highs for me, but there isn’t a bad song on it, honestly. Yes, it’s a little slower and simpler, but Kameron’s vocals and lyrics are so captivating it’s impossible not to love it. Plus, at only 10 songs, it by in a flash. It’s well worth checking this out if you’re a fan of the man or slower country. He got this sound out of his system, so to speak and did so really well, putting out something unique in country these days and rather unexpected. I’m an even bigger fan of the guy now for taking a risk like this! It’s another 8.5/10!

ONE OK ROCK: DETOX

I remember checking out their last album a few years back when I reviewed it, and while clearly I enjoyed it, I can’t say I remember it much, if at all, so it sadly wasn’t too memorable. This one is certainly not going to suffer the same fate. Right from the opening chorus of ‘NASTY’ I was hooked; it’s really awesome pop rock! It gave off big Fall Out Boy/Set It Off/Marinas Trench vibes in all of the best ways. Then you have the almost Owl City-like ‘Tropical Therapy’, the heavier, Biffy-esque ‘Delusion:All’ and the Paledusk/ CHICO CARLITO featuring ‘C.U.R.I.O.S.I.T.Y’ which are all huge other highlights. The latter even has screams and a breakdown, which I love! However, there really isn’t a bad track on the album. My only slight issue is that they have a bit of a lull later on with two ballad-tracks after another. Both are good, but slow the pace of the release down a little too much for this writer. I still love the combination of English and Japanese too, I’m so glad they brought that back from the last release!

Overall though, it’s a damn good album. If you’re into the mid 2000s pop-rock style, I cannot recommend this enough. There are a few tracks on here that I’ll be listening to a lot moving forward, and overall it’s all pretty great! 9/10

Twins Crew: Chapter IV

The fourth studio album from the heavy/power metal Swedes has been a long time coming, a whopping nearly nine years after their last one! Honestly though, it you’re into this sort of style it’s most likely been worth the wait, as it’s a really solid album! It of course gives Manowar and Priest in all the best ways, but also has some modernness in amongst the old-school. Tracks like ‘Never Stop Believing’, ‘Fire’ and ‘Order 69’ are all good fun and personal highlights, though none of the tracks are bad! Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty standard and expected stuff, it hardly reinvents the wheel, but for what it is it’s super enjoyable listen! If you like old-school heavy or power metal, check this out, you’re bound to love it! For me, it’s good, but not something I’d end up revisiting hugely often. 6.5/10

Silverstein: Antibloom

Max: This one is a little bit of an odd one for me I must say. It I s an okay album but that’s really about it. I think that it is a good look for the future of Silverstein as there are parts that feel like they care far more about their craft and what they are putting out rather than how many people listen to it. However, that is definitely still clear. I think the album is fun, I enjoyed it, however it is a bit more of background stimulus than attentive listening for me. I can’t really hate it and I think that it is a good sign for there next album, but it isn’t phenomenal either. 6/10

Sweetbeast: Illusions

This scratched every stoner-doom metal itch I had in my body, and I loved every second! Everything about it is awesome. The riffing; epic throughout. The vocals fit perfectly to the style of the song, sound great and have some surprisingly catchy melodies and moments for the style. The tones and production are fuzzy and deserty in all the best ways. The arrangements are surprisingly proggy, and it only adds to the epicness of it all. Heck, they even give off vague Tool vibes with ‘Dream Eater’.

Yeah, in case you can’t tell, I love this album! It’s giving off big The Sword energy, and I miss that band from their peak so much. I have to say ’70/30′ and ‘Midnight’ were my personal highlights, but this whole album is sick and a real experience throughout. It’s another album that I urge you to listen to in full if you get the chance, regardless of if you have even a slight passing interest in rock music. It honestly flows so well together. Go sit in a dark room and blast this out and thank me later! The band have a new fan in me, and this is an absolutely stellar debut album. It’s a solid 9/10 from us!

The Murder Capital: Blindness

The third album from the Irish post-punkers dropped last Friday. Sadly, I didn’t get it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a genre I’m particularly into to begin with, but a lot of this felt overly messy, almost devoid of trying to make a melody. Again, that’s probably the point and I’m missing it, but it sadly just didn’t sound great to me, and I’m the one writing the review. It isn’t exactly all bad; I do enjoy a couple of tracks like single ‘Words Lost Meaning’ and the mid 2000s ROHP-like ‘A Distant Life’. However, outside of those two I’m certainly not rushing to revisit this album for another full listen. They’re clearly doing something right and plenty of people will love this, as they have nearly 200k listeners on Spotify alone. But sadly it didn’t hook me in all that much, and for that I can’t give it more than a 4/10

Ellis Mano Band: Morph

This blues rock/American roots combo is the fourth studio release from Ellis and Co., and is a lot of fun and an incredibly easy listen. Drawing inspiration from everything from Bonamassa to Stapleton to Springsteen to The Cult, it’s a fantastic softer rock sound and the band do it to perfection. It honestly gives slight Uncle Luscious vibes too with its combination of western sound with the soft rock stuff. Tracks like the opener, the epic ‘20 Years’ and ‘Madness and Tears’ are all fantastic and personal highlights of mine. However, there isn’t a bad song on the album and it goes by in a flash, not feeling like 46-minutes at all. It’s an easy, chilled out listen packed full of a great vocal melodies and harmonies and some awesome riffing. It’s insane that they’re not even bigger than they are, as they more than deserve it and hopefully this album pushes them to that level! I’d recommend checking this out if you’re a fan of any of the styles or bands I’ve mentioned above, you certainly won’t be disappointed. It gets a very solid 8.5/10 from us, great stuff!

Defiled Serenity: Within the Slumber of the Mind

I felt like I was being seduced by that intro track. No idea what he was saying, but it was giving me Antonio Banderas vibes. I was expecting more of a jarring transition out of it too, but actually it build pretty perfectly and atmospherically into ‘Voices from the Void’. Don’t get me wrong, it still ended up in a blackened death metal state, but it felt fitting and earned. Speaking of the song, I wasn’t expecting us to get some melodeath clean vocals in the choruses, adding yet another layer of epicness and fitting the track rather perfectly. And we get a sick guitar solo tucked in the middle, too. It’s a really awesome song, a huge highlight of the album, and a real indicator of what the release and band are about. It sets a fantastic example too, as the rest of the album more than lives up to the bar it sets. Other highlights for me include ‘Death’, the grandiose ‘Mortal’ and single ‘Your Worst Enemy’, but every track is pretty awesome. The atmosphere created throughout is amazing too, it begging to be listened to fully as it all flows perfectly together.

Those who are regular readers here will know how much of a fan of melodeath I am, but this is truly something special within that genre. It combines so many other elements and inspirations, from a Rotting Christ-style black metal to almost prog-metal elements with the structure and cleans. And of course, plenty of In Flames and Children of Bodom. I honestly cannot recommend this album enough for anyone into the heavier end of metal. It’s another insanely high quality debut album release, and the band have a big new fan in me! 9.5/10

Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band: Honeysuckle

How could I not cover an album by an artist with such a phenomenal name? His sound and writing is just as interesting as his name too, having a real old-school soul/country/blues style that I quickly fell in love with! The opener/title track is simple but the perfect setup for what’s to come. It leads perfectly into a huge highlight of the album, the sassy, Elvis-like ‘If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day’. Other highlights include ‘Nell’ featuring the awesome Billy Branch, ‘Let Me Go’ and, of course, the Dead South-guesting ‘The Good Die Young’. While the tracks with guests are generally the best of them, the Reverend’s vocals are utterly phenomenal, and criminally underrated. It’s certainly not gonna be for everyone, but I had a blast listening to this, and at just 35-minutes you really can’t go wrong! I’m definitely gonna be listening to this again pretty regularly, and it gets a solid 8/10 from me!

XIII Doors: Into the Unknown

This album has riffs for days right from the offset, and I love it! The Irish hard/rock metal quartet give off plenty of different vibes, from Black Label Society to Red Sun Rising to Sacred Mother Tongue to Prong to Alter Bridge. There’s certainly some Tremonti riffing and melody throughout, for sure. Heck, I even heard plenty of Alice in Chains too, especially with some of the harmonies later on! It’s heavy and melodic in all the best ways, and everyone in the band is working their ass off throughout to create something honestly rather unique and special. Also a huge shoutout to the production, it sounds absolutely massive, whoever did it did an incredible job.

It’s honestly so hard to pick highlights as I just kept adding more and more of the album to my personal playlist, it really is THAT good. It’s only eight tracks and each is truly as good as the last. It’s a short, easily digestible slice of awesomeness that I would recommend to absolutely anyone reading this. And what do you know, it’s yet ANOTHER incredible debut album. It definitely definitely feels like it takes all the right cues from One Day Remains, in sound, style and form, which is anything but a bad thing. I can’t not, this is right up my street, and I can’t give it any less than 10/10! Check this out immediately!

Rick Pierce Group: Brick by Brick

The old-school rockers‘ debut has been building up for nearly five years now, and was finally released last week! It’s a pretty great foot-stomping, AOR release driven by its chunky, awesome riffs and soaring vocals and melodies. It feels like it’s designed to be played live and loud in some dingy dive bar on the Sunset Strip back in the day, and that alone makes it a lot of fun! The opening couple of songs were very good choices for singles and to be so early as they really establish the bands sound. Then it goes full Night Rangers with ‘Only’, not that that is a complaint in any way! ‘Remember the Bataclan’ straight after goes in a more Priest/Manowar direction too straight after. Heck, the only complaint I can have of this album is that it’s only seven tracks long, and that we’ve heard four of them already. However, that doesn’t take as much away from it as I sadly hadn’t heard said singles until now, and they combine with the other songs to make for a damn solid album. I clearly just want more of this immediately! If you like an old-school sound, I’d certainly go and give this one a listen. They’re another band that deserve to be bigger, and hopefully this awesome release will help that. It’s a solid 8/10 from us!

The 7th Guild: Triumviro

Goddamn, I love power metal. This is the older sound of the genre done to its very best, too. It gives off big Hammerfall vibes, as well as Dream Evil and Blind Guardian. The band are all so insanely talented, the soloing and vocals/harmonies being particular highlights throughout. However, the riffing and insane drumming as amazing, too! Songs like the band’s title track, the beautiful piano-ballad ‘Time’ and the epic ‘Fairy Tale’ are all big highlights for me. Though, if you’re a fan of big, epic folky power metal, the whole album is surely going to be amazing to you. The market for the genre is rather saturated these days, but these guys are great and I hope they find a way to stand out among their peers. As for me, while I don’t think it’s the best the genre has to offer, it’s a damn good release, and a solid 7.5/10. I’m curious to hear how they build on it in the future, as it’s another fantastic debut album!

Stuka: Electronic Body Metal

This is a wild album. Creative and interesting both feel like understatements, honestly. It’s like dark-wave mixed with death metal vocals and themes, which in of itself sounds insane. It somehow combines to make this real dark industrial sound, which I kinda dig! It’s almost Rammstein-y, just without the guitars. Plus, the themes of the album, combined with the frankly awesome artwork, are pretty sick. It took me a bit of getting into, even though I do love the premise, and I think it was because of the production. If this had a massive sound like I think it needed, it could have been phenomenal and really groundbreaking. It feels like something that’s ripped right out of the darker depths of the 80s, like metal meets Warhammer meets arcade games, but the vocals in particular don’t quite hit as hard as they maybe could have. Still, I’m damn glad I listened to this and did have a good time listening to it. If anyone reading this is a fan of the quirky or just needs something different, check this out, you might be pleasantly surprised like I was! It may grow on me more with more listens, but for now it gets a 7/10