Some absolutely massive releases in the rock and country world for us to check out, as well as what are surely to be some underrated bangers. Let’s check them all out!
Sleep Token: Even in Arcadia
So, I know this album has a lot of hype coming into its release. Sleep Token have become one of the biggest bands in the world out of nowhere following their previous album, headlining arenas and major festivals around the globe. They have also become one of the most divisive and, while I do keep an open mind with music, I simply cannot get into them. However, I am open to change, and am hoping this is the album to do so for me. I’ve yet to hear any of the singles so am going in completely blind. Wish me luck…
It’s alright, but I still don’t get the hype. They’re a great gateway band, as they are essentially pop metal and very much ‘baby’s first metal band’ for anyone dipping their toes into the genre for the first time. And I very much respect them; they’re damn creative and blend together plenty of styles together rather seamlessly. And there are certainly flashes of brilliance. The heavy guitar riffs are awesome and make an impact every time as they are used (sadly) sparingly. And that math rock playing on ‘Gethsemane’ is pretty sick. Plus, the mix on the thing is fantastic.
But man, this shit is BORING. That’s the biggest issue, for me. For a prog-adjacent band, a lot of this is just similar sounding and steady-tempoed trap beats with Vessel’s vocals and some simple keys or clean guitars behind it. Like, ‘Past Self’ isn’t even a rock song, which isn’t especially an issue, but it’s also a simple, repetitive, nothingness of a pop song. The closest thing to a song I enjoyed was the emotional single ‘Caramel’, and even then his voice grates on me a little, and all the effects and autotune was on overdrive here. At least we get some actual variety with it with the screams. The same could be said for the last minute of the opener and the final three minutes of the album, about the only metal throughout.
So yeah, this thing is nearly an hour, a lot of it is next to nothing. Ambient stuff, pop and a lot of what feels like buildup with no pay off. It’s very much my sort of thing. Like the Imagine Dragons of ‘metal’ but without the good choruses. And as I say, I respect them hell out of the band, and appreciate they are massive, but they are about the only band that I don’t quite see why they are as big as they are. I get that they have a lot of fans out there that are going to love this, but I didn’t. I honestly preferred their last album, and I wasn’t a big fan of that, either. Please don’t come for me, but… 3/10
Blake Shelton: For Recreational Use Only
We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read our review of it here!
Behemoth: The Shit Ov God
The extreme/blackened death legends are back with their first new album in three years. I remember checking out their previous album back in the day and my gosh, how my tastes have changed. I fucking loved this! Don’t get me wrong, it feels a little more death-leaning than some of their stuff, but it’s a damn good release and I finally ‘get’ it with Behemoth. ‘The Shadow Elite’ is a fantastic opener, while songs like the title track ‘Lvcifereon’ and ‘Avgvr’ are also incredible and massive album highlights. However, every song on this is pretty great, and it’s got an awesome flow to it. It felt short, being eight songs but nearly 40-minutes, not feeling that long at all as it went by in a flash! It was dark and heavy and epic in all the best ways. I’m gonna have to go back and at least check out The Satanist, as if it’s anywhere near as good as everyone says it is, I’ll probably love it just as much as I did this! If you are at all a fan of the band or any of the general genres they encompass, I can’t recommend checking this out enough. It gets a very solid 8.5/10 from us!
Counting Crows: Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!
So, firstly, that album artwork makes me hella uncomfortable. Thankfully, the music does not. I’ve been a fan of this band since my youth, ‘Mr Jones’ being a staple of my childhood, as was their song from Shrek 2. However, I haven’t listened to their stuff outside of those couple of songs in a while, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever checked out an album from them in full. And what a one to be checking out, too; their first full studio release in over a decade. It includes the four songs from their 2021 EP, alongside five other new ones, instead of putting the others out as another EP. It’s probably for the best too, as this release has been teased for five years now.
The album itself is pretty great, sounding exactly how I remember the band sounding. Though they have clearly inspired a whole generation, alongside others, it still feels like the Crows are pretty unique; no one quite makes music quite like this. The opener is fantastic, and follow-up ‘Spaceman in Tulsa’, alongside ‘Under the Aurora’ and ‘Angel of 14th Street’ are all also massive highlights! However, the whole album is pretty great, 40-minutes of chilled-out, late 90s radio rock, and I loved it! Don’t get me wrong, the genre is very much my weak point, mainly for nostalgia reasons, but it’s a damn fun album and I challenge anyone to listen to it and tell me otherwise! A lot of it is on my personal playlist, and I’ll definitely be spinning this a lot in the coming weeks and months. I’m so glad the band are back, and I Can’t give this any less than 9/10!
The Amazons: 21st Century Fiction
The fourth album from the alt/indie rock Brits was far better than I was expecting it to be. I’d seen the name around but, due to it not typically being my style, I hadn’t checked them out until now, and clearly I was missing out! It definitely has all the hallmarks of other bands in their genre, from Kasabian to Royal Blood to early Highly Suspect, but also has a bit more to it than that. Some of it has elements of the likes of Mother Mother, QOTSA or even Sleep Token at times, shockingly. It’s certainly heavy at times, with some of the riffing being amazing, while still having plenty of uplift and levity and huge, festival-sized choruses, too. Songs like the opener, ‘My Blood’ and ‘Wake Me Up’ were all personal highlights. However, I had a good time listening to the album as a whole, and if you’re into the band or any of the ones I mentioned previous, you’ll probably enjoy it too! The band certainly have a new fan in me and I will be going back to check out their earlier stuff as well as spinning this plenty over the coming weeks. I’d highly recommend it for any fans of rock out there, and it’s a solid 8/10 from us!
Tetrarch: The Ugly Side of Me
We’ve also checked this out this week! Read the full review of the awesomeness here!
The Kooks: Never/Know
From one British indie legend to another. The seventh album from The Kooks was sadly a little more boring for me than The Amazons’ release, though. It’s more chilled-out than the other album, focusing a lot less on the riffs and a lot more on the Twenty-One Pilots-style vocals and vibes. It results in it having less highlights for me, but does still make for a pretty great listen as a whole. The closest thing I found to a song that stood out to me was ‘Sunny Baby’, or maybe ‘Compass Will Fracture’ due to the hint of riffing. But, even then, they blend into the other tracks pretty perfectly. If all sounds rather similar, for better or worse. If you want something to just throw on and relax to, I can think of nothing better! But even still, it’s not typically my sort of thing, and isn’t something I’d necessarily revisit if I wanted to listen to music in depth much. Still, the band are clearly talented musicians and songwriters, and if you are into the more chilled side of indie rock, this is certainly worth a listen! It’s a solid 7/10 from us!
Axiom Chaos: Primacy Arrival
The debut album from the ‘raging death metal’ is about exactly what you’d expect from a genre name like that. It’s very much like early Cannibal Corpse but even more aggressive. And I’m very much in two minds with it, honestly. I like all the parts individually, the instrumentation more than the vocals, I have to admit. Some of the riffs and playing is fantastic. However, sadly the mix does none of it any favours. I know that a good producer and masterer is harder than ever to find, and this sort of mix is almost part of the appeal of the genre for some people, but if this had a great mix on it, I think I’d have been obsessed. All of the parts and ingredients are there, but they sadly didn’t quite work for me. The closest things to highlights I had were the title track and ‘Wormhole Pathways of Conquest’. The band are clearly awesome, and I hope to hear more from them in the future so that I can get into them more. But, for now, it’s sadly a 3.5/10
Teague Brothers Band: Wish You the World
John Teague and co. are back with their follow-up to 2022’s Love and War. Their third album looks to continue the bands growing momentum outside of their home state and, I mean given that it’s reached me all the way across the pond, I’d say they’re doing just that! They fully deserve it too, as this is a fucking awesome album! It’s southern/country rock but also has a tinge of 90s pop-rock, not unlike Counting Crows up above. It’s also so hard to pick highlights, as every song on this thing is incredible, and right up my street! It’s nearly 40-minutes of country and rock awesomeness, and I can’t recommend this enough to literally anyone, whether you’re into the genres or not. John is a fantastic songwriter, and his band work their ass off throughout, whether it’s guitars or strings or drums, to make this sound massive and truly epic. From the opener to ‘The Tulip’ to the bluegrassy ‘Hotel Water’ to the horrifically relatable ballad ‘Depression’, there is so much greatness to love. The band very much have a massive new fan in me, and now they just have to make it out here so I can see them live! My next job is to go through their previous other releases, if they’re anything near as good as this, I may be obsessed. A very solid 8.5/10!
Skinny Lister: Songs from the Yonder
The legendary folk-punk Brits are back with album number seven! I’ve been a fan of them for years at this point, so to have them return with new music, and for us to be sent it over, is truly awesome! ‘Yorkshire Belle’ opens the album as their last release, Shanty Punk, left off, while ‘Set Us Straight’ picks up the pace into a fantastic Celtic banger. Then you have other clear highlights for me like ‘Plough On’, ‘Drinking Song’ and ‘Brave the Waves’. However, there isn’t a bad song on here, and even the slower tracks are great. It’s just a damn fun half-hour listen! It’s certainly not for everyone, but as someone who grew up with a lot of Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphy’s, there is no way I can’t love this! It’s something I’ll surely be revisiting, especially over the summer, and gets a solid 7.5/10 from us!
My Glass World: Stranded Assets
This is a really interesting soft rock album. It adds elements of everything from prog to classical to jazz to the typical slower-paced rock sound, and the fact that this is produced by two people is incredible. It took me a slight bit of getting into, but as soon as we got that sexy sax in ‘Show Up’, I was in, and the rest of the album was packed full of equally awesome moments spread throughout, too! Don’t get me wrong, it’s a little slow overall for me, but I still had a good time listening through in full because of how damn creative the pair are in their writing. The fantastic production also helped. Songs like ‘Where Are We’ and ‘A Pale Horse’ are also personal highlights for me. It’s not going to be for everyone, but if you’re into the general sounds I’ve mentioned prior, it’s well worth giving this a spin. How they aren’t bigger by now I don’t know. My only slight negative is that I think I enjoyed their last years release a little more; it just felt like it had slightly more variety to it. Still, this isn’t bad at all, and gets a solid 7/10
ERNEST et al.: Cadillac Sessions
There are seven different artists featured on this album, and it’s taught me two things. 1), I’m clearly a Chandler Walters fan, as all of his tracks were highlights for me. And 2) I can certainly enjoy ERNEST if he features another artist I like (occasionally). However, given the sheer massive talent and accolades that make up this album, it was just a touch on the average side. Don’t get me wrong, none of it was inherently bad. However, the whole stripped-back country-pop sound has never quite been something I’ve managed to fully get into. They’re good songs, but the choruses generally being the same level as the rest of the song throughout meant that none of it really had much of an impact. It’s a very modern radio-country sound that simply isn’t for me.
Still, it was a decent chilled-out album, I guess. Outside of ERNEST (and of course the guests) I wasn’t really familiar with the other artists, and I did enjoy their songs. Heck, the song that they do all together, the closer, actually has some dynamics and balls and rock to it and is easily the biggest highlight of the album. But as I said, Chandler’s were consistently my favourite entries, the other kinda blending together while his seemed upbeat, fun and interesting. Arguably, ERNEST’s were my least favourite on here.
It’s certainly not a bad release. I think it did its job, a mixtape introducing the signings to ERNEST’s new label, and this being the first release from said label. And if you like the guy or his general brand of country, you’re sure to get plenty out of this. I’ve certainly come away more interested in honestly all four guys, and of course I want more Dogg-country. But when the genre is packed full of so many incredible releases, including this week too, I do fear that this will slip under the radar and be sadly rather quickly forgotten. Hopefully not by the masses, but probably by me. My hope is that the three newcomers get a solo project released soon to capitalise on the momentum ERNEST has given them, otherwise it may all be for nothing. It gets a 6/10 from us.