Another week and some more awesome EP releases, from country to rock to metal. Let’s dive in!
Blackfyre Rising: Self-Titled
The debut EP from the Scottish hard rockers is a real interesting collection of tracks. The opener is a straight-up NWOCR banger, but then ‘The Cycle’ takes a slightly left-turn into grunge territory, being unexpected and a definite highlight due to the creative mix of sounds. And, not wanting to stop there, follow-up ‘Spellbound Woman’ gives off Black Label Society vibes, that slower, stompier biker rock kinda style that also made for a great listen. Then the closer feels more like a climactic finale that combines all these styles together perfectly. It made for an incredibly engaging listen, having me hooked throughout its 20+ minute runtime. The band are all clearly incredibly talented musicians and songwriters and have crafted something that truly stands out in a rather saturated genre in 2025. This is surely going to be a release that pushes them up to the next level, and they certainly have a new fan in me! I’m going to be spinning it more in the coming weeks, for sure, and it gets a solid 8.5/10 from us!
Waylon Wyatt: Out of the Blue
The highly anticipated second EP of the young already-country-megastar finally dropped today, and to the surprise of no one it’s fantastic. Following on in the same neo-tradtional Americana/country vibe as his contemporaries like Wyatt Flores and Evan Honer, it’s emotion-filled, slower music that builds into epic soundscapes by the end of each track. His lyrics and powerful voice are an INCREDIBLE pairing, giving me goosebumps on multiple occasions throughout. And the instrumentation accompanies it perfectly, too. From the powerful opener to the beautiful duet with Willow Avalon to the amazing title track to the emotional most recent single, it’s all SO GOOD and is packed to the brim with highlights.
It’s a perfect 22-minutes as it went by in a flash, but I also feel like if it was any longer it may have started to drag (it is mainly pretty slow and subdued throughout). Though if we were to get an album, which I most certainly want after hearing this, we may get a couple more like ‘I’d Be Delighted’ to break things up a bit! If you are at all a fan of the slower country stuff or any of the artists I’ve named above, you have to check this out, you’ll love it as much as I do. It’s a very solid 9/10!
Autumn Lies Buried: Mob Mentality
GODDAMN. Yes. Pump this shit into my veeeins! This is clearly exactly the amount of anger I needed in my life this morning, and I fucking loved it. Turning the hardcore in deathcore up to 11 and also having even more rapping than you’d expect from that, it’s right up my street. The riffing, the drumming, the screams and the lyrics are all top notch and easily up there with some of the best in the scene currently. And the breakdowns, like the one in ‘Guillotine’… *chefs kiss*. It feels like the perfect blend of Paleface Swiss and Stray From the Path which, given those reviews, is clearly high praise from us! Heck, we even get a Honeycutt-esque bark or two, which are always fun. It’s impossible to pick highlights as every track on this is amazing. It’s 15-minutes of angry, heavy perfection, and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone interested. It can’t get any less than 10/10 from us! WOW!
Lanie Gardner: Polaroids
The country-pop rising star looks to follow up last year’s debut with this collection of six tracks. I enjoyed said album, but even then the opener to this, ‘Takin’ the Slow Ride’, is my favourite song by her. It’s more of a 90s/early 2000s country style and is a lot of fun, having a great bounce to it and is catchy as anything. Then you have ‘Buzzkill’ and ‘Hold Your Horses’ that are also fun, more folky tracks, and definite highlights. The other three tracks that break them up are more like her album stuff; pop-infused modern country, not bad at all but I do lean towards the others. However, it’s a fun 15 minutes of music that I’d recommend to anyone interested! I’ll certainly be spinning it a few more times over the coming weeks, and it gets a solid 8.5/10 from us!