Some more awesome EPs for us to check out this weej, with plenty of technical heaviness and then some country thrown in for good measure! Let’s dive in together!
Tealdear: Menace
The alt-metal Brits are back with their brand new EP, a collection of the singles they’ve put out over the last eight months. A good friend of mine at Audiomage helped work on the release and has been raving about it for months, so thanks to Ben Gaines alone, alongside the rest of the bands fans and press, there is a lot of hype around this!
Honestly, it lives up to that hype, too! The seamless blending of Muse-like pop-rock with all out, Gojira-esque massive riffs and screams is incredible and feels so very fresh! Add to that an epic, theatrical feel throughout and it all makes for a truly unique listen. All of that combined makes it nearly impossible to pick highlight tracks, too. Everyone song is awesome, and it all works so well together to create something that just begs to be listened to in full. It’s the perfect blend of heaviness, quirkiness and catchiness, all wrapped up in one well-produced, massive-sounding package. The closest thing I can compare it to is something like System of a Down of Paleface Swiss, but with a lighter, quirkier element chucked in for good measure, too. The band are INSANELY talented songwriters and musicians, and that shines through on ever second of this release. If you are at all into metal or just curious, you HAVE to check this out immediately, it’s phenomenal. A very easy 9.5/10 from us!
Tyler Booth: Downtown
The fourth EP from the Villa40/Sony joint country artist is a fun 20 minutes of neo-traditional music. His vocals are better than ever, and tracks like the opener and ‘Freeborn Man’ are fantastic. The EP as a whole is a bit more chilled-out than I was expecting; not an issue but made for slightly more background music for me. If you’re into the more relaxed side of country music, this is definitely the release for you. It’s short and sweet and none of the songs are bad by any stretch. But the country music scene is so good these days, and this week has seem some awesome releases, I worry this might fly under the radar. Still, it gets a solid 7.5/10 from us!
Jawfane: Me and All My Demons
For the second time this week, I find myself utterly blown away by a quirky, heavy EP. More along the lines of post-hardcore than anything else, but it also clearly incorporates influences from death, black and even nu metal at times, again sounding insanely fresh. It’s melodic and heavy in equal measure, and goddamn do I want to see this live SO MUCH. It’s also just as much angry as it is angst, something very hard to do. Also, it’s another release that is almost impossible to pick highlights from; this is 17-minutes of atmospheric, heavy metal awesomeness! The band have been going a few years now yet this is their first non-single release, and to say it’s been a success is an understatement! It’s an incredibly written, performed and mixed release, and should easily push them up a few levels in their scene. They deserve so many more than the 70 monthly listeners they currently have. This will be near the top of our EPs of the year list come December, that’s for sure, and the band have a BIG new fan in me! If you are at all into the moody side of heaviness, check this out, you won’t be disappointed at all! Yet another solid 9.5/10.
Larry Fleet: Somewhere in the South
The band new EP from the modern country rising star is just four tracks long, but packs a significant punch in just 13 short minutes. From the Blake Shelton-y ‘A Lotta Woman’ to the more Drake White-esque ‘Like You Used To’, there is some absolute bangers on here, but all of it is fantastic. It’s still chilled out, but ever song felt impactful and like it’s own different thing. I’ve been a fan of his work for a while and wish we had a whole new album, but this is an amazing little stop-gap in between. I can’t wait to hear (hopefully) all of this live in the summer, and I’ll definitely be spinning it plenty in the lead up to that! An easy 8/10 from us!
Margantha: Blood Moon Sacrifice
The black metal storytellers’ debut EP is an epic affair that goes pretty damn hard from start to finish. And, while it’s not typically my sort of genre usually, I found myself really enjoying this, especially as a release as a whole! The epicness reminded me a little of Rotting Christ, while there is plenty of traditional black metal and even extreme elements added in for good measure. ‘Curse of the Full Moon’ is probably my favourite track on the release, but there really isn’t a bad song on it, honestly. It’s not for everyone, but is amazingly heavy and phenomenally technical and well written. If you are at all into black metal check this out! Heck, even if you want to be into black metal or are curious, I’d definitely recommend this album, as it’s rather melodic and amazingly mixed and produced, so is far more palatable than most in the genre, being a great jumping off point! The band have come out swinging with their debut release, and this is surely going to turn more than a few heads, not just my own! I already can’t wait to hear where they go from here, but this gets an easy 8/10 from us!