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Reviews

Call of the Wild: Can the German power metallers POWERWOLF deliver another stellar album yet again?

Powerwolf has been around for a while now, releasing eight studio albums throughout their nearly 20-year career. In that time they have established themselves as one of the powerhouses of the genre and a must-see band live. Their latest album, Call of the Wild, is under our microscope today for New Music Monday. Having not listened to this band too much aside from their bigger songs, I have to say I’m pretty excited as I always need more power metal in my life!

Powerwolf’s Official Facebook

‘Faster Than the Flame’ starts with some epic chanting and strings, immediately setting an awesome tone and feel to it. It then descends into the opening chorus, the vocals sounding powerful and great with some huge guitar chords and drums behind them. A quick verse riff follows afterwards – the drums’ double bass working overtime behind it. It drops down a little, some more chanted vocals in what I assume to be German, before that awesome catchy chorus comes back again. It’s already stuck in my head for the rest of the day and I’ve only heard it twice. We get a short bridge before a pretty great guitar solo, fast and technical for the first half before it slows down a little in the second part to match the rest of the instruments. It drops down again into another bridge with some catchy chants that build perfectly into a final chorus. This was a good song and a great start to an album, making the playlist!

The lead single of the album, ‘Beast of Gevaudan’, is up next. It opens on another build-up of chanting, this time it heads straight into a fantastic guitar and keys riff. The epicness definitely remaining from the previous song. Most of the instruments drop out for the verse, leaving just the powerful vocals and some basic drums. It builds up perfectly into the heaviness of another catchy chorus, though it wasn’t quite as good as the previous one. A lot was going on in it and even though there were more great backing vocals and harmonies, I think it was just a tad too wordy. We get an awesome breakdown after the second chorus with the strings and chanting coming back, easily signalling the pyro cue for live shows. The bridge between it and the solo sounds like it could have been ripped straight from a Maiden song, but that doesn’t take away its awesomeness. Another great solo leads to a dropped-down chorus, one that builds into a huge, epic final chorus. It was a good song overall, but I preferred the opener a fair bit more.

Another single ‘Dancing With the Dead’, is next. It opens on another epic power metal riff, the drums soon coming in to add the fast driving force behind it. It again drops down for the verse, mainly focusing on the vocals, strings, and keys. It builds well into the huge, heavier chorus – this one being a little simpler and catchier vocally. The second verse and chorus have a little more instrumentation to them, adding some great dynamics to the song. The more I hear the chorus, the more I fall in love with it, and it is going to be another track stuck in my head for days to come. The solo in this song is slower, re-treading the vocal melody for the most part, but it sounds awesome. If anything, it may be better than their crazy fast playing in the last two songs. It then heads into a final double chorus to end another fantastic song and one that rather easily made the playlist.

‘Varcolac’ opens on some more choir-style vocals and I have to admit it’s starting to wear a little thin on me already – not a good sign for a power metal album. Still though, the riff that proceeds it is pretty great. It’s a little steadier than I’m used to from the band so far. The verse maintains the same steady speed and riff, although they mention the song title so much in the lyrics that I was worried I’d gotten it confused and it was the chorus instead. I’m still a tad confused, but I think the higher, double-based parts are considered the choruses of the song. Either way, the chanting of Varcolac is catchier than any other part of the song so it may as well have been the chorus! A riff seems to come out of nowhere for a moment after the second chorus before it is quickly hidden by the vocals and epicness again, which was a little odd. It would have been nice to give the riff a little more time to breathe. We get a high bridge part again before it heads into a verse/chorus part again to finish it off. This was a good song, but man did the structure confuse me a little!

‘Alive or Undead’ starts slower than the others with a beautiful piano melody, but all I could think about was how much the choir at the start sounded like the Halo song. Karsten “Attila Dorn” Brill’s low vocals fit surprisingly well over the top of the piano, somehow adding even more beauty to the track. This song is a slow build; the strings and other accompaniment swells more and more as the vocals do and it takes over a minute and a half for it to finally break and the drums and guitars to come in. They only add to the epicness of it all – this feeling like a fantastic power metal power ballad… there must be an easier way of saying that! It all drops out again for a slow, brief guitar solo that builds up again for a huge final chorus and outro, even managing to squeeze another great guitar solo into it too. This was just the sort of change of pace this album needed after the first few tracks being a little similar and it worked perfectly, I loved it!

‘Blood for Blood’ opens with enough accordion that for a moment I thought I was listening to a Dropkick Murphys song. The heaviness is soon built in around it though as it turns into a power-folk-metal song, somehow. Unfortunately, outside of the interesting new instrumentation, there isn’t too much difference in this track that I haven’t already heard before on the album. Also, unfortunately, it is the same for the following track ‘Glaubenskraft’ and the album’s title track. ‘Call of the Wild’ has a damn catchy chorus, don’t get me wrong, but they are all fairly similar to the opening few tracks – enough for me not to have much to say about them!

The final three songs are again more of the same. I want to stress that it isn’t at all a bad thing; a band is going to have a distinct sound that they stick to, especially in such a niche sub-genre, it just means as a reviewer I have less to gush over. ‘Sermon of Swords’ has an awesome duelling solo and some fun chants, ‘Undress to Confess’ is silly, comedic brilliance that I wasn’t expecting to hear from an otherwise serious-sounding band and ‘Reverent of Rats’ is a pretty strong closer. However, outside of that, I can’t say much that I haven’t already said when talking about other songs. 

Overall: This was a damn enjoyable album packed full of great instrumentation, epic feeling, and some very catchy vocals. It is another review that has immediately made me want to check out more of their stuff, as well as see them live as it is the sort of music that would be even better to see in person with the whole stage show backing it. One of the best new release this year!

Score: 7.5/10

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News

Iron maiden surprise release new single: Writing on the Wall

No, this is not a drill guys, it’s time to get excited!

Iron Maiden tour 2021 / 2022 – how to get tickets

After weeks of teasing something, as well as Bruce himself inviting everyone (not your mum though) to ‘Belshazzar’s feast’ earlier today, a livestream of their brand new song ‘Writing on the Wall’ was finally out.

As the band’s first new music since 2015’s critically acclaimed Book of Souls, it is definitely different to their previous work. They have spent the last few years revisiting their older music on their Legacy of the Beast tour, playing mainly songs from their first decade of music, so having new music drop out of nowhere was quite the shock.

It’s a fairly steady tempo and features more acoustic guitar and groove than a lot of their back catalogue. It still has all the hallmarks of classic Maiden too though, from the soaring vocals, blistering guitar solos, an incredible video and, best of all, a new Eddie!

Check out the new song and video in all of its glory down below and keep your fingers as crossed as ours for a release date for the new album!

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Interviews & Features

“I want to melt the faces at home”: Brand new TV show ‘Amped’ is set to bring rock music to the masses

The pilot of the brand-new music show ‘Amped’ is set to be filmed in November this year at the Waterloo Music Bar in Blackpool, hosted by journalist Anne Estella and frontman Brad Marr.

Completely unscripted, the programme is designed to capture the energy and the atmosphere of a live rock show as well as put emerging young talent on centre stage. Amped is all about supporting and broadcasting up-and-coming UK rock, covering different branches of the genre.

“It’s all about the new talent”

The programme will feature three new wave rock bands in every episode. Filmed as a live gig with behind-the-scenes interviews, the show’s loose structure will allow viewers to get a down-to-earth perspective of bands and artists before, during and after their performance.

Anne Estella said: “Rock TV shows have been going since back in the day. We all grew up with one, anyone from my generation and older, but the current generation doesn’t have one. I want to see new rock bands on TV and so I made it my mission – that’s what I was going to do.”

“I’m hoping for a couple of surprises and something a little bit different than your average gig.”

With an extensive history in the music scene, Anne Estella described Brad Marr as the ideal partner to host with due to his interest and knowledge of the UK rock community.

Brad Marr has some background in radio and TV when he lived in Australia, but Amped is set to bring on a new and exciting dynamic for the singer.

Talking about the inspiration and the driving force behind Amped, Brad Marr said: “There’s social media, there’s YouTube. But what’s better than just having to search for it? Having a central location where you can click on and watch a TV show and find something new without having to search for it. We bring it to the people so that’s the reason.”

When asked why is now the right time for a rock show like Amped, Anne Estella said: “I feel there’s been a real evolution, especially in the UK, with a new wave of classic rock. It started in 2017 and it’s become a genre in itself which is incredible, and so many people are really backing it up. We’re seeing it now but it’s still a very small community compared to other genres, for example. Writing is something I’ve done for a long time and I’ve got my YouTube channel and Brad’s got his podcast. 

“I always felt there must be something more and now is the time to do it. We’ve got the most amazing talented bands over here. If not now, when are we going to do it? Now’s the time.”

“Every time you go there it feels like home”

The first episode of Amped will be filmed at the Waterloo Music Bar in Blackpool which is promoted as “a venue for musicians ran by musicians.”

Brad Marr said: “I think the Waterloo is perfect for what we’re doing because it’s a musicians bar run by musicians for musicians. Their entire set up is for musicians. They could make a lot more money if they spent more money on food or whatever they wanted to, but they want to be a band venue and that’s exactly what this TV show is about – supporting the bands. It’s a match made in heaven.

“I’ve made a lot of drunken bad decisions in the Waterloo many times and even though it’s a long way from home for me, every time you go there it feels like home because it’s a musician’s place. It’s exactly what musicians need when they’re on the road. It’s this cool home-like pub that you know supports musicians so it’s perfect for us.”

Want to get involved with Amped? You can.

In the future, there might even be an application process in place for bands, artists and their biggest fans worldwide to put new talent forward to be included in the programme.

Anne Estella said: “I don’t have any specific bands in mind. If they’re good they’re good, right? It can be a tiny band that nobody’s heard of or it can be bigger bands. I don’t want anyone too big because that’s not the point of the show. We want to be supportive of the up and coming talent. Each time for each episode I want it to be a nice selection of different styles within the rock genre which we definitely have for the pilot.”

Reviews

Mallavora: is this hard rock band the breath of fresh air the British heavy music scene needs?

Mallavora promote themselves as ‘bringing heavy rock music back to young people in an inclusive space.’ Pretty big words for any band, never mind one that has only been around for a few years and only actively releasing music for less than two. However, having heard one of their songs already, they seem to be a damn fine group of musicians creating some good music. The band released their debut 4-track EP last year; it’s my job to sit down and see if their claims are true or not. 

Mallavora’s Official Facebook

‘Ego’ opens on a pretty heavy, interesting riff, although it does sound like a Biffy Clyro song that I cannot for the life of me place after an hour of searching. It soon heads into a HUGE opening chorus – Jessica Douek’s vocals sounding fantastic and powerful as she sings a catchy, singalong melody. 

This song is all about the chorus – a catchy, radio-friendly track that’s ideal for a single. The bridge after the third chorus is great, stripping the instrumentation back down while some repeated lyrics come in over the top. It builds up into a huge breakdown and then the song ends. The structure threw me off a little and I feel that I would have liked another chorus at the end. But, given that the track kicked off with one, it makes sense why they chose not to. Either way, it’s an incredibly catchy song and made my personal playlist. 

‘Deceiver’ explodes into another heavy riff, one that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Gojira album. I love the dynamics during the verse – just drums, a low, fuzzy bass and vocals for the first half. I don’t love the double-tracked vocals; in my opinion, it drops the production sound a little when the rest of the album sounds superb. It builds back into the heaviness with the low, distorted guitar coming back perfectly. The track stays heavy after the second verse, evolving the riff a couple of times, keeping the fun and heaviness whilst adding another great layer to the overall sound each time. The instrumentation writing with this band is fantastic. Another good song, so much so that I’m not sure what tracks I prefer so far – both were so different.

A drum roll leads to a still heavy but more Royal Blood sounding riff to open up ‘Favourite Mistake’. However, the verse really confused me. Between the accent and the melody of both the riff and vocals, it felt like I was listening to a heavier punk song or even something by Madness. It was cool, don’t get me wrong, it just threw me off at first. It all builds again into an amazing chorus, maybe my favourite one so far as it was the least repetitive of all of them while still being pretty damn catchy. Overall, I think this might be the most enjoyable song for me as everything worked: the vocals, the riffs, the structure – it all felt right. Another one added to my playlist!

And finally, we reach the last song on the EP, ‘Paradise’. Clocking in at nearly eight and a half minutes, it is almost twice as long as all the other songs which of course means either two things: amazing epic song or long, drawn-out mess. Thankfully, Mallavora continue their EP streak and I’m inclined to say the former.

It opens on a great guitar riff – me instantly falling in love with the effect and tone Larry Sobieraj uses. I have to admit I was a little shocked that the vocals started as soon as they did, I thought given the length of the track they’d drag it all out a little more. The vocals worked pretty well over the top, as did the simple drums. I loved this slow part, so much so that when it got heavy out of nowhere it again threw me off. Especially given that not only did it all get heavier and distorted, but the tempo sped up suddenly. After a slow chorus, it almost immediately drops down into another steadier, quieter chorus before repeating the formula again. It was a slightly easier transition this time, as at least this verse was in the same tempo as the heavier parts but it still comes out of nowhere a little bit. We get three verses before it drops down into a pretty cool little guitar riff. The lyrics are interesting, even if they are a little too conspiracy-y for me. This section slowly builds more and more, giving me pretty major Tool vibes with how slow they take it. Then, out of nowhere again, another heavier riff. It’s pretty good and gets better when it heads into more of the breakdown, not going on for nearly long enough before the vocals come back in and lead it to another double chorus. It then heads into the slow intro section for the final minute or so before giving us our only guitar solo of the EP. Whilst being kind of slow, it fit the track perfectly. I have no idea how to feel at the end of this song. Parts were good and definitely felt like it had an epic momentum, but it was also a tad messy – I’m not sure if that’s due to the shock I felt on my first listen and it might grow on me in time. 

Overall: Mallavora are all very talented individuals. The UK needs more good, young rock bands and they definitely fit this description. I wasn’t expecting this vibe for my very first listen, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. I would happily see these guys live and can’t wait to hear what they do next.

Score: 7/10

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Reviews

The Nightmare of Being: Can At The Gates maintain the momentum they’ve had since their reunion a decade ago?

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Let’s get heavy. Swedish death metal is a genre I hear about and has been HEAVILY praised, but for whatever reason I haven’t checked out all that much. Metal isn’t my go-to genre, although I love the likes of Lamb of God, Machine Head, and Gojira, so really I have no excuse. The seventh album from At the Gates, having broken up in the late 90s for a decade or so, promises blistering riffs, heavy vocals and hopefully a groove or two. I’m pretty excited for this one because I’m listening with virgin ears – let’s get to it. 

At The Gates’ Official Facebook

The album opener, ‘Spectre of Existence’, starts with a fantastic acoustic guitar riff which is then built perfectly with distorted electric guitar and some epic drums. It sounds like a mixture of early Metallica album openers (‘Battery’ being the prime example) and an Opeth song. We continue to be slapped with more insane riffs as it drops back down momentarily only to build into a massive thrash/death/black (it’s fast, okay, they all seem similar) riff. The verse is slower and a tad groovy until Tomas Lindberg’s hardcore style harsh vocals come in, giving the song even more heaviness. It takes a while to get into it but I am a fan. The chorus is still just as heavy as anything else but damn if it isn’t pretty catchy too! A short bridge leads to a pretty decent, technical and sometimes harmonised solo – my favourite thing about the track so far. It then heads into another verse and chorus to close it out. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, I feel I could get into this genre at least a little!

Another pre-release song, ‘The Paradox’, is up next. It teases another soft start with slow piano notes before the drums rip the band into a crazy fast riff that denies any thoughts of softness. It definitely channels a similar energy as the previous song, something that I feel I’ll be saying a lot in this review. The chorus is more enjoyable this time though, actually getting stuck in my head a little! Between that, the subtle acoustic guitar that adds so much to the dynamics of the sound, and another awesome guitar solo, this makes the playlist for me!

The album’s title track, ‘The Nightmare of Being’, starts off slow with a cleaner guitar riff that sounds reminiscent of Slayer’s ‘Seasons in the Abyss’. The vocals kick in and the lower, spoken vocals remind me more of Parkway Drive’s later stuff – although I know that they probably got the style from this band. It gets a little harsher and heavier at times but it always drops back down to the simpler riff, alternating between harsh and spoken word vocals. It leads to an odd feeling arrangement but keeps things interesting, at least. It builds up after the second chorus into what feels like a heavy drop, but then it heads back to the clean riff for a solo. I like the song, especially the diversity of different vocal styles, but it seems a little too all over the place for me.

‘Garden of Cyrus’ starts with another slow riff; it builds pretty nicely with riff after riff of “death metal goodness” which is now the official term. It took an embarrassingly long time for me to realise this was going to be a mostly instrumental track; it wasn’t until the utterly SWEET horns came in near the middle that I noticed how long into the track I was. Speaking of the horns though, oh my god, why does it fit so well? They’re sexy horns too, like something out of ‘Careless Whisper’ and it is the highlight of the album by far. We get some spoken word after the horns but it isn’t long before they’re back again and sound even better behind some vocals, giving everything a massive, epic feel to it. The vocals get a little heavier and screamy afterwards, but it all stays pretty plodding and not too heavy which was a nice change of pace. It’s my favourite song on the album and again makes the playlist!

We get more non-conventional instrumentation to open ‘Touched by the White Hands of Death’ and, honestly, it is another highlight on the album for me. Orchestral instruments make me weak at the knees and almost every track on this album features a sick instrumental interlude or intro. The rest of this song is the usual death metal schtick but this intro was amazing.

The final single from the album, ‘Fall into Time’, opens on a riff similar to ‘Garden of Cyrus’ and again the epic orchestral instrumentation was back to slow-build this track perfectly. It almost feels like if Lewis Carrol scored for movies – that’s how epic some of this feels. Again, more death metal stuff afterwards but I’d be happy to just listen to the first two minutes on repeat. The drop-down section in the middle was pretty cool too with a lot of focus on the awesome bass riff and drums for a while before a guitar solo comes in over the top. It sounds very Metallica-esque in a good way.

Unfortunately, much of the final four songs are straight-up death metal songs. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but when it was done so well on the opening couple of tracks, it is hard to top. It’s a shame too because there are some good riffs spread between them, I’ve just gotten my fill of the band six songs in for now. The only thing a little different, at least for the first half, is ‘Cosmic Pessimism’. The riff is great and almost feels like something John Frusciante would come up with for a Red Hot Chili Peppers song. The song picks back up halfway through and doesn’t look back, turning into a proper death metal song instead of a quirky little basic song thrown in to shake things up towards the end of the album. The first half of the song is definitely my favourite. 

Overall: This is another album that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. I knew I’d love the music and appreciate the vocals, but I was starting to get into it by the end. And, of course, I cannot gush over the orchestral parts enough. This was a damn good album and one that has prompted me to want to look further into the band and genre as a whole

Score: 7/10

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Reviews

Below: Have Beartooth got what it takes to take Hardcore Punk to the mainstream?

Columbus formed hardcore punk/metalcore band Beartooth has achieved a lot in their nine years together. Being a band for less than a decade, they’ve released four studio albums and have toured around the globe, amassing a pretty large, dedicated fanbase. Having said all of that, I haven’t checked them out all that much. I know a couple of their songs that I listen to every so often but generally speaking, their style of music isn’t something I usually explore. For Overtone’s very first New Music Monday, I thought Beartooth would be the ideal artist to kick off with. 

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Beartooth’s Official Facebook

The album’s title track starts out with a whole lot of fuzz and reverb before a steady drumbeat and some hardcore style screamed vocals that lead us into a HEAVY riff. The vocals get cleaner through the verse – Caleb Shomo’s voice being pretty punky and actually preferable to his screams in this writer’s humble opinion. The chorus slows things down with a catchy melody, even if it does come out of nowhere a little. The screamed lines at the end of the chorus are pretty great too and lead perfectly into that awesome guitar riff again. We head into a quick guitar riff coming out of the second chorus, accompanied by more screamed vocals. It builds up pretty perfectly into a sludgy, slower breakdown riff; this is definitely something I’d like to hear live. It’s again accompanied by more harsh vocals which I enjoyed more – maybe I’m starting to warm up to them? A great, heavy song to open an album on.

The lead single ‘Devastation’ opens on another huge scream and keeps the album heavy. The effects overall add a slight Avatar feel to it. The harsh vocals stop again when it comes to the clean, catchy chorus – the pop-punk type vocals giving me an earworm for the rest of the day. We get a great, low drumbeat coming out of the second chorus before a basic, chuggy riff builds it all back up again into a MASSIVE breakdown. Everything from the screamed callout of the song title to the slow-ish, basic but heavy guitar riff ties together amazingly well. We get another final chorus before the breakdown comes back around to finish the track. I preferred this one to the previous song and can definitely see why it was chosen as a single.

‘The Past is Dead’ was another pre-release track from the album and is the lightest so far. Opening on a catchy vocal hook/chant is always going to win over the hardcore-punk crowds. The lower harmonies over the vocals in the lighter verse are a nice touch and lead into a fantastic chorus, reminding me of A Day To Remember – it’s the most “arena-filling”, catchy chorus for sure. In comparison to other breakdowns on the album, this track’s breakdown is pretty tame and feels more like a filler-bridge. A stripped-back chorus leads to a final chorus to end the song. This was a simple yet pretty great song and another good choice for a single. This one easily made the playlist!

‘Fed Up’ opens on some more cringy, adolescent-style lyrics, again channelling their inner ADTR. At least it builds in to a pretty good, fast, hardcore punk riff that drops in and out for every vocal line – like a call and response between vocals and instruments to add an extra layer of dynamics. It’s another pretty basic song, building to a big, open pop-punk chorus. The only thing that separates it from the likes of Sum 41 is the heavier, de-tuned guitar riff at various intervals throughout. Oh and the usual breakdown, but again this one was nothing compared to the first two tracks – even if it was a pretty good riff. A final chorus and heavier breakdown (again) finishes this one off and, in comparison to the previous tracks on the album so far, this felt like the weakest.

‘Dominate’ keeps the vibe of the album going with screamed vocals and a crazy low guitar riff; it could be classed as a thrash riff in terms of the intensity and speed. The chorus is slower and features some generally cleaner vocals, although the screams are still present. There’s a crazy blast beat between the chorus and the second verse too; it blows my mind that drummers can play that fast. Another fantastic breakdown callout scream leads to an interesting breakdown, the riff being unconventional but pretty damn enjoyable. If anything, the breakdown doesn’t last long enough and quickly heads back into a final chorus before the blast beat and heavy outro finishes things off. This was by far the best of the heavier songs so far and easily makes the playlist.

‘No Return’ keeps things heavy for a moment with another awesome opening riff but outside of that, it’s another clean vocalled, slower radio-friendlier track. It’s not bad at all but there are better versions of this type of song, some of which are on this album. Again, the lyrics get a little cringy for me at times, too. ‘Phantom Pain’ gives off some more hardcore feeling through the verses, but again has a massively pop-punk chorus – a format that (again) has been done better on the opening two tracks of the album. Both songs are good, but just a little generic at this point. Either that or I’m starting to get sick of the album. ‘Skin’ is the closest thing to a ballad on the album but it is also their most ADTR-y song. Apart from a decent chorus, I have very little interest in this track.

‘Hell of It’ is the last of the pre-released songs and brings the heaviness of the album back with a vengeance by opening on a great guitar riff and some awesome harsh vocals. It leads into a pretty decent, quick riff and the harsh vocals stick around almost throughout this time. The chorus is pretty damn catchy and may be my favourite on the album, perhaps my favourite Beartooth track of all time. The breakdown’s mega-low guitar riff sounds a tad evil – much more to my liking. Playlisted!

Unfortunately, the final few tracks go back to being A Day to Remember-like. On paper or as an isolated listen, I like the songs ‘I Won’t Give Up’ and ‘The Answer’ but both remind me of slightly heavier ‘radio rock’ that has been done countless times before. Meanwhile, ‘The Last Riff’ is just a nearly five minute instrumental track revolving mainly around one guitar riff. It’s a good, heavy, almost epic riff, but a pretty boring and uneventful way to finish an album.

Overall: I enjoyed this more than I expected to. Would it make my album of the year consideration? Hell no. But it has made me more of a fan of the band, so that’s a good thing at least. There were some damn good songs scattered through here, but also a fair few just plane average ones. Still, I’ll probably be going back and checking out their older stuff as a result, so I guess overall it’s a pretty positive result and a pretty decent album.

Score: 6/10

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Reviews

Unstable: Tetrarch’s journey to bring nu-metal back to the mainstream

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Atlantan metallers Tetrarch return with their first new album in 4 years, ‘Unstable’, now boasting a shiny Napalm Records stamp on it too. Fitting nicely into, and pretty much spearheading, the Nu-Metal revival of recent years, the band has blown up recently after their debut album ‘Freak’ back in 2017. The hype for the follow-up, ‘Unstable’, has been massive and I for one have been onboard. I loved the first album and love nu-metal in general, so I’m excited to get onto this and review it. I’ve also somehow only heard one of the singles off it so far, so it will be nice to get mostly a brand-new listen. Join me in checking it out!

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Tetrarch’s Official Facebook

The album’s lead single, ‘I’m Not Right’ starts the album off strong and with a very nu-metal sound. Fading in with some distorted, distant vocals and guitars, the vocals sounding like Johnathon Davis and the lyrics being suitably edgy. It soon explodes into a huge, heavy riff, a sign of great things to come, I’m sure. The guitars, coupled with the electronic sounds behind them, reminds me a lot of Static X’s old material. The similarities continue with Static X as Josh Fore’s vocals give off a lot of Wayne vibes. It all builds up nicely into a heavy, but also very catchy chorus – the vocals being just about clean enough for the crowd to sing along to live. The second verse has an incredible couple of lines where the vocals go full-on screaming and it sounds HEAVY, but unfortunately it doesn’t last all that long. I still cannot get over just how good the chorus is as the whole song sounds like the perfect blend of Static’s heaviness and Korn’s catchiness. We get a build-up after the chorus into a massive breakdown thanks to the harsh vocals working so well over the top. It then builds up into a huge final chorus and it’s taken me this long to realise the vocals here also sound a little like Chester Bennington’s. A massive, heavy outro takes us out in style and I could spend all day talking about this track. It easily makes the playlist!

Next up is another single, ‘Negative Noise’ which I’ve heard before. We get some brief feedback before the song builds up into a great riff. Look, I’m not going to lie, I definitely see the similarities between the verse’s riff and melody and Slipknot’s ‘Heretic Anthem’ like everyone online is pointing out but it still sounds killer so I’ll happily lay off them for it after pointing it out. It stays just as heavy and blisteringly quick throughout the verse. It almost feels like a thrash song. The vocals clear up a little in the chorus but the tempo remains about the same throughout. As a result, while it is still a good chorus, it isn’t quite as catchy as the previous song. We get a similar bridge out of the second chorus before we even get a great little guitar solo which is something all too rare in nu-metal. However, as good as Diamond does here, it’s just a tad too short for my liking. It again hits us with another final chorus and a quicker outro to finish things off. I am on the fence as to whether to put it into the playlist or not. It’s a damn good song but the similarity to Slipknot does make me feel like I’ve heard it all before. Check out the Overtone Spotify playlist to see if I changed my mind by the end of this review.

The album’s title track is next. It opens pretty heavy again but it’s slower than the previous song, retaining a lot more of the early nu-metal sound. I initially got heavily reminded of ‘Trash’ by Korn when first listening, but after listening to it I now have no idea why – they’re pretty different sonically. Despite that, for some reason I still can’t shake the comparison. The harsh vocals in the pre-section are pretty great and the chorus gives off more early Linkin Park vibes again. However, as much as I like the chorus, for some reason the final lines don’t sit right with me. They feel a little too basic and juvenile. I mean, that is pretty much the point of nu-metal at this point: angsty, borderline cringy lyrics, but this felt just a tad over the edge. Still, it builds up to a massive, heavy breakdown which is one of the highlights of the album for me so far. It’s another great song, but I can see why this wasn’t selected to be a single.

Another single on the album is ‘You Never Listen’. It opens on a stripped-back version of the chorus which is again hugely catchy and gives off lots of LP vibes. It then explodes into a pretty heavy but still slower riff, making it clear why this was single-worthy. Even the verses are pretty simple and slower and  the vocal melodies give off slight Shinedown vibes. There isn’t much to talk about with this song. It’s the most radio-friendly song on the album so far and I am all for it. It’s the closest thing to a nu-metal ballad I think we’re going to get, even with the Static X-style heavier section in the middle, and I’m going to have that chorus stuck in my head for the rest of the day now! Playlisted!

‘Sick of You’ opens on another heavy industrial metal riff – one that carries on in one form or another through the verses too. The chorus is pretty great and the lyrics are some of the best I have heard from this album so far; they’re catchy and easy to sing along to. There isn’t much more I can say about this song; it’s pretty basic again, but we get another fantastic solo from Diamond Rowe which is even better than the previous one. She wouldn’t at all sound out of place on a thrash album. Another good song overall, but the solo was definitely the highlight for me.

‘Take A Look Inside’ blew all of my expectations out of the water. It is easily the heaviest song on the album by a large margin and it’s insane. From the fast riff and sick double bass pedal work of the intro to the slow, sludgy, crushing breakdown after the second chorus, this was definitely on the heavy top end of the genre. The track still manages to squeeze in a slower, clean-vocalled, very catchy chorus in there too. This may be my favourite song on the album, maybe even my favourite song by the band as a whole, and it has definitely made the Overtone playlist! Check this out if you are in any way into heavy music.

‘Stitch Me Up’ again channels their heavy Korn influences but it doesn’t stand out all that much on this album. It’s good but it feels like the most “fillery” song on the album so far. The style is similar to other tracks on the album, but it doesn’t quite reach that level. It is, unfortunately, the same sort of criticism I can give to the album’s final single, ‘Addicted’, and the following song of the album, ‘Pushed Down’. They’re all good songs but they’re nothing different to other tracks on the album at this point. Nu/industrial metal is so hard to vary drastically between tracks – so much so that I’ll be the first to admit I’ll skip the occasional track on a generic nu-metal album. It can fall into the trap of producing the same sound which, for some, won’t be an issue, but it makes the album more difficult to review. 

The final song on the album, ‘Trust Me’, mixes things up a little. It’s the slowest and calmest song on the album. The verses are mainly just drums and vocals with quieter guitar notes ringing out in the back. The only time it gets even remotely heavy is in the chorus and even then it’s just big, distorted chords to give the song some depth. I have to admit though, I loved this. It’s an interesting choice for a closer I’ll admit, but it’s something completely different to the album both in sound and feel. It’s slow, moody and subdued, and never quite hits that huge gear I kept expecting it to – it never dropped. Another highlight of the album, even if it doesn’t quite make the playlist cut.

Overall: I loved this. Being a big fan of nu-metal (heck, I grew up and got into music in the back half of it) this is the type of music I’ve been waiting to make a comeback for a good decade now and I’m so glad these guys are at the forefront. They have gone from strength to strength as a band and I can honestly say that I believe this is better than their first album – which is saying a lot. With all the press coverage they are currently receiving, it wouldn’t be suprised if they were the next breakout megastars.

Score: 8/10

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Reviews

Heist 2-11: A budding masked metal band making waves in the UK!

Taking visual inspiration from Mushroomhead, Heist 2-11 is definitely one of the most interesting modern UK bands from an ascetic standpoint. However, instead of the industrial music and multiple vocalists, Heist takes a more modern metal approach to their sound with heavy guitar riffs, singular clean(ish) vocals, and huge, club-filing choruses. Having only been together for a few years, their sound is refined and awesome. So far, the band has released three singles under their name and I took some time to check them out!

Heist 2-11’s Official Facebook

Their debut single from 2019, ‘Fight’, opens on one hell of a drum roll before a quick grunt/scream leads into a heavy, almost thrash guitar riff. The tempo does let up and results in the drums working overtime to give us a fantastic, fast beat. The vocals come in, mostly sounding clean but with a slight harshness to them – almost akin to some of Robb Flynn’s latest work. Speaking of the vocals, they are catchy even during the verses and have a fantastic level of power to them. The catchy, slightly slower building section leads into a great chorus. Gang vocals always sound fantastic in metal songs, especially when they are used in a chorus, and add to the catchiness – giving a live crowd something to sing to and interact with. It drops down after the second chorus with the focus on the low vocals, a single guitar riff and the heavy-sounding low toms from the guitars. It slowly builds up, giving off even more Machine Head vibes as the drums sound a lot like the start of ‘Imperium’. We head into a great little breakdown with some screams over the top. If anything, the screams could have been focused on more as they were short and over way too soon, but the following half of the breakdown was still enjoyable. We head into a great final chorus to finish things off. I have to admit I didn’t like the weird high note in the middle, especially when they put the mic cutting out effect over the top of it, but it’s a minor complaint about an otherwise great song.

‘I Am Alive’ bursts straight into a great, heavy modern metal riff. It drops down into a nu-metal/post-grunge-feeling verse, building up into a harder one midway through. I love the guitar tone these guys are using and it works so well with the semi-clean vocals over the top. Unfortunately, I didn’t think the chorus for this one wasn’t as strong as the first one. It was still alright, but it wasn’t as catchy even with the gang backing vocals. The highlight of this song for me has to be the bridge/breakdown section after the second chorus. The riff, whether it’s the heavy open chord version or the more reserved parts, the riff is badass and the screamed vocals over the top added to the heaviness of the track. Plus, we have a great guitar solo in here too which is pretty technical and interesting to add over the top of some surprisingly slow rhythm work. We get another final chorus before a pretty heavy version of the bridge takes us home. Not quite as good as the first track but it was definitely still an enjoyable song.

The most recent one, ‘Save Me’, is up next. Starting on a sick little bass riff and a bass drum, the guitar soon comes in to add some depth and heaviness to it. It’s a stomping, heavy start, and it doesn’t let up once throughout the track. The double bass in the second half of the verse makes it somehow even heavier, as do the vocals, and pick up in intensity. The choruses are easily the catchiest of the three songs – it has even more of a post-grunge feel to it because of the call and response vocals featuring easy-to-sing-along-to-live lyrics and melody. We then get another fantastic solo which is even better than the previous one in my opinion. It fits perfectly over the top of the rhythm work. It continues a little into the breakdown riff and reminds me big time of Avenged Sevenfold, which is never a bad thing! The breakdown doesn’t last long enough but we also get a build-up riff coming out of it, heading into a fantastic bridge. The lyrics over this part are awesome, too. Again, we get an epic double chorus before a great outro breakdown riff finishes it off. Another fantastic song, and one that made my personal playlist!

Overall: I really enjoyed these songs. These guys are a breath of fresh air in the UK music scene at the minute – one that has struggled for a good 10+ years now at creating some great, straight-up metal bands. There is always some great lighter stuff and some fantastic heavier stuff, but there is never a lot of great old-school metal anymore. Fortunately for us, these guys do it very, very well. I look forward to hearing what they do in the future and hopefully I’ll be able to catch them live somewhere soon!

Score: 7.5/10

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Interviews & Features

Baby Strange: Loud and Direct indie rock music from Glasgow!

Baby Strange are a Scottish indie rock band from the wonderful city of Glasgow. The band have been going strong for nearly ten years and have gained quite the following in the UK due to their mashup of influences – be it rock, punk or even hip-hop. Frontman Johnny Madden describes their sound as ‘high energy, loud and direct.’ The three band members met at a community centre when they were kids, partaking in a seminar that encouraged children to get into music. It later inspired them to form the band Baby Strange. We got the chance to speak to them a little about their music, the industry today for a grassroots band and their plans for the future. 

May be an image of 2 people, people sitting and outdoors
Baby Strange’s Official Facebook

So, firstly, we had to ask the same question as we ask everyone we interview here at Overtone: What is the one song that Johnny Madden wished he had written?

“Teenage Kicks by The Undertones! Surely that’s everyone’s answer?”

Obviously the last year or so has been very hard on the music industry  with the seemingly endless stream of lockdowns. Baby Strange used the unusual time to produce their latest release.

“It was really weird at first. We’re used to making music together week in and week out so not being able to do that for a while was a strange feeling. We did write the majority of our new EP over lockdown though and we’re really happy with the way it’s turned out.

“There’s a lot of things [we miss] but one that comes to mind is walking out to a packed room and diving into the first song of the set and seeing the place go nuts. It’s a feeling I’ll never get tired of.”

Speaking more widely about the music industry, Johnny listed his most liked and disliked parts:

“We’ve never really seen ourselves as part of the industry to be honest. We just do our own thing, but the best thing about being in a band is getting to play in front of people every night on tour. We love being in the studio recording too, it gives us a real buzz.

“I wish bands and artists were given more time to grow and develop. It’s mostly a major label thing; you get signed, put out a few singles and if it’s not clicking straight away, you’re dropped. I’ve seen it happen too many times and I wish it was different.”

The band released their much-anticipated new EP, ‘Land of Nothing’, back in March of this year. Speaking about the experience, Johnny told us:

“It was recorded at Castle Of Doom studios in Glasgow with Chris Marshall. The major difference this time round was the location, we’d never recorded in Castle Of Doom before, it’s amazing.

‘’There’s Something There’ from our new EP is one of my favourites. Lyrically I pushed myself to talk about things I’d always hid from, such as my struggles with mental health in the past. It was quite freeing, putting pen to paper and doing that. Lyrics aside, the music is next level.”

They have an upcoming UK tour towards the end of the year which are the first shows they have been able to play in months. They also revealed to us that they are planning a European tour for the beginning of next year, although they were unable to divulge any specifics. Follow them on Facebook or Instagram to keep up to date with them and be the first to hear about their tour when they announce it!

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Reviews

Scaled and Icy: Can Twenty One Pilots get back to their former glory?

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Alt/indie duo Twenty One Pilots are back this year with their fifth studio album, Scaled and Icy. While their last album (2018’s Trench) was still widely successful, I have to say I didn’t really like it. I think they veered too far away from their slight rock leanings and more into generic pop music. Having heard the singles off of their new album before this review, I have a horrible feeling that I will feel the exact same about this one, too. It’s a shame, as both ‘Vessel’ and ‘Blurryface’ were up there with some of my favourite albums of the 2010s. If I offend anyone with this, I just want to say sorry in advance. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Twenty One Pilots’ Official Facebook

‘Good Day’ opens on some electronic, sci-fi sort of sounds. As they clear up, we get a pretty great piano melody backed by a simple drumbeat. I wasn’t expecting something so upbeat and enjoyable straight out of the gate given the single quality, so I’m already thrown through a loop. It almost gives off some ELO/Madness vibes. Tyler Joseph’s instantly recognisable vocals come in over the top, delivering a surprising amount of range and top end given his usual lower, moody/rap style with a lot of their more recent tracks. It’s giving off more ‘Vessel’ feels and I am fully onboard. The chorus is pretty short and sweet; the dynamics of the song don’t change that much but it’s still catchy. It slows up a bit coming out of the second chorus, the piano and drums becoming even simpler, and the real highlight here are the fantastic vocal harmonies between the two guys. It slowly builds up more and more into a final chorus and outro to finish things off. A simple, strange way to open an album, but a massively enjoyable one. And, while it isn’t really rock music, it makes the playlist anyway! 

Next up is one of the singles, ‘Choker’. It opens on some great drums and electronic sounds, giving off major ‘Blurryface’ vibes. However, my main issue with this song is the same issue I had with the songs on ‘Trench’: it doesn’t go anywhere. The not-quite-mumbled vocals stay monotonously the same throughout and the instrumentation barely changes throughout. While the same could be said for the previous song, at least that one was upbeat and enjoyable. I miss when the band would have more dynamics in the song, changing seamlessly between rap to heavier stuff to piano or ukulele stuff. This just sounds lazy, honestly, like a band who have lost their spark after finding fame and no longer want to push boundaries and experiment but rather fit into the same general pop sound that the masses eat up because the radio tells them to. And, to top it all off, the chorus is nowhere near as catchy as 90% of their other stuff. 

The album’s lead single, ‘Shy Away’, opens on more drums and electronic sounds, like the previous song. It’s a little faster in terms of its tempo, which is nice at least. The verse is just fine really, it being a clear ‘we need to have something in this song than just the chorus.’ Speaking of the chorus, I both love it and hate it at the same time. It’s simple, anti-climatic and a little boring… but damn if it isn’t a massive earworm that I’ve had stuck in my head at various points since first hearing it. There isn’t much more to the song – the bridge generally has the same instrumentation as the chorus but with different vocals on top. It features the very bare basics of an American indie song these days. I’m on the fence as to whether I think this is a good song or not. I think, in the most basic way, it is a good song but it just isn’t a good Twenty One Pilots song. It lacks the spark that the band had in their early few albums and because of that I find myself not liking it as much. 

‘The Outside’ opens on a great electric/synth melody with the drums adding fantastically to the overall rhythm when they come in over the top. The verse again is simply meh, but the highlight here is the chorus – catchy vocals made even catchier by more fantastic harmonies and backing vocals. Heck, it even begins to get a little heavy towards the end of it before dropping back down to the verse again. The track has a pretty heavy 80s synth-pop vibe to it (Depeche Mode and stuff like that) which I dig. We head into some rap after the second verse which is something Tyler always does so well. And, if anything, the part is far too short. I want more quick, great lyricism. I wasn’t quite that fussed about the outro part after the last verse, but the song up until that point was excellent; my favourite TOP song since ‘Blurryface’. 

The final and most recent single from the album, ‘Saturday’, is up next. It opens on another annoyingly catchy chorus as I really don’t like it that much (maybe even less than ‘Shy Away’s). This song is similar to ‘Shy Away’ in a lot of ways actually, in that the dynamics aren’t really there and there is very little difference between the verses and choruses aside from different vocals. It’s so basic that I might as well be listening to The Weeknd. Again, have little to nothing to say about this song aside from it being my least favourite on the album so far. 

Outside of the slightly faster tempo and marginally more enjoyable chorus, if I didn’t know ‘Never Take It’ was a different song I may have assumed it was part of ‘Saturday’ still. That’s how samey and generic this band have become over the last couple of albums. It does have a (and I say this loosely) kind of guitar solo in it which is different I guess. 

I have similar sentiments towards the next few tracks, ‘Mulberry Street’, ‘Formidable’ and ‘Bounce Man’. They all suffer from the same issue as ‘Never Take It’ – both of them could quite easily blend into the same song. They are all perfectly fine slow indie songs, but there is absolutely nothing special about them. For a band that produced such interesting, genuinely awesomely written songs like ‘Semi-Automatic’, ‘Stressed Out’ and ‘Heathens’, it is such a disappointment to hear them lose that fire and edge and make generic pop music like this. It almost feels like they’ve suffered from the same issue that Eminem had after his rehab stint, he was happy and just made general pop music for the most part afterwards. This could be anyone making this album, whereas it took something special to make ‘Vessel’ and ‘Blurryface’. 

‘No Chances’ at least has a different feel to it, leaning a lot heavier on the duo’s hip-hop influences; Tyler’s rapping, slightly lower instrumentation and backing vocals gives me old-school Eminem vibes at times. It’s a much-appreciated change of pace after four or five songs that sounded very similar. The chorus, while catchy, is disappointingly slow and ballad-y given the feel of the rest of the song, but I’m willing to let it go given that the song overall is pretty good. This is honestly my favourite song on the album by quite a margin. It’s the closest thing to their older tracks and I believe it would have made a much better single than any of the other songs they released. It did enough for me to make it onto the playlist!

The final song on the album, ‘Redecorate’, unfortunately drops the quality of the album down again. It’s a slow, boring pop song which feels a little disappointing after how good the previous song was. At least there was some half decent rapping in here. 

Overall: I came into this review with pretty low expectations and I guess at least I wasn’t disappointed. I have to admit I found myself liking more of the songs from this album than the previous so at least it’s an improvement. Three or four good songs doesn’t make it a great album especially when the other tracks all sound eerily similar and kind of boring. I feel like after a few more listens, I may enjoy a couple of them more. However, I still cannot shake the disappointment that a previously great band has been reduced to this. It’s a shame, but I guess there will still be plenty of other people out there that’ll love this album.

Score: 3/10

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