A quieter week still stacked full of some awesome albums across multiple genres. Let’s check them out!
Skunk Anansie: The Painful Truth
The legendary British rockers are back with their first new studio album in nearly a decade. And I have to say, while I do consider myself a fan of the band, I am only really familiar with those first three albums; I haven’t listened to much post-reunion. So, I don’t know if I’m late to the party, but this was a bit of a shock to the system compared to what I was expecting. Firstly, my main love from those early albums was Cass’ incredible bass playing, adding so much feel and attitude to every song. So, when I heard this I honestly figured he wasn’t in the band any more; this album has really nerfed him. Don’t get me wrong, Skin’s lyrics are still great and thought-provoking, and she can certainly still sing, but the instrumentation around her was sadly kinda boring compared to what they have put out in the past. The closest thing we got to that old-school, rockier sound is the one-two-punch of ‘Cheers’ and ‘Shoulda Been You’. The rest all sounded more indie-pop leaning and electronic-heavy.
None of it is inherently bad, and this will certainly have fans. If you like stuff like Nothing But Thieves or the less quirky side of Twenty-One Pilots, you might like this. However, if you are going into this as a fan of their 90s music, just be warned it isn’t too similar, and you may be disappointed like I was. It may grow on me, but for now it sadly gets a 4/10 from us.
Hinder: Back to Life
The seventh album from the hard rock/modern glam metal band is… it’s fine. They’re another band that I loved their first two or three albums, but do also feel like they lost their edge and passion a little somewhere between then and now. Heck, opening a hard/alt rock song on a soppy ballad is a bad idea as it is. I know that’s mostly what they are known for, but even the big guitars and drums in the choruses don’t help its case as much as it needs. It does feel like the album picks up a little for me with ‘Everything is a Cult’, it giving off big Three Days Grace vibes. The follow-up, more acoustic-based ballad, ‘Bring Me Back to Life’, is also a great song. ‘Break the Cycle’ later on is okay, too! However, a lot of it came across as stale and done-before, and honestly pretty cringy for a bunch of forty-somethings. In a genre that has become kinda repetitive and not aged well, Hinder are a brilliant example as to why that is. It’s not bad, and if you’re a fan of the band you’ll probably get something out of it, but if you’re looking for creativity and passion, that feels to have long-since left the band. It’s another sad 4/10
When Rivers Meet: Addicted to You
The fifth album from the husband-and-wife fronted blues rock band has a lot of hype around it, and looks to be just as successful as 2023’s Aces are High. I remember really liking itback when I reviewed it, so hopefully I’ll feel the same with this!
Once again, their strength is in their vocals working so perfectly together, the harmonies throughout being top notch. And some of the riffing is as awesome as ever, blending that blues and country sound masterfully. And some of the songs are awesome. From the amazing duet of the opener/title track and the almost QOTSA-like ‘Break Free’ to the epic, more folk/Americana ‘Coming Up for Air’ to the beautiful ballad ‘Tree of Life’ to the awesome southern rock, slide-guitar-epic of ‘Soft White Sand’ and even us finally getting the band’s name as a song title as the closer, there is so much greatness on here. Heck, the latter may be my favourite song by the band overall, it really combines elements of all their sounds into four-and-a-half epic minutes. However, there really isn’t a bad song on this thing. There’s plenty of variety, 47-minutes going by in a flash, and it’s a must for any rock, country or blues fans out there. I’m not quite sure if it’s necessary better than their last couple of albums, but it’s up there for sure. And with a few more listens, I may have a more solid say on that. But, for now, it gets another massive 9/10 from us!
Sports Team: Boys These Days
This feels like it’s been a long time coming, being delayed at least once and being on my calendar for a while! Turns out the last one, Gulp was the same, too! Still, I remember not minding that album when it released, and this is very much more of the same. It leans even more into the alt side of things this time round, and honestly the quirkiness was a big plus for me. The instrumentation is awesome, be it horns, strings, synths or piano between the traditional rock stuff, and kept me interested throughout! Songs like the title track, ‘Condensation’, the chilled-out ‘Planned Obsolescence’ and ‘Bonnie’ are all big highlights for me, but there isn’t a bad song on it! It’s a relaxed, simply fun album to listen to. If you’re into the softer stuff, I’d highly recommend this. It’s a great, quirky, punk-infused soft rock album, and I certainly got more out of it than I did their last album! It’s a solid 7.5/10 from us, and something I’ll definitely be spinning again!
Mandy Manala: Self-Titled
I went into this album with no ideas or expectations, and ended up loving it and coming away a big fan of the Finnish five-piece. It’s awesome, heavy rock with clear stoner, doom and gothic tinges to it, reminding me of stuff like Lucifer in the best way! From the awesome opener to ‘The Machine’ to ‘Black Sheep’ to ‘The Dark Passenger’, there is so much awesome music on this release! And, for a debut album of a band that have only started releasing studio music this year, it’s absolutely mind-blowing that it’s this high quality! They’ve come out of nowhere and are already a fast rising star in the scene, and this album will go a hell of a long way putting them on the map, I’m sure! If you’re into the hard rock/stoner sound of the likes of Crobot, The Sword or Sons of Texas, I’d highly recommend checking this release out! They’re going to be a big name sooner rather than later, and have a big fan in me already. This is a damn solid 8.5/10!
Cardinal Black: Midnight at the Valencia
I clearly got the wrong memo, I thought Cardinal Black went a little harder than this. I was expecting some NWOCR stuff, not this soulful, easy-listening soft-rock awesomeness. However, the more I listened to this, the more I fell head over heels in love with it. The way the songs are arranged and build to these epic crescendos, alongside Tom’s utterly phenomenal vocals, honestly gave me goosebumps multiple occasions throughout. Honestly, some of it doesn’t sound too dissimilar to the newer War and Treaty stuff, especially when they add that slight Southern vibe. Between that and reminding me of our friend Jody Blount, which I also love. It’s incredibly difficult to pick highlights too, as they’re all so good and most of this ended up in my personal playlist. Don’t get me wrong. It is a slow album, and it is all pretty similar. I’m not sure if they have any other styles up their sleeve, but maybe a more upbeat track thrown in somewhere in the middle to break things up would have been nice. That, or maybe just strip a song or two out, so it isn’t nearly 50-minutes of the same. However, both are very much personal preference, and pretty small nitpicks really! It’s an amazing album packed full of incredible musicianship and great writing, and I would recommend absolutely anyone check this out at least once. It gets a very strong 9.5/10 from us!
The Steeldrivers: Outrun
Fun fact, I saw these live years ago back when I was in the US and had no idea who they were. I loved them then, and the band title has finally just unlocked that core memory for me.
This is an awesome bluegrass/Americana album! I hadn’t heard of the band before, but their 7th album goes damn hard. It’s not for everyone as it is so stripped-back, just strings and vocals, but I really loved it. Songs like ‘The River Knows’, ‘Prisoner’s Tears’, and ‘Rosanna’ are all awesome and big personal highlights, but this whole thing is packed full of great tracks. If you’re into either of the genres mentioned, or a more traditional, old-school country sound, I can’t recommend this enough. They are one of the best bands in this style, and this album is yet another of theirs that proves it. I’ll certainly be listening to a lot of this a lot in the coming weeks and months. It’s a damn solid 8/10 from me!
Spiralist: Violent Feathers
This is a wild ride of an album that should immediately be much bigger than it is! This third album is honestly incredible, blending together elements of industrial, metalcore, alternative and even brief blends of pop and shoegaze into something truly unique and interesting to listen to. Whether it’s 3TEETH, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Marilyn Manson or even stuff like Electric Callboy or Cane Hill, the band wear their inspirations on their sleeves heavily, in a great way! Songs like ‘Parasites’, ‘Underbelly’, the NIN-like ‘Glasseater’ and ‘Baptism by Fire’ are all big personal highlights. However, the whole album is great, and has a fantastic flow to it. Whether it’s more interlude-like tracks or the beautiful piano song ‘God Unknown’, the album is broken up perfectly and constantly interesting to listen to. It’s another album that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I absolutely loved it and cannot recommend it enough to anyone even slightly interested. They deserve to be massive, and certainly to have more than a couple of hundred monthly listeners on Spotify. They have a new fan in me, and this is a very easy 9/10 from us!
Another stacked week of new music for us to check out with some big releases in the country, rock and metal world. Let’s dive right in!
Morgan Wallen: I’m the Problem
A couple of years ago, I sat down to review Morgan’s last album for this release. In it, my main complaint was it’s length and lack of variety. To my absolute horror, two years later, the guy has doubled down, releasing another 37-track, two-hour mess of THE SAME SONG over and over again, just like before. It’s slow, boring, repetitive, and so very popified for a supposed country album. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have an issue at all with pop music, but at least own it if that’s what you’re doing! I got a solid six songs into this thing before I started getting bored and a feeling of “I’d had my fill”. It’s a shame too, as the opener/title track was good and enjoyable… it just sadly all sounded like that sad-boi pop-country after that. Songs like ‘Kick Myself’, ‘Genesis’ and ‘Jack and Jill’ were also good, but pretty similar to the rest, just higher qaility. Not even the guest could really save it. Don’t get me wrong, multi-time collaborators Eric Church, Post Malone, ERNEST, HARDY etc all give him probably the best tracks on the album, but all pale in comparison to most of their own stuff. To my shock, my favourite was probably the ERNEST one, which I wasn’t expecting. I also lost track of how many people helped write this album, giving up when I reached 30 different artists not even halfway through the album credits.
I really don’t want to keep shitting on it, especially when this is the second week in a row I’ve shat all over one of the biggest albums of the year. But this was a solid 20+ tracks too long. I counted a solid 10 tracks here that would make a fantastic, chilled country-pop album, but the rest bloat it out and sadly ruin it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s clear that he’s talented in writing and singing, you don’t get nearly 40 million monthly listeners for nothing. But I am certainly not going to be one of them after this release. If you like it that’s awesome, I definitely see the appeal, but I want to be honest with my review and I sadly didn’t enjoy this, as much as I tried. There is some good stuff in there for sure, but one listen through is more than enough for me, I’ll stick to the odd song from here on out. 3/10, sorry…
Bury Tomorrow: Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience
The metalcore Brits are back with their eight studio album and DAMN, it’s pretty good! I didn’t review their last album on here but Max loved it, and now I have my own album to gush over on here! It’s like the perfect blend of the heaviness and screams of modern Parkway Drive and the big, cleaner choruses of I Prevail. The whole album is amazing, but tracks like singles ‘Villain Arc’ and ‘What If I Burn’, ‘Waiting’ and the brutal ‘Yõkai’ are all personal highlights. It’s really well put together, it having a great flow to it and the 43-minutes goes by in a flash, the heaviness being broken up perfectly by a couple of slower songs. And, I’d be remiss to mention how utterly fantastic the production is on this, everything sounds MASSIVE. The band still feel incredibly underrated; the metalcore is stacked with awesome bands again these days but these guys deserve to be up there at the front of the pack. It’s the perfect modern metalcore album. I can’t recommend this enough to anyone into the genre or heaviness in general, and it gets a very solid 9/10
Tyler Braden: devil and a prayer
We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read our review of it here.
The Callus Daoboys: I Don’t Want to See you in Heaven
This thing is pure heaviness for a full nearly-hour. And I have to say, I kinda love it. Don’t get me wrong, it certainly has plenty of melodic moments; big clean, uplifting choruses and some dropped-down sections. However, most of it is hardcore-esque heaviness with better guitaring. It’s the heaviest end of metalcore, and it’s fantastic. ‘Schizophrenia Legacy’ is the perfect way to open the thing (after the intro), and sets the scene perfectly for songs like ‘Full Moon Guidance’, ‘Tearsom Lambo Leather’ and ‘Idiot Temptation Force’. And even when it gets a little lighter, like the almost NIN ‘Lemon’, it’s still great and fits perfectly with the tone of the album! However, I definitely prefer them being heavier, almost bordering on Darko US at times! It’s a pretty varied album that, even when it’s not as heavy, still feels dark and aggressive. It makes for an interesting listen, and one I enjoyed a lot! It’s not far off my first time listening to the band, and they certainly have a new fan in me! If anyone is into the quirky side of heavy, I’d definitely recommend giving these a try. A solid 8/10 from us!
Damiano David: FUNNY little FEARS
The Måneskin frontman put out his highly anticipated debut solo album last Friday. Y’all know how I feelabout Måneskin at this point but, thank God, I felt a little more positively towards this! It’s very clear this is the sort of music he wants to be making, as it feels so much more passion-filled than his main bands last album did. It’s a bit more pop-oriented, feeling like a soft/indie-rock album than anything else, but he’s clearly put his all into this and it shows. He’s a damn good vocalist and musician, and has produced a solid 50-minutes of radio-rock. Songs like the opener, ‘Zombie Lady’, ‘Angel’, ‘Born with a Broken Heart’ and ‘The First Time’ are all personal favourites, but I found myself enjoying every track on here! It’s just a good, fun, easy listen. I’m shocked and pleasantly surprised to say that I will definitely be listening to it again, and I’d recommend it to anyone curious! It’s a solid 8/10 from me, but it may get even higher with more listens!
Avery Anna: let go letters
The sophomore album from another massive new star in the pop/country music world, this is another hugely anticipated release from the Warner Nashville signee. It’s easy to see why it’s so hyped too, as this is a damn good release! Being a lot more on the pop-rock side of things over the country, which I actually wasn’t expecting from the label, I found myself comparing it to Olivia Rodrigo more than anything else. That’s hardly a complaint, as though she is easily hated in the rock world, she’s put out some bangers in her time. Avery is no different here. Songs like ‘GRAVE’, the more country-oriented ‘Self Esteem 4 Sale’ and the beautiful duet with Maggie Antone ‘Giddy Up!’ are all personal highlights. I also liked the couple of voice memos, acting like demos thrown on to break things up rather perfectly. Between them and the beautiful opening poem, there’s a lot going on on this to keep it interesting, something I do think it needed as the tracks themselves are rather similar in pace and feel.
The fact that it’s generally not my thing as a whole yet I still had a good time listening to it is a real testament to how well it’s written and performed. It’s easy to see why she’s become such a big name in such little time, and this album will surely push her up to the next level still! Even if it doesn’t sound like your sort of thing, check this out, you may be pleasantly surprised. It’s chilled-out and slow, and a little sad, but damn good! It gets a solid 8/10 from us!
Absolva: Justice
The seventh album from the NWOCR/power/heavy metal Mancs is honestly maybe my favourite thing they’ve put out. I was hooked right from the epic opener, the guests adding so much to it, and wasn’t let off the hook for a full 45-minutes. Songs like the slower, beautiful ‘Against the Odds of Time’, the awesome ‘Find my Identity’ and the Blaze Bailey-featuring ‘Atlas’ are also huge highlights on an album honestly packed full of them! It’s easy to see why they have been such a staple of the UK underground scene for all these years, and why they are doing so well in Europe currently. This is an incredible album that caters to fans of hard rock, heavy and power metal fans, young and old alike. And as I said, it may be their best release in their 13 years of doing so. I’d recommend this to absolutely anyone, and I’ll certainly be listening to it a lot in the coming weeks and months! Another very solid 9/10 from us, and it will certainly end up pretty high on our albums of the year list come December!
Ken Pomeroy: Cruel Joke
Ken’s sophomore album looks to pair her native American heritage with her Red Dirt Americana sound, and does so with pretty fantastic results. It’s yet another incredible chilled-out release, and was a nice one to just sit back and relax to. Songs like ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’, ‘Wrango’ and ‘Days Getting Darker’ are great, but there really isn’t a bad song on here. It’s stripped-back and relaxed and another easy listen for the week. It’s not 100% my sort of thing as it did all blend together a little, but as an album as a whole it was a damn good one to sit and listen to. For anyone who’s into the slower, more relaxed end of the country/Americana world, it’s definitely worth giving this release a listen! 7/10
Root Zero: Dark Rainbow
The debut album from the Welsh prog metallers is a bit good, isn’t it? Technically off the charts from every instrument, and duel vocals that fill out the sound perfectly, almost adding a beautiful, ethereal feel and sound to the heavy chaos of the metal beneath them. And then, of course, we get some awesome, brutal screams periodically throughout too, fitting just as perfectly as the cleans. Both vocalists are INCREDIBLE. It all feels like the perfect blend of Opeth, Epica, Rioghan, and even at times Tool with some of the riffing and structure. Tracks like ‘I Drowned in the Desert’, heavy single ‘Ignis Fatuus’, and the epic title song are all big personal highlights. However, there really isn’t a bad song on here, and it all flows together rather excellently.
There’s definitely something in the water in Wales as the country produces so many incredible bands and musicians, and this is just another to add to that list. It’s not going to be for everyone, but they are going to become big names in the prog metal scene if they keep up with outputs as strong as this one! It sure is long, but it’s a fantastic journey to go on, especially if you can really sit back and listen and get lost in it. They have a new fan in me and I’ll certainly be listening to it again plenty! 8/10
Sleep Theory: Afterglow
This is like if Brendan Uri actually put out that metalcore-inspired album he was teasing a few years ago. And it’s also very good. The debut album of one of the fastest rising stars in the alt metal scene, it’s packed to the brim with catchy, heavy, radio-metal bangers. Cullen’s cleans are powerful and fit so well over the heavy guitars, while Daniel’s screams fit perfectly intermittently throughout, reminding the audience that they are, in fact, a metal band. Songs like the opener, ‘Hourglass, ‘Fallout’, and ‘Just a Mistake’ are big highlights for me. Though, while there isn’t a bad song on the album, it does feel like it loses its momentum a little in the middle due to one or two too many slower tracks in a row. They’re good, but ‘Stuck in My Head’ to ‘Parasite’ could have been spread out a little more through some of the heavier songs! Still, if you’re a fan of anything from From Ashes to New to A Day to Remember to, well, any band of that ilk, you’ll love this as much as I do. It’s easy to see why they’re as big as they are so quick, and this release will only work to push them even higher. I can see them being a huge name in the future, and for now it gets a very solid 8.5/10 from us!
Bryce Leatherwood: Self-Titled
The debut album of the 24-year old prodigy is honestly a masterclass in neo-traditional country goodness. It gives off BIG Drake Milligan from the start, and in the best possible way. It’s very much that late 2000s, early 2010s sound, big Jon Pardi and Blake Shelton vibes. And it’s done so well, too. From the opener to the beautiful ‘Still Learning’ and ‘What If She Does’ to the rockier ‘Where the Bar Is’ and ‘The Finger’ to the awesome closer and couple of bonus tracks, it’s 48-minutes of just good-fun rock-infused country music. It’s so nice to hear this sort of style still going strong, as it is very much my favourite vein of country music. And, out of the few doing it these days, I have to say Bryce may be up there among my favourites already! He’s got a damn bright future ahead of him, and a huge new fan in me. It’s a very easy 9/10 from me!
Joviac: Autofiction Pt. 1 – Shards
More prog metal, this time the third album from the Finish five-piece. It’s a little less darker and heavy than Root Zero’s offering, but is no less technical or epic. Some of the riffing on this is AMAZING. Heck, we’re three songs and nearly seven minutes into the thing before we finally get some vocals! Speaking of, I love the build-up of single ‘B.O.M.B.’ throughout, and is catchy as anything, almost have slight power/AOR metal ballad energy. I love the bass, drums and synth being the driving force of the track, too. And it perfectly sets up how awesome the vocals are going to be throughout the entire release. The epic, nine-minute ‘Burn’ follows up ‘B.O.M.B.’ perfect, and introduces us to Viljami’s equally impressive growls. And the keys on it are beautiful! It’s another huge album highlight. Then you have songs like ‘Shine’ and the rock-opera epic closer that are up there, too. However, the whole album is pretty great, and flows perfectly. The two ‘Level’ instrumental tracks are also incredible demonstrations of riffing and soloing.
The band are setting out to be Finland’s first breakout prog metal band, and this album has all the quality and tools to push them to that point! I’m already buzzing for Part 2, whenever that may release, and if it’s anything like this, we could be in for a truly special collection. I’d recommend this to any prog fans out there, and it’s a very solid 9/10 from us!
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 albumback 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.
Not quite as packed a week as last week, but equally as awesome as we have some fantastic albums to sink our teeth into!
Eric Church: Evangeline vs. The Machine
The modern, neo-traditional country legend is back with his first new studio album since his Heart & Soul collection in 2021. As a big fan of his work, I’ve been impatiently waiting for this onesince it was announced. I’m happy to report, too, that this certainly doesn’t disappoint! No one quite does country, or music in general, like Eric does, and it makes for a damn interesting listen every time. This release is no different, packed full of awesome vocals from Chruch, alongside awesome arrangements and playing throughout.
There are so many awesome songs on this thing; from the opener to the harmony-glory of ‘Johnny’ to essentially the whole back half of the opener. Yep, this thing is only eight tracks long, barely 36-minutes, and almost all of it is stellar. Heck, there isn’t a bad song on here. The opener and tribal-closer are personal highlight tracks, but every single song is worth a listen to, and they all fit so well together. In a time where most country albums are bloated, stream-farming messes, this thing is all killer, and is a true testament to Church’s writing talent as much as his integrity. If you are at all into country music or curious at all, I can’t recommend this album enough. Heck, it’s still growing on me more now, the more I listen! It’s a very solid 9/10 from us!
Puddle of Mudd: Kiss the Machine
As if me having to sit through their last terrible album less than two years ago, Wes and co already have a follow-up. Yey…
What a shock, it fucking sucks. Like, I’m not even sure what’s worse between his attempt at country back in 2023, or this attempt to cringily recreate the sound and attitude of their heyday. Firstly, in his fifties, he shouldn’t be singing/writing stuff like ‘Beautimous’; it’s much more creepy than sexy. Then you have just the second song in being a ‘feel sorry for me’ acoustic ballad. Yeah. And to the surprise of I’m sure no one, it doesn’t get any better. ‘Back Against the Wall’ is another foray into cringy country rock, ‘Maniac’ is 2edgy4u while the closer, though having a catchy little whistle part, may be the worst of the bunch, lyrically and sonically.
Wes’s vocals are shot maybe more than ever, outside of that Nirvana video, while the songwriting and instrumentation is so paint-by-numbers and dull. It’s only nine tracks across half an hour but honestly felt like a slog to listen to. I did it once in full and never again. And while I would never try to tell anyone to stop doing what they love and what drives them, this is my announcement that, if there is another PoM album in the future, this guy certainly won’t be checking it out. I loved Come Clean back in the day, but I am officially done with the band. 1.5/10
Falling From Grace: At the Edge
The Finnish groove metal band returned with album number two last Friday, four years after their debut, and honestly blew me away! It’s almost death-metal-heavy but packed full of so many awesome riffs that the other genre never quite reaches. And the harsh vocals fit the instrumentation perfectly, drawing pretty clear comparisons to Lamb of God for me. I love that band, so of course I love this! Songs like the opener, ‘Downfall’, ‘Crawling Back to the Dark’ and the epic, almost symphonic-metal closer are all massive highlights. However, this is very much 38-minutes of awesome metal, and is amazing from start to finish. I’d never heard of this band before now but they just gained a massive new fan in me! They deserve to be so much bigger than they are, their talent is off the charts, so hopefully this is the album to finally push them to greater heights! I’ll certainly be spinning it again a fair bit and I’d recommend any metal fan check this out immediately! 9/10
Maddie & Tae: Love & Light
The country duo is back with their brand new album, their first longer release since 2020s The Way it Feels. Having said that, we have reviewed them here before, and I still say their 2022 output is an album. Still, we enjoyed that release and, shock horror, loved this one too! The pairs vocal harmonies are incredible and somehow stand out among a genre packed fill of awesome harmonies. And their songwriting, whether it’s lyrics or arrangements, are amazing. Every chorus on this is massive, catchy, stadium-filling stuff, and the songs range from boot-stompin’ rockier tracks and beautiful ballads. From the opener to ‘Free Like’ to ‘Girl in Alabama’ to ‘Sad Girl Summer’, there are plenty of awesome songs, though almost every song is a highlight. Yes, it’s a little lengthy, but that’s rather a given in the genre these days. It does take a bit of a momentum hit in the middle though, and if I had any critique, I’d say maybe cut a slower track or two from in there somewhere. However, it’s still a damn good, fun country album, and honestly one of my favourite of the year so far in the genre! 8.5/10
Hate: Bellvm Regiis
We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read our review of it here.
Blondshell: If You Asked for a Picture
The chilled-out indie-tinged singer songwriter is back with her sophomore album. And, honestly, while this is not typically my sort of thing, I really enjoyed this! It reminds me a lot of the late 90s, early 2000s radio rock or Midwest emo sound at times, and I’m a big fan of both styles. Heck, there’s even some grunge tinged moments throughout, which were awesome! Songs like ‘T&A’, the more punky ‘What’s Fair’, and ‘Toy’ are big personal highlights. However, none of the songs on this are inherently bad; and even though some aren’t my thing more than others, I still had a good time sitting and listening to this in full. The band are very talented players and songwriters, and she has a great, fantastically interesting vocal to go alongside it. If you are at all into the genres I’ve mentioned, or are just simply curious check this out. It’s well worth a listen and is a good album to chill to, if you’re okay getting a little deep. 7/10
Psykosis: Mind Games
Oh yeah, thrash time! This is a 30-minute brutal assault in all the best ways, and I loved every minute. I know the genre’s always had such a diehard scene, but is it just me or does it seem to be coming back even stronger the last couple of years or so? We’ve covered some absolutely incredible thrash albums and artists recently, and this is no exception! I feel like I shouldn’t have to point this out on a thrash album, but the instrumentation throughout is fantastic; everyone works their ass off and are at the very top of their games. However, the vocals are also a huge high point of the release, with them falling somewhere between Rob Halford and Accept. The production is also far better than most albums of this genre and size, so massive props to them for that. The whole album feels like early Exodus, if Bonded By Blood was recorded well and Balor could sing (plz don’t @ me, y’all know it’s true!). Songs like ‘Boiling Point’, ‘Mutant Mass’ and ‘Hivemind Hysteria’ are personal highlights, but it’s such a short, precise album that it’s all great!
For a sub-genre that is so packed full of awesome bands, for this album to stand out with this release says a lot about how awesome it is. They very much have a big new fan in me, and any thrash fans should get behind them ASAP. 8.5/10
Gypsy Pistoleros: Church of the Pistoleros
We’ve also checked out this one, aren’t you lucky?! Check out our review of it here.
Paula Teles: Entre Paredes
The opening track nearly had me fooled, not knowing about this band I was fully expecting a folk album, not to explode into symphonic/power metal with ‘Ventre’. It’s an epic, great song that sets the true tone for the album excellently. Then you have songs like ‘Contra-Regra’ and ‘Ponto Cego’ that are also excellent and definite highlights. However, at just seven tracks long and 28-minutes, it’s a compact, awesome release without a bad song on it! And, though I don’t speak Spanish (I think that’s what this is?) the emotion on display in the vocals still hit me hard. It won’t be for everyone, but if you’re into the more symphonic side of metal, I’d definitely recommend giving this one a try! It’s a solid 7/10 from us!
Recall the Remains: Revenant
The UK metalcore rising stars released their highly anticipated debut album on Friday, and it’s every bit as good as everyone was expecting it to be. The opening track is phenomenal and sets the dark, bordering on black/death metal tone of the album perfectly. Then it runs perfectly into the brutally heavy ‘The Night Will Bleed’ and ‘Fever Dreams’ and the album honestly takes much more of a deathcore tone at times, which I LOVE. Then you have songs like ‘Empty Woods’ and ‘Our Hell’ that are other massive highlights. The screams throughout are incredible, and the clean vocals are melodic and catchy as anything, too. If anything, the cleans give me slight Emperor Chung/Confyde vibes. And the riffing and drumming are technical and equally heavy, everything fitting together perfectly.
It’s an incredible album, and the fact that it’s a debut is even more impressive, even with the band having been around a while before this. The band are insanely talented players and songwriters, and have crafted something special with this album. If you like things heavy, I cannot recommend it enough. This will definitely help push them to new heights, I’m sure! It’s a very solid 9/10 from us!
Sterling Drake: The Shape I’m In
This feels like a mixture of Beans on Toast, Wyatt Flores and Amigo the Devil, but with more of a country/Americana tinge. I’m all here for it! It’s neo-traditional and very chilled-out. I absolutely loved ‘Calusa’, and then stuff like ‘Ozark Rose’, ‘Troubadour’s Blues’ and ‘In my Dreams’ that are equally great and massive highlights. However, the whole album is incredible solid, blurring the lines between country, Americana, roots and even bluegrass perfectly. It doesn’t feel its length at all either, with 14 tracks across 43-minutes going by in a flash. It’s Sterling’s first album since 2021, and it’s so nice he’s back to a longer form of music releases, as it really highlights everything he has to offer perfectly. I’d recommend this to anyone who’s even remotely interested in any of the genres or artists I’ve mentioned above. I’ll definitely be listening to it again, and it gets a solid 8/10 from me!
Car Seat Headrest: The Scholars
The low fi indie-rock legends returned the other day with their 13th studio album, and it was way more prog than I expected to be! Like, opener ‘CCF’ is an eight-minute masterpiece seeming to combine together everything from The Who to Pearl Jam to Rush to Stereophonics, and it’s fucking awesome! Then you have the punkier ‘The Catastrophe’, and the 20-minute rock opera ‘Planet Desperation’ that are also clear album highlights. Don’t get me wrong, it’s all super weird and quirky, but if you’re into the more proggier side of music, this is certainly worth checking out. It’s not something I’d revisit very often, but it’s a damn interesting listen and the band are clearly insanely talented. It gets a solid 7/10 from me, but I completely get if bigger fans of the band or genre give it higher!
An absolutely MASSIVE week for NMM for you today, with a whopping 20 albums for us all to check out. Let’s dive in!
Ghost: Skeletá
Potentially the most anticipated rock album of the year, up alongside Sleep Token, this release has an insane amount of hype to live up to. They have morphed into one of the biggest bands on the planet in recent years, and this album may finally finish making them a household name. The singles have been utterly incredible, and as a.big fan of the band, I’m just hoping the rest of the album lives up to them.
I think, for the most part, it very much does. However, right out of the gate, I do want to say that the arrangement of this album is horrible. Having your three biggest and best songs open the album and then launch into a slower, power ballad after that is certainly an interesting choice. It would have been nice to have spread out the singles just a little. Having said that, songs like ‘Missilia Amori’ or ‘Marks of the Evil One’ would also be strong contenders for singles, so there is certainly quality throughout. Heck, I have almost all of this album on my playlist and have listened to it throughout the weekend, so it’s clearly good. The band have really carved out their own niche, not just in their style but their sound; no one sounds like this, or does the 70s/80s revival-modernised stuff quite so masterfully. The band are all insanely talented, and some of the riffs again are fantastic. Tobias’ vocals are arguably the best I’ve heard them, too, and he’s written some infectiously catchy, massive choruses that are going to be stuck in the back of the worlds collective brains for the rest of the year.
It’s wild to say, but I feel like, as much as I enjoyed the album at first, it is still a grower, too. It’s been a while since I’ve loved a Ghost album front-to-back, but this one definitely has that feel to it for me. Even the closing ballad is pretty great. Just in the three of four times I’ve had it on already, I feel like it’s gotten better. They prove here why they are such a massive name here, and very much claim their throne was this release. I’m obsessed already, and I can’t give it any less than 10/10, despite it’s minor flaws. It’s going to be very high on our top albums list in December, that’s for sure!
Machine Head: UNATØNED
One of my favourite bands of my teens, the legendary metallers dropped off big time for a bit for me, before exploding back in a major way with 2022’s ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN (I don’t know why Robb’s obsessed with the crossed O’s either, sorry!). I’m hoping beyond hope that they can keep that momentum going with this release, as they’ve had some incredible runs of albums in the past. I haven’t actually checked out any of the singles yet, but after seeing the complaints and some middling reviews, I am a touch sceptical…
I do understand the average reviews now. It’s aait. Like, there’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but it certainly doesn’t live up to the last album, let alone their best releases. It feels more like Catharsis than I hoped it would; Robb’s attempt to try and blend together their weird late-90s sound with the thrashier 2000s output. However, when they do go full Locust, like the latter half of single ‘UNBØUND’ or even the Bloodstone-meets-Parkway-style ‘BØNESCRAPER’, it’s pretty great! Heck, I didn’t even mind the slower, dark-ballad ‘BLEEDING ME DRY’, it being another big Bloodstone-vibe. I know it’s not what a lot of their fans listen to the band for, but being a huge fan of that album, hearing more like it is awesome. However, having said that, I do feel like Robb sings maybe a little too much on this. I never thought he had the strongest cleans to begin with, so stuff like ‘SCØRN’ or, more egregiously, ‘NØT LØNG FØR THIS WØRLD’, aren’t for me. It’s a shame too, as the lyrics and composition of the former are beautiful.
I’m hoping this grows on me. It’s not bad my any stretch. I think it’s more a product of the fact that Machine Head one of the best back catalogues of any band, in my opinion, so when a release doesn’t quite live up to the best, it’s hard not to be a little disappointed. It’s still better than a good lot of other stuff out there, let’s be honest. I love a solid half of this album, and will certainly be listening more over the coming weeks and months, that’s for sure. So, for now, I’m going to give it a tentative 8/10, though it may very well get higher with more listens!
Willie Nelson: Oh What a Beautiful World
Considering Willie’s incredibly steady output still, some six plus decades into his career, this album is releasing with a surprising amount of hype surrounding it. Heck, we’ve reviewedat the very least his last couple from last year here at Overtone. However, after listening to this release, I can see what all the hype was about. I made no secrets that I wasn’t a big fan of Last Leaf on the Tree. However, this release is miles ahead of that one, in this writers humble opinion. ‘What Kind of Love’ is a fantastic opener and feels like classic Willie. Then you have songs like ‘The Fly Boy & the Kid’ and the Rodney Crowell featuring title track that are also firm highlights. Yes, it’s slower and a very traditional country sound. But it’s exactly what you’d expect from Willie; the perfect, well-written, chilled-out country album. It won’t be for everyone, but if you are a fan of the man or his particular, legendary brand of country music, give this a listen. It’s a fantastic addition to Willie’s extensive (an understatement at this point) discography, and gets a solid 7.5/10 from us. Just a damn good-time listen!
Wednesday 13: Mid Death Crisis
We’ve already checked out this awesome release! Check it out here.
Stereophonics: Make ‘em Laugh, Make ‘em Cry, Make ‘em Wait
The Welsh rockers are back with album number 13. I’ve been a fan of the band since I was a kid, and we even checked out their previous output, Oochya!, which I remember enjoying more than I clearly did! Either way, I found myself really enjoying this album! It’s incredibly easy to listen to, fun and catchy throughout. Whether it’s slower stuff like the opener or rockier numbers like ‘Eyes Too Big for my Belly’, there’s plenty to love. It also certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome, being just eight tracks at not even half an hour. Kelly’s vocals sound just as good as ever, and the lyrics and delivery throughout are fantastic. If you’re into the softer stuff, this is definitely the album for you! It may be my favourite release from them since Pull the Pin. It’s a solid 7.5/10 from us!
Billy Idol: Dream Into It
The rock legend himself is back with his first studio album in 11 years. It’s… it’s something, that’s for sure. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting the near-70 year old to have much energy and umph left (though we do have Willie Nelson just above), but some of this isn’t great, honestly. The soft-rock opener was a bad choice to kick the thing off with, especially when the punkier ‘Too Much Fun’ is right there not long after. I think my issue more lies with the fact that the three guest tracks sound more like the guests than Billy songs, and I wanted just a fully new Idol album. Hell, the Joan Jett song arguably sounds like Coldplay than anything else! Arguably, the songs that he’s on his own, well at least some of them, are better. It was just very soft-rock, and for some reason unexpected. ‘Gimme the Weight’ is probably my other favourite song on it, and the rest may grow on me. However, it doesn’t quite measure up with the classics, or even his last album. It just feels like it’s missing something, though I can’t quite place my finger on it, aside for it having a bit more rock to it. If you’re a fan of Billy, you may still get some enjoyment out of it, but sadly for me it’s a solid 6/10. Not bad, but not too much of my sort of thing.
Deerhoof: Noble and Godlike in Ruin
The experimental indie pop-rock band are back with their first release since 2023s Miracle-Level. It’s certainly experimental, that’s for sure! And while it took a little getting into, I do think I started to enjoy the heavier, math-rockier parts of the release by the end. Though it’s weird for sure, it’s hard to deny the sheer talent, especially in the riffing and instrumentation in songs like ‘Sparrow Sparrow’ or ‘Who Do You Root For?’. Sadly, it is nearly impossible for me to get past the vocals. They aren’t my thing at all, being grating as anything and honestly being a little tough to listen to at times. I hate to say it, but they ruin what could have been at very least an interesting listen for me. I know it’s certainly going to have fans, and for those people I’m sure this is a good album. But for me, it was a hard listen, and not something I’ll be revisiting. I’m very sorry, but it’s a 2.5/10
Kyle McKearney: To the River
The Canadian alt-country artist released his third album, another two years after his last. It’s been highly anticipated by us since January when we spoke to Kyle about it when we interviewed him. However, I don’t think I quite expected the sheet quality of this thing. It’s an Americana, blues, soft rock tinged country masterpiece, honestly. It’s another release I’ve had on at least twice through this weekend and can’t get enough of. And, while every song is incredible, I do have a few that I favour slightly over the rest. From the opener to ‘Broken Hearts Hide’ to ‘These Drugs’ and ‘Wedding Day’ to ‘The Man From Beaverlodge’ and ‘Hold On Goodbye’, there is some truly special music on this thing. However, as I said, every song on this thing is amazing and well worth a listen.
I know he’s technically already been mentioned this week, but this gives slight Elive Shanevibes. However, this time it’s less about the actual sound, and more about how Kyle so interestingly and authentically blends so many different styles together, forming something truly unique. And because he came out of nowhere this year for me and I’ve very quickly become obsessed! And some of the lyrics… DAMN.
So, in case you couldn’t tell, I VERY MUCH recommend this album. Don’t get me wrong, I know it won’t be for everyone, but I’d recommend anyone reading this check it out; it’s more than worth it! I’ve spun it a lot over the weekend and will continue to do so in varying capacity through the rest of the year, I’m sure. I can’t give this any less than 9.5/10, but after another listen or two it may even go up to perfect!
Employed to Serve: Fallen Star
One of the leading lights of UK modern metal, Employed to Serve returned last Friday with their highly anticipated new album. What can I say that hasn’t already been said about it, too? It’s fucking awesome, as we all knew it would be! Blending together the very best bits of the likes of Spiritbox, Poppy and even Lorna Shore, while leaving out some of the less heavy parts, the album goes hard throughout and is filled with incredible riffing and brutal screams. And, while the songs featuring Will Ramos, Jesse Leach and Serena Cherry are definite highlights, they also have plenty of awesome tracks on their own. Single ‘Breaks Me Down’ is incredible and builds perfectly, while ‘Brother, Stand Beside Me’ is one of my favourite tracks the band have ever released. The band deserve every incredible accolade they are gaining recently, and this album really speaks to why that is. If you are a fan of the heavy stuff, you NEED to hear this, they are the future of metal music. 8.5/10
H.E.A.T: Welcome to the Future
One of the leaders of the modern-day AOR revival are back with their second new album since Kenny’s return. We’ve been extremely hyped for this release here at Overtone since seeing them play a couple of tracks from it at Winters End a couple of months back. Opener/lead single ‘Disaster’ has been firmly rooted in my rotation since then, and shows no signs of leaving any time soon! It’s my favourite track of the album, but it is by no means the only standout. Honestly there isn’t a bad track on the release, but stuff like the Bon Jovi-like ‘Running to You’, ‘Rock Bottom’ and ‘Tear it Down’ are all big personal highlights. I’m so glad Kenny’s back in the bad, and this honestly may be the best album he’s been a part of with H.E.A.T. The band are criminally underrated, at very least in the UK, and this album is a true testament to their sheer insane talent and songwriting ability. They do their sound better than few else, and arguably better than most bands in the 80s who inspired them! I cannot recommend this album enough, and I’m going to be listening to it a lot in the coming weeks and months. 9/10
Viagra Boys: viagr aboys
The Swedish art-punk band’s fourth album is maybe their best yet. The band very much feel like the modern day incarnation of Dead Kennedys, in their lyrics and style and attitude, but certainly have more of a lighter/popper edge to their instrumentation. It’s not going to be for everyone (heck, I had this on in the car and the Mrs was giving me some funny looks) but I found myself really enjoying it! The opener, ‘Pyramid of Hope’ and ‘You N33d Me’ are all personal highlight tracks, but if you’re into the genre it’s a solid album from front-to-back. Check this out if you’re interested, it’s a lot of fun and it’s some of the best lyrics I’ve heard this year. It’s a solid 7.5/10 from us!
The Storyteller: The Final Stand
The Swedish power metal band are back with album number seven. At this point I don’t even think epic is the word. They have fully mastered the European power metal sound, easily rivalling the likes of Avantasia and Hammerfall. From massive riffing to the insane drumming to the soaring, catchy vocals and harmonies, it’s all excellent. Songs like ‘That Eyes Cannot See’, ‘This Time Tomorrow’, the beautiful ballad ‘Sweet Lullaby’ and the heavy, epic closing track are all personal highlights. So too was the quirky, almost tribal, folky ‘They Will Fear our Battlecry’, but in a totally different way. However, there isn’t a bad song on the album, really. My only point I would make is that it’s odd having a power metal band where all their tracks are pretty standard length. The album is a touch long but doesn’t feel it as there is almost nothing over six minutes. I like it when power metal is able to breath a little. Having said that, it is a very minor gripe, and doesn’t ruin the album in any way, just my personal preference.
If you’re into power metal in any capacity, I’d absolutely recommend checking this album out. It’s well worth a listen and is a lot of fun! It’s a solid 8.5/10 from us, and is up there alongside the likes of Hammerfall, Sabaton and Beast in Black’s latest releases. They deserve to be so much bigger than they are currently!
James and the Cold Gun: Face in the Mirror
A band that are gaining a lot of traction in the UK underground rock scene, the South Wales quartet are back with their sophomore album. Their vague blend of indie, blues, and punk with a traditional hard rock sound is fantastic, and the bands energy throughout is infectious. From the big riffing to the catchy vocals and awesome lead lines, every track is so meticulously well crafted, and all feels massive and like it begs for mass radio airplay. Songs like single ‘Guessing Games’, ‘Twist the Knife’ and ‘A Way Out’ are highlights for me, for sure. It gives off slight Kasabian, early Arctic Monkeys, and even a bit of Royal Blood alongside their contemporaries in the likes of Those Damn Crows and Virginmarys. It’s very easy to see how the band have been so successful this early into their careers, and this album will surely push them to even greater heights! It’s a very easy just-over-30-minutes of rock music to listen to, and if you’re a fan of any of the bands or genres I’ve mentioned above, I’d certainly recommend this release! It’s a very solid 8/10!
Trick or Treat: Ghosted
Time for more power metal, but this time with a spooky, halloween-like tinge. Honestly, it’s a really interesting, fun twist on the formula that I don’t think I’ve really heard before. It made for a pretty fascinating, unexpected listen, and one I enjoyed a lot. Heck, any long-term readers here know that I love it when things get a bit spoopy! Oh, and did I mention the band are all ridiculously talented, too? From the insane drumming to the fantastic riffing to the powerful, soaring vocals singing some incredibly catchy melodies and the almost Synyster Gates-like a times lead guitars, it’s all phenomenal musicianship. And the quality of the writing more than lives up to their playing talents, too. It’s almost impossible to pick highlights as every song is so good.
It’s hard not to compare it to the other European horror-inspired power metal band, Dominum, but they have a bit more traditional edge to their sound, and arguably a little more Maiden to it as well. They also remind me a lot of Fellowship, which is certainly not a bad thing! We even get an Alestorm-like song in ‘Return to Monkey Island’ feat Chris himself!
I cannot recommend this enough! It’s an absolutely incredible metal album, no matter the subgenre, and if you’re into the heavier stuff at all, give this a try, you certainly won’t be disappointed. My only slight complaint would be that it’s a touch long, but honestly it’s all so good I honestly couldn’t pick a song or two to cut, so it’s hardly an issue. The band have a huge new fan in me, and I’mma have to go back and check out the rest of their back catalogue! It’s an easy 9/10 from us!
Void King: The Hidden Hymnal – Chapter II
The US stoner-doomers are back with a sequel to their 2023 release. It’s somehow even more stoner-doom than the band name would have you believe, too. And, pardon my French, but it’s fucking awesome. Long, plodding tracks filled with incredible riffing, dark lyrics, solid drumming and surprisingly fantastic vocals; what’s not to love! It’s another album that’s so hard to pick out highlights for too, as it all feels like it should be listened to in one full listen. Just sit in a dark room with your headphones on and get lost in the epicness. It also draws together other elements that I really wasn’t expecting; like some Alice in Chains-style stuff when it drops back in the opener or Iron Maiden with some of the soring, vibrato notes. Of course, alongside everything from Candlemass to High on fire, too. Heck, they even channel some Tool energy at times, which I LOVE. And the occasional scream… DAMN. Honestly, as good as the instrumentation is, the vocals really set this apart from their peers.
The band are insanely talented musicians and songwriters, and how they aren’t a bigger name by their fourth album at this point is beyond me. If you are into not just stoner-doom, but metal in general, do yourselves a favour and check this out! It may be long, but it is so worth it! It gets a solid 9/10 from me, and I’mma have to check out Chapter I now to see how it compares!
John Morgan: Carolina Blue
We’ve also reviewed this release! Check it out here.
Bad Milk Blood Robot: A EYE
The psychedelic grunge rockers follow up their debut from last year with this second slab of interesting, experimental rock music. Heck, the first wild thing to me was that we got a full 4 minutes into the opening track before we got any vocals. However, said track, ‘Humanity’, built up the bands and albums sound perfectly, setting the tone for what is to come. It’s followed by the awesome ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Man V Machine’. The latter especially reminds me of some of the weirder side of Faith No More, not that that is at all an issue! The whole album is pretty Patton-coded, with ‘Svenlana’ being pretty darn Bungle.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very odd album, and it’ll certainly be for a niche audience, but the band do what it is they do incredible well. The lyrics and vocal delivery are of course high points, but so too is the riffing and drumming. It’s a fun listen that I’d certainly recommend checking out if you’re curious! 7.5/10
Echos of the Extinct: Era of Darkness
More epicness, this time from the extreme metal Finnish. It’s heavy, that’s for sure, and is pretty fantastic. It’s easy to compare to Cradle of Filth, but it feels like there is more to it than that; also having elements of melodeath and black metal added in for good measure. I was hearing bits of everything from In Flames to Rotting Christ. I mean heck, you just have to listen to opener ‘Remedy’ to get the perfect representation of what the band are about, and there’s still another five other tracks after it! From the incredible riffing to some truly amazing breakdowns and some of the best screams in the business, the bands talent is truly underrated. And the production on the album, from a smaller band, is honestly phenomenal! The dynamics and the panning… *chefs kiss*. It’s only six tracks long but every single one is a highlight in its own right. And it doesn’t feel like it goes on too long, or is too short, really being the perfect length for the style. If anything, it just left me wanting more! It won’t be for everyone, but if you like the brutaller side of metal, check this out; you’ll surely love it as much as I do! The band have a huge new fan in me, and this is a solid 9/10 from us!
Matthew K. Heafy: True Believers
A bit out there as it’s the soundtrack to a slasher comic series of the same name; and an instrumental, more electronic sound than we usually cover. However, I never miss a chance to cover Me Heafy, and somehow we went a full year last year without any coverage of the man or his many projects, so I was definitely checking this out. It’s still pretty heavy-sounding and industrial in a cyberpunk kinda way. I’m not gonna lie, I had it on while I was cooking and had a blast listening to it! Matthew is an exceptionally talented individual and has made something that feels like a fantastic soundtrack. It’s certainly hyped me up and made me want to check out the comic, especially when it has some other incredible names attached to it! ‘Killr Theme’ was probably my favourite as it got pretty heavy and the riff was great. And of course, when he gets to include his incredible screams and cleans (and another killer riff) ‘Too Far Gone’, it’s another big highlight. It won’t be for many readers, but if you are at all curious, or a fan of more retro-style videogames, check this out, it’s well worth a listen! 7/10
Game Over: Face the End
The sixth album from the thrash titans is the start of a new chapter for the band. Going up to a five-piece with the addition of Danny on vocals and Leo on bass, it seems to have breathed new life into the band! This is a damn awesome thrash album, and metal album all round! From the expectedly awesome riffing, blistering solos and great drumming to the fantastically powerful and catchy vocals, as well as the amazing songwriting throughout, it’s a masterclass of thrash metal. The band don’t take it too seriously as well, single and highlight track ‘Neck Breaking Dance’ being a true testament to what the genre can do when slightly sillier. Still, it can get serious, and songs like ‘Grip of Time’, ‘Gateway to Infinity’ and the slower, epic, Metallica-like ‘Crimson Waves’ are all massive highlights on an album honestly packed full of them.
I was vaguely familiar with the band before this, but only a track or two. Well, this album has won me round in a massive way, and is honestly up there with some of my favourite modern thrash releases. If you’re a fan of the genre or metal in general, I can’t recommend this album enough. They very much feel like a band renewed, and I’ll be spinning this a LOT in the coming weeks and months. It gets a very solid 9.5/10!
A typically stacked week of new albums for you this week, featuring plenty of rock, metal and country! Let’s check it out together!
LOCASH: Bet the Farm
‘Country music’s iconic feel-good duo’ are back with their first new studio album in six years. I’ve been a big fan of them ever since they were announced for Long Road the other year, so to finally have some new music from them is awesome. And, what’s even more awesome, is that said new music is SO GOOD. It’s nearly 40-minutes of incredible modern country music. Well, maybe not modern, as it feels much more 2010s than something like Morgan Wallen, but it’s not traditional by any stretch! Whether it’s the epic singles or new songs released with the album, it’s all so good, and there isn’t a bad song on this thing. From ‘Buzzin’ to ‘Bring ‘Em Back’ to more ballad-like tracks like ‘Wrong Hearts’ and ‘Shipwrecked’, there is so much awesome music to love. And heck, their ‘Isn’t She Country’ remix(?) is everything as good as ‘Beach Boys’. It’s all so catchy and so well written and performed, and Chris and Preston’s harmonies are just as good as ever.
The album is well worth the wait, and it may very end the year as one of my favourite country albums of ‘25. The more I listen the more I fall in love with it. It’s impossible not to have a good time listening to it, and it’s growing on me more and more with more listens! I cannot recommend it enough to any country fans reading this, and even if you aren’t, you may want to take a listen anyway! It gets a very solid 9.5/10 from us!
Hawkwind: There is No Space for Us
I have never quite ‘got’ it with Hawkwind. It’s not like I’ve never tried, either. This album is only eight tracks long yet is 53-minutes. If this was something where the prog was actually interesting, I’d be fine with that. However, this is a lot of ambient stuff and repeating parts and riffs almost as if to pad out time. Much like their 2024 effort, there are certainly times where I didn’t hate what I was hearing. Some of the riffs in the opener were fun. There was some good soloing tucked away throughout. However, those moments are fleeting and very few and far between. The closest thing to a whole song I enjoyed was the almost jazzy ‘The Co-Pilot’. However, the rest of it droned on a little too much for my liking. I know this band, and style of music in general, have a lot of fans, but sadly I am not one of them. I gave it a good try, sitting through the whole album, but yeah, it’s a no from me, dawg. Another 3/10, sorry Hawkwind fans.
King Kraken: March of the Gods
We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read our full review of it here.
Pearl Handled Revolver: Tales You Lose
I’m not sure what I was expecting heading into this album, but it wasn’t this! The psychy, proggy band took a little getting into for me, but when I did I certainly enjoyed it! I wasn’t too into the opening track, sadly, but ‘Heart of Gold’ really hooked me in and kept me invested for the rest of the album. It’s got as much of a soft/blues rock edge to it as it does prog or psych. The closest thing I could really find myself comparing it to is Bowie, which is surely a compliment. ‘Gilding the Lily’ was a definite highlight, the riffs and synths being spectacular, and the funk-infused ‘Space Invader’ was another one. However, if you’re a fan of quirkier, more experimental older-school rock, this is definitely worth checking out as a whole! It won’t be for everyone, but the band are damn talented and have produced a great soundscape for a full nearly-50-minutes here. I certainly wouldn’t turn it off if it came back on, and it gets a solid 7/10 from me!
Ian Munsick: Eagle Feather
The incredible country singer-songwriter has finally released his highly anticipated follow-up to 2023’s White Buffalo. I remember really loving that album when it came out, so have been excited for this one since it’s announcement. It doesn’t disappoint at all, and honestly blew me away, exceeding my expectations. Right from the harmonised, country barbershop quartet-like opening track into the beautiful, bittersweet ‘Too Many Trees’, I knew we were onto a winner. However, it somehow gets even better from there. It’s absolutely packed full of incredible songs, and is almost impossible to pick out highlight ones. Heck, even at over an hour, it didn’t feel long at all; a real testament to the quality of the writing and the amazing arrangement that kept it interesting throughout. Whether it’s ballad-tracks or more boot-stompin’ rock-ish songs, the ups and downs are great and placed perfectly. It’s neo-traditional, but also gives off a lot of Evan Honer, Wyatt Floresor even Shane Smith vibes, which is not at all a bad thing! And or course female-country-feat-whore Miss Lainey Wilson makes a guest appreance on the phenomenal, beautiful ‘Feather in my Hat’, certainly one of the many amazing songs.
Honestly, I can’t gush over this album enough. I loved his previous release, but this is on a whole other level. It’s the perfect mix of darker, Americana-tinged country and massive, catchy, arena-filling choruses. If you are into country in any stretch, check this out, you’ll surely love it as much as I do! It’s certainly going to be high on my albums of the year list come December, and it gets a very solid 9.5/10 from us!
Aittala: Machines
This epic, proggy doom metal album is a whole lot of fun to listen to. It’s just six songs long, but is 33-minutes of insanely interestingly crafted metal, and very much wears all of its many influences on its sleeve. Whether it’s Candlemass, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Celtic Frost, Queensryche or ASP, this brief album draws together so many incredible metal sounds together, yet also feels distinctly Aittala. It’s epic throughout, and honestly borders on a rock-opera level of grandiose at times. It’s awesome! It’s so hard to pick out highlight tracks as it honestly all feels like one collective piece, and deserves to be listened to in full at least once. It’s dark and heavy and insanely ambitious, but pulls it off in spades. The band have been going for a while now, and hopefully this is the album to finally push them towards the mainstream that they so very much deserve! If you’re at all curious check this out, you won’t be disappointed! It’s a very solid 8.5/10 from us!
Anna Howie: Good for Roses
The London-based Americana singer has firmly established herself in the UK country scene over the last few years, and she looks to keep her momentum going with this sophomore release. It should do, as it’s certainly a good release! It has a touch of soft rock to the country/Americana, reminding me a lot of stuff like The Exile Clubor even Julian Taylor. Songs like ‘Start Again’ (damn that’s a sexy horn solo), the soulful ‘Have it All’, ‘Everybody Knows’ and the closer are all big highlights. However, every song is pretty great, and the album has a fantastic flow to it. It’s the perfect album to put out at this time of year, just as the weather is starting to get better. She has a big new fan in me and it’s absolutely wild that she isn’t a massive name in the industry already; she deserves to be playing to huge festivals crowds! It’s not going to be for everyone, but I loved this and it gets a solid 9/10 from us!
Beddy Rays: Do What Ya Wanna
The Australian punk rockers’ sophomore album is fantastic and a lot of fun. I remember checking out their debut album a few years back and falling in love, but they took everything they did well on that release and turned it up to 11. It’s packed full of bouncy riffs, great drumming and some truly catchy choruses. The whole thing has such a good-time vibe to it, despite some of the lyrics suggesting otherwise. It somehow combines elements of Midwest emo, surf rock, pop-punk and indie together perfectly. Songs like ‘Red Lights’, ‘Pocket Rocket’ and ‘Big Brekky’ are all massive personal highlights. However, there isn’t a bad song on the album, and it’s impossible to have a bad time listening to it. I’d recommend it to any rock fan at all reading this, and it’s another of their albums that I’ll be spinning to death over the summer. It’s a solid 8.5/10!
Hayden Coffman: Love and a Heartbreak
The rising star in the pop-rock-country world is back with his sophomore album, a full nearly five years after his debut. It immediately gave off Koe Wetzelvibes in the best ways, or even a vague HARDYsound. ‘Fightin’ Words’ is a fantastic opener, while songs like ‘If you Know Her, You Know’, the title track and the boot-stompin’ ‘Hate the Beer’ are also big highlights. It’s a very modern sound that will do very well in the current scene. Think a rockier Redferrin. Heck, the heavier he gets, the better, with ‘Hate the Beer’ being one of my favourite country songs of the year so far.
It’s a fun, easy album to listen to, and at barely over half an hour, I’ve listened to it a fair bit over this last weekend. He’s got a fantastic voice and, while the lyrics are pretty standard and cliche for the genre, they’re still well written. And his backing band are damn talented. If you’re into a modern country sound, I cannot recommend this enough. We’ve had three country albums this week and all have been so different and so good in their own way. This is a very easy 8.5/10 from us, and I’ll certainly be rocking this for a while to come!
LIK: Necro
Finally, something truly heavy this week. And damn, it’s fucking awesome. It’s brutal, amazing death metal kicking the listeners ass for 40-minutes. And, honestly, all 10 songs are amazing. It’s just mega riff after mega riff that’ll have you headbanging wherever you choose to listen to it. The band are incredibly talented players and songwriters, and have crafted something truly special in the death metal sub-genre with this. It’s also yet another album that I find impossible to pick out highlight songs from, as every track is SO GOOD. I don’t even know what else to say; if you like old-school death metal with better production, or even more modern thrash stuff, you’ll be as obsessed with this as I am! Heck, I’m usually not the biggest praiser of the genre, but I can’t give it any less than a 9/10… DAMN.
Taylor Rae: The Void
We’ve also covered this album in full this week, aren’t you lucky?! Check it out here.
Brass Camel: Camel
The band that did that Sabrina Carpenter coverlook to capitalise perfectly on that with an absolutely incredible second album. It’s mathy/bluesy prog rock and is amazing for its full 40-minute runtime. The band are so insanely talented at every facet of their chosen instrument, and are clearly very good songwriters, too. Heck, the opening 11-minute epic ‘Zealot’ takes you on enough of a journey as it is, and there’s still another five incredible tracks after that! Honestly, the more I listen, the more my grey matter is splattered all over my bedroom walls and ceiling. This thing is INCREDIBLE. From blues to math to funk to hard rock to even pop elements, they combine it all together perfectly to craft something truly special and mindblowing. It’s like they take everything Rush or Nuno Bettencourt have ever done and turn it up to 11. It also given off more than a little Electric Boys, which I love.
I can’t get enough, and I can’t believe it’s taken me until this year to discover this band! I don’t throw this word around often, but this is truly a masterpiece. It won’t be for everyone, but every musical and rock fan should check this out at least once, they are truly masters at their craft. This better be the album to break them big, because good fucking lord do they deserve it from this thing! One of the easiest 10/10‘s I’ve ever given out!
An absolutely massive week for new albums this week, with the very best in metal, rock and country all putting out bangers. Let’s dive right in, shall we?
Those Damn Crows: God Shaped Hole
We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read our review of it here!
Jon Pardi: Honkytonk Hollywood
The neo-traditional country legend is finally back with the highly anticipated followup to 2022’s Mr Saturday Night. Being one of the first country artists I got heavily into, I’ve been eagerly awaiting this for a while, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint! It’s nearly a full hour of catchy vocal lines, typically-country lyrics and great instrumentation, mainly including the incredible string work throughout. It’s awesome! Songs like the opener, ‘Gamblin’ Man’, ‘Rush’, ‘Last Call Thing’ and ‘Love the Lights Out’ are all incredible songs and huge personal highlights. However, so much of this album is excellent, and a lot of it ended up on my personal playlist. Whether it’s two-steppin’, boot stompin’ uptempo numbers or the more emotion-filled ballad tracks, it’s all written and performed so well and Pardi does it in such a way that few can even replicate, never mind do better.
It doesn’t reinvent the wheel or anything, but certainly continues and refines the sound that he’s worked on now for five albums, and may actually be his most solid album front-to-back. Yes, it’s long, but the quality is spread throughout the album and it’s honestly one of the few country albums that genuinely didn’t feel it’s length. It’s a great, fun listen that I’ll certainly be revisiting a lot in the coming weeks and months, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being one of my favourite country albums of the year. It’s rare we get this style of country in 2025, so I’m so glad it’s this good! Mr Saturday Night is back, and gets a solid 9/10 from us!
Spin Doctors: Face Full of Cake
This was an interesting, weird release. Being raised on 90s and early 2000s culture, I like countless others couldn’t escape ‘Two Princes’, and came to love it alongside that album as a whole. However, I never really dug into the band much beyond that, so I was quite excited to be finally checking out something new from this band.
It had a lot more RHCP, Terrorvision and Quireboys than I was expecting. I’m not sure if was a gradual evolution or not, but this was not the album I was expecting heading in. However, it wasn’t a bad release, by any stretch. It took a bit of getting going; outside of ‘Rock n Roll Heaven’ the first few weren’t really my thing. However, by the time we reached ‘I Liked you Better When Your Butt was Big’, I really started to get into things, and the rest of the album from there was pretty solid. It’s quirky in a Barenaked Ladies kinda way, and is a pretty chilled out 44-minutes of poppy alt rock. It still has some of that 90s charm, but definitely has more of a modern spin on it. Is it as good as Pocket Full of Kryponite? No. But for a band that ‘peaked’ nearly three and a half decades ago, it’s a solid-ass release, and well worth checking out for anyone into the band or 90s rock in general. It’s a solid 7.5/10 from us!
Epica: Aspiral
The ninth album from the symphonic metal legends follows up their stellar 2022 ‘EP’ fantastically. I’ve always loved this band, and honestly this may be up there with some of their best work. Opening on their fantastic lead single and then the equally awesome title track is amazing. However, then we get not one, not two, but another THREE parts of the bands epic A New Ages of Dawns saga, the first mainline entries since 2009s Design Your Universe. It has made me go back and listen to all of them through and DAMN. It’s insane that songs released 20 years apart can still fit perfectly together. All three songs are huge highlights of the release, but honestly every track on this thing is amazing.
We’ve covered a lot of symphonic metal on this site over the years, and I’d say this measures up with the very best of them, be it Nightwish or Within Temptation or Evanescence or otherwise. Every single track is heavy, epic and masterfully performed by the entire band; it’s impossible to pick highlights. It’s an hour long and doesn’t feel like a slog in any stretch. And Simone’s vocals are as strong and impressive as ever. I went into this album expecting it to be good, but nowhere near this good. I loved every second of it, and will be spinning it a lot in the coming weeks and months. I can’t give it anything less than 9.5/10, amazing stuff! It’s a must listen for any metal fans reading!
Kaschalot: Anemoia
It’s pretty rare we get to cover much instrumental stuff on here, so when we do I kinda love it. Especially when it’s on the experimental math rock side of things; easily the best style of instrumental music (fight me). The band’s sophomore album comes out a full six and a half years after their debut, and the band have clearly put their all into the release. This is 36-minutes of stellar musicianship from front to back, and surprisingly manages to keep it interesting and captivating despite not a single word being said/sung. It certainly won’t be for everyone, but I loved this and found myself getting lost in the sheer talent of the quartet throughout. If you are into math rock or the quirkier side of rock in general, I can’t recommend this enough. Even if you aren’t typically into instrumental stuff it’s well worth checking this out, as they are so creative you may easily love it as much as I did. The band have a new fan in me, and this is an easy 8/10 from me!
Magnolia Park: VAMP
The fast-rising alt rock stars are back with their highly anticipated fourth studio album. I remember checking out Baku’s Revenge back when it released and thinking it was alright. This is at least better than that album, that’s for sure. It’s still your average radio metalcore, but at least now it borrows from Sempiternal era BMTH or 2021-2024 Architects or I Prevail, which is an improvement at least. Then again, there’s some older/newer school Architects in the heavier parts too, which is more than welcome. And there is an ever so slight industrial edge at times which does add some interesting moments to it. The opener is great and sets the tone perfectly. Then you have tracks like ‘CULT’ and ‘OMEN’ that are also big personal highlights. However, the rest of it was rather slower and pop/alt rock oriented. As I said, it is certainly better than the last album we checked out by them, but outside of a few shining lights it all felt pretty samey and honestly just made me want to listen to For Those That Wish to Exist again. It may grow on me still, but for now it gets a 7/10
OK GO: And the Adjacent Possible
The first studio album from the Chicagoan alt rock band in 11 years, safe to say this has had a fair amount of hype behind it! After listening, I’d say it lives up to at least most of said hype, too! It’s quirky, poppy and a lot of fun, reminding me of a combination of Mother Mother, Marianas Trenchand even Mika. As you can tell from the other reviews, I love all three artists, so of course I loved this too. From the opener to the funk-rock ‘A Good, Good Day at Last’ to ‘Better Than This’ to the beautiful closing track, this is packed full of amazing songs and highlights. There truly isn’t a bad track on it. If you’re into the more chilled-out, pop/alt side of rock music, I’d certainly recommend checking this out, you certainly won’t be disappointed. OK Go are finally back, and what an album to be making their return with! It’s an incredibly solid 8/10 from us, and I’ll certainly be listening to this again soon.
Ye Banished Privateers: ‘Til the Sea Shall Give up Her Dead
Goddamn I love piratey folk music, and this is honestly one of the best examples as to why. Taking inspiration from traditional Irish and Scandinavian folk, the band do the sound so well and bring it perfectly to a modern mix and audience. The opening track is a huge highlight and sets the tone of the album fantastically well, and songs like the fun ‘Raise Your Glass’ and ‘Here’s To The Royal Navy’ are also big highlights. It’s a fun, lighthearted release that knows exactly what it is and does it to perfection. My issue is that it’s nearly an hour long and is pretty similar throughout. It was a little much for my by the end, but if you’re big into this sort of thing I’m sure that is much less of an issue. And live, I can imagine it being incredible. I won’t listen to it particularly often, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy it whenever I do. 6.5/10
Muscadine Bloodline: …And What Was Left Behind
The Alabaman country duo followed up last year’s The Coastal Plain with what I assume to be a ‘b-sides and leftovers’ follow-up to last year’s Coastal Plain album and its sessions. I really thought I’d reviewed it at the time, but apparently not. I’ve definitely checked it out somewhere and, wildly, I think I prefer this release to their previous one! ‘Ain’t For Sale’ is my favourite song the band have ever done (shoutout to the awesome Josh Meloy on said track too), and songs like ‘Deer in the Headlights’, ‘Hittin’ my Stride’ and ‘Ballad of the Blanton Brothers’ are massive other highlights. However, every single track on this thing is awesome, and I think I’ve very quickly become addicted. I’m so glad the duo have finally blown up and got the recognition they so sorely deserve, and putting out this incredible release to top it all off is a testament to how incredible they are as musicians and writers. If you’re in an way a country fan, or even a fan of southern stuff or that side of rock music, check this out, I’m sure you’ll love this just as much as I do. I loved their last couple of albums, but this may be my favourite release from them, and it gets a very solid 9.5/10 from me!
Nightblade: 5
Strangely the seventh album it seems from the punk-infused hard rockers, this is a damn solid release! It reminded me of a lower energy Pennywise at times, especially with the riffing, which I really liked. Songs like ‘Grave Mistake’, ‘I’ll be Home Tonight’ and ‘Left at the Lights’ are all personal highlights. It gives a real old-school rock’n’roll and punk vibe, almost a DIY sorta thing, throughout which is almost impossible not to love. I’m honestly shocked the band haven’t gotten more of a following, especially with how long they’ve been going. They deserve to be bigger, and I feel like in doing so their production would improve massively, too. It’s a touch rough around the edges, but is a lot of fun to listen to and is something I’d love to go see live at a dark dingy dive bar somewhere! The band are damn talented songwriters and it’s certainly made me want to go back and check out their older stuff. It’s another solid 7/10 from us!
Ledher Blue: Fait Divers
I had no idea what to expect heading into this release, yet somehow it still wasn’t this. Described to me as a ‘Portuguese meets Irish indie duo’, it’s so much more than that. It doesn’t feel like a lot of indie-rock out there these days; it has plenty of shoegaze, psychedelic and even folk elements throughout. Heck, the opening track gave me faint Tool vibes, which was enough to blow me away a little. While it’s not something I’d typically listen to, I found myself having a great time checking this out, and have spun it a couple of times since it’s release back on Tuesday. It’s definitely got elements of old-school, like The Strokes or Iggy Pop, but also has a distinct modern edge; especially in the excellent production. Tracks like ‘Sorrows of Ammended Hearts’, ‘Rollerblades’, and ‘Longing’ are all huge highlights. However, the whole album is pretty solid and a good one to just sit back and chill to. It will probably be a big hit among indie fans, but even if you’re not into the genre it might be worth checking it out, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised like I was. It’s a solid 7/10 from us, and it may get even higher with subsequent listens!
Once Awake: Far Out and Beyond
Goddamn, WHAT AN ALBUM. I went into this completely blind no was blown away. I’ve definitely gained a soft spot for music in that grey area between melodeath and metalcore, and this album is the perfect example of that done SO WELL. The fifth album from the Norwegian band shows how it’s done in terms of heaviness, melody, epicness and technicality, as well as great songwriting. And all nine tracks do it amazingly; there isn’t a bad song on this release. How have I never heard this band before? They definitely have a huge new fan in me! It’s honestly impossible for me to pick highlight tracks as every single song is incredible, almost all of it making it onto my personal playlist. The band are incredibly talented players and songwriters, and fingers crossed this is the album to finally break them out into the next level, as they so very deserve it! They feel like a combination of Lamb of God, In Flames and early All that Remains, yet also have something about them that makes them feel pretty unique. I cannot recommend this album enough to any fans of the heavier end of metal out there, and I desperately need to go back and check out the rest of their back catalogue. For the second time this week, I can’t give this any less than 10/10, incredible stuff!
Turnpike Troubadours: The Price of Admission
The country legends are back with their seventh album, and second since their reunion. As fans of the band would surely be expecting, it’s a chilled-out, neo-traditional release packed full of some great instrumentation, catchy choruses and vocal harmonies, and plenty of emotion. Songs like ‘Searching for a Light’, the Celtic/Americana ‘Be Here’ and ‘The Devil Plies his Trade’ are all huge highlights. However, the album is perfect to sit back and relax to, and there isn’t a bad track on it. The band do their style better than few others, so if you are into them or the old-school, Americana/blues infused country music, I’d most certainly recommend checking this out! Honestly, I’d put it up there against any of the rest of their discography, that’s how damn good this is. I’ll definitely be listening to it more in the coming weeks and months, and would absolutely love to see them live, especially at some open-air festival, it feels like the perfect setting. It’s a very easy 8/10 from us!
A typically stacked week for new albums, with everything from rock to country to metal having some awesome releases! Let’s check it all out together!
P.S the awesome Trouble County have released physical copies of their debut album this week, check out how much we loved that here.
Bleed from Within: Zenith
As little as the band seems to stand out to me live, there is no denying Bleed from Within slap on track. This album is more of the same too, and exactly what I expected from them in the best way! Firstly ‘God Complex’ may be not only the best song the band have ever done, but a strong contender for one of the best modern metalcore songs. And, following it with the equally incredible ‘A Hope in Hell’, and Bleed from Within are not fucking around on this album. And that’s not even mentioning the likes of the opening track or ‘Known by No Name’ or the epic closer. This album is packed full of awesome tracks, and there isn’t a bad one on here! While I don’t think it’s quite as impactful on me as their previous release, it is a damn good followup to Shrine. It’s a fantastic release from one of the most consistently great metalcore bands of this generation. It’s insane to me that they still aren’t getting the recognition I feel they deserve, but hopefully this release does just that for them! I’ll certainly be spinning it again, and it gets a solid 8.5/10 for the Scots!
Parmalee: Fell in Love with a Cowgirl
We’ve already reviewed this awesome release! Check out what we thought here.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs: Death Hilarious
The Scouse stoner metal titans are back a follow-up to their 2023 banger Land of Sleeper. We enjoyed that album when we checked it out, and while this is more of a similar thing, for some reason it didn’t quite hook me in as much. Stuff like the opener, the almost Sword-like, riff-heavy ‘Stitches’ and ‘Carousel’ are still awesome and big personal highlights. However, some of it, especially the vocal delivery, felt a little too Soft Play and hardcore/punk-esque for me. The instrumentation even felt a touch stripped-back at times, not so much of a focus as a lot of it was pretty simple stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big fan of the band or anything, so I imagine this is pretty par for the course and that big fans of them will love this. It’s certainly not bad, either. But, for reasons so-far unknown, it isn’t grabbing me as much as I hoped it would. As I said, fans of the band will probably love this, so I’d heavily recommend it to any reading this, or if you’re heavily into the stoner metal kinda vibe. I do think I’ll have to revisit it at a later date to see if I still feel the same, but for now it gets a 7/10. Still good, but I hoped for slightly more.
Unbound Terror: Something is Wrong with Humanity
The Spanish death metal legends are back with their fourth studio album. It’s about as straight-up, old-school death metal as you can get, so if you’re into that sort of thing I’m sure you’ll love it! Heck, it’s not fully my sort of thing, but even I found myself getting won over by the sheer brutality of the riffs and the awesome instrumentation throughout. The guitars, bass and drums go hard, and I love it. My only issue comes with the growls, and even then I think it’s more of a typical death metal mixing issue than it is anything about how they sound. If it didn’t feel quite so grating, I’d probably love it. Still, tracks like ‘Destiny of Evil’ and ‘The Disappointment’ are personal highlights. If you’re into this particular brand of metal, you’ll probably get a lot of enjoyment out of this. And, given that it’s only just over half an hour, it’s a pretty easy listen! It’s not particularly something I’ll be revisiting much, but there is no denying that what it is is a damn good death metal album. It’s a solid 6.5/10 from us!
All for Jolly: Self-Titled
It’s pretty rare we get new celtic punk these days, it being very much a late 90s/early 2000s sound, so whenever we get some I am genuinely excited. The pirtatey band’s sophomore album, following up their 2020 debut, was my first foray into the band, but they instantly have a big new fan in me! Hailing from Penzance, the theming and style makes a bit more sense, even if it is still a little odd for me to hear this sound without hearing a vaguely forced/exaggerated Irish accent (or Scottish in Alestorm’s case). However, after taking a little to get used to it, as well as the songwriting being that damn good that it quickly won me over, I got a little obsessed! The more I listened the more I fell in love, every song being just as good as the last. There’s a lot of different pacing and sounds, from acoustic folk stuff to all out punk and even edging on metal, making it constantly interesting.
And, it’s impossible to pick out highlight tracks, as all are so good and so many of them made my personal playlist! However, I did like the cameo of (I think) Mr Sweetchunks himself on ‘Spanish Galleon’, though! However, if you are into more light-hearted, piratey, folky punk/hard rock, I cannot recommend this enough! It’s a hell of a lot of fun to listen to, and I’ll be doing so a lot in the following weeks and months! It’s a solid 9/10 from us, and the band have a big new fan in me!
Katie & The Bad Sign: Revolution
The classic/blues/hard rock woman and her band released their highly anticipated debut album last week, and it is every bit as great as everyone was expecting it to be! It somehow gives off equal parts Rolling Stones, Rod Stuart, Heart and Joan Shaw Taylor, yet also feels like a modernised combination of all of them. ‘Wolf at the Door’ is a fantastic, fitting opener, showcasing her incredible sound and lyric-writing prowess. Then you have the likes of the stomping, bluesy ‘Shake Me Down’, the beautiful ballad ‘The River’ and ‘Taste the Dirt’ that are all also big highlights. However, every song is awesome, there isn’t a bad one on the release! It’s 40-minutes of straight-forward, incredible classic rock that doesn’t overstay its welcome and leaves you wanting more. I can’t recommend this enough to anyone who’s a fan of any of the artists or genres I’ve mentioned above, and it really is no wonder she’s gathering so much steam in short order. It’s a solid 8.5/10 from us!
Emily Saunders: Moon Shifts Oceans
This is… certainly something… blending together jazz-fusion, soul, folk-pop and plenty of other styles too, it is anything if not ambitious. The third album from the singer-songwriter comes nearly a decade after her last, so could certainly be classed as anticipated. It’s interesting and quirky and creative… but I’m not sure I ‘got’ it. Maybe it’ll take a few more listens to get into, but I also understand this very much wasn’t made for me. It was a bit of an odd one for us to be sent through, honestly. She clearly has a very dedicated fanbase and has a very specific style, so if you like her other stuff you’ll likely enjoy this a lot, too. But yeah, this was 26-minutes that I struggled to enjoy, as fascinating as it was. ‘Rugged Waves’ was the closest to a highlight for me, so if you’re going to check out anything, let it be that! As I said, I’ll try again in the coming weeks, and this is purely my opinion, but for now I can’t give it any more than a 3.5/10. Sorry.
At least this is a damn pretty video!
Living Tales: HADES
The proggy, symphonic metal band out out their first new album in three years this last Friday. It is everything as epic, technical and heavy as one would expect and hope for. I wasn’t actually familiar with the band heading into this review so had no idea what to expect, but they have a bit new fan in me! More and more of it kept ending up on my playlist and, even though it is over 50 minutes long, I cannot recommend listening to the whole thing enough. It flows perfectly together, and there really isn’t a bad song on the release! From the insanely technical, mind-blowing riffing to the sick drumming to the soaring, powerful vocals to just the songwriting in general, it’s all top-notch. It tells a brilliant story and everyone involved, from playing/singing to writing to mixing and mastering, are so very talented. Heck, even the exceptional bass playing (namely on the Tool-like ‘Persefone’) puts this fellow bassist to shame! I cannot recommend this enough to anyone into the epic side of metal, and I’ll certainly be going back and checking out their earlier stuff. It gets a very easy 9/10 from us!
Black Country, New Road: Forever Howlong
The third album from the experimental/post/art rock six piece is as quirky and light-hearted and interesting as fans of the band would come to expect. I feel like readers may be a little shocked to hear this due to my harsh words about Emily above and my vocal ‘meh’ feelings towards stuff like The Last Dinner Party, but I really enjoyed this! It blended the folky and jazzier elements with the soft rock perfectly, and the vocals and melodies and harmonies were all top notch! It’s a really good album to sit back and chill-out and really get absorbed into, and it’s a real testament to the six people involved’s incredible talent. Songs like ‘The Big Spin’, the theatrical ‘Happy Birthday’ and the title track are all awesome. However, there isn’t a bad song on this release, and they all flow together seamlessly. I don’t know if it was just because it was a nice sunny day here, but I had a great time listening to this, and would recommend anyone into the softer side of music to check this out, as I’d imagine you would too! I’m definitely going to have to check out their earlier music, but for now it gets a solid 8/10 from us!
Messiah Paratroops: Legions of Tomorrow
The LONG-awaited debut album from the Finnish death metal legends is finally out, and it’s a pretty great classic-style album in the genre! It’s fast, heavy and packed full of awesome riffs, drums and screams. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a death metal band formed back in 1989! Tracks like the opener, the bands namesake track and ‘Murders of the Lake’ are all personal highlights, but if you like the genre you’ll love it all, just like I did! It’s honestly hard to say much about, as it’s exactly what you’d expect, and base death metal is such a straight-forward, no-nonsense genre that I don’t want to repeat myself too much. It’s fun, and something I’d love to see live, as I can imagine it popping off! It’s a solid 7/10 from us, and is one of the best albums in its vein this year so far!
Filthy Hippies: A Colourful Trip Through Melancholy
The psych/shoegaze South Africans put out an interesting release this last Friday. It’s again a genre I’m not too into or even familiar with, but I certainly didn’t have a bad time listening to this. It was fun and interesting and well created. It almost had an air of early punk to it too, which I certainly can’t complain about! It’s not something I’d revisit all that often, but it’s a damn good album to sit back and chill with in the background. Songs like ‘Wilt’, ‘Fuzzbox’ and the almost Southern-feeling, acoustic ‘Smells like Rehab’ are all awesome and definite highlights. However, it’s a fun album to just get lost in, and there really isn’t a bad song on it. The band are extremely talented, something that honestly feels understated given the genre. My only slight issue is the mixing; I’d personally prefer the vocals a little louder and more prominent, though I feel that comes with the genre, maybe? Either way, it’s a good release that I enjoyed more than I thought I would! It’s a solid 6.5/10
Cry for Mercy: The Machine
The third album from the powerhouse-blues rock trio is just as good as their previous two releases. ‘A Thing About Me’ is an utterly incredible opener that sets the tone for the rest of the album perfectly. Then you have tracks like ‘Walking With the Enemy’, the beautiful ballad ‘Nothing at All’ and ‘Sometimes’ that are all just as awesome and other big highlights. However, it’s all great, and somehow is 50-minutes long and doesn’t at all feel like it overstays it’s welcome. There is plenty of variety and tempo changes throughout, keeping it consistently interesting. At a time where blues seems to be on the up again, this band are doing it better than almost all of their peers. How I haven’t listened to them much, or how they’re not a massive name in the UK scene by now, is insane to me. I’ll be listening to this a lot in the coming weeks and months, and I’d recommend it to anyone! It’s a solid 8.5/10!
Another mega release week for albums, with some incredible collections across most genres! Let’s go ahead and dive right in!
The Darkness: Dreams on Toast
The British hard rock royalty are back with album number eight. I’ve always been a fan of the band; Permission to Land was one of the soundtracks to my childhood, and I really enjoyed Motorheart when it came out. Having said that, I do feel like this is on a whole new level to the latter. Opening on the one-two punch of the surprising ‘Rock and Roll Party Cowboy’ and one of the best singles they’ve put out in ‘I Hate Myself’, it’s a damn strong start. Then you have the band almost embrace this recent country resurgence with tracks like ‘Hot on my Tail’ and ‘Cold Hearted Woman’. Both feel completely genuine though, and very Darkness despite the change in sound a little, and even some fiddle in the latter. All are huge highlights of the album, but then so are the likes of the foot-stomping ‘Mortal Dread’, the EOL-like ‘The Longest Kiss’ and the beautiful ballad ‘Walking Through Fire’.
Considering the album is only 10 tracks long and I’ve already named seven of them, that should really show just how fantastic this release is. And guess what… the other three songs are great too! The band have felt like they’re on a bit of a resurgence in recent years, and this album has really capped off that feeling in a huge way. As Justin says in this ‘we never stop making hit albums’. That is very true, and this is very much another HUGE hit from the band. It may be too early to call this, but this may be my favourite Darkness album since One Way Ticket, if not Permission to Land itself! I’d recommend it to absolutely any music fan out there, and I can’t give it any less than 10/10!
Arch Enemy: Blood Dynasty
The melodeath legends are back with another album, a followup to 2022s Decievers. We really enjoyedthat album when it released, and I’ve been a fan of the band since my teens when I first got into the genre. Heck, we even reactedto the lead single from this when it dropped. So, safe to say anticipation for the album was pretty high here at Overtone.
If you’re a fan of the band, at very least their modern sound with Alyssa, you’ll know exactly what to expect with this, and will surely love it. It’s all big, heavy riffs, some great melodic leads, incredible powerful screams and stellar drumming throughout. ‘Dream Stealer’ is of course a massive highlight, as is ‘March of the Miscreants’, the more old-school ‘Don’t Look Down’ and the beautiful, surprisingly clean and almost symphonic power metal ‘Vivre Libre’. Honestly, the range demonstrated with the inclusion of the latter track is incredible, not only breaking up the album perfectly, but it being a true highlight of the bands discography, in my opinion, due to the musicality and lyrics fitting so well together. A good portion of the die-hard fans will hate it, but I love it!
Honestly, it’s an incredible album from start to finish. I found myself adding more and more of it to my personal playlist with subsequent listens; there isn’t a bad track on it. I loved Decievers, but they’ve really hit their post-Loomis stride with this release, and it does feel a step higher. It’s heavy and epic in all the best places, encapsulating not only what’s best about the genre, but the European scene in general. It gets another incredibly solid 9/10 from us!
Buster Shuffle: Together
We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read the full review here!
CJ Wildheart: SLOTS
This is a damn interesting release for us. We covered his former brother-in-arms’ latest album a couple of weeks back, so it’s very hard not to compare this to that album. However, both are great in their own right, and honestly feel and sound pretty different! This one is a lot more old-school punk and skater, as opposed to Ginger’s heavier sound. Both have their place in the scene, and I found myself having a lot of fun listening to this thing. ‘Beg’, the classic Wildhearts-sounding ‘Baddest Girl in the World’, ‘The Kids’ and ‘You Got the Best Part of Me’ are all personal highlights but, honestly, the album is packed full of them. Heck, the title track even goes heavier, feeling more like a modern Wildhearts song, but it’s awesome and I love it! The ten tracks go by in a flash, being under the 30-minute mark, but it feels like the perfect length for a punk record. If you’ve ever been a fan of the Wildhearts, CJs solo stuff or his vague yet particular brand of punk, I cannot recommend this enough. It’s certainly going to be a release that I’ll be revisiting plenty this year and probably beyond. It’s yet another phenomenal album from this week, and a massive 8.5/10!
Mumford and Sons: RUSHMERE
The British modern-folk legends are back with their first album in seven years. They were a bit of a guilty pleasure band in my youth, but I have openly been a big fan of them for years now, and I’m so glad they’re back. And it helps, of course, that this is an absolutely stellar album. I love this style of music, and their sound definitely gives me some nostalgia from my teens, but this is also a well-crafted, great-sounding album in its own right. Songs like ‘Caroline’, the title track, ‘Truth’ and ‘Surrender’ are all fantastic and huge highlights, but there isn’t a bad song out of the collection of 10! It’s a chilled-out, catchy release that is perfect for sitting back and relaxing to. It’s not going to be for everyone, but it was a very nice change of pace for me to listen to this week, and is honestly one of the best things the band have put out, in my opinion. If you’re a fan of the band or folk music in general, this is well worth checking out! It’s a damn solid 8.5/10 from us!
Memphis May Fire: Shapeshifter
I clearly have a tiny memory and attention span. When I went to add this entry to our list, I was like ‘I know the name, I remember my friends being into them back in the day, but am not sure who they are. We’ve covered them before.I reviewed their last album. I clearly enjoyed it too, it just clearly wasn’t very memorable. But, while I have a couple of similar issues with this release from them (80% of the album as pre-release singles is too damn much!), I am happy to say I definitely feel like this is a better album than their last! ‘Chaotic’ is a fantastic, upbeat and surprisingly fun opener, and sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the release. It gives off a bit more Set it Off or From Ashes to Newvibes to it than metalcore this time round, which I love, and really channels that mid-2000s US alt rock energy. Tracks like the Electric Callboy-like ‘Overdose’, ‘Necessary Evil’ and ‘Shapeshifter’ are all big highlights, but the whole album is pretty good! If you’re into any of the bands or styles I’ve mentioned already, it’s worth giving this a listen, especially when it’s only half an hour long. It’s certainly better than their previous album, and gets a solid 8/10 from us!
Envy of None: Stygian Wavz
For something featuring the legendary Alex Lifeson, this is kinda boring. It’s not bad, don’t get me wrong, but it isn’t my sort of thing at all. It’s slow, shoegazy indie rock, and I found myself struggling to get through it all in one sitting. I’m sure there will be plenty of big fans of this album and this band, but I am sadly not one and didn’t enjoy it a whole lot. It all sounded pretty similar, and for what it was it wasn’t great to begin with. The band are at least clearly talented, and I’m clearly a fan of their individual stuff as I love Rush and enjoy what I’ve heard of Andy Curran’s Coney Hatch. ‘Under the Stars’ was probably my favourite track on the album, as it felt like the most interesting and it suited Maiah’s vocals perfectly. If you’re into this sort of thing I’d certainly recommend checking it out and giving it a listen. For me though, sadly, I’mma have to give it a 3.5/10
Alien Weaponry: Te Rā
Oh look, another full review! You know the drill, check it out here!
Deafheaven: Lonely People With Power
I clearly no fucking clue who Deafheaven were before now. I went into this expecting an indie-like band, not black metal! Especially not vaguely emo-infused black metal, to boot. However, given my up-and-down interest in the genre, I quite enjoyed this! The riffs were a major highlight; like hot-damn what talented writers and players. And even the screams were pretty good, fitting the music perfectly and sitting a little further back in the mix so they weren’t as grating as some extreme screams. And of course the drumming is stellar throughout, but I’d expect nothing less. The atmosphere created is awesome, too; setting the perfect gloomy, epic tone. Shockingly, the band do even venture to more of an indie/shoegaze instrumental style on songs like ‘The Garden Route’, which makes it hugely impressive that it still feels rather grounded in black metal and feels right at home on the album.
Honestly, if nothing else, it’s a fascinating listen that’s taken me a couple of listens to really ‘get’. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still not really my sort of thing, and I think I’d struggle to revisit all hour plus of it too regularly, but I did find myself enjoying it and hugely appreciating the work that went into crafting such a release. Though not your typical black metal, if you like the genre give this a try, you might be pleasantly surprised. 7/10
Stone Foundation: The Revival of Survival
The big ol’ soul band released their whopping 11th album this last Friday. While it’s not the sort of thing we often check out here at Overtone, I’m a fan of a few of the band’s songs and we got sent over a review copy, so there was no way I wasn’t letting y’all know what I thought of it!
Honestly, like with most albums or music in general, the moment I heard that sexy, sexy saxophone I was hooked. The opener starts low but builds perfectly, ending up being a pretty epic, almost rock track by the end. That is followed by the catchy, funky title track, a big highlight of the album. It sets the tone perfectly too, as stuff like ‘Cut Me Loose’, ‘2 Die 4 U’ and ‘When Worlds Collide’ continue that energy fantastically and are highlights in their own right. However, the whole album is pretty damn good! It’s easy listening at its very best, and combines elements of soul, funk and jazz perfectly. It certainly won’t be for everyone reading this, but I had a real good time listening to this and will certainly be doing so again in the future. It’s the perfect album to just stick on and relax to; et all your worries and stress to ebb away. The band are insanely talented, and if you want something a little different I cannot recommend this enough. The fact that this sort of music is still being put out, and to this standard and quality, in 2025 is frankly awesome! It’s a solid 8/10!
Underoath: The Place After This One
The Floridian post-hardcore band are back with a follow-up to 2022’s awesome Voyeurist, and are pulling no punches with this album. They pick up where they left off with their last album in terms of the heavy, electronic-laced sound and style, and the opener sets the stage perfectly. ‘Devil’ goes for a bit more of their classic sound, but still fits perfectly with ‘Generation No Surrender’ and is another highlight. Then you have tracks like ‘Loss’, ‘And Then There Was Nothing’ and the Troy Sanders featuring ‘Vultures’ that are all also big highlights for me! If you’re a fan of the band’s recent stuff or the scene they fit into you’ll know exactly what to expect. It’s not bad by any stretch, but I went into this known exactly what to expect, and that’s very much what I got. It combines the sound that made them famous with a more modern metal/industrial edge, and does so to perfection. Think Spiritbox, Poppy, Bad Omens etc. However, overall I feel like I enjoy this more than any of them, there’s a bit more to it and it’s more consistently heavy. It’s a damn enjoyable album and worth a listen, if you’re into this sort of thing. A very solid 8.5/10; I’m sure I’ll be listening to a lot of it again in the coming weeks!
Circus 66: Elements
The sophomore album of the NWOCR rising stars is a damn solid release. It’s packed full of incredible riffs, soaring, powerful vocals and some catchy melodies and harmonies. It instantly gives me Thundermother vibes in all the best ways. It’s a foot-stomping, sleaze-tinged hard rock album that’s impossible not to have a fun time listening to! Honestly, it’s really hard to pick highlight tracks too as it’s all so good. In a rather saturated sub-genre currently, Circus 66 have found a way to stand out and produce something high quality and truly memorable. From the powerful hard rock likes of the opener to the almost country ballad of ‘Love on the Other Side’, I love it all! Plus, the album was put together perfectly; the dynamics between the faster and slower songs keeping everything interesting and making for a very easy nearly 50-minute listen. The band are clearly incredibly talented players and songwriters, and have taken a lot of inspiration from their contemporaries but built on it all fantastically. I cannot recommend this album enough, check it out immediately! I can’t get enough of it already, and hopefully this release finally pushes them to the level they deserve to be at! It’s a solid 9/10 from us!
HIGHSOCIETY: DATAMOSH
The bass soloist has been gaining a lot of momentum and hype recently with his interesting genre combinations, fun guests and intriguing writing. From dubstep to alt metal to hard rock, he blends it all together seamlessly, and has crafted, at very least, and incredibly fascinating album. It’s very much a combination of Prodigy, Linkin Park and the modern metalcore scene (think Bad Omens or BMTH). Tracks like the opener, the heavy ‘Echos’ with BVLVNCE and the Daedric-featuring ‘Dead By Dawn’ are all personal highlights. However, every song on this release is worth a listen, and it doesn’t feel like it’s as long as it is at all. It’s an incredibly modern sound that will go over well with fans of the likes of Poppy and Spiritbox and the aforementioned Bad Omens. However, it’s also different and creative enough to keep it interesting, and honestly won me over just as much as any of them. He works so well with every single artist that features here, and it could very much be a massive, breakout year for the musician. He’s definitely one to watch, and worth a listen if you’re into a modern style. 7.5/10
Alison Krauss: Arcadia
The country-folk star and her band, Union Station, are back with their first album together in nearly a decade and a half. It’s a welcome return of the band, as outside of her collaboration with Robert Plant, her last album was a solo one, and even that was eight years ago now! For someone who’s been releasing music for nearly 40 years, the fact that she is still such an interesting songwriter, and that her vocals are still so effortless beautiful and incredible, is a true testament to her talent. And that shouldn’t at all take away from the band either, who are just as talented. It’s a chilled out, Americana/bluegrass leaning album, and is great to just sit back and relax to. Songs like ‘The Wrong Way’, ‘Richmond on the James’ and ‘North Side Gal’ are all personal highlights, but if you’re into this sort of music you’ll enjoy the whole album! While not strictly my sort of thing, I had a lot of fun listening to the slightly more upbeat songs, and a couple of the ballads were incredible too. While I don’t think I’ll revisit the whole album much, I’ll certainly be listening to some of this again, and it gets a solid 7/10 from us!
An absolutely MASSIVE week for new albums this week, with so many awesome releases for us to check out. Let’s dive in and do just that!
A Day to Remember: Big Ole Album Vol. 1
Yes, I know this technically came out last month, but only physically, and given the quality of their last album and the singles I’ve heard from this, I sure as shit wasn’t going to buy this thing. It’s a shame as well, because there was a time where it felt like ADTR were going to be the next big thing. They were very much one of the bands of my generation, and were everywhere for a few years there. Their drop-off will surely be studied. After one bad album back in 2021, they took four years off from the studio and instead toured relentlessly, before surprise-dropping this after two singles two full years apart (the last of which was released 10 months ago). It’s an odd strategy, for sure. I feel like they had a messy release of their last album too, so maybe that can be somewhat to blame for this stuff. But anyway, let’s listen to the album by a band I am genuinely a fan of, and am nervous about what to expect…
In short, it’s fine. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, and there are some pretty decent tracks scattered throughout. Songs like ‘To The Death’, ‘LeBron’ and old single ‘Miracle’ are all great. Heck, even ‘Feedback’ has grown on me more when listening to the album, when I really didn’t like it when it first came out. However, some of the rest ranges from okay to safe to kinda cringy. Outside of the tracks I named, none of them really stood out to me. They’re still writing stuff exactly the same as they were back in 2008, yet it doesn’t feel as creative or fresh any more. I get they had backlash to the changed they made with You’re Welcome, but at least they tried something. Outside of ‘Silence’ trying to be Mastadon, this is just the same old tired ADTR formula. It’s not bad, and I do find myself enjoying it more than their last album, but it’s definitely not up there with anything they put out from 2009-2016. If you’re a fan of the band, I’d recommend giving it a try, but when there has already been so much awesome metal released this year alone, I’d much rather gravitate towards Architects or Paleface Swiss. It might grow on me, but for now it’s a solid 6.5/10
Cradle of Filth: The Screaming of the Valkyries
The extreme metal legends are back with their first new album in nearly four years. I remember checking out Existence is Futile and actually really enjoying it, so I’m curious to see what I think of this, given how much my tastes have changed since then! Honestly, it’s another pretty great album! Firstly, the instrumentation throughout is utterly fantastic. The riffs, the lead lines, the bass, drums, all of it is incredible. I think because of their heaviness, the band are hugely underrated in having some of the most phenomenal players around. Then you have Dani; arguably the last great poet, even if he couples that with the world’s edgiest. And I still don’t know how he does that high scream that has become his signature sound without completely shredding his throat immediately.
In terms of the songs themselves, they’re fantastic. From the opener to the epic, almost beautiful ‘Non Omnis Moriar’ to single ‘Malignant Perfection’, there are a lot of highs. However, there really isn’t a bad track on the release. My only slight gripe is the near-hour runtime; it got a little much by the last couple of songs and some fat could have been trimmed. Having said that, I don’t know what song could be cut, and it’s a rather small personal preference compared to all of the positive.
If you told a younger me I’d grow up to be a pretty big fan of COF, I’d have a hard time believing you, but these albums have turned me into just that. It’s certainly not going to be for everyone, but if you like stuff heavy, deep and epic, I cannot recommend this enough. 9/10
Bloodywood: Nu Delhi
The second album from the Indian metal titans finally dropped on Friday to a lot of hype. Wereally enjoyed their debut, and judging by the singles this should be another surefire hit. Well, one thing’s for sure: fans of their other album will certainly love this! It doesn’t go anywhere unexplored, it’s very much more chunky nu-metal riffing, rapping, catchy vocal melodies and traditional Indian folk music all blended together. It isn’t a bad thing at all, but does make it feel like a Rakshak Part II. Tracks like ‘Hutt’, the BABYMETAL featuring ‘Bekhauf’ and the title track are all big personal highlights, but there really isn’t a bad track on the album. It’s heavy and catchy in all the best ways, and the band really have found a winning formula that they play to perfection. And, at only eight tracks and 33-minutes, it’s an incredibly easy listen. It’s a lot of fun to listen to, and an album that doesn’t take itself too seriously, certainly refreshing in the current climate of the genre. I cannot recommend this enough to any metal fans reading this, and the band are truly doing something creative and unique; they are unlike any other. It’s another solid 8.5/10 for Bloodywood!
Ghost Hounds: Almost Home
The country roots-rock band returned with yet another utterly fantastic album for their fifth offering. The band are a relatively new discovery for me but I quickly became a huge fan as they are right up my street. This album is no different; all of it is so good. ‘She Runs Hot’ is a phenomenal opener, but the quality stays high consistently after that. Songs like the bluesy ‘Down in the Dark’, the epic ‘You’ll Never Find Me’ and the beautiful closing ballad are all huge highlights on an album packed full of them. It gives off everything from Blackberry Smoke to Robert Jon to even some Stapleton, and I love it all. My only slight complaint, and it is very slight, is that it’s a lot of slower stuff at the end. It might have been nice to spread them out and have a rockier number later on. But it’s hardly an issue, especially when the album is under 40 minutes. I’d recommend this to absolutely anyone, whether you’re into country, rock blues or otherwise. It’s easily up there with one of my favourite releases from the band, and after a few more listens I could see it potentially even taking the top spot. It’s a very solid 9/10!
Lordi: Limited Deadition
We’ve already checked out a few releases from one of the world’s hardest working bands here at Overtone. Whether it was 2023’s Screem Writers Guild or one of 2021’s Lordiversityseries, we’ve always loved what we cover! So, for them to not have released anything in 2024 was weird, but if anything it’s made me more excited to check this out, finally!
It’s another excellent collection of synth-heavy, disco-laced, glammy power metal. I do believe it’s actually impossible to not enjoy listening to Lordi, they are far too much fun to hate. Stuff like ‘Legends are Made of Clichés’, ‘Skelephant in the Room’, ‘Killharmonic Orchestra’ and ‘Hellizebeth’ is all incredible, but honestly there isn’t a bad song on this release. As a fan of the band since their Eurovision win and someone who’s listened to most of their releases by this point, I’d easily put it up there with one of their best. For a longer album it went by in a flash, and the whole thing had such a fantastic, captivating flow to it. The horror and what I can only describe as ‘Saturday morning kids TV ads’ theme to it was incredible, and fit so well with their throwback-yet-modern style. It’s another album that I would recommend to anyone reading this, and it’s certainly at least my favourite of the ones we’ve reviewed here by them. I’ll be listening to it a lot over the next few weeks and months, and it’ll certainly be high up on our list of top albums of the year come December, I’m sure! It’s an incredibly solid 9.5/10
P.S bonus points for the fantastic Macho Man impression, OH YEAAAH. And the puns, THE PUNS, yes!
The Darker my Horizon: From Out of the Ashes
The NWOCR stalwarts are back with their fifth studio album, a follow-up to 2022s When Two Worlds Collide. I’ve been a casual fan of the band for years at this point, dating back to my early HRH days, and it’s nice to hear they’re very much still firing on all cylinders. Tracks like ‘Hate’, ‘The Hit Man’ and the slightly bluesy ‘Hangin’’ are all personal highlights, but every song on this album is pretty great! It’s on the heavier side of the scene, but has a fun, sleaze edge to it which is always fun. I’d definitely put it up there with one of their best releases so far, too! It flows really well, with plenty of dynamics with slower paced stuff contrasted with the more balls-to-the-wall rock. The band are one of the more overlooked in the NWOCR scene, as they are clearly incredibly talented musicians and songwriters. Hopefully this album finally puts the added spotlight they deserve on them! It’s a short and sweet release that gets a solid 8/10 from us!
Pop Evil: What Remains
The ninth album from the modern hard rock legends feels like a long time coming, when in actuality it’s only been two years. Heck, we even reviewed2023’s Skeletons, and clearly enjoyed it, even if it sadly hasn’t stuck in the memory much since its release. However, this release very much continues on from what I said about their previous album, it’s catchy, heavy, almost bordering on modern/alt metal over hard rock, and it’s very good. Tracks like ‘Deathwalk’, the title track, ‘Enough is Enough’ and ‘Knife for the Butcher’ are all huge personal highlights. However, it’s all worth a listen, as it’s all pretty awesome and combines so many different styles and influences together to create something truly fresh-feeling. It seems to be a combination of everything from modern You Me at Six, Shinedown, Architects, Theory of a Deadman, and their old, harder rock sound, and it’s pretty awesome to listen to! I really enjoyed listening through it and have already done so multiple times this weekend. I’m hoping this sticks with me more than their last release, as it’s a damn good album! I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a more modern, polished sound to your alt rock/metal. It’s a solid 8.5/10
Ryan Hurd: Midwest Rock & Roll
The sophomore album from a very fast-rising-star in the country scene has finally arrived, with a LOT of hype behind it. It’s easy to hear why too, as this is an awesome release! Right away the opener/title track sets the tone for the album perfectly, living up to its title and giving off big HARDY vibes. The album continues along that fantastic vein from there on out, too. I never thought I’d hear a Midwest edge added to country rock, but that’s exactly what this is, and Ryan’s really nailed it. Every song is amazing, but stuff like ‘Lighthouse’, ‘All Night Long Days’ and the beautiful duet with Sasha Alex Sloan, ‘Go to Bed Sober’ are personal highlights. A few of the tracks also feel rather Kip Moore, which is awesome given how much we lovedhis last album. I guess the only slight issue I have with the release is that it’s 43-minutes of slower, moodier, rather similar energy stuff. However, when it’s all this good, it really is hard to complain. It’s a really interesting release, and one that I’d recommend to absolutely anyone curious. Ryan has a big new fan in me, and I can’t give it any less than 8.5/10!
Izzy Reign: Self-Titled
We’ve already checked out this awesome album already last week! Read the full review here.
The Comancheros: A Decade in the Mirror
This is a fascinating, fantastically fun-to-listen-to collection of blues-and-Southern-tinged rarities. Combining together songs never released physically, limited edition EPs that have since stopped running, or even limited live or cassette runs, it takes a peak behind the curtain at some rarely heard music from the Missouri trio. It’s a damn fun listen through all 16 tracks, too. Some are a little rough around the edges, you can tell they’re more demo-like than others, but it if anything adds to the charm. Stuff like ‘The Day George Jones Died’, ‘Crazy as Hell’, ‘Jesse James’ and ‘O Death’ make solid cases of questioning why they never made it onto full releases. And I hate how sadly relatable ‘Too Old to Die Young’ is. Plus, the two live tracks that round it out are awesome, showing just how fun their live sets are. If you’re a fan of their unique brand of ‘heavy and Western’, or if you’re generally a country or Southern rock fan, I’m sure you’ll love this! And even if it’s not officially any ‘new’ music, it’s well worth checking out! 8/10
Black Yet Full of Stars: In Glorious Red
Holy crap, what an epic album!! I didn’t know what to expect heading into this, but it wasn’t a mainly orchestral album packed full of absolutely stunning, powerful vocals. We even get some awesome death metal screams at various points throughout, which were awesome. It gave big Danny Elfman vibes in all the best ways. To the point where he should clearly hire Carlo to help on his next soundtrack! I didn’t know this was exactly the sort of thing I needed in my life, and stuff like the opener, ‘The Great Work’ and ‘Tria Prima II’ are huge highlights. However, it is clearly designed to be listened to in full, every track having its own interlude separating them. It’s certainly not going to be for everyone, but I had a great time listening to it, and I’d certainly recommend anyone check it out at least once, for those curious.
It’s also pretty different to their other stuff, it actually containing reworks of a few tracks off their last album in this symphonic style. So, while not completely new, they are almost unrecognisable, and it very much feels like a fresh release in its own right. It’s really cool to listen to ‘King of Salt’, ‘Halom Shacor’ and ‘The Great Work’ in both versions, while all the new stuff is excellent, and adds so much atmosphere to it all. It’s a solid album, regardless of what it is, and a must-listen for fans of symphonic metal. 7.5/10
Wythersake: At War with Their Divinity
Yet another fantastically epic soundscape of an album, yet rather different than our previous entry. The US blankened death newcomers put out their sophomore album this last Friday, and while it is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, it is certainly epic, and certainly heavy. The band are clearly talented players and also are damn good at crafting such massive sounds and writing interesting stuff. Tracks like the opener, ‘Dancing Plagues of Modern Man’, ‘The Autumnal Passing’ and ‘Chimerical God State Worship’ are all personal highlights. It’s not normally my sort of thing, but I found myself loving a lot of it. It gave me slight Rotting Christ vibes, which I think is what won me over. There truly isn’t a bad track on the album, though there may be one or two too many. If it was a solid 40-minutes instead of 53, I feel like I’d have liked it even more. Especially when a lot of it is pretty similar. Still, if you’re into this side of metal, I can’t recommend it enough, it’s some of the best to come out of the genre. It’s a sold 8/10 from us!
P.S. shoutout to some of the best artwork of the year, too. Gorgeous!
Frankie Ballard: The Messanger
The first studio album from the country singer-songwriter in nearly a decade, it picks up the blues-rock tinged side of the genre right where El Rio left off. It’s honestly an awesome release too, and tight up my street. Right from opener ‘Heaven Only Knows’ I was hooked, and I wasn’t let go for a full 44 minutes until the album was over. It’s honestly impossible to pick highlights too, as every song is so good. I found myself adding more and more of this onto my personal playlist as I listened through; I fully enjoyed every one, And there was so much variety throughout too, be it full blues, a more modern, heavy sound or more Americana-inspired, and made for such an easy, fun full listen.
Frankie and his band are fantastically talented players and writers, the slide guitar throughout being a particular highlight! It’s certainly not going to be for everyone, but I really loved it. It combined old-school and modern so well, and crafted so many memorable moments. He’s another artist I wasn’t particularly familiar with heading into the review, but he’s blown me away and I’ve come away from this being a huge new fan. I’m desperate to see him live now, but until then this album will just have to do! Honestly, I can’t not, it’s a full 10/10. I’d recommend this to anyone!
