We chatted to the wonderful alt rockers Spin Class about their latest EPand plans for the future. Check it out below!
How would you describe your sound?
We’re a rock band with influences spanning the Seven Seas. But our biggest influence is Bristol’s own The Barnacle Bouys – expect our album to be only Sea Shanties!
The EP seems to have done well! Are there any stories around it, or a theme running through?
Thank you! We are super happy with how the EP is performing so far and a huge thank you to everyone who’s shown it love. Our songs are about personal experiences always, tuck in and see if there’s anything you relate to!
What’s the writing process like for the band?
To be honest, we never write one song the same! Sometimes we start it in the living room, sometimes we fart something out in the rehearsal room – we’ll all bring ideas to the table and smash ’em together! But who knows what the process will look like moving forward! It’s always fun to switch it up.
How do you come up with the song titles? Nice to see the early 2000s craziness with them making a comeback!
We spin a wheel and use whatever it lands on!
What made you decide on an EP over another album? Is there a longer release on the horizon or has the streaming model made you want to put out shorter releases for the time being?
We haven’t done an album just yet but these songs just naturally felt like they belonged together! We try not to think too hard about it and feel it out! Right now we reckon we’ll focus on shorter releases and work our way up from there!
Have you tried to play in the jumpsuits before? I imagine it’d be a sweaty gig!
Hahah! We actually haven’t, seems like we are missing a trick there! We do wear them in our debut music video for our song Phat Spaniard, you can find us gallivanting on our YouTube channel!
Have you got a busy rest of the year planned?
The rest of the year we’ll be in the Bahamas!
Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d want to be a part of? Anyone you’d want to support or bring on the road with you?
We’ve been casting incantations to manifest a tour with Queens of The Stone Age “Bubble, bubble tour with Queens of The Stone Age and trouble”
If you could have written any song from the past, what would it have been?
I know it’s a bit mainstream, but Nocturne in E Flat Major op.9 No 2 by Chopin. We were obsessed when we first heard it on a rerun of 1971’s Top of the Pops.
The debut album from the UK indie-ish duo of brothers is arriving with a lot of hype to it, as the band have been gradually building steam for a few years now. I’ve heard the name everywhere but have somehow never really heard their music… until now! I thought they were definitely worth a full deep dive review, so without further ado, let’s dive right in!
‘Magic Box’ opens up the album perfectly, a great indie-rock guitar and vocal melody with more instrumentation building in over and over. It gives Drew Holcomb vibes, or even Jack Johnson. It sounds awesome, and is immediately catchy as hell! The backing vocals with the ‘ooo’s, harmonies and gang vocals add even more depth to it, too. The track is crafted to perfection, with every sound fitting excellently and it all forming something truly magical. It sets the tone of the album amazingly and is honestly one of my favourite tracks of the year. Immediately a huge highlight!
More quirky instrumentation comes in as a steal drum opens ‘Killer Spell’. Then we get more of the great Americana-indie stuff, building into a truly massive, arena-filling chorus. This one is much more James Bay, in the best possible way! The lead guitar bits throughout are awesome too, having so much feel to them and fitting the vibe of the track well. It’s another amazing track, and one that I feel is gonna be stuck in my head for days to come!
‘I’m on Fire’ strips things back and slows things down in a beautiful piano ballad. It’s maybe a touch early for a track like this on the album, but honestly, it felt completely natural here and fit the pace of the album perfectly. It builds incredibly to yet another HUGE chorus, the backing vocals and drums adding so much to the epicness of the track. It dropping back down for the bridge before exploding back in for a final chorus was masterful; powerful as it was beautiful. The band so far are three for three on excellent tracks!
The only track I’d heard before this, ‘Walk Away’, changes the pace again into a blues banger. The riff is amazing, and it building with the drum and bass and harmonies more and more into an infectiously catchy chorus! It drops out perfectly for a bridge before we get a double time, almost bluegrass-tinged guitar solo, which was sick! Still, it has that same indie feel to it at the same time, feeling very much like the same band. And I kinda liked it dropping back for the outro chorus, it almost bringing the track full circle. Banger after banger so far!
As if my mind hadn’t been blown enough already, ‘Evel Kinevel’ starts with a gospel chorus, god clap and everything, and was awesome! Then we get a great indie riff with Adams amazing vocals over the top. Once again, it builds perfectly to the now expectedly huge chorus, just made to be played to massive festival crowds around the world! It’s yet another song that I can expect to be stuck in my head for the next few days, and is yet another fantastic track!
Single ‘The Last Dance’ brings the blues riffing back, much like ‘Move Your Body’. Both are great, up-tempo tracks that definitely get you… well… moving your body! They definitely sound distinctly like Foreign Affairs while having a more indie-rock edge to them. And they break up the album pretty perfectly, keeping the energy up around the mid-point.
The next few tracks slow things down again with some great ballad writing. Whether it’s the Bay-like acousticness of ‘Baby Blue’ or ‘Adam’s Song’ or the piano-led nature of ‘Flowers in the Window’, it’s all so beautiful and powerful. I do have to say it does grind the pace of the album down to a crawl a touch, and is a lot of slower stuff all at once. I don’t know if it’s just my tiny attention span, but I think I’d struggle to listen to all four tracks one-after-another on many listens. All are incredible songs on their own, but when together it’s a touch much for me, and highlights how insanely stacked the first half of the album is. Still, if you like more of an easy-listening vibe, check out every single one of these. ‘Hummingbird and Me’ in particular is another massive highlight track.
The album concludes with a two parter; ‘One Minute’. Part 1 is amazing, the vocal delivery honestly giving me goosebumps at times. It’s the perfect nearly-two-minutes of folk-rock. Meanwhile part 2 is a full-length track packed full or a similar brilliant, beautiful, vulnerable level of emotion. They very much fit together like two pieces of the same puzzle, and while are incredible separate, are perfect together. How is it not one of the biggest tracks of the year already? If you check out anything off this album, let it be this; it’s truly phenomenal. The lyrics are incredible, and the instrumentation and delivery fit the gravitas of them perfectly. What a way to close out this release!
Overall: This is an incredible release! I went into it not really knowing what to expect and was utterly blown away by the whole thing. There are so many killer tracks on this, and practically no filler. The band blend genres seamlessly, and have put out something truly heartfelt and personal with this release. I am a new, huge fan of the band, and already cannot wait to hear what they do next. However, for now, I’ll be spinning this a bunch moving forward!
A stacked week of EPs for us to check out, from metal to indie to rock. Lets check it all out!
PRESIDENT: King of Terrors
The new mystery masked band (definitely not fronted by Charlie Simpson) have dropped their debut EP this weekend. Does it live up to the insane hype around them? Personally, no, but I’m certainly not the target audience for this sort of music. It’s very Sleep Token, and y’all know how I feel about them. It’s a touch more interesting and heavy than them, but still incorporates a lot of the same pop and electronic elements around the big riffs and occasional screams. It’s not bad, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think it’s quite worth all the hype. ‘Fearless’ was a fun, almost Skillet-esque track, while the riffing in ‘Dionysus’ was good too. However, the good moments were few and far between, and there are only so many trap and hip-hop beats I can hear in metal before I immediately get bored of them. If you are into this sort of thing awesome, you’ll surely get a lot out of it, but it wasn’t for me at all. I can’t give it any more than 5/10, sorry lads!
Wells Ferrari: Wasted Time
The sophomore EP from the indie-Americana duo is just as good as their last, drawing together their last string of single releases into the perfect 23-minute release. The band’s sound is excellent, being a slightly more chilled out version of the likes of Mumford & Sons or even Evan Honer. The lyrics throughout are fantastic and packed full of emotion, while the pairs vocal harmonies are a solid highlight time and time again. From the excellent title track to ‘Bending’ to the epic ‘Cloud of Rain’, there are so many fantastic songs. However, there really isn’t a bad song on here; all of them are excellent. It’s the perfect release to throw on and sit back and chill-out to. The band are on track to become massive in the scene sooner rather than later, and this release will surely push them closer to that. If you are at all into the genres I’ve mentioned check this out as soon as you can! 8.5/10
Delilah Bon: PRINCELESS PRINCESS
Delilah follows up her phenomenal 2024 albumwith this four-track collection released between all her heavy touring schedule. It honestly feels like it acts as an extention of EHFF, bridging the gap between that and whatever is next. I do have to say it’s not quite as memorable as the album, but is still a damn good release! The opener/title track is awesome and been stuck in my head since I first checked it out. ‘CINDERELLA’ is a fantastic track too that I’m sure will go down a storm live. Meanwhile ‘BUSH’ is tongue in cheek and got a chuckle out of me, though I’m sure she makes some good points for women.
It’s impossible for Delilah to put out something I don’t love though, as her vocal ability is so insanely underrated. From her rapping to screaming, it’s all so good, and she’s very much kept it all turned up to 11. And she is PISSED throughout this, it making the delivery of her fantastic lyric writing even better. The instrumentation is great too, the electronic and heavy punk guitars fitting together perfectly, making an amazing backdrop for the vocals.
It’s a short release that has immediately made me come away wanting more, but for now I am more than glad to settle with this. A great addition to her already stellar discography! 8.5/10
Last Hyena: Suspect Your Elders
The first live gig we covered here at Overtone, this band have a special place in my heart for that. Add to that the fact that they are insane instrumentalists and songwriters, and I was damn hyped for this release. They didn’t disappoint at all, this is awesome! The mainly instrumental 16 minutes is a solidly awesome listen of proggy, mathy stoner rock, and blew my mind in multiple places. We even got some gang vocals on the opening track, a big highlight and made the track somehow even better. There isn’t a bad one on here, though. It certainly won’t be for everyone, but if you are at all curious I cannot recommend checking it out enough! The riffing throughout is top notch, and everyone is working their asses off from start to finish. A very easy 8/10!
House of Hosts: Reckoning
The debut EP from the hard rock/alt metallers is a home run right out of the gate! This is a fantastic release from start to finish, packed full of a big riffs, arena-filling melodies and some great screams here and there. I love this new generation of bands that are inspired by the likes of Godsmack, Nonpoint and Breaking Benjamin, and I would argue this release is up there with a lot of what those bands have put out! There’s even a slight hint of Tool at times, which I love! All four tracks are amazing and highlights in their own right, picking just one or two is impossible. If you are at all into hard rock or metal, stop reading this right now and check this release out immediately, it really is that good! I’m going to be spinning this a lot in the coming weeks and months, and I can’t give it any less than 9/10. If it was a full release, it may have even gotten top marks!
Eirra: Instructions Unclear
The indie-pop songwriter put out her debut EP this weekend, and it makes for a fun, chilled-out release! It’s not typically the sort of thing I listen to, but I honestly had a blast listening to this! From the quirky electro-pop of ‘Mona Lisa’ to the more acoustic indie-folk of ‘Soho’ and ‘Somehow, Someday’, there’s a hell of a lot to love. It’s easy to see why she’s a rising star pegged for big things in the future, and as a first non-single release, this is a fantastic start! If you are into the lighter stuff, check this out, you won’t be disappointed! Throw it on and just sit back and relax and get lost in it, I know I did! A surprisingly (for me) solid 8/10 from us!
Another week and some more awesome EPs for us to check out! The perfect blend of country and metal, let’s check it out!
Fangslinger: We Are the Night
The gothic, vampire cowboys have been gathering a lot of momentum over the last nearly year since they started, and it has all culminated in this awesome five-track EP! We’re very familiar with the band at this point, and have been eagerly anticipating this release since its announcement. Heck, I have the pre-order special edition with a signed note and personal video message.
So, thank god it’s a bit good, right?! Opening on the fantastic new single before taking us on a dark-Western trip through their previous four, there certainly isn’t a bad track amongst them! Every song is as good as the last. It’s an awesome combination of Hellyeah, Avenged Sevenfold and Brantley Gilbert, and all three band members work their ass off throughout, having plenty of time to shine individually and together. It’s 21-minutes that is a must to check out for anyone into rock, country, metal, or heck, just music in general! What an incredible debut, and highlights everything that the band do so well. It feels fresh and new and innovative, yet familiar enough to get anyone doubtful into it. There’s a reason they are gathering some steam already, and this release will only push them up another level again. I can’t give it anything less than 10/10!
Sam Barber: Music for the Soul
The new EP from the breakout country star, and follow-up to 2024’s Restless Mind, is honestly a bit of a banger! It’s very current in its sound, giving off that indie/Americana edge to country music in the same vein as Wyatt Flores, Evan Honer and Zach Bryan. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty samey like the album was, but when it’s a quarter of the length it makes it a lot easier to digest. It meant that, while each song was slower, each felt like the very best of the best Sam had to offer; being packed full of epicness and emotion. Particular highlights for me are the opener/title track, ‘Same Sad Shit’ and ‘Home Tonight’. Some of the rasp in his vocal delivery at times honestly gave me goosebumps, and some of his lyrics are incredible.
It won’t be for everyone, don’t get me wrong, but I had a far better time with this than I did his album. If you’re into the general style he plays, this is well worth checking out! A solid 8/10!
Silk Spinster: Self-Titled
The UK heavy metal revivalists are another one with a debut EP this week, and another one that knocked it out of the park with their release! It’s exactly what you’d expect from the genre, a fun romp through awesome riffing, great soloing and some catchy melodies. Tracks like the title one, ‘White Lines’ and ‘Rockstar’ are all personal highlights, but there really isn’t a bad track on the EP! The band are all incredibly talented and will go insanely far if they can break into the still-booming NWOCR scene. It’s infectiously fun metal with a slight sleaze edge to it, and I’d recommend to anyone even slightly curious! Another very easy 8/10 from us!
A smaller-than-usual but still awesome week for EPs, with two awesome releases for us to check out!
Gore Force V: Tails From the Deep
This is absolutely ridiculous in the best possible way. I love a band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously, and that is never more apparent than ‘The Fish EP’. Three grindy death metal tracks about characters from Finding Nemo, what more could you possibly want? While it’s not quite my side of death metal, it’s very old-school and early Cannibal Corpse, I couldn’t not love it. There are awesome riffs throughout and some truly great screams scattered among them. The band are clearly insanely talented at what they do, and are good songwriters to boot. ‘Grinding Nemo’ was a personal highlight, though all three tracks are pretty great. No idea why it’s so horny, but I’m all for it! In a sub-genre that usually takes things a little too seriously and depressingly, this was a breath of fresh air! If you’re into that older death metal sound, I’d certainly recommend checking this out! And at only seven minutes, it’s impossible not to love! 8/10
Nastiriff: Malus
This fuzzy, hard/indie rock collection is a great, fun listen. There are so many different sounds and inspirations throughout, combining together to create something truly unique and interesting. From old-school punk and rock to modern indie, blues and alt rock, it’s a really interesting mix. Heck, there’s even some grunge and psychedelic touches to it throughout, too. Tracks like the opener, ‘Conservative’ and ‘Bang’ are all personal highlights, but that certainly doesn’t mean the other two tracks are bad by any stretch. Heck, every single one feels and sounds so different and unique, while somehow still sounding like Nastiriff. It’s impressive, and a true testament to the bands sheer talent as songwriters. It’s not going to be for everyone, but I absolutely loved this and will certainly be revisiting it again a fair bit in the coming weeks and months. It’s worth checking out no matter what you’re into, as you’ll probably love it as much as I do! It’s a solid 9/10!
We had the pleasure of sitting down to chat to the Welsh alt rock band The Now ahead of their run of shows this week. Check out the interview below!
How’s this year gone, at least after the album launch in March?
Yeah, we put the album out in March. We had a tour back then where we supported Feeder at Bristol 02 Academy and then in the hometown, in Cardiff. Well, they’re from Newport but we played in Cardiff then which is closest to that, in the Students Union. Yeah, it was incredible!
We’ve had loads of plays, across the globe really! Mainly America, which is mad for us. I think it’s the sound. The UK is falls more towards Oasis and the Stone Roses, whereas the US is a bit more of everything!
Yeah, my next question was actually going to be how would you describe your sound?
Energetic. That’s all I can think of, of how to put it into one word; energetic! Just a big arena sound!
And you guys were at Abbey Road Studios last weekend, right?
Yes, I literally just came back yesterday from there! Sunday we were recording; we recorded a cover and we did one of our own too, our most recent single release.
Anything you can tell me about what it is?
Oh yeah, we got plans! The cover is actually, I can tell you now, is ‘Pink Pony Club’ by Chapel Roan. The song was actually written about a bar in LA called The Abbey, so we decided to go for the cover but as Abbey Road! Hopefully then we can have a crossover between her fans and our fans.
Obviously the album’s not been out too long but I imagine there’s some ideas still floating around for new music?
Yeah, we’re already writing new music for a second album! We’re due to hop back into the studio to record around end of January.
Oh wow, quick turnover then!
Yep, very quick!
Are you guys wanting to focus more on the album format then? I know a few are shying away from it these days!
Yeah, I think definitely it’s coming back, vinyl has come back. It’s become a trend again so hopefully people start buying physicals again! Jump on the bandwagon!
And you guys are touring end of this week, right?
Yeah, end of this week we’ve got Newport, Liverpool, and then we’re back down Swansea. It’s only a little short spur of gigs. Then we’ve got Cardiff in December. And then Southampton in January.
Have you got quite a busy year planned for next year?
Yeah, we got a couple lined up for end of April. We’re looking forward to next year, we really are!
And what’s it like being in this Welsh scene currently? It’s packed full of amazing bands, it must be pretty cool!
Yeah it definitely is! We’ve played with Florence Black, haven’t come across Those Damn Crows yet but would be lovely to meet them. We’ve also got like BFMV and stuff like that like Buzzards Buzzard. It’s a great scene to be in right now, in Wales, for music.
Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d want to be a part of?
As a band I think we’d love to support Muse. We’ve got a similar sort of sound. Maybe have Nothing But Thieves as well also!
We sat down with the amazing Shadows of a Silhouette at their sold out show in Derby the other night. (We also reviewed it, find that here). We chatted about their set that night, their plans for the future and the local scene. Check it out below!
How would you describe your sound?
Indie’s way too broad of a statement now. Some people include themselves in indie and they’re more like… there’s this shoegaze coming about now, and everything’s being branded as indie. We’re closer to rock. We have an indie lifestyle, to a certain degree. I’d say alternative rock. We’ve got a few songs that are heavier, we’re definitely not indie pop.
We do try to make each song a bit different from what we’ve done before. We’ve got a sound, but each song is different in its own way. Our motive is to keep making songs that we can’t play, practice them until we can play them, and then essentially we’ve made something we couldn’t come up with ourselves!
We are different to other indie bands as grunge does have more of an influence on us. We don’t follow what’s trendy, we just follow our own hearts and ears. We try to make something that sounds like our lives at the time.
What’s it like to be playing two back-to-back sold out hometown shows?
Brilliant! We spoke to the guy about putting gigs on here (Blessington Carriage, Derby) again. We came here and supported Public Eye with their two shows not long ago. I think it just shows that there’s an appetite for it. A lot of people may not have heard our music but heard about us and we present ourselves in almost a grungy way. We’re authentic, let’s put it that way. We focus on being ourselves, and the fact that we’ve sold these shows out while doing our own thing is a privilege. We just want to do more!
How would you guys say the scene is, currently?
It’s been driven underground, but it’s coming back. What goes underground will one day come back to the surface.
There’s a lot of great groups in Derby at the minute. And Derby’s never had that proper scene, but it’s always had the people. Derby’s always been a city of music listeners and lovers; people from Derby will go anywhere in the world to go and see music they love. It’s not a musical city like Manchester or Sheffield. But there’s something brewing, it’s definitely developing.
It’s good to see places like The Bless starting to get back into being a venue and taking gigs on. They took a bold move. Normally management in bars these days are a bit complicit and aren’t interested in the potential of the business that they’re in. I imagine it’s hard time for a lot of pubs and venues these days, but I have a remedy for that: get your fucking bands on!
We’re at an age now where bands are so caught up in streaming numbers, but I’d sooner sell out this place two nights in a row. I still think the best way to do it is to perform live.
It’s just so tough to break out. The people who know of us, I speak to them after gigs and everything. They love our music and are really passionate about it and it’s really inspiring. For me it’s more of a case of it being so impenetrable now to reach a wider audience. You’re having to deal with booking adverts for Tesla or vacuum cleaners, everything’s advertised at the same place: your phone. On the Internet. Everyone fights for that ad space and what it does is drowns everything out. When it was done face to face it almost felt less obstructed.
I heard you were working on new music, anything you can reveal?
We’re working on our debut album! We’re playing two songs tonight that are brand new. They’re pretty much studio ready so the next step after these live shows is to start getting back in the studio and getting these songs done. Getting some single campaigns and stuff.
We’re not not clued up and we don’t have the professional ability when it comes to selling out. That is a professional ability these days, believe it or not!
But now we do have management. It’s an outfit now. Exciting times ahead. Taking things to the next level professionally, from where we are. Social media wise obviously we still need to do our bit, but we can focus more on the music.
I think people will be surprised to hear that since 2019 we’ve already got 33 songs out. We recorded them off our own backs. There aren’t many bands at this level that have close to that. We’ve had to learn a lot of lessons from that. To try and save a bit of money the first time we went to the studio we recorded eight tracks in one day!
I assume it was a conscious decision to do a few singles and then an album?
Yeah! We’ve been thinking about it for a while. What I started to notice is… a lot of them may go unnoticed because we’re bringing out a lot of singles. When people will click on one of our artworks to go to the single it’ll have the one track there. They may assume that every one is like that, as they all come up in singles, while some are EPs with six tracks on them. So we thought did we have to go back and put it into a collection, so people know it’s there? People are in a rush when they’re on their phone so if it’s not right there, they won’t see it.
But then again it is hard to grab people’s attention for an album these days. But then again, who’s making decent albums? I think we’re ready for a debut album, that’s the next step. But you only do your debut album once, so we want to take our time with it!
And have you got a pretty busy rest of the year?
Festival season is coming up so we’re waiting to hear about some of that. We’ve been shortlisted for Truck Festival which is cool.
We want to see what we’re capable of at the minute with our live shows. There’s no use waiting for promoters to come to you. You’re better off building an audience. Now we have a professional involved and she’s gonna put it together for us. We know the places we want to play, we know what we’re capable of, but what we’ve neglected before is the social media side of it; getting the event known. But we’ve got s great photographer and all. And a great graphic designer. We’re building a team around us, and it’s what every band needs! It’s bringing our vision to life! We’re professional musicians, but we’re not necessarily professional beings!
The Alchemy are back with their third album this week. I have to admit, outside of the name and the stuff I’ve found on Spotify, I have absolutely no idea what to expect here. But hey, going in blind is always fun, right? Let’s dive right in!
A HUGE sound opens ‘Birdsong’, the high production value being evident immediately. It’s a wall of sound that builds perfectly but doesn’t at all feel too overpowered like it can tend to. We head into a stripped-back verse, the vocals sounding perfectly over the top of the simple drums and bass. The chorus soon comes in, another awesome riff behind it, the drums fitting perfectly behind it, and the vocals being infectiously catchy. The backing vocals are awesome and main riff is a real earworm. It feels very Lower than Atlantis in the best ways. The bridge is simple yet effective, dropping down and building up to a huge final chorus. It’s a fantastic way to open the album and introduce themselves to new listeners!
‘Lovesick’ continues the epic feel and sound and production, as well as another awesome main riff. It follows a similar formula to the previous track, a stripped back verse leading into a huge, arena-filling chorus. Again, the vocal harmonies and multi-track are a big highlight. Also, the slightly heavier approach to the bridge was great. If it had quietened down at first, it could have almost been a breakdown! It’s a really great track and easily makes it onto our playlist!
The album slows up a bit for its title track, it having more of an electronic, almost You Me At Six feel. The emphasis shifts from the big crunchy riffs and even more onto the insanely catchy vocals. It feels a bit more pop/indie than the previous stuff. It’s not quite as much my sort of thing, but it’s still a banging, very catchy song!
The same could be said for ‘True Love’s a Waste of Time’, ‘Real Life’ and ‘Sun Bleached’. It’s kind of a tale of two halves, as there are heavier tracks and riffs later on like the amazing ‘Brothers’ and the dark, closer ‘Hollywood’. Both tracks are amazing and real highlights of the album for me personally. It’s really interesting to bookend the album with the bigger sounds and riffs, leaving the poppier, more indie stuff in the middle. It’s really interesting and well put together honestly, and I feel like I’ve taken a journey listening to it through.
Also on the album is single and acoustic ballad, ‘Summer’. It gives me early 2000’s vibes, very Incubus, 311 or even Everlast. It’s a beautiful and incredibly well written song. The vocals are pitch-perfect and full of emotion, and the simple instrumentation behind it is amazing. And the band still manage to squeeze in some of their off-the-charts vocal harmonies, making it all somehow even better. This is not only one of the best tracks on the album, but easily one of the best ballads of the year I’ve heard. Fucking awesome stuff.
‘Normal People’ returns the band to the higher pace rock vibe, and it can’t be just me that hears U2 a lot in here? Between the huge sound, the style of guitaring and the vocal melodies, it really reminded my of Bono and co. Surprisingly enough too, I’m not particularly a U2 fan but I LOVED this. It’s the biggest, most radio-friendly chorus on the album, and the ‘woh’s following the guitar melody is a genius idea. And the bridge, while simple, is amazingly effective and still pretty heavy. Another track that easily makes its way onto our playlist!
Finally, ‘Glass Houses’ has a very early 2000s Red Hot Chili Peppers feel to it. It has elements of rock, funk and indie all mushed together, and it’s a really interesting sound. It’s another simple yet incredibly effective track too. The chorus is awesome, and that riff that kicks in after the choruses are heavy. It’s a lot of fun and another track I’d highly recommend listening to.
Overall: This is an awesome album! I had no idea what to expect heading into it, but I’m hugely impressed by what I found. The production throughout is top notch and the songwriting and playing is phenomenal. Sure, there were a couple of tracks that didn’t resonate with me as much as the others, but there is a LOT I love on this album. And, as a whole as I’ve said already, it’s incredibly well put together. These guys have hit their stride with this album, and I can see it pushing them far!
The indie rock superstar Sam Roberts and his band are back with their eighth studio album, released just yesterday! The first since the depths of Covid, I’m excited to check it out and see how he’s developed since then! Join me in taking a look!
The opening track gets right into the indie/blues rock with a great riff, soon following up with some great vocals over the top. It has a chilled out, bounce vibe to it, and is fun right from the get go. The harmonies in the choruses add another fun layer to it all and make it even catchier. It’s a simple yet awesome track, and a fantastic way to open the album!
‘I Dream of You’ opens a little slower, the bending guitar notes reminding me a little more of punk than anything else. However, it’s still distinctly indie, having a modern US sound to it this time, akin to Hozier or The Lumineers. The first half is a fantastic slow-build, adding more and more emphasis with every passing part, the vocals doing a great job at slowly adding power too. It’s another great, chilled out track, and one that easily makes our playlist!
‘Projection’ is another steady, acoustic-tinged indie number. A simple, rather beautiful verse leads to a bigger, hugely catchy chorus. It’s one of my favourite on the album and I can see it filling out anything from small, dark, dingy bars to massive arenas around the world. It is all so simple yet so very effective. It’s the most recent single off the album and has all the tools to be massive on mainstream radio stations. Another huge highlight of the album and another to make the playlist.
The pace slows with ‘Cascades’, it being a piano lead number. Still, the almost surfer-rock effect on the guitar in the back works perfectly, somehow still keeping a slightly upbeat feel to it all. It once again builds into a fantastic, this time mostly-instrumental chorus. The strings come in and add another beautiful layer to it all. It makes it all feel that little bit more epic, and honestly it all feels huge. It’s a truly beautiful, emotion-filled song, and the third in a row to make the playlist. I have to see this live. Wow, what a track!
Singles ‘Picture of Love’ and ‘Afterlife’ are two more great, chilled out tracks. However, I have to admit it was at this point I was starting to feel it a little. As much as I’m enjoying the tracks, I’m typically not the biggest indie fan in the world, and listening to an album straight through, front to back, and analysing it in depth, I started to get a tad bored. The latter track at least had elements of funk to it, or at least the darker, slower RHCPs stuff. However, I was starting to really strain my attention span at this point. I really enjoyed the two songs and would happily listen to them again if they came on, but finding things to talk about with them when a lot of the album is very similar is becoming rather difficult!
Pretty much the same could be said for the final three tracks on the album. ‘Everybody Needs Love’ is a very stripped back acoustic number similar to ‘Cascades’. Meanwhile ‘Bad Country’ has a slightly more country/rock feel to it. And the closing track is another slow build to an epic indie chorus. All three are good tracks, but outside of the middle one none particularly stand out from the others on the album enough for me to dive into. Having said that, that HUGE chorus around the two minute mark of ‘If Only’ is amazing, and should have been the closing part of the track. It was massive and epic and the final chorus doesn’t quite go as hard as that does.
Overall: This is a damn fun album. As stated before, I’m not the hugest fan of indie music, but I really enjoyed this. Every track was great and it’s the perfect music to throw on and chill out to. There were fun tracks and songs filled with emotion, and the album was pieced together masterfully. If you are into this sort of sound, you’ll love this.
A quietish week for New Music Mondays this week, with only six albums for us to check out. Still though, they’re all awesome, so join us in taking a listen!
Sevendust: Truth Killer
It’s rare to hear an older band so heavily inspired by a newer one. However, right from the first few seconds of ‘I Let the Devil In’, I was getting heavy Sleep Token vibes. The slow build into heaviness was a great way to open the album, but it caught me off guard given the tracks I know from Sevendust until this point. The lead single and title track is a little more what I was expecting and hoping for, with some big, chunky riffs and a huge, nu metal style chorus.
There continues to be a modern influence throughout a lot of the album, working to various degrees. ‘Won’t Stop the Bleeding’ is a great example of it working exceptionally, and is a massive highlight of the album. The slower ‘Leave Hell Behind’ is another big highlight! It isn’t just Sleep Token either, tracks like ‘No Revolution’ have a slight Spiritbox air to it. It’s a fun direction for the band to go. I enjoyed it quite a bit and it still definitely sounds like Sevendust. However, I’d be curious to hear how some of the older, more diehard fans feel about it! It gets a 7.5/10 from me!
Brad: In the Moment that You’re Born
The Seattle alt rock collective return with their sixth album, and first in over a decade. It is the bands final album, featuring tracks that the band had been working on before the passing of their vocalist Shawn Smith in 2019. It admittedly makes it a creepy yet fascinating and sad/proud listen.
I have to admit, a lot of it isn’t my sort of thing. It’s a little too Porcupine Tree for me. However, I can definitely appreciate the hell out of what they are doing. They are clearly all talented and massively good songwriters. Plus, tracks like ‘Straight to the Hoop’, ‘Star n You’ and ‘Without Guns’ are big highlights for me personally. It’s a really cohesive album which surprisingly didn’t bore for a second. It’s such a shame this is the last we’ll hear of the band, but they certainly went out with a bang! 8/10
From Ashes to New: Blackout
More nu metal, except this time more like the later years of the first wave, like Papa Roach. Lots of big riffs, rapping vocals and huge choruses. It’s like how I’m sure a lot of people wished Hollywood Undead stayed like, and even has an air of early Linkin Park to it. I’m loving all this new music that is bringing a rapping element back to metal. From Falling in Reverse to bands like Stray from the Path, it’s some of the more exciting new music around these days, in my opinion.
It’s hard not to find the singles as the highlights of the album. Opening on three of them was a great choice while arguably the two best ones are saved for later. Until We Break featuring Matty Mullins is such an incredible track and maybe my favourite on the album.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s not saying the album tracks are bad. However, there is a distinct pop feel to a lot of the album tracks, the edge and heaviness isn’t as present through a lot of them. They’re good tracks, but I prefer the more heavier stuff. Plus, while they are slightly different, there is a lot of similar sounding stuff on this album. It’s a lot of the same. While it’s a lot of fun, I don’t think it’s an album I’d listen to in full all that much. Still though, if you like nu metal, check this out, you won’t be disappointed! 8.5/10
Susto: My Entire Life
This indie/folk/pop rock band put out their fifth album last week. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. I went into this thinking it’d be a big too indie and stripped-back for my tastes, especially after checking out a single or two. However, there’s a punk twang to it that reminds me ever so slightly of Velvet Revolver. Heck, some of the slower ones, like ‘Mt. Caroline’, felt like the perfect blend of Dire Straits and Matchbox Twenty.
There are so many different styles and sounds throughout that I didn’t get bored at all, the album going by in a flash on my first listen. It also made it near impossible to pick a highlight track or two. The whole album is great and deserves a listen in full. It’s the perfect album to chill out to, and the band have a new fan in me! 8.5/10
Girlschool: WTFortyfive?
The band famous for being Lemmy’s favourites, underrated NWOBHM powerhouses Girlschool are back with their first new album in eight years. Honestly, outside of seeing them at a HRH a few years ago, I haven’t paid much attention to the band aside for their few big songs. However, I really enjoyed this album. It was darker and heavier than their earlier stuff, which resonated a lot more with me. Tracks like the opener, ‘Cold Dark Heart’ and ‘Are You Ready?’ featuring the awesome Joe Stump are all personal highlights. Also, the closing cover of the iconic ‘Born to Raise Hell’ featuring Saxon’s Biff Byford, Duff McKagen and the man himself, Phil Campbell, was fucking awesome.
It wasn’t all positive. Tracks like ‘Invisible Killer’ and ‘Barmy Army’ were not only more of their older style, but were pretty cringy from a lyrical standpoint. Still, overall the album is a fun one that will hopefully please both older and new fans alike. It’s worth a listen if you’re into 70s metal at all! 7.5/10
Arch Blade: Kill the Witch
The debut album of the new heavy metal band is a 45+ minute arrival statement. For anyone who’s into traditional heavy metal or thrash, this one is most certainly for you. Big, quick riffs and drumming, high, powerful vocals and plenty of catchiness, this is definitely a 70s/80s metal album. It takes a lot of inspiration from Painkiller from the sounds of things, which is fine by me as it’s one of my favourite albums of all time. Tracks like ‘Nightbreed’, the slower ‘Queen of the Damned’ and both the albums opener and title tracks are all massive highlights.
My only slight issue with the album is really just some of the production. The vocal mixing is odd, and generally the album sounds compressed instead of the massive sound I was expecting/hoping for. Still though, as a collection of tracks it’s awesome and well worth checking out. It’s a fantastic debut album and the band are certainly ones to keep an eye on! 9/10
