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Reviews

New Music Mondays: All Time Low, Theory of a Deadman and More!

A slightly slower week for new music, but that doesn’t at all mean the quality is lower! Check out this weeks new albums with us!

All Time Low: Tell Me I’m Alive

For those old-school fans who just got excited from seeing the name, calm down just a little. Don’t go into this expecting to hear ‘Weightless’ or ‘Dear Maria’. It’s more like Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance or even Twenty One Pilots. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not awesome.

The album’s opener and title track sets the tone perfectly, dark yet infectiously catchy and melodic. ‘Are You There?’ is probably the closest to their old sound, a fun pop-punk track filled with chunky guitar chords and a higher tempo. ‘Kill Ur Vibe’ also has a similar feel. Meanwhile ‘Calm Down’ is a great ballad. These weren’t the only good tracks on the album as I honestly liked so many of them. It felt different, a combination of a modern indie sound with a sprinkling of their heavy punk roots. My only ever so slight issue is that it maybe went on a tad too long. I found myself drained when trying to listen to it all the way through at once, it’s a lot of similar stuff. Still, 8.5/10, this was great!

Theory of a Deadman: Dinosaur

A band I was a big fan of in my teen years, I dropped off pretty hard with the release of Wake up Call in 2017. Their last two albums haven’t been my sort of thing at all. However, thank god, this gets the band back on track in a big way.

The album’s title and opening track is a little darker than their earlier more light hearted stuff, but is at least a straight up rock track and is massively catchy. ‘Medusa’ is an amazing slower rock track and a huge highlight. Tracks like ‘Get in Line’ and the country-ish ‘Head in the Clouds’ were also awesome.

It’s not all amazing. Their ‘Two of Us’ rendition was more cringy than anything else. And while the heaviness and riffs for ‘Ambulance’ was good, the lyrics and vocal melody had the same effect as the aforementioned track. ‘Hearts too Wild’ is also infuriating since there should be an apostrophe there. But that’s just my analness.

Overall, there’s more good than bad. It’s a fun collection of songs that bring the band closer towards their rocky roots again. A few tracks made our playlist and I’ll be listening to it a fair bit going forward, I’m sure. 7.5/10

Kamelot: The Awakening

We’ve already reviewed this power metal awesomeness. Check it out here.

Chelsea Grin: Suffer in Heaven

The second part of the band’s two part Suffer series, we gave Suffer in Hell a 7.5/10 (find here). Does part two live up to that standard?

Well, it’s certainly just as heavy. It’s the king of music I feel like I’d appreciate live more than on track, where I can bounce around and feel the heaviness and emotion. However, there are still elements and tracks here that I love. ‘Orc March’ in particular is incredible, showing plenty of layers and dynamics when featuring Filth. And it feels the most modern deathcore track on the album, drawing clear inspiration from Lorna Shore’s ‘To The Hellfire’ with the outro. ‘The Mind of God’ is also SUPER heavy and I love it.

Overall, while some of it isn’t quite my thing, it’s a damn good part two to the pair of albums. It’s insanely heavy at times, and while it doesn’t ease up really at all, it’s only eight tracks and under half an hour so never felt like a slog. Another 7.5/10 from me!

Pop Evil: Skeletons

Another band that I’ve loved from my teen years, it’s insane that Pop Evil are on album six. It makes me feel old.

The album itself it’s pretty great too. It’s a little heavier than I was expecting, with a few growls and breakdown riffs sprinkled in for good measure. Still though, there’s enough radio-friendly, stadium filling melodies and huge choruses to keep everyone happy. It almost reminds me of a lighter, hard rock version of something like Sempiternal; heaviness contrasting perfectly with pop melodies. Tracks like ‘Eye of the Storm’, ballad ‘Worth it’ and the heavy, Fit For A King featuring ‘Dead Reckoning’ are all massive highlights of the album.

I’m loving this heavier slant the band have taken in recent years, and the guests added perfectly to that. Some of the tracks are up there with my favourites from the band, so anything less than a 8.5/10 would be insane!

The Answer: Sundowners

We treated you this week with a second big review, this time of Irish hard rockers The Answer. Read it here!

John Diva & The Rockets of Love: The Big Easy

The band have come out of nowhere in recent years, this being their third and in only four years. They are very much a throwback to the sleazy LA strip of the 80s, be it Bon Jovi, Whitesnake or Night Ranger. It also reminded me a LOT of E’Nuff Z’Nuff, it has a similar stomping rhythm and huge, harmony filled choruses. Tracks like the title one, ‘Runaway Train’ and ‘Boys Don’t Play with Dolls’ are all amazing and big highlights. However, the whole album is great, there isn’t a bad track on it.

Much like the Trench Dogs album a few weeks ago, this is an amazing slower, punkier sleaze album. It’ll be staying in heavy rotation for me, I’m sure! 8/10

Doug Paisley: Say What You Like

Finishing off this week on some country, the Canadian’s sixth full-length album is a fun one. It’s pretty simple and stripped-back, being little more than some clean guitars, simple drums and bass and Doug’s great vocals. It really highlights his strengths and man, this feels like a ‘proper’ country album. It’s something I could hear Hank Jr and that generation putting out. It’s chilled out and a really relaxing album to listen to. ‘Wide Open Plain’ was my favourite, but honestly if you like country or more lighter stuff, I’d recommend the entire album in a heartbeat. And at only 40-minutes in length, it’s not too long for a country album too! 8/10

Reviews

The Awakening: A Bold Return Album from Kamelot!

It’s rare seeing an American power metal band. Tampa isn’t the sort of place you’d associate with the epic norse/medieval feel of the genre. However, Kamelot have been towards the top of the pack in the genre for decades. Having released their 13th album on Friday, we’ve had this for a few days and have definitely had it cranked out loud throughout the office. Check out what we thought!

After a brief orchestral intro track the album explodes into power metal life with a huge riff to open ‘The Great Divide’. It’s a huge sound and riff but it eases off a little for the verses. It was a good touch as the orchestral elements filled out the sound perfect. It builds to a huge chorus, catchy melodies from just about every instrument and vocal going on throughout it. We get an amazing guitar solo after the second chorus. My only issue is that it was too short, I’d have happily had it run twice as long. Then a huge double chorus takes us home. This was a good track and a perfect album opener for fans not as familiar with the band. It was a standard structure and formula and set the stage well.

‘Eventide’ is more of the same, a heavy riff packed full of great strings and bass drum work. Soaring vocals through the choruses and another great guitar solo are more highlights of the track. Meanwhile ‘One more Flag in the Ground’ opens on an almost Egyptian feel with the guitar chord progression and vocals. The vocal runs through the intro riff also reminded me a little of Iron Maiden’s more recent work. The verse also reminds me a bit of some of Dream Theater’s heavier stuff, it had big ‘Panic Attack’ vibes. The chorus is catchy and the lyrics were pretty fun and uplifting. The heavier bridge was also a lot of fun, a highlight of the track, as was the insane outro solo. It’s an amazing song and easily makes our playlist!

Check out more power metal here.

The longest track on the album, ‘Opus of the Night Ghost’, teases a slower open before immediately slapping the listener with another heavy, similar-tempoed riff. The Dream Theater vibes are back, but the vocal melody throughout felt pretty Muse-y; the high notes were impressive. It dropping down to the orchestral elements and drums for the bridge was fun, building back up through a fantastic violin and guitar solo. The slower, piano led outro was nice, too.

Said outro lead very nicely into the slower, very medieval sounding intro to ‘Midsummer’s Eve’. It was nice to hear a bit of variety as Tommy Karevik sounds amazing over the top of the beautiful piano and strings. It stays as a simple, beautiful ballad throughout too, which was a great choice, especially for around the midpoint of the album. It’s the perfect, emotional slower track for a power metal band. Great stuff.

The pace picks back up with ‘Bloodmoon’, but the acoustic guitar and strings to open was a nice, fresh touch. It’s a catchy song and one of my favourite on the album. However, much like ‘NightSky’, ‘The Looking Glass’ and ‘New Babylon’, it’s simply straight up, slightly-formulaic power metal. There’s nothing wrong with that, with the latter track being awesome and a massive highlight of the album. It’s simply hard to write about a lot of similar songs.

‘Willow’ is another beautiful piano led ballad. The vocals again fit so well over the piano, giving off big Matt Bellemy vibes. The strings added so much depth and beauty to the track too, complimenting everything perfectly. The rest of the band coming in from the second chorus was a fantastic choice too, the heaviness coming in but not overpowering the emotion. Heck, even the solo complimented it, feeling very Slash. It’s another great track.

The final full track on the album, ‘My Pantheon’, feels like a real culmination of everything that’s come before it. A slow piano intro, a huge, heavy riff, plenty of symphonic and string elements, it draws everything together perfectly. It’s also one of the best, catchiest choruses on the album. Plus, the harsh vocals in the bridge were amazing, and I wish we’d got them more throughout the album. Then we get taken home by a beautiful orchestral outro track, ‘Ephemera’.

Overall: This was pretty great. While it didn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel, it was a fun, very well written power/symphonic metal album. There are a number of standout tracks, from heavy anthems to ballads, and there isn’t a bad song among them! I’ll definitely be listening to this album a fair bit over the coming months.

The Score: 7.5/10

Reviews

Sundowners: Will The Answer Return Bigger Than Ever?

This is a bit of a childhood dream for me. Having discovered The Answer when Revival came out back in 2011 (I was just 13) I have been a pretty big fan ever since. Heck, ‘Trouble’ still gets regular love from me on my Spotify and remains one of my favourite songs ever. So for the band to not only return with their first album in nearly seven years, but to be sent it early to review, is rather surreal for me. I shan’t waste anymore of anyone’s time, let’s do this!

The album’s opener and title track builds things perfectly, a harmonica and some slide guitar ringing through. The drums and bass build on the sound more before Cormac’s vocals add yet another level of build. It isn’t until the chorus that the track finally explodes with some big guitar chords and cymbal crashes. And even then, it’s brief before dropping back down again. Interestingly it stays pretty stripped-back for most of the track. Heck, at one point in the middle it even takes a sharp turn into Led Zep territory, with Cormac’s ‘woh’s sounding very Plant over the bass and drums. It does get pretty big by the final chorus and outro, but still maintains the same gritty feel throughout. As good as the track is, I feel like it’d be even better live, opening the set and building into a huge second song.

It does just that too, as ‘Blood Brother’ opens on a great, heavy blues riff. It continues through the verse, Cormac’s voice fitting perfectly over the top. The subtle claps and cowbell were a nice touch, too! It again builds to a huge chorus, though every part of the vocals were catchy, the melody being amazing throughout. An awesome guitar solo follows the second chorus, breaking things up briefly and well. The track screams single (which is good given that it’s the lead one). A simple formula, consistent steady tempo and not too much change, just a straight up, catchy rock song. Great stuff and easily playlisted!

Check out a similar album here.

‘California Rust’ opens on some powerful vocals and another great blues guitar riff. The rest of the band come in for the second half of the chorus, building through the pre into a huge, stadium-filling chorus. This is the Answer I love from my teen years. From the catchy melody to the keys adding massive amounts of depth to the sound, it was awesome. A short but very effective guitar solo gives way to a great bridge with some very effective gang vocals, giving off an almost gospel feel. Then another huge chorus takes us home in style. This was excellent, and the second straight song to make our playlist.

The huge riffs keep coming as single ‘Want You to Love Me’ slaps you in the face with one immediately. The chorus is an interesting one too, the riff having some interesting timings and spaces in it. The vocals fit in the gaps well, though, maintaining a fun melody. The bridge is great, more gang vocals and Robert Plant style highs building it up simply and perfectly into a final chorus. It’s all (nicely) basic folky blues stuff, but it’s done to perfection every time. I love this band so much, they’re some of the best songwriters around in the genre.

‘Oh Cherry’ has a bit more of a surfer feel to its riff and verses, a nice change of pace. The chorus is still big and catchy, much like the others, but it stays a little stripped back for the most part. Then we get the ballad of the album, the beautiful ‘No Salvation’. A great guitar chord progression under some low vocals with Comac’s trademark rasp. It honestly gives off Rod Stewart vibes in the best way. It stays steady throughout, adding in some great harmonies and backing vocals for the choruses. The guitar solo is my favourite on the album too, it fitting perfectly with the feel of the track. I loved everything about this. Playlisted.

‘Cold Heart’ is another stripped back blues track, a steady romp filled with some awesome guitaring and vocals. The same could be said for ‘All Together’ and ‘Livin’ on the Line’. All are great tracks but felt similar to a lot of the others, so I didn’t have much to talk about. Heck, ‘Get Back on It’ followed the same formula but was so stompy and simple that it felt different. It was another highlight track of the album, a steady beat and some sludgy riffing behind some great vocals.

Album closer ‘Almost Alright’ is another slower one, this time having more of a country feel to it. Some beautiful clean guitaring and a simple beat form the backdrop for the low, slow vocals. The chorus was catchy as hell, especially with all the multiple layers of vocals, it sounded so good. It was a beautiful love ballad, and considering I usually dislike slow tracks closing an album, this felt massively fitting and worked incredibly well. What a fantastic way to close out a fantastic album.

Overall: This was awesome. What a return from a band that have been gone far too long! There isn’t a bad track on the album and it’s arranged perfectly. I listened to it through twice while doing this review and didn’t get bored for a second. How they’re not massive I’ll never know as they are so ridiculously talented at songwriting. I’m going to have to see them live soon as this would all be amazing.

The Score: 9/10

Reviews

New Music Mondays: Periphery, Suicide Silence and More!

Another big week for new music, with plenty of metal and country for us to dive into!

Periphery: Periphery V: Djent is Not a Genre

…It’s a state of mind. The godfathers of Djent denouncing their own identifier was a bold move, but it has definitely gotten people talking so has clearly paid off. They’re a band that have always lay on the… well… periphery of my listening; I have friends who are big fans (guitarists, no surprise there) but I haven’t ever found something to get me into them personally.

I have to admit, some of this came close to changing my mind. While ‘Wildfire’ didn’t do a whole lot for me, ‘Atropos’ was kinda great. The dynamics in the track were a lot of fun and kept it constantly interesting and building. I’m also one of the seemingly few people who love Spencer Sotelo’s vocals so tracks like ‘Wax Wings’ and ‘Thanks Nobuo’. Heck, I know a lot of die-hard fans are complaining back ‘Silhouette’, but honestly it was one of my favourite tracks on the album. It felt like an uplifting Linkin Park-style track, and it was beautiful.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all for me. There were definitely tracks that simply didn’t do anything to keep me interested or entertained. However, this was definitely the most I’ve found myself enjoying Periphery. 7.5/10

Suicide Silence: Remember… You Must Die

Last year’s deathcore revival seems to be continuing head at full steam into this year, and genre OGs Suicide Silence carry their torch close to their chest still with this amazing offering. The aggression, speed and heaviness of their early albums is just as prevalent here as they deliver 40-minutes of pure anger. ‘Capable of Violence’ is my favourite on the album, packed full of brutal riffs and screams. However, tracks like ‘Kill Forever’ and ‘Alter of Self’ are also amazing tracks.

Considering I’m still dipping my toes into the super heavy stuff, I really enjoyed this. I need to go back and give their older stuff another listen! 8/10

Meet Me @ the Alter: Past // Present // Future

The most bubblegum pop-punk to ever be. In fact, punk is an overestimation. It’s generic pop rock; think old Avril or whatever MGK and that ilk are putting out on mainstream radio these days.

It’s fine. For the genre being played there is nothing wrong with it, they’re good at writing and playing it. It’s just such a bland, overplayed, overproduced style of music that it bored me to tears. I hate the over pronunciation of the ‘pop-punk voice’ throughout, and honestly the lyrics for tracks like ‘Kool’, ‘Need Me’ and ‘It’s Over for Me’ made me cringe almost out of my skin.

Look, if you like this, that’s all good. I’m sure there are more than a few people out there who thing this is the best thing since sliced bread. As I said before, the band themselves are all talented. The style itself now just bores the fuck out of me. And just watch the video below, it’s so very cringe. 2.5/10

Nanowar of Steel: Dislike to False Metal

We’ve already covered this awesome album. Find our full review here!

The Cold Stares: Voices

The sixth album by the hard rock Indiana natives is full of chunky, swaggering blues riffs and lots of catchy vocals. Opener ‘Nothing But the Blues’ is a fantastic track and the perfect way to introduce anyone to the band. ‘Lights Out’ is a riff-filled belter. Tracks like ‘It’s Heavy’ and the title one are massive highlights too. However, don’t let that take away from the rest of the album. There isn’t a bad track on it, and it’s arranged perfectly too. I listened to it all through in one sitting and it didn’t at all feel like 13 tracks at nearly 45-minutes. It’s some of the best blues I’ve heard in so long. 9/10

Matt Andersen: The Big Bottle of Joy

Country-soul-blues boy Matt Andersen is back with his ninth studio album. I fucking love it. Regardless of the lyrical content, music like this just puts a smile on my face. From the bluesy riffs to the keys/organ filling out the sound to the gospel choir call-and-response vocals, it’s all so good. GET IT IN MY VEINS. It’s clear how talented Matt is as a songwriter and player too, as the songs are masterfully crafted and his blues guitar solos are phenomenal. The rest of the band are up there too in terms of talent, with everyone playing their parts perfectly.

Tracks like ‘Let it Slide’, ‘What’s on my Mind’ and ‘Aurora’ are massive highlights of an album full of them. If you’re into the slower, more relaxed stuff this is definitely for you. I’m going to be having this on a lot over the coming months, whenever I want something easy listening on. 8.5/10

Otherwise: Gawdzillionaire

This slab of hard rock has so many different elements blended together. A basis of early 2000s radio rock (think Shinedown or Shaman’s Harvest) but with some more attitude, a splash of hip-hop influence and even a touch of Imagine Dragons. Opener and lead single ‘Full Disclosure’ is clear highlight of the album, and a very good choice of placement. Tracks like ‘New Way to Hate’, ‘Hollywood Minute’ and the title track are all amazing too. The latter in particular featuring rapper Ekoh was a great blend of genres that will do well in the current rock climate.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not perfect. The same formula throughout got a little boring after the title track. They did slow down a little in a couple of tracks in the back end of the album, but said tracks ended up sounding more like modern day MGK or You Me At Six which didn’t didn’t do much for me. And, for whatever reason, a few tracks just felt like they were missing something. I know that sounds super vague and hypocritical being a musician myself and not being able to be specific, but I can’t put my finger on it at all. A few of the tracks just lack that ‘it’ that the singles do.

However, overall, there is still a lot more positives than negatives. It’s insane that this is the band’s sixth album and this is the first I’m hearing of them. They definitely have a new fan in me! 8/10

Isole: Anesidora

The Swedish band are described as ‘epic doom metal’ which has to be one of the coolest things ever. The description is pretty apt, too. Sounding like a mixture of Celtic Frost and Dream Theater, it was definitely epic and doomy. Due to the style, it’s hard to pick a highlight track or two from the album. Especially at only seven tracks and over 45-minutes. But it feels more like an experience, something you should shut yourself in a dark room and sit down and just listen to through from start to finish. So, that was exactly what I did, and it was excellent. These guys are at the top of their game from a technical and songwriting standpoint, and my god would I loved to see this whole album live. 7.5/10

The War And Treaty: Lover’s Game

The blues/country rock husband and wife duo released their fourth album this last Friday. It opens very strong on ‘Lover’s Game’, a fantastic up-tempo blues number. It slows up for a bit after. If fact, it never really picks up to the same pace again. Not that that’s an issue. Both Michael and Tanya have some of the best voices in the entire business at the minute, and it’s on full display on tracks like ‘That’s How Love is Made’ and ‘Dumb Luck’. It’s mighty impressive, and so great to listen to.

Having said that, as phenomenal as the rest of the album is from a vocal and songwriting standpoint, it would have been nice to have more of a rock track in amongst the other nine songs. I still loved it and marvelled at the soulfulness of it all, but I’m a sucker for a good up-tempo blues number, as seen in my Matt Andersen review! 8/10, but a rock song would have put it much higher!

For the Fallen Dreams: Self-Titled

Somehow this metalcore band have put out seven albums and been completely off my radar until now. It’s a shame too, as these guys are fantastic. From the heavy opener of ‘RE-Animate’ to slower tracks like ‘Without You’, it’s got plenty of great tracks and variety. There’s also a hip-hop element to tracks like ‘What If’ and ‘Testify’, adding a great element to it and sounding a little Linkin Park at times.

It’s another solid album without a bad track on it and plenty of highlights, including the tracks mentioned above and the wonderfully heavy ‘Sulfate’. It’s a very modern metalcore sound, reminding me a lot of Bad Omens or Patient Sixty-Seven. 7.5/10, good stuff!

Reviews

Dislike to False Metal: Have Nanowar Of Steel Become Major Players in Metal?

Nanowar of Steel have seemingly exploded onto the international scene over the last couple of years, thanks in large part to their partnership with Napalm Records, but also due to their amazing songwriting and quick wits. Comedy in metal is such a thin line to walk but this band have been doing it to perfection recently. I’ve loved their singles so far so when we got sent the album, I had to check it out!

Album opener ‘Sober’ sets the tone of the album perfectly. It’s a fun, heavy sea shanty packed full of cleverly written lyrics and some surprisingly awesome instrumentation. As Mohamed pointed out in our interview (check it out here) the backing music isn’t necessarily as important as the lyrics are in comedy music. However, the band are just as talented as any other power metal band out there today as far as guitars and drums are concerned. The track fits in perfectly with their back catalogue, a fun romp that takes itself equal amounts seriously and not at all. It easily makes our playlist!

The second track features Madeleine Liljenstam of dark symphonic metal band Eleine. It dives straight into a more epic, power metal feel, staying heavy and massive throughout. It has a more serious feel to it than the previous track, and could easily be considered a full on symphonic metal track if it wasn’t for the lyrics. Madeleine’s vocals fit in perfectly and she adds an awful lot to the track. It’s just a great, straight up metal track.

Next up is a single, the infectious awesomeness of ‘Disco Metal’. I’ve had this track firmly lodged in my head and ears since it was released and thought I’d just about escaped it. Now that I’ve heard it again, I fear it’ll be there forever. Disco and metal mix surprisingly and incredibly well, as evidenced by Tragedy and Lordi’s Superflytrap. Now Nanowar of Steel have thrown their hats into the ring and upped the ante even more. My only slight complaint is that the autotune on the higher vocals took a little getting used to. Still, it’s a phenomenal track and easily makes the playlist!

‘Muscle Memory’ is the first slower track on the album. The clean guitar chords to open with the powerful vocals was awesome, as was building up through the vocal harmonies. The chorus is huge, massive guitar chords and vocal melodies that would fill out a stadium with ease. It reminds me of ‘And Then I Noticed That She was a Gargoyle’, and also any of the slower Guns N’Roses tracks blended together. The guitar solo is fantastic and confirms my suspicions, being very Slash. The whole track is amazing and so catchy. And of course it goes without saying that the lyrics are incredible.

One of my two favourite track titles is up next (I’ll let you work out the other one). ‘Chupacabra Cadabra’ is also a proggy, folky, heavy masterpiece. From the ‘Painkiller’ tribute to open to the fantastic, uplifting horns, the track starts strong. It sounds very… well… Italian folk metal, and in the best way! I loved the multiple languages throughout, especially when it came to the spoken work parts near the middle. It all built perfectly in the first 4:20 to an almost Tool-like climax, dropping down to acoustic guitars and a great, western-style whistle. This part ALSO builds perfectly into a great spoken few lines that got a pretty big laugh out of me.

The rest of the track continues as the first part did, finishing off the epic tale. I absolutely LOVED this. From the style to the progressive nature to the frankly ridiculous lyrics, it was the perfect track. Man, I hope we get a video for the track, it’d be excellent. Playlisted.

Next up is another single, this one featuring the legendary Joakim Brodén. Of course this was the most power metal track on the album, but it fit perfectly with Joakim’s vocals and style. And, to have a track so heavy and serious sounding be about the world cup finals nearly three decades is hilarious. Especially with them playing the commentary from the game in the bridge. It’s a damn good song and another huge highlight of the album.

‘Metal Boomer Battalion’ and album closer ‘The Power of Imodium’ are two more straight up power metal bangers. Both have some great comedic lyrics throughout and the latter has a fun, clear tribute horn line that fit surprisingly well. However, it is the two tracks between them that stood out the most.

The fantastically titled ‘Dimmu Boogie’ is a swing rock track that definitely does make you want to boogie! The simple blues lines, call-and-response vocals and the jazzy horns all came together perfectly to make one of the funnest tracks on the album. The guitar solo is maybe my favourite on the album too, it fits so well with everything and the technicality is amazing. I honestly can’t get over how infectiously catchy that horn melody is. It’s so good. Playlisted!

Then, ‘Protocols (of the Elders of Zion) of Love’ is another slower track, this one a clear love ballad. It’s somehow a combination of Bon Jovi and a boy band (not that I’m sure there are those out there thinking they’re the same thing). Heck, I can even hear some Michael Starr in the vocals, both the melody and delivery. It’s cheesy in the best possible way and it’s another track I love. It is so catchy vocally and so simple instrumentally. It’s a pop song and it somehow fits so well on a power metal album. Somehow again, playlisted!

Overall: This was brilliant. The blend of comedy and actually innovative (for metal) was brilliant. I actually found myself enjoying the weirder, less metal tracks than the straight-up power metal just because of how refreshing it sounded and how well written it all was. Everything about this album was amazing, and it’s definitely going to be up there among the albums of the year come December!

The Score: 9/10

Interviews & Features, Reviews

Eddie & the Wolves, Confyde and Velvet Queens Rock the Tap & Tumbler!

Three of a large collection of bands in the Nottinghamshire area vying for the chance to play the legendary Bloodstock festival. Playing at one of the best venues in the city, the three bands competed in the Metal 2 the Masses opening round, with only one having the chance to advance.

First on were the best band who ever existed. Although they were a member down due to illness, Eddie & the Wolves rocked the place. Swaggering blues riffs dripping with attitude and a huge sound for just the three of them, the band knew how to pack a punch. Rattling through some of the highlights of their debut album, alongside single ‘Bad Touch’ and even a rendition of ‘Whole Lotta Love’, it was a fun set. Of course it could not have been done without the exceptional playing of bassist Joe Griffiths, truly a visionary of our time.

Next up were the proggy metallers Confyde. Being a mixture between Alter Bridge and Gojira, this writer loved it. The riffs were INSANE and a huge highlight, but the vocals were amazing too, soring high as well as hitting some powerful notes. It was also the heavyiest, most metal band on the line-up, which was awesome to hear. All four of them were fantastic at what they do, I was jealous of all of them for their talent.

The final band of the evening were Lincolnshire’s own Velvet Queens. We were familiar with them already, having first seen them and interviewed them at Call of the Wild last year. (Check out the review here). Since last May they have gotten even better. Their unique brand of sleaze is a lot of fun, and the guys were clearly enjoying themselves up on stage. Their cover of ‘School of Rock’ is always a lot of fun, but their own music sounded just as good.

It was a hugely stiff competition, with all three bands bringing the fire. With the three judges at a tie, it came down to an audience vote, and the amazing Confyde came away victorious. A well deserved win in front of a packed hometown crowd felt almost poetic.

We had the chance to speak to frontman Martin after the show and they had this to say:

‘Confyde had an absolute blast playing our M2TM heat! Every band played a blinder to a packed out room and everyone seemed to be having a wicked time. Our material and setlist is usually very eclectic, with a lot of ebb & flow with different styles. It was a nice change to just bust out the heaviest songs we have, including the new song “Scalper”!

So thankful to everyone who came out to see and vote for us, not to mention Mangata Music and the Tap n Tumbler for having us. We’re stoked as hell for the semi-final 🤘🏻’

The Metal 2 the Masses competition runs annually and is continuing every weekend through until the end of April. Find more details of it here.

Written by Joe Griffiths

Reviews

New Music Mondays: Enslaved, Trench Dogs and Much More!

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A quiet yet busy week of new music featuring a lot of variety. Let’s dive straight into it all!

Enslaved: Heimdal

The Norwegians are not your typical extreme metal band. Even though the sub-genre is typically one of the most experimental of the heavier side of metal, the band definitely throw a lot of different styles and parts into their music that makes it an interesting listen, at the very listen. Clean vocals contrast incredibly with the screams, slower riffing and even clean guitars against crunchy, heavy, faster distortion.

Their 16th album is no different. I’ve personally always found the genre fascinating and these and Cradle of Filth are always my go-tos with it, so I was hoping for a lot here. It most certainly delivered. Heck, opener ‘Behind the Mirror’ perfectly encapsulates what I am on about, showing off their range of styles and songwriting. And it just continues to get better from there. Single ‘Congelia’ is a proggier masterpiece while other single ‘Kingdom’ has one of my favourite riffs of the year running through it. Meanwhile the sludgy, proggy closing and title track is one of my favourite tracks in the genre, it’s that good.

This is an awesome album. If you are into your heavier or more epic stuff at all, you HAVE to check this out. 9/10

Trench Dogs: Stockholmiana

The Swedish glam-punk band returned with their sophomore album this last Friday. It’s a fun, surprisingly fresh sound, and a fun, enjoyable album. I honestly am struggling to say much about it, the whole album is just solid sleazy rock. None of it stood out above or below the other, it was just all pretty great. Heck, it was SUPER hard to even pick which tracks would end up on our playlist, as I loved them all. I guess you’ll just have to click here to see for yourselves which made the cut…

I feel like I’d absolutely love this band live, and really hope they come to the UK soon. Their songwriting is clearly off the charts and on full display throughout the album. It’s all super catchy and fun an incredible blend of light-hearted and self-loathing-drenched punk. 9/10, this was amazing and I’ll be listening to it a lot in the coming months! However, I have noticed that wine to Trench Dogs is what California is to Red Hot Chili Peppers…

Can’t Swim: Thanks but No Thanks

The post-punk band are on their fourth album already, not bad going for a band just over seven years old. Said forth album is maybe their best yet, in this humble writer’s opinion, too. It’s an incredibly interesting listen, having they typical pop-punk catchy, clean vocals and melodies, while also having a few screams in here and an overall pretty dark feel and tone. Opener ‘Nowhere, Ohio’ is a perfect track in the genre and an amazing way to open the album for newer fans. ‘me vs me vs all of y’all’ and ‘ELIMINATE’ are also highlight tracks (even if the capitalisation throughout was making me uncomfortable). It’s another album without any bad tracks, too. 7.5/10, good stuff!

Blak29: The Waiting

We’ve already reviewed this awesome slab of rock music. Check it out here!

Morgan Wallen: One Thing at a Time

Oh yeah, country time. Firstly, Morgan is clearly trying to kill me. 36 tracks and nearly two hours in length. That’s too long for even a double album, let alone a single one. It’s a MASSIVE issue in country, in my opinion, and this is the worst example I have seen yet. I haven’t even listened to it yet and I can already tell I’m going to get bored within the first ten tracks. There’s no quality control when the album is this long, the weaker songs aren’t cut, it’s just everything thrown in. Don’t get me wrong, in the day and age of individual track streams paying, I get it. But that doesn’t mean I like it.

Now that I’ve finished with my rant… I was right. Tracks like ‘Everything I Love’ and ’98 Braves’ are great, don’t get me wrong. But they’re all pretty similar and after the first 30 minutes I’d had enough. I powered through the album of course, because I had to. ‘In the Bible’ is a good track because it involves HARDY (check out our review of his top album of the year here) so of course it was. ‘Thought You Should Know’ and ‘Money on Me’ are pretty decent ballads. But this could have easily been 20+ tracks shorter. There is a lot of filler when nothing needed filling. 3/10 overall. The tracks I’ve named are good, as are others, but in the grand scheme of things it was not a fun listen.

Haken: Fauna

More prog now, yet a little less heavy this time. I’m very much in two minds with it, though. The heavy riffs and general instrumentation is great. And for the most part the vocals were fine, but the actual melodies themselves generally didn’t do much for me. I know prog is hardly radio friendly, but there was very little along the way of memorable hooks throughout the album.

I actually found my rule for the album pretty quick. If it started steady and got heavy for the chorus, a la ‘The Alphabet of Me’, I’ll love it. However, if it starts heavy and then goes up and down every 30 seconds it doesn’t do much for me. The aforementioned track, though, is by far my favourite on the album. The almost Porcupine Tree-esque stripped back verses contrast perfectly with the massive chorus.

Overall it’s a very up and down for me. I feel like it’ll grow on me with more listens, but for now 6.5/10 sounds about right. It’s more good than bad, but it’s a little up and down.

Tragedy: I Am Woman

We wouldn’t normally review a full-on parody album, but these guys are signed to Napalm, and they’re fucking fantastic, so we’re going to. Disco works surprisingly well when combined with metal music, and this may be some of their best work yet. Their take on Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’ is incredible and has so many different layers to it. Their cover of the James Bond classic ‘Goldfinger’ is awesome, as is ‘Respect’ featuring the insanely talented Marcy Harriell. If you’re a fan of disco, metal or just fun in general, check this out. You will not be disappointed. 9/10

Entheos: Time WIll Take us All

The tech death supergroup are back with their first album in over half a decade, and it’s just as insane as you’d expect it. It’s heavy, chaotic brilliance and it’s so hard to pick just one of two tracks to be a highlight. The opener is incredible, as is ‘I Am the Void’ and slower closer ‘Time Will Take us All’. It’s definitely another album for the heavier fans, but damn, this was good. 8/10

Interviews & Features

Nanowar of Steel: ‘I have nothing left in the pocket, we just put everything in it!’

Ahead of the release of Nanowar of Steel ‘s brand new album and UK tour, we got to sit down with guitarist Mohammed Abdul to chat about it all! Check it out below!

So firstly, what inspired you to be more of a comedy band?

We just wanted to have fun together. The thing blew up unexpectedly, maybe a little too much! But we have to follow it through and here we are!

So obviously you self-released a lot of your early stuff, how does it feel to now be signed to someone like Napalm?

It feels fucking great! We were struggling for a long time to have the chance to play the game in a professional environment. This is our first chance. The first album we did with Napalm, we made something very special for the Italian fans during the Covid period. But this is our debut, it’s our first time and we’re very very happy to collaborate with them.

They’ve been great to us. They let us make whatever we wanted because they knew it’s kinda hard to make any lesser version of the bullshit we put into the songs. So they didn’t want to do anything in advance, they let us do what we want. Even we don’t know what we are going to make next! They gave us complete freedom and great support so we’re happy.

And obviously the album is out 10th March, what was it like to write and record?

This album was mostly written during Covid together with our previous one. We’re quite happy with that as we had a lot of time to work on the details of the album, the arrangements and the instruments and everything. I’m not the one in charge to judge myself or the work we do as a group but I’m happy because I had the chance to put all the things that I have into it. I have nothing left in the pocket, we just put everything in it. And we’re happy with that.

The process has been quite difficult, as you can imagine. We started from the Covid stuff and wrote the songs just like we are talking right now. We were talking in remote meetings all through the year. It’s not easy but we’re used to it a bit as we never used to be in the same city. What changed for me personally is that once I started working from home it was easier to switch from the regular job to the songs. I had much more time to do more accurate work.

The recordings have been quite a pain in the ass. We recorded this album while touring. We faced quite a hard summer as we had to make the shows for this summer and all the previous shows from 2020 that were cancelled and rescheduled. So we had a very crazy schedule and we made maybe the wrong choice of editing the tracks ourselves, as that’s what we’re used to. But we had to edit the tracks while touring. So I spent all summer while touring in the van with the headphones on mixing the tracks. It’s been quite a huge pain in the ass! But it’s over now and we’re happy!

It’s not easy. Even just travelling, going around and playing, can be tricky. Adding on more to that, spending all the time you’re supposed to relax working is not fun at all. So for all the bands and readers, please don’t do it! Take care of your mind and don’t do that!

A fair few people consider it harder to write comedy over more serious stuff. Have you found that?

I cannot tell you if it’s harder or not. I’m very happy that you give us the credit of the work! The main approach I’ve found talking to people is the opposite. Many people think that writing comedy songs is kinda B-side music or that it’s easier to do. It’s not. I cannot tell if it’s harder or not than non-comedy music as the approaches are completely different. But I can tell you that it’s not easy.

You have to face a lot of things that you don’t have to with regular music. You have to put a lot of effort into the lyrics and the relationships between the lyrics and the music. It’s easier on the musical part as you can be a little more relaxed on the innovation put into it. You’re not forced to make something completely new, not that that’s something that’s taken into account much in metal! But the drawback of it is that you have to put more work into the lyrics.

You guys are coming to the UK soon, right?

Yeah! Somewhere between April and May. We’ve only been there for one concert, last summer for Bloodstock. That was great. Every time I come to Britain I have a great time, I love the place in general. I’m saying this like the common sentence that you say at every live show, but I do actually love it there!

All my favourite bands come from there. Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, even The Beatles. And Jimmi Hendrix got famous when he came to the UK! That means the UK is great!

And I imagine you have a lot more touring planned off the album for the rest of the year?

Actually we don’t have a huge long term plan. We are planning this long tour during the spring, around Europe and the UK, and then we take some rest and then do the festivals in the summer.

After that we don’t have anything planned. So I really don’t know what’s going on during the autumn or winter. We expect something, but I think it depends how the record goes and how good the concerts go. This is the first time we’ve headlined a tour like this around Europe so we hope it goes right as that would mean a lot to us and our business.

Are you guys planning on doing more parody tracks like ‘I’m Heavy’?

No, actually it’s something that we want to stop doing. The early years we were perceived as a parody band. We mock the style of a lot of bands but we don’t make parody, in a strict term. We saw that once we stopped doing them people started to feel that we can write songs. So we are trying to be as far as we can from the strict parody stuff. We just write our own song in the style of something else or put a reference in, but we prefer to write our own style of music.

Reviews

The Waiting: A Bold New Step for Dark Punk?

Blak29 are back with their second album and first in nearly seven years. Featuring members of Danzig, 69 Eyes and Type O Negative, they have plenty of experience and expertise. Let’s see if they can pull it off, shall we?

Opening the album on a simple drum beat, a punk riff soon builds in over the top of ‘Blackout’. The highlight of it is actually the subtle keys in the back, giving it a great driving force and adding a layer of menace to it. The punk vibe continues through the verse as the great vocals come in over the top. The chorus is simple yet massively catchy. It’d go down fantastically live. It’s also very easy to hear the Danzig connections, it’s definitely in that similar, Misfits style. Not much else to say about the track but it was definitely awesome. A great way to open the album!

‘Destroyer’ opens on a VERY punk bass and drum line. It’s very clearly a tribute, their own take on The Kinks’ ‘All Day and All of the Night’, and it’s done in a fantastically fun way. Heck, the over-the-top spoken word at the start is amazing, giving off big ‘Time Warp’ vibes. The gang vocals for the choruses was a nice touch, making it even catchier, and the lead guitar lines in between were also good. The whole track is a lot of fun and easily makes our playlist!

A heavier, sludgier feel runs through ‘Waiting for the Sun to go Down’, feeling more like a Rob Zombie track than anything else. The darker sound fit the mood of the track and lyrics perfectly. The slower chorus was great, definitely marking this as a metal track rather than a punk one. I can’t get over how good the multiple vocals sound on the choruses, it making everything sound massive every time. The vocals in general are a massive highlight on this track, sounding a little Layne Staley as well as Rob. I LOVED this. It’s another huge highlight of the album and another to easily make the playlist.

‘Go Go Little One’ picks back up the pace and punk edge again, feeling almost Wildhearts in its delivery. The bouncy, upbeatness was a nice, fun change of pace again. The album does a great job of keeping the listener on their toes, mixing up plenty of different styles so as not to get bored and bogged down with a lot of the same. The track is just as good as the others so far, catchy and very entertaining!

‘End of Days’ is a dark, plodding and subdued punky number. It’s heavily bass led and builds into a huge chorus with some massive distorted guitars. It gives off Wednesday 13 vibes as well as the usual Danzig ones. Meanwhile ‘Of Love Of Hate Of Pain’ is much like ‘Go Go…’ in it’s faster punk approach. ‘Bleeding Love’ is somewhere in the middle of the two, having a heavy, sludgy feel to it and reminding me a little of some of The Cult’s heavier stuff. I think it’s some of the vocal inflections, they sound very Ian Astbury!

The album’s title track is the most out there track so far, giving off even more Cult vibes as it’s a slow, stripped back song. A simple beat, bassline and guitar line accentuate the vocals well. It leads to some catchy, powerful vocals and an awesome guitar solo in the middle. The wah was done perfectly and it builds amazingly into a final chorus. This is another track that easily makes our playlist!

Check out something similar here.

‘Don’t Mind the Pain’ brings back the dark punk energy and sounds possibly the closest to Danzig that I’ve heard so far. It’s probably due to more awesome backing vocals in the chorus, making everything sound so powerful. It’s a great, catchy track on an album full of them!

‘I’m Screaming But Nobody’s Here’ is the ballad of the album, but almost takes a turn into folk/Americana music. It’s slow and epic, building through some distorted guitar here and there but generally staying stripped back. Honestly I thought it would explode into a big heavy rock song throughout but it never did. I actually really like that it stayed simple, being completely different to the rest of the album and again feeling fresh. What a great track! It almost felt like it should have been the closing track, as as good as ‘Long Cool Woman’ is as a track, it felt similar to some of the others. Still, both are good songs and the closer feels like it pulls together elements of every other track, rounding things out nicely.

Overall: This was awesome! Considering I hadn’t heard of the band before, they definitely have a new fan in me! It modernised an old sound perfectly and there really wasn’t a back track on the album. Hopefully the band tour the UK soon as I’d love to see them!

The Score: 8.5/10

Reviews

New Music Mondays: Godsmack, Steel Panther and More!

A big week of new music this week with a bit of everything! Let’s waste no time and jump right in!

Godsmack: Lighting up the Sky

The nu metal/radio rock band’s final full length album, according to frontman Sully Erna, dropped on Friday. I’ve been a pretty big fan of the band since first hearing their music in The Scorpion King as a child, despite the somewhat mixed reception they’ve had in recent years. I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every album they’ve put out, though some more than others. Either way, I’ve been excited for this one for a while.

I mean, it was a’ight. Single ‘You and I’ is one of the worst album openers I’ve heard in a while. It’s not an inherently bad song, but a mid-tempo, blues stomper by a band typically heavier and more attitude-filled wasn’t the right call to open with. Following track ‘Red, White & Blue’ would have made a lot better an opener. The lyrics are a tad cringy for a non-American, but it’s a definite highlight of the album non the less. Lead single ‘Surrender’ is a pretty decent track too!

However, the later the album went on, the more tired it felt. ‘Truth’ was a beautiful, piano-led ballad that’s another highlight, but a lot of the rest felt like typical, formulaic Godsmack. Tracks like ‘Hell’s Not Dead’ and ‘Let’s Go’ are fun, but none of it felt fresh or new at all. I loved their last couple of albums but this is easily their weakest since The Oracle or even IV. There are some good tracks on this but it’s not as solid an album as I’m used to from the band. It’s all pretty slow and tired. Part of me hopes they do one more to go out with a bang, but then another part hopes they finish with just a little gas left in the tank. 6.5/10, though that may go up as it feels a little harsh.

Steel Panther: On the Prowl

Sorry fanthers, but this is probably going to be harsh too. It’s no secret that the joke wore out its welcome quite a while ago, and I even tried to cling on longer than most. All You Can Eat was pushing it but still had some great tracks, while everything after that has just made me cringe. It isn’t even the fact that it’s immature, but that the writing has gotten much more on-the-nose and far less clever. Compare the lyrics of ‘Friends with Benefits’ to something like ‘Community Property’ or ‘Turn Out the Lights’ and the writing really feels like it’s taken a hit. It’s the most basic toilet and sex humour now, there’s not even the slight nuance that the first couple of albums had.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad. ‘On Your Instagram’ is an entertaining ballad that felt surprisingly cleverly written. And I agree with the general consensus that ‘1987’ is the best thing the band have released in years. When they’re not trying to push crass innuendos into every line, their talent shines through a lot more. Everything else felt cheep and boring after almost a decade and a half of the same shit. And it’s a shame too, as Satchel and Styxx are both phenomenal players that feel a little wasted in the band.

I found myself getting bored quick after ‘1987’, and for that reason I can’t give it any more than 4/10

Lovebites: JUDGEMENT DAY

The Japanese metal women are ready to take the whole world by storm with their fourth album. Right out of the gate the band slaps you with some insane power/thrash in the form of ‘We Are the Resurrection’ and the band don’t let up once from that point. The band are all unbelievably talented at what they do, with all of them working their asses off in every track.

Don’t get me wrong, the vocals aren’t going to be to everyone’s tastes, but I enjoyed them enough that they didn’t ruin the songs. My only ever so slight gripe is that they really do go balls to the wall for close to an hour. It would have been nice to have had a slightly slower track in the middle somewhere to break up the pace and show some diversity. Still, it’s filled with awesome tracks and gets an easy 8/10 from us!

Dierks Bentley: Gravel & Gold

Country time again! I forgot quite how long Dierks had been going until typing up this article, his first release coming back in ’03 and this being his 10th. Almost all of his work is fantastic, too.

This was no exception. After the radio-country-rock hit the album opens on with ‘Same Ol’ Me’, ‘Sun Sets in Colorado’ is a fantastic traditional country track, complete with plenty of great fiddle. We get a few more slower moodier before ‘Beer at my Funeral’ picks up the tone and fun up a little. Then there’s the huge single ‘Gold’ which deserves all the listens and high praise that it has already and then some, it’s amazing. ‘All the Right Places’ and album closer ‘High Note’ are also massive highlights of the album. The latter in particular with it’s acoustic jam for an over two-minute outro was fucking awesome.

The album suffered a little from the country thing of too many songs/too long. It’s 14 tracks at 51-minutes. However, the quality was that high and there was enough variety in here that I didn’t really feel the length as much this time. 8.5/10, great stuff!

Dope: Blood Money Part Zer0

Industrial/nu metal early 2000s titans Dope return with their first new album since 2016. Someone needs to teach the band how to count, as part zero should definitely come before part 1 (yes, I know it’s a ‘subtle’ reference to Edzel’s tenure in Static X, let me be ‘funny’). I don’t think I’ve checked out Part 1, but up until that album I’ve enjoyed the band’s output. Hopefully this is the same!

Opener ‘No Respect’ is the most Dope thing I’ve ever heard, and it’s excellent. ‘Believe’ and ‘Best of Me’ didn’t do much for me but ‘Choke’ was awesome, as was ‘Dead World’, ‘Fuck it Up’ and ‘Parasite’. I also didn’t really like the two tracks with Drama Club, ‘Misery’ and ‘Lovesong’. Both felt a little reigned in and boring compared to what I enjoy from the band.

The main issue a lot will have with this album is how long it’s taken to arrive and how many tracks we’ve heard already. Out of the 12 tracks on the album, nine were released prior, leaving just three brand new, never before heard songs. I haven’t been keeping a massively close eye on the band in recent months so had only heard a few, but it must be annoying for hardcore fans of the band to get so much before its release.

Overall, the good tracks did outweigh the meh, but it wasn’t as good as it felt like it could have been. Somehow, even though it was only 43-minutes long, it felt bloated. Then again, that has been a bit of an issue with the band for a while now. 7/10, it was good, but still could have been better!

Hong Faux: Desolation Years

We’ve already covered this one. Find it here!

Lucero: Should’ve Learned By Now

Country-punk isn’t something I thought existed or that I thought I’d type today. However, I’m happy with both, as this is great. It takes my favourite parts of bands like Social Distortion and even Rancid and adds a country twang to it that I didn’t even know I needed in my life. I’m struggling to even pick out a highlight track or three. Yes, it’s all fairly similar, but it’s all so good. The opening couple of tracks are straight up slower punk, while ‘She Leads Me’ and ‘Raining for Weeks’ take more of a country turn.

Honestly, if you’re into the more relaxed side of punk, country or rock, this is for you. 38-minutes flew by and I wanted more by the time it was over. They have a new huge fan in me, and I’mma have to go back and check out their older stuff ASAP. 9/10

Ropemaker: Interwoven

It’s not often we get to check out instrumental music, which is a shame because it’s always technically flawless. This was no exception, the Irish lot’s debut album being a heavy, deathcore/djenty masterclass. Due to the instrumental nature of the music, it’s so hard to pick a highlight track. I do have to commend them too, as at only eight tracks and under 35-minutes in length, it just about managed to hold my attention throughout. Much longer and I’d have gotten a bit bored, but as it stands I loved this! 8/10

VOLORES: AGES

Described as dark Americana, I’ve found yet another new sub-genre I love this week! It definitely still has an indie and pop edge to it, but the simplicity and emotion throughout is fantastic. Plus, the bass really reminded me of Flea, which is always a huge plus. Tracks like ‘Carrion Cry’ and ‘A Proper Icarus’ are personal highlights, but the whole album is awesome. Music like this is huge right now and with the right push this album could put VOLORES at the top of the scene quickly. It’s chilled out yet emotional, simple yet massively talented. 8.5/10

King Abyss: Snake Oil

Time for some thrash to finish off the week. The debut album is a surprising masterclass in speed, aggression and awesome metal. Honestly I felt like I was transported back to my spotty teenage years listening to nothing but heavy thrash, and this is some of the best of the genre I have heard in so long. Some of the lead guitar is honestly mind-blowing, and everyone else did just as amazingly at their respective parts. And, just when I was going to complain about it be similar, we get the Metallica-esque masterpeice that is ‘Disdain’. It’s a ballsy move putting a more ballady track track just four songs into a debut thrash album, but it was a perfect placement and a perfect track. I cannot gush over it enough.

Tracks like the opener and ‘A Short Drop and a Sudden Stop’ also make out playlist but honestly this whole album is phenomenal. If you’re into thrash or death metal or even metalcore, check this shit out. 9/10