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new music mondays

New Music Mondays: Spiritbox, Candlebox, Carcass, Florence Black and more

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So, we thought we’d kick off the new format of New Music Mondays with a bang, and what a week we picked! Six brand new rock albums were released last Friday from all levels, from underground to rising stars to bands that have been around for decades. Here’s our weekly round-up of all of these releases!

Spiritbox: Eternal Blue

Spiritbox’s Official Faceook

The most anticipated release of the week came from the heavy metal bands debut album, ‘Eternal Blue’. After over a year of dropping some of the most interesting singles it was many people’s most anticipated album of the year. We have already managed to review the album in its entirety, which you can read here. Highlights include Holy Roller, Circle with Me and Yellowjacket, which featured as our Track of the Week!

Candlebox: Wolves

Seattle’s own Candlebox have had a very up and down past. After exploding into mainstream popularity off of their debut album with singles like ‘Far Behind’ and ‘You’, the band petered off over the back half of the 90’s and even a reunion couldn’t quite bring them back to their initial success. That in no way disputes the quality of their output, though, as their last couple of albums have been great and ‘Wolves’ is no exception. The album is a fantastic collection of 90s inspired radio-rock, showing the band have far more to offer than their debut. I cannot even recommend a couple of highlight songs as the entire album sounded fantastic to me. As we won’t have the chance to review it on its own, I shall give it a quick 8/10.

Carcass: Torn Arteries

Liverpudlian extreme metal band Carcass have one of the biggest cult followings in the UK scene. Now seven albums deep into their discography the band show no signs of slowing down at all, and nor should they. ‘Torn Arteries’ is a damn enjoyable enjoyable for anyone who is into their heavier side of metal, and can at least be appreciated by any music lover for their talent and song-writing ability. Album highlights include the title track and its lead single, ‘Under the Scalpel Blade’, 7/10.

Alien Weaponry: Tangaroa

Maori-infused thrash metal band Alien Weaponry burst quickly onto the scene back a couple of years a couple of years ago with their debut album, ‘Tū’, and haven’t looked back since. Now the release of their sophomore album, the band build on their sound even more, delivering one hell of a solid metal album from a band so young. I predict huge things for this band in the future and, while this comparison is used a lot, they could become the next Metallica at the rate they are going. A solid album from a great band, with a tonne of highlights throughout. 7.5/10.

Alien Weaponry’s Official Facebook

Rage: Resurrection Day

The 80s German metal band Rage are still going strong nearly four decades into their careers, and their new album proves just that. It’s 50 minutes of heavy thrash goodness, and a reminder that they are nowhere near as big as they should be on these shores. Among the many highlights are the title track, ‘Monitary Gods’ and ‘Extinction Overkill’. 7.5/10.

Florence Black: WEIGHT OF THE WORLD

Welsh formed hard rock band Florence Black have been gaining a steady following and support in the NWOCR movement over the last couple of years or so leading up to the release of their debut album last week. The singles ‘CAN YOU FEEL IT?’ and ‘SUN & MOON’ did a fantastic job of building hype for the album but they are far from the only highlights of the album. We shall be doing a full review of the album (here) in the coming days though, so you will have to check that out if you want to know any more about it!

And there we have it, a stacked week full of awesome rock and metal tracks! Which is your favourite? Be sure to let us know on our socials and keep following us here for more updates on the world of rock!

Reviews

Deafheaven’s Infinite Granite

‘Infinite Granite’ is the latest studio album released by the American metal band Deafheaven.

With only one pre-released single from the album, ‘In Blur’, we didn’t know what to expect.

It’s nothing like their older albums, especially 2018’s ‘Ordinary Corrupt Human Love’ for example with George Clarke’s screaming vocals – I thought I was listening to the wrong band at first.

Something that stands out on ‘Infinite Granite’ is Deafheaven’s sound – it almost feels like an ASMR video at times with the unique synths, layered dynamics and use of sound effects (hearing a sound other than a standard instrument) like in ‘Mombasa.’

For this reason, there isn’t a track that stands out to me on this album except maybe ‘The Gnashing’ as it’s a little more upbeat. The album is simple easy listening and whilst it’s interesting to hear the different textures and use of sound, it didn’t strike me as some of Deafheaven’s best work.

This album isn’t something I would necessarily listen to again, but it was nice to hear a band experimenting beyond their typical sound.

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News

Halestorm return with brand-new single ‘Back From The Dead’

Halestorm release their new single and video ‘Back From The Dead’, focused on tackling mental health.

Following on from 2018’s studio album ‘Vicious’, the band have shared their first single from their upcoming fifth studio album. According to Lzzy Hale the track is based on tackling metal health.

Hale said: “‘Back From The Dead’ is written about my mental health journey over the past few years. I was going through a really hard time, as we all have been in our own ways. I found myself standing on the edge of the world getting completely lost in my own oblivion, but once again music saved me and through writing my truth, I didn’t just let the darkness and depression in my mind dig me an early grace. I’ve erased my name from my headstone, so save your prayers, I’m Back!

“The video was so much fun to film! Dustin Haney is an amazing director. Dustin and his team really helped bring my words to life and the video is one of the most cinematic pieces we’ve done in years! I hope this song, as I pass it on… reminds YOU of YOUR individual strength and that you are not Alone. Raise your horns!”

Back From The Dead

Halestorm are continuing with their string of gigs in the US before their tour with Evanescence. After that, the band are performing a series of intimate gigs in the UK.

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Bloodstock 2022 Announce Their First Crop of bands!

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The UK’s premier heavy festival concludes this years return edition today, but they are already looking to the future for next year. Announcing 17 bands already, including two of the three headliners, the hype is well and truly building already!

Headlining the Saturday will be the band who were supposed to have that slot this year before having to pull out, Mercyful Fate. The band usually deliver one hell of a stage show and frontman King Diamond says, “This time we are going to bring the Devil himself.”

Headlining one of the other days are groove metal legends Lamb Of God. The band previously headlined back in 2013 and it has been far too long since they did a big show over here. Frontman Randy Blythe had this to say: ‘It’s been way too long since we’ve rocked the festivals of Merry Olde – what better way to announce our return than a headliner slot at Bloodstock. Until then, pack your wellies and stay safe, England – LAMB OF GOD will see you Summer 2022!”

The final headliner is yet to be announced, but they gave us plenty of other incredible bands to get excited for while we wait. Filling up the main stage are bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Testament, Exodus, Black Dalliah Murder, GWAR, Bury Tomorrow, Life of Agony and Butcher Babies. They also have a few of the bands who had to pull out of this year due to travel issues, such as Sacred Reich, Vio-lence, Bloodywood and Phil Anselmo & The Illegals performing their blistering Pantera Set.

That’s not all, headlining the Sophie Lancaster Stage on the Thursday are Night Flight Orchestra and closing it out on the Sunday is industrial metallers Static X with their only UK show of 2022.

Are you as excited as we are for this so far? We’ll keep you up to date on any more announcements over the coming months, be sure to keep an eye on our Instagram here.

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Trivium Announce New Album ‘In the Court of the Dragon’

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Floridian metal band Trivium have been a staple of the metal world since their album Ascendency exploded (especially here in the UK) back in 2005. Since then they have released a further seven albums, all of them being absolutely fantastic in their own way. So, imagine our excitement today when the band announce a brand new album less than two years removed from 2020’s incredible ‘What the Dead Men Say’.

Trivium’s Official Facebook

‘In the Court of the Dragon’ is set to be released October 8th, with the title track having already been dropped last month. To accompany the announcement, the band dropped another single from it, ‘Feast of Fire’.

Bassist Paolo Gregoletto had this to say about their latest track:

‘There’s always that one song you aren’t expecting when you begin writing a new album. It could be a riff written on the spot in the rehearsal space, a lyric that pairs just right with a melody, or in the case of ‘Feast of Fire,’ sitting right there in front of us in the middle of a demo that Corey brought in. We were well into pre-production at Full Sail when we all decided that something about the demo we had tracked was good but could be even better. Our producer Josh Wilbur even had in his notes: ‘Bridge is special, maybe so special it needs its own song.’ We tore the song apart and began again on the spot.‘

The track, featured below, is up to the same insanely high quality that the band have maintained throughout their last two albums now. It’s significantly lighter than the album’s title track, featuring a lot more clean vocals as opposed to screaming, but it still has some heavy riffs and stomping rhythm. On top of that, the solo is again fantastic, and the chorus may be up there with some of the bands’ best.

On top of all of that, the band have announced a European tour in November, including four dates in the UK.

We personally cannot wait for to hear the rest of the album, and will keep up to date with the band as much as we can in the leadup!

Keep up to date on all of our news from our website here.

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Halestorm tease fans over social media – is this the beginning of a new era?

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Over the past few days Halestorm fans have been going crazy over the band’s latest social media teasers.

Halestorm have completely archived all of their Instagram posts and replaced their feed with one singular image that fans are trying to read into for an explanation.

Front woman Lzzy Hale hasn’t archived her feed but she has posted a strip of the same image, suggesting a divide between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ Halestorm eras. This was then followed by another post of the same image but this time it was captioned “Day 1”

DAY 1 OF WHAT??

“Day 2” is today and we are no closer to finding out the answer.

Lzzy Hale then tweeted a link to the official Halestorm website as the link reads “Tombstone Splash Page – Back From The Dead” with the caption “Halestorm….Coming Soon”

Fans are speculating trying to guess whether the artwork suggests a single or album – whatever it is, it’s got to be new music … right? With the band currently on tour in the US with plans lined up with Evanescence, it begs the question whether the two bands will come together once again for a hit single or if Halestorm are creating suspense for a new album.

Keep up to date with all our rock music related news on our Facebook here.

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Guns N’ Roses release studio version of their first ‘new’ track in 13 years – Absurd

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Yep, you read the title right. Hard rock legends Guns N’ Roses have released their first new music since 2008’s ‘Chinese Democracy’, and their first with Slash and Duff McKagan since the early 90’s.

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 11: Slash and Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses perform onstage during the “Not In This Lifetime…” Tour at Madison Square Garden on October 11, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation)

The track, ‘Absurd’, is a reworking of ‘Silkworms’, a rare track that has been floating around for some time. The band debuted it live at their gig in Boston on Tuesday and have subsequently this morning released the studio version of it.

Let us know what you think to the track on our socials! I thought I’d let you guys check it out before I said anything because… well… it’s pretty terrible, isn’t it? When it popped up on my YouTube recommendations this morning I got so pumped, being a lifelong GnR fan, but this was a huge let-down. The riffs are basic and for some reason Axl is putting on a faux british accent, although it’s hidden behind a fair amount of vocal effects. My only hope is that it’s some sort of comedy track, much like ‘My World’ was on ‘Use Your Illusion II.’

The live version sounds a little better, featured down below, but it is still an odd track overall. The band have been teasing an album the last couple of years now so hopefully we soon get some more releases that are simply better than this. Fingers crossed!

Keep up to date with all of our news here.

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Florence Black Announce Debut Album: Weight Of the World

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South Wales born rock band Florence Black have become rising stars over the last few years, earning high praise from the likes of Benji Webb, Ben Wells and even Corey Taylor has called them ‘BAD ASS.’ The band have released three EPs and a slew of singles since 2016, but have been hard at work recently getting ready to release their first studio album, ‘weight of the world.’

Florence Black’s Official Facebook

The album is to drop on September 17th and was recorded at Long Wave Recording Studio with producer Romesh Dodangoda. Two singles have been released so far, ‘CAN YOU FEEL IT?’ and ‘SUN & MOON.’

Tristan Thomas, the vocalist, had this to say about the album:

“‘Weight Of The World’ is the culmination of our time as Florence Black. It’s a mixture of songs written at our very beginning and brand new material just created, blended together and shaped into one. The pressure and anticipation of releasing our debut album, feels like we have the weight of the world on our shoulders, especially with waiting what has felt like since the beginning of time to get it recorded and released. We wanted that reflected in the title and the artwork. Not to mention, with Romesh Dodangoda’s production, the sound is as heavy as Planet Earth too!”

We for one cannot wait to hear the full album, and y’all best keep an eye out because we sure as heck will be reviewing it when it’s out!

Keep up to date with all of our music news pieces here.

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Tour Announcement: Whitesnake, Foreigner & Europe

Yes, you read the title correctly. Three huge bands in one tour! The dates postponed from 2020 are back on, hopefully more firmly pencilled in for next year. It looks to be a fantastic night!

Three of the biggest and best glam rock bands to have formed around the end of the 70’s, they all enjoyed great success and released some of the most recognisable music of the decade afterwards. From ‘Here I go Again’ to ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ to everyone’s favourite ‘The Final Countdown’, the whole night will be rocked (yes, pun intended) and will be full of singalong anthems and ballads, as well as some truly underrated musicianship.

Beginning in Dublin, Ireland towards the beginning of May 2022, the bands will play eight of the biggest cities and arenas across the UK, culminating in Cardiff towards the end of the month. Check out the full tour from the picture below and see which venue is closest to you to get tickets for!

Hopefully the new tour means some new music from any of the bands, given that even at their advanced age they still have enough creativity and juice left in the tank for another awesome album – as a lot of older bands are proving these days!

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, so get them while they’re hot!

Keep up to date on more news and announcements by following our Instagram here,

Reviews

Aussie rockers Massive release their latest single: Rise

Aussie rockers Massive release their first track since 2019s ‘Rebuild Destroy’. ‘Rise’ is to be released exclusively for the NWOCR Compilation album out today – something that you will have to keep a close eye on as not only does it feature some of the best new rock music around today, but we may be doing more coverage of it soon! Massive join Thundermother and The New Roses (two more great bands!) as the two only international inclusions on the album.

Massive’s Official Facebook

The bands vocalist, Brad Marr, had this to say about the track:

“Rise is a song full of built up energy. We’re exploding to get back on a stage, turn up our amps and smash this out at full speed. We want nothing more than to drink beers and smash ears.”

The track itself is awesome. Just over three minutes of balls-to-the-wall rock’n’roll, a party feel that only an Australian band can truly provide. The riff is insane, the solos are crazy, Brad’s vocals are powerful and as on point as ever; the chorus is catchy as hell and the backing vocals getting a HUGE feel when they join in with the song’s title.

Check out the video for the track below!

The band are touring the UK in October/November in support of The Quireboys as well as a slew of their own headline shows and even an appearance at the much loved Hard Rock Hell Festival.

Pick up tickets here

Order the full NWOCR compilation album here.

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