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HALO FRIENDLIES: Get Real CD
Omigod - this is sensational. I first came across this band supporting Funeral For A Friend live in concert and they really knocked me out although the live sound wasn't all it could be. But then I had to get the CD - and it's absolutely amazing. A female quartet that can play, write, sing and rock is rare enough, but one that can deliver track after track of anthemic, unforgettable rock-pop genius such as this comes across very rarely. It's the sort of album that you play to death and then some, as you do air guitar, shake your head and just go nuts about, as every song sticks in your head but has that rare ability to make you want to play them time after time after time. The vocals, production, playing and arrangements are superb - the guitars just blazing away as the band soars from peak to peak. Taken at a variety of mainly rocking paces, the band displays dynamics as much as power, but each composition roars into life to perfection, everything you could have wanted a metallic Voice Of The Beehive to be and easily making the Donnas look like also-rans. This may well be in my top ten albums of the year - it's an absolute joy to hear and one I'll be playing all summer long. Essential and one of the very finest of its kind in the world - ever!!
HEDROOM: Hedroom CD
Ska-punk up till now has tended to follow a pretty similar formula, sticking pretty well to a reggaefied fusion of rock and ska, and, while possessing energy, could not really claim to being particularly inventive. So, in step Hedroom, with an album that takes the genre onto a whole new level, mixing the obvious influences with liberal doses of funk and a jaw-dropping level of writing and musicianship. The guitar work is really hot, while the rhythms would not at all be out of place on a classic Talking Heads album, that is, until it all fires up and surges into a more rock-indie connection, meanwhile the sax honking away but playing actual melodic leads as opposed to obligatory hoots. Over all this, a searing and well sung vocal delivers the songs with purpose and strength, while the whole band play it way cool and funky or steam-driven and attacking, often both in the same song. There's a real element of feeling here, almost soul at points, as the dynamic nature of the material never ceases to please. Not really my favourite style of things, but this band breathes fresh air into an almost tired genre - tasty, I think you'd call it.
HOLLYWOOD ENDING: Beginning Of The Middle CDEP
Normally a band will deliver their finest shot on the opening track of a debut release and, indeed, if you witness the incendiary slice of melodic hardcore that opens this new EP, you'd be forgiven for thinking just that - as the vocals soar and rage, the guitars go supernova and the rhythm section thunders, the song just drives forward with passion and firepower, but with a magical sense of dynamics in there too, one that suitably enhances the stunning, steaming and strident blast of nu-metal energy on a song that is meant ot be played and played. But then, almost without a break for breath, 'By Fault Or Design' surges into view and is even better - the vocals high-flying as the almost anthemic blend of massive and muscular really delivers the goods with lurching tungsten-strength rhythms driving a veritable hurricane of guitars and multi-tracked (or harmony) vocals that are just to die for, on a song that exudes heartfelt yearning and rage from every guitar-soaked pore, so strong as to be unbreakable. Massive! If there is such a thing as a hardcore power-ballad then 'TV's In Cars' is it - just so wonderful and beautifully sung that the song becomes both a source of spine-tingling pleasure from its serene triple-harmony passages to its surges of firepower as all guns blaze and the guitars take over to awesome degree, the song's sheer intensity rising all the time as the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. By now you think that they surely must have used up all the big guns and that the final track can't possibly be as good as what you've just heard - well, it's not only as good - IT'S BETTER!!!! Saving the best for last is a cliché, but this is simply awesome as this anthemic vocal just soars over a huge blast of electric bass, miles of guitar riffs and slowly crunching drums, with vocal harmonies that just fly a million miles to heaven and back, as the track takes off and you feel your legs turn to jelly at the simply incredible stature of playing, song-writing and production, the real anthem for a generation that is this unbelievably amazing title song. One of the finest debuts I've ever heard from a new UK rock band, if this isn't bigger than FFAF, then you're all deaf out there. Essential doesn't even come close - this is life itself.
HONDO MACLEAN: Chasing Angels EP CD
Four brand new tracks from the UK's best up and coming rage-metal acts. Opening with the nuclear heat of 'Lola's Pictures' you'll find yourself drowning in a sea of intensity one minute, only to come up for air the next, before being pushed back under just as you think it's safe - a steaming mix of raging guitars, searing vocals and thunderous rhythms stand next to a coda of incredible delicacy and as an exercise in dynamics, this track is nothing short of rock perfection, great ideas well executed. The band have clearly got a handle on writing and arranging rock that has a new-found sense of adventure, unafraid to put melody next to their muscle. Elsewhere the music crunches and pounds, double guitar riffing standing next to dual-vocalising so intense it knocks Linkin Park off the planet. Four quite stunning tracks that are a fantastic mix of rage and arranging, heaven and hell, and one potent brew that you need to take at least once a day.
HUMANFLY: A God Among Insects CDEP
When you see it's eight songs in less than twenty minutes from one of Britian's finest up and coming metalcore bands, you just know you're about to be shellshocked - and that's exactly what happens as this dirty great typhoon of guitar riffing, shudders and surges, creating this absolute soup of guitars and bass, under which the drums pummel away and over which a vocalist sounds as though he's been plugged into the National Grid. It's relentless and walks over the opposition as song after burning song unfolds and assaults your brain, so that, by the end of the nineteen or so minutes, you are left as a steaming pile of dripping mush, the only thing to do being repeat the experience one more time.
ISOR: Post Mortem Peep Show CD
They come in great numbers. They bring guitars - and beat you with them. They bring drums - and crush your spineless body with them. The bring electric bass to disembowel your twitching corpse. They shout, they rage, they break you in two with their power. The when they are fully satiated, they stand back to admire their work - before regrouping - and starting all over again. The slaughter never ends - wave after wave of punishing metal is hurled at you unstoppably and there is nothing you can do - the end is nigh - you have but a few breaths before the calm of death as you die to the sound of others suffering the same fate. Power incarnate, metal supreme - complete domination.
JOSKI: Chorus CD Single
Three tracker from the Reading based act with a lead track that crosses punk, melody, nu-metal and ska with one leap, successfully carving out an positively anthemic composition that just soars, no particular hook, but something that you want to hear again, the only fault being there wasn't enough of it. 'I'm The Enemy' is more dynamic, sort of melodic emo one minute, furious nu-metal the next but with a commercial sensibility that is outstanding as another track enters your consciousness and refuses to go away, band and vocalist delivering a blinder. Finally, 'Close' is the third example of their song-writing and playing, one that erupts into life giving favourable comparisons with Funeral.... and Saliva to name but two, and just a fantastic track that, for me, was the best of the three, but best of total excellence is but a minor point - this rocks, is full of passion, has quality all the way through, is unforgettable, repeat playable and the sign of greatness to come.
KILL II THIS: Mass CD
Fourth album and first for over two years from a band that has rediscovered itself, while still retaining a lot of what went before. But now we have a nu-metal band that not only rocks, but twists and turns, going places few others dare to tread, mixing elements of gothic, stoner and early Ozzy in its predominantly raging nu-metal compositions. Track after track is full of massive, churning, guitar-fuelled riffs and this vast, expansive guitar driven landscape as the rhythms ride a wild path to the stars, the vocals full of passion and feeling, depth and density. The songs themselves all have their own identities so that, while the flow of the album is one of strength and fire, there are passages that slowly flow by, while others soar to new heights, the dynamics of the song-writing and delivering at a creative peak throughout. The big ballad track 'Circles' works a treat while the rest of the album spews guitars to perfection. You have to play this album a couple of times just to take it all in, but it's a work of absolute class, and a quite awesome addition to the nu-metal genre. Bow down before its immensity and turn it up L-O-U-D.
KUBRICK: Reverie CD Single
Hmmmmm........not sure about this. The lead track starts off with pleasant vocals and melody before suddenly erupting then just as you think it's going to burn, it sinks back to its beginning, albeit a little more powerful, then it erupts once again, the vocalist feeling far too lightweight for the bullet-train of guitars, bass and drums that is unleashed. A new, brief, twist then back in the cauldron, in many ways, a bit too clever for its own good, and I'm really not sure if this works. There follows an acoustic track showing the band seem to have more feel for their tender side than the rocking side, or at least want to show they can write and perform a decent song, because that's what it is, but it doesn't half feel out of place. The final track is an industrial remix of the title track and it certainly is the one that comes alive, although now we get a mass of storm-force guitars allied to a rock-dance rhythm base, not really industrial but not far off, as the vocals become more guttural when treated, and the remix maintains it's mesmerizing power from start to finish as the band blazes, a remix that is miles ahead of the original, sorry to have to say.
LAMB QUARTET: Cockfight CD Single
Three tracks and ten minutes that covers everything from ska-punk through flowing rock grooves to emo, tbaall in three tracks. Going through so many musical twists and turns, it's arguable as to whether this is adventurous or just completely disjointed, on the evidence of the opening track that seems to cover all the aforementioned areas in one fell swoop. The more traditional indie-metallic approach of 'Daycare' seems to flow better, but overall it really didn't stick in my head or make me want to come back to it. Too clever for its own good? Maybe for me, yes. For the world out there? Time will tell.
LIPID: Hagridden CD
Essentially it's death metal taken at a blistering pace with track after track burning a hole in your brain and pounding your skull to a powdered heap, as the wall of guitars, searing riffs and scorching lead work soar over a hail of driving drums and monstrous electric bass, the growled vocals sounding positively demonic. It's all very loud, very heavy and absolutely fantastic, molten metal at its heaviest and the musical equivalent of being struck by a train - several times and in slow-motion. They don't come much harder than this.
LOCUS OF CONTROL: The Comfort Of Repetition CD Single
Well, my advance featured just the one track so that should be interesting to see what's on the real thing - and how it's priced. Anyway, whatever they do, on this showing it's got to be worth every penny, for this is powerful emo at its finest with a sea of driving guitars, a modern Metallica-like sound to the rhythm section (in other words it sounds like someone's beating on a set of rusty cans - lol!!!) anda vocal tour-de-force that takes you along with every note that's delivered. It's foreceful, played and sung with highly charged emotion, drives through every fibre of your head and heart, and leaves you wanting more - much more - so you play it again and beg the record company for an album.
LOWDOWN: Unknown CD
Eleven punishing metal tracks that whip up a hurricane right from the start and thereafter has you hooked for the duration. Slabs of molten metal pour around your ears, drenching you in scalding guitars, furious rhythms, pummelling bass, and snarled, biting vocals that really deliver the goods. On top of such rock mayhem, it takes a vocalist of immense proportions to ride the guitar-driven tide, but this guy really lets you have it right between the eyes, perfect in the context of such a monumental collection of compositions as created on this huge-sounding album. Arranged and produced to perfection, this one wraps its tendrils round your throat and refuses to let the grip loosen. Every track drowns you in a searing sea of guitar-fuelled, drum-driven aggression that will leave your brain in smoking ruins. A storm-force ride from start to finish this is real metal as it was always meant to be - welcome to their punishing world.
MAKE HER CRY: Writings On The Wall CD Single
I know it's odd, but the lead track reminded me of a nu-metal Cure, the lead vocalist having that same sense of yearning angst that Robert wotsisname out of The Cure is also famous for. That said, this is a stunning track so well written, covering moods from brooding to rage within a heartbeat as the guitars and rhythm section simply fly and ring out with tastily metallic intent, on what has to be seen as a truly classic track. 'Entrance Of A Separated Couple' is just as good with the vocalist really going for it, feeling the pain, as a lyrically superb slice of rock rings out, and this huge towering sound of the band, from thunderous bass via a torrent of steaming guitars to crashing drums, makes the whole thing a dynamic and intense ride to anthemic nu-metal heaven. Awesome and the album is going to be spectacular if this is anything to go by. Another absolute genius of a band, who will be bigger than FFAF.
MURDER OF ROSA LUXEMBORG: Everyone's In Love And Flowers Pick Themselves CD
Jeeeeeeezussssss!!!!!! What the hell is this. It's a sort of emo-punk-metal with plenty of songs, sod all hooks, assorted settings, most of them heavy and raging, often aspiring to a nu-metal rendition of The Cure in parts. The lyrics are pretty indistinct thanks largely to the vocalists seeming desire to string all the words together without actually pausing fro breath. The songs are chunky, riffing, tagging and on-fire, although the breadth of arrangement of the guitars, bas and drums goes awfully angular at times. Sometimes it's slow, sometimes it's fast, sometimes it's off the rails and sometimes it's just plain bizarre - but at all times it's riveting stuff, nothing like what you think rock or metal should be, and in its own way both innovative and decidedly an acquired taste.
MYCOUSINKATE: The Square One EP CD-EP
It may only be 8 minutes long - but what an 8 minutes!!! The lead track, 'All That I Have' is like an emo Undertones with yearning vocal and blistering guitars allied to emotive acoustic guitars, driving, solid rhythms and a song that is so darned anthemic, the first thing you want to do when it ends just short of three minutes, is to go back and play the thing all over again - simply superb. 'Cold Light Of Day' is every bit as strong only starts as ballad, builds with multi-tracked vocal and becomes an emotionally charged slice of sheer magic, the singer turning in a superb vocal performance that puts a lump in your throat as the oncoming guitar storm ebbs and flows, with wall-to-wall riffs and leads, over a dynamic, strong and flowing rhythm section, the whole thing once again as anthemic and deep-feeling as they come - melodic nu-rock just shouldn't be this good. Finally, 'Square One' just takes everything that's gone before, puts it all into a gloriously dynamic, strong, highly charged melting pot and comes up with another shining light of a track that glows with confidence and sparks with electricity, as another supercharged performance from the band is delivered with power, strength and passion, perfectly arranged and produced to bring out the best in a trio of top notch quality songs - just brilliant - more please - like, now!!!!!!!!
NOCOMPLY: With Windmill's Turning Wrong Directions CD
Now I have to say that ska-punk isn't that much to my liking, and ska-punk with horns, probably less so. All of which means that the fact that I thought this adrenaline-fuelled rocket-ride of a ska-punk album was a real ass-kickin' delight, indicates that this is a cut above the rest. With a female vocalist who really sings and hollers the lyrics, a driving rhythm section, explosive guitars that shower shard of chords all around or whip up a storm of riffs, and dual horns that shoot rifle-fire fashion through many of the tracks, this is a solid, heavy and driving album that will have even the most arthritic punk rockers pogoing around the room like a mad thing. Song after song wreaks class, quality, and leaping-about magic from every pore. On a physical and listening level, a surging set of twelve tracks guaranteed to put a smile on your face and find a place in your heart - once you've recovered from all that dancing around, of course.
NOTHING TO DECLARE: Stuck On Repeat CDEP
A title that is so apt, for it is exactly what you will be doing once you hear this for the first time. The band have released two CDEP's to date - the first a rather tentative step into the world, the second a confident statement to announce that here we really did have a band to watch - a strong album of good songs and playing throughout. Now, for their third EP, they've broken through the barrier and come screaming into the wider arena with a vengeance - this is now a band that is on fire and ready to take hold - if they don't get a major label contract on the grounds of this release, then the majors really do suck! Every track on this CD is wondrous - no, more than that - every track is utter genius. The first 30 seconds of the opening track, 'Echoes In The Air', just roar into life- there's no build-up, no introduction - the band just launch into action with this blitz of guitars, bass and drums providing a stunning opening that will stop you dead in your tracks and leave you jaw-dropped - and when the vocals come in, sounding so perfect for the hail of rock riffing that is all around you, the effect is jaw-dropping. The song just steams, sizzles and soars throughout 3 and a half incredible minutes of steaming rock heaven, the band firing on all cylinders and taking off to parts of you that you never knew existed - just incredible. If that wasn't enough, track 2, 'Forgive Me' is even better - but it's not rocking riffing - no, this is the sound of real songwriting genius - a song unfolds that, right down to the sound, the instrumentation, the vocals and the harmonies, is pure Pearl Jam-meets-Wallflowers, two of the finest groups on the planet, and this track is worthy of, and could almost BE either of them, as acoustic and electric guitars play the melodies, the rhythm section rolls along and those so-emotive vocals just soar into the night sky, on an arrangement and production that is to die for. Pure bliss. The near 6 minute 'No Man' follows the path of the previous track, only here it starts off more like Wallflowers/Pearl Jam, then this massive guitar storm surges in and the piece just takes off, leaving you open-mouthed in amazement at the fact that anything could sound this good. Then, as it peaks, it drops back tot eh wondrous vocal, the glorious harmonies, the sound of electric and acoustic guitars and rhythms rolling away, before the next peak is climbed and the band fly ever higher on a blazing path of emotive vocals, soaring lead guitars and an endless horizon arrangement that goes on forever in all directions, the sound of rock solid rhythms driving the track forward as it just gets better and better. To say it's incredible doesn't even begin to do this justice - I can't believe I'm hearing something this good in a band that isn't a world-wide phenomenon. Finally, the 5 minute 'One More Time Around' that ends as things began with this huge-sounding meaty mix of rhythmic solidity and grungy guitar riffing, as the assault drops back to reveal the strong and soaring vocal, the endless miles of guitars, as the song then suddenly erupts and just goes supernova, climbing higher and higher in a burning shower of guitars, bass, drums and vocals, an effect that Pearl Jam would have killed to obtain. Then it's back and forth between strength and power as the song progresses to its fiery end. Produced, played, arranged, sung and written to a degree that is way beyond what most bands aspire to, let alone achieve, this has to be one of the top five rock CD's of 2004 when the reckoning is in - utter genius.
NOT KATIES: Repeat Repeat CDEP
With a voice that sounds like Joey Ramone fronting Blink 182, this is a 5-track EP that starts out as it means to go on, in a hail of steaming emo, guitar-driven pop-punk hurricane with 'Fingers On The Ledge', a soaring anthemic track that is so inventively arranged in terms of its dynamics yet rocks with the best of them, setting up this powerhouse of commercial pop-punk that simply takes you over - and this is only the first track!!! 'Strike It, Reverse It' starts slower but soon gathers a head of steam as the clear lead vocals are joined by storm-force riffs of bass and guitar propelled by stomach-crunching drums as the song twists in and out of dynamic building passages and all-out attack, so well played and delivered it just commands your attention. Enjoyment incarnate - and oh, those guitars. Two further, equally excellent electric tracks in between which is a heartfelt and beautifully performed acoustic track that shows off the tender side of the band, go on to show that this is one seriously hot band with a future as bright as a thousand suns - the real deal and then some - superb!!
OLEANDER: Joyride CD
From the USA here's a nu-metal band to bring the house down. On a steaming album, song after guitars-driven song is unleashed and it's the sheer quality of the compositions that makes you sit up and take notice. Delivered with a vibrancy, attack and sense of passion that would make most crumble, theirs is an almost angst-ridden world of yearning, reflection and all-out aggression, sometimes within the same song. Throughout eleven largely raging and positively anthemic songs, the band delivers a white-hot metal ingot that is simply awesome as a set of songs and can't fail to have you turning it up really loud, allowing the full force that is this album to wreak havoc with your mind. Totally mind-blowing.
ORCA: Hopes Ever Shifting CDEP
Two tracks and six minutes of earth-moving metal that isn't without a strong sense of dynamics to heighten the enjoyment. The way, in the title track that is starts with arage, powers down to chiming guitars and impassioned vocals before an electrifying guitar riff rises up and then the vocals scream out while the rhythm section drives and this sizzling cyclical lead guitar flies upwards as the wonderful lead vocal really gathers emotion and the whole titanic song just soars into the heavens - and stops. Fantastic stuff that is everything you want out of FFAF styled rock and more. The second track, 'Constants Collapsing' is every bit as strong and insistent, and this is quality stuff that makes you froth at the mouth in anticipation of a whole album when it comes - I, for one, will be at the head of the queue for that - stunning stuff.
PANIC CELL: Bitter Part Of Me CD
Wow - this is a hot little platter. Ten tracks of no-holds-barred, rip-roaring, raging, intense nu-metal that has enough force behind it to blow out half of the UK, but with a production that's simply stunning. They're an inventive bunch, and you know, they are the exact band that you wish Nickelback had turned into instead of becoming some kind of "nu-AOR" wimps. This is song-writing, arranging and playing at a peak, but delivered with a solidly metallic passion that is positively jaw-dropping. Yet, on a track like 'Save Me', the band is proud to show off its dynamics and the fact that they don't have to have a million watts of guitars behind them to be powerful as well as sensitive. With an anthemic chorus and a rhythm section that thunders, the whole track is simply awesome. But, even better than that is the fact that there are eight more equally tasty little suckers to come as track after kick-ass track explodes into action, with vocals and arrangements that, to an extent, recall SOAD only this lot don't try too hard - they don't have to, for this is natural rock genius in action. The whole sound is fresh, alive, organic and roaring like a pride of angry lions. With guitars and riffs to die for, a sound that is immense and songs that are uniformly magical, this is real nu-metal at a quality that most others can only dream about - one of the best albums you'll hear in 2004, that's for sure.
PHLUID: Cynical Smile CD
What I like about all this is when you review an album and you know right from the start that you're dealing with a band that's got something to say and a great way of putting it - and this new Leeds metal band is just that - and more. From the opening track, you are immediately drawn into a world where riffs, leads, harmonies, choruses and general metallic melodies of heroic proportions are unleashed, taking you in and refusing to let go until you've experienced the whole goddamned album. But it's an experience that, once performed for the first time, you will be unable to stop repeating, the musical equivalent of sex - hear this and you just want more of the same. With a snarling attitude, a lyrical sensibility that fills every song with something to say and a sense of humour that is positively grin-inducing, this is a dual-guitar band that attacks song after song after song. In terms of compositions though, this is probably the best album that the Wildhearts never made, easily matching anything that came out of the heyday of that band, song after song revealing a metallic anthem, a hook so wide you could catch a whale on it, every atom fired with sizzling, searing, wall-to-wall guitar work, the vocals arranged to perfection, the dynamics simply magical, and the only thing left when you've finished, it to put it back to the beginning and experience it all again. If this is rock that doesn't set the world on fire then what hope is there for rock - give this your time and it will reward you handsomely. Turn it way up loud and experience the delights of this fantastic new album - it's every bit as good as that and more.
PHOENIX BUTTERFLY: 3 Ways To Leave CDEP
Wow - anthemic or what! Scrunching guitar chords sail out of the speakers as a slice of Ozzy-esque nu-metal runs wild over you. It doesn't actually sound like Ozzy - although the pace of the lead track and the vocal inflections doesn't half remind you of him - and what you get is as hook-laden a lead track as there is, one that just spirals to the heavens, falls back for a dynamic mid-section, then takes off once more for a final rousing finale, guitars storming through as the piece goes supernova. Six minutes of genius. 'Kindness To Lies' continues in a similar vein only now sounding wholly original as that roaring vocal astounds with its titanium-tipped strength, while the rhythm section and guitar work positively blister, on another composition that's both instant and yet one you'll want to play over and over. 'The Drawing' spends the minutes being a brooding, almost Pearl Jam-esque slice of solid balladry, then erupts into an apocalyptic finale with all guns blazing. 'Brody's Ocean' ends the EP as a track that builds and builds slowly for four minutes and then emerges into a sea of raging intensity that really electrifies the listener as you are carried away on its waves of guitars, bass, drums and vocals. Superb and destined for greatness.
PSP: The Deadly Art Of Illusion CD Single
The deadly thing about this is listening to it too loud on headphones - my ears were a bleeding mess by the time the first track had ended. OK, so I should have turned it down - but metal this fierce just has to be experienced loud. The title and lead track is a monster of wall-to-wall riffing, rhythmic thunder, a sonic soup of guitars and vocals that are somewhere between screamed and hollered, but the whole thing is a massive blast of metallic power that could move mountains at appropriate volume levels. It's utterly superb and should carry a health warning - addiction to this may cause severe deafness - but it's so easy to take - the siren call of molten rock intensity to perfection, the best thing being that, by the time the second track ends, you wren't even aware the first track had finished. Superb and then some.