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QUANTUM BIGFOOT: Names IS For Tombstones Baby……… CD
Started out as a stoner band and, while you can tell, they have clearly improved their sense of song-writing so that the eleven tracks on this forty-three minute album comprise of so much more than yer average stoner rock band. The first track opens up with a blazing mix of power rock and stoner-like riffs,taken at a fairly fast-ish pace, but then the next track simply delivers more of exactly the same brew but not quite as good. Luckily, the third track, 'Superlush', really hits home and delivers a potent brew of stoner-melody riffing and hook-laden metal that is over far too soon, but an absolute gem of a track. 'Let It Ride' takes things up another notch and explodes into life with a raging beast of a track,fiercely pounding riffing at the heart of the piece, as bone-crunching guitar and bass work hits you right in the chest, as the vocalist gets it spot on and the song catches fire instantly. As fine a slice of anthemic stoner-metal as you'll witness, especially the way it tones things down in the middle, only to build into an even greater force for the finale of the track, the whole band on fire and glowing. Really, from there on, the album just strides ahead in this fashion, dirty great riffs, molten stoner wall-to-wall guitars, pummeling bass and crunching drums providing the accompaniment to a full-throated roar of a vocal, but with added harmonies along the way to give it that all-important sense of accessibility and 'en-masse' appeal. OK, so some of the compositions sound a bit 'samey, it cannot be denied, but for all that, it comes out with all guns blazing and largely has 'success' written all over it - oh, and it rocks like a demon.
RATEOFDEPRESS: Bleach The Sky CD
Everything about this album smacks of an out-of-control rifle-fire crazy killer on the loose, as riffs, rhythms and guttural vocals fire out in all directions, the overall effect being that you almost feel you should be listening to this album from behind an armour-plated screen, it's that intense, powerful and venomous an experience. But, that said, in many other ways, it's like a slightly death metal answer to Linkin Park only way more hellish, with altogether more dangerous musicianship from the guitars, bass and drums as they ride a furious sea of arrangements to deliver a killer blow, track after track after track, the final sensations feeling like you've been in a no-holds barred match with The Undertaker, as you emerge, head exploded and bits dripping everywhere. Metal never sounded so crushing and yet so satisfying at the same time.
SHOUTING MYKE: For Your Pleasure CDEP
Debut 5-tracker, twenty-nine minute CDEP and it's a way cool collection of emotionally charged nu-metal rock anthems that owe more than a nod to the feel and, to a degree, the structure, of none other than Linkin Park. No, they don't SOUND like them - far too "English" for that, but they've got that hughly emotive sense of how to give a song passion, grace and firepower that the USA mob have to a tee, only here there's a freshness to it all as the, largely (we'll come to track four in a second), fantastic set of songs, unusually ranging from five to over eight minutes in length (but sustaining your interest every second of the way) show the band to be both consummate arrangers, writers and musicians, with anthemic and passionate lead vocals that soar skywards, while the band follow in their wake and the whole thing just lifts you up and carries you away, but with a sense of dynamics that puts them in the meg-league right from the word go. The eight minute 'Paycheques & Poetry' is a hair-raising slice of passionate nu-metal and quality songwriting that has to be heard to be believed and could well go on to be one of the nu-metal epic tracks of 2003 and beyond - this track is SENSATIONAL!!! So, with the four minute instrumental 'Medusa' providing a respite from the rock (not one that was needed it has to be said), this is a simply stunning EP that every indie and rock fan out there with a love for tightly arranged, anthemic and superbly played and produced rock just has to hear - it's that simple.
SONE: Scratching The Surface CDEP
Debut from London-base band and if this is their first effort, then this lot are clearly going to be huge, because - boy - can they play. Not only can they play, but the songs just sizzle as vocals rage, guitars blaze and the rhythm section powers ahead. Six tracks and thirty-one minutes testify to a highly charged powerhouse of furious proportions, across songs that exhibit massive doses of angst and fury, fuelled by a guitar storm that rains down inexorably, bit not forgetting an all-important sense of dynamics throughout, making a strong set of songs seem even more alive and expansive. The vocalist is superb, with a voice that can carry the slower parts to perfection while the sheer might of the vocal range when it all goes white hot, is something at which to marvel. The band are faultless with arrangements that show off their full potential for playing as rock rings out by the bucketful. It's quality stuff from start to finish, and this band have got to be a blast seen live. This is just the beginning - get in there now and get down to some seriously muscular melodic, hardcore metal of anthemic proportions.
SUPERJOINT RITUAL: A Lethal Dose Of American Hatred CD
The first forty nine seconds of this CD are a guitar-driven juggernaut that rolls steadily over you but just as you are getting to like it, the whole band steams in and bludgeons you into submission. Welcome to an immense dose of raging, furious, express-train punk-metal intensity that never lets up. There's not a lot you can say really - it's wild, it's unusually lyrically very aware, it hits with the force of a runaway train with the band raging at a level that would make a hurricane give up and go home. That guitar riffs, rifles, strafes and stuns with a sound so thick you need boots to wander through it. Unadulterated power with a brain, force with feeling - prepare to be blasted.
THE TEMPLE: Diesel Dog Sound CD
Jeezus - this lot are from Portugal. I thought they were British then I read the biog and - yes!! - Portugal. Unreal, especially as they have a sound that is simply awesome, with some of the chunkiest, thickest guitar riffs that burn this side of the planet, but it doesn't stop there. The vocals are sensational, delivered with a passion and intensity and not a trace of an accent, while the twin lead guitars surge into life to deliver an electric firepower of blistering proportions. Then there's the drums and bass playing - just mighty stuff and so forceful, propelling the songs with strength and force. Then there's the songs - oh, the songs!!!! - one after one a masterpiece of nu-metal mayhem with a punk head and an Emo heart. Then there's the production - just immense sounding and guaranteed to have you leaping about even afte the heaviest of hangovers. Then there's……well, just about everything really - this is an exceptional album that can't fail to have you caught up in its fourteen track, 43 minute onslaught.
THIS ILLUSION: This Illusion CDEP
Five tracks and 16 minutes from a new UK outfit, and it's just sensational stuff. Basically they take a hard-hitting brew of indie, rock, metal and emo, put it all in a guitars-blazing melting pot and come up with a set of songs that is positively inspirational. The opener alone, 'Dancing On The Graves Of Our Past, is a powerhouse of anthemic muscle with passionate delivery and dsoaring vocals that would have any fan of FFAF sinking to their knees in homage of the new masters on the block - it's the sort of loud, fiery but emotive song that you have to play and play and play - turning it up louder every time to get the full-on effect - just brilliant!!! 'Twenty Years' flies into action with a sizzling guitar riff, crunching drums and pounding bass, as the vocals come in and, if you hadn't already guessed, this is one guy who can really sing - delivering the lyrics with passion, warmth and venom, a scorching but so-well sung performance rounding off a driving slice of rock-hard emo-hardcore magic. 'Eleven Thirty Nine' is, if anything, even more powerful with riffs and guitar assault that makes its mere 1 minute running time so effective. 'Blueprint For The Hands Of Time' returns to the anthemic glories of the opener, with the arrangements taking twists and truns, shards of guitar attack splintering off at all angles as the driving riffs and punishing rhythms drive it all forward, over which vocalist "par excellence" Paul Collins really lets go, sounding like he means every word in a solo and multi-tracked wealth of wonder, stunning stuff and no mistake. The closer, 'After The Rain' is no less explosive or engaging and rounds off one of the best debuts from a new UK band since…..well, the last one. Utterly fantastic and this deserves to be HUGE, baby - buy or die.
THOUSAND POINTS OF HATE: Scar To Mark The Day CD
The promotional sheet says "uncompromising heavy metal with a modern edge" and "vocals that are in turns hard-edged and unashamedly melodic". Which pretty well sums it up. It's solid, competent and full of intent, the hollered, throaty roar next to the flowing lead vocal acting as a neat contrast but rather overworked at times. The guitars have enough power to feed a tea break after the christmas version of Eastenders, while the rhythm section is so solid, it's a wonder they don't fall through the floor. It's powerful, passionate and undoubtedly heavy - but there's something a bit overwhelming about the whole thing, something that makes you want to love it yet pushes you over the precipice at the same time. Bludgeoning more than anything, it's certainly got explosive energy but a certain spark is not there for me.
THREE COLOURS RED: Repeat To Fade CD Single
Who'd have thought it! They're back - and with a vengeance!!
First release for three years and it moves mountains. Beginning with a hulking great mass of riffing, drums, vocals and a hailstorm of guitars, the lead track takes no prisoners and just scorches into nu-metal heaven with energy, enthusiasm, power and anger by the truckload. It's awesome, intense and would give the likes of Foo Fighters something to think about - the sort of lead track you'll play over and over without ever tiring of it. Sensational. 'Shopping Trolley Children' is equally brilliant, with incisive lyrics that cut like a knife as phased vocals, this wicked electric slide guitar, lead guitar and rhythm section light up and burn, the main body of the song leading into a searing mid-section before re-firing on all rockets and powering into your head to perfection. Finally, 'Vitriol' is one that very quickly builds into a huge tidal wave of guitars, bass, drums and vocals that spreads from horizon to horizon, this time a slower pace revealing an even more expansive sound that simply cuts through everything in its wake. As astounding a return as they come and one that should propel the band back into the best-selling limelight with ease. Superb!!
THREE COLOURS RED: The World Is Yours CD Single
Hmmm…….the 'Repeat To Fade' single in 2003 was a mighty blast of a track, as was the whole single. From the opening strains of this, I had my doubts as to whether or not it is the sort of single that is going to do this band the favours it needs. It starts slow, builds to a climax but then bounces back to slow all too quickly and the feel of stop-start interrupts the flow of the track. You want it anthemic and they play it restrained - yes, it does break out but not often and not to the effect that this band is capable of - a grower or a disappointment - right now for me, the jury's out. Bizarrely though, the two exclusive live tracks that make up the rest of the disc ARE exactly what you want from this band and either one, as a studio version, would have made a much more immediate and surely more appropriate lead track. Both are on-fire romps through a world of strident playing, guitars and rhythms on fire, vocals flying to the skies as harmonies are piled on and writing that is just so addictive you'll be leaping around the room like a thing possessed. As a single, for these two tracks alone, unhesitatingly recommended - stick with this band - they're worth it.
THREE COLOURS RED: Union Of Souls CD
After two singles, then, finally the album is here. The dual-guitar, bass/vocals, drums quartet present what is essentially an eagerly anticipated item. Right from the start, it's clear that this is going to be the hot potato you'd hoped. What you hear on the opening track is grade-A song-writing and top notch arranging as the chiming guitars herald immaculately sung, with great emotion, lyrics as the track threatens to cut loose, reverts to its introduction, then fires up only to fall back to earth, just short of four minutes like a comet in the night sky - but then the album erupts - and I mean ERUPTS!!!! - as the nuclear warhead guitars and titanium strength rhythm section launch into the hi-intensity barrage that is the incendiary 'Repeat To Fade' track, as mighty an assault as you could possibly want from a rock band capable of writing songs that will sound this good for years to come, a blaze of rock maelstrom to delight the deafest of rock fans. After this, you get the title track, now in the context of the album, making a lot more sense, as it sounds in keeping with what's gone before and while still not for me an "obvious" single, here it just sounds sooooo good, and definitely a quality album track as the band veers from slow and purposeful to all-out attack with ease and dexterity. Then, as the rest of the album ensues, you are inexorably hooked to what becomes THE most amazing set of tungsten-tipped songs on a hi-quality rock album for a long, long time. Song after song thunders out from the speakers with such inventive yet addictive arrangements that will leave your head in smoking ruins. But it's not just about all-out power, it's about dynamics, production, a smoking gun of sonic guitar destruction and explosive beats that will break the walls and scare the neighbours - this, my friends, is brilliant - song-writing, vocalizing and playing in an original and nu-rock arena to which others should aspire.
TOTAL CHAOS: Punk Invasion CD
Twenty-two tracks in fifty four minutes by coloured-mohican, spike-haired punks so it's a pretty safe bet you know what you're in for - and this is all that you'd expect. Only trouble is - exactly that. It is exactly what you'd expect. OK - so out and out punk is hardly going to come up with anything new to say, but, new or not, it has to be something that takes you with it - something that wraps you round its tongue and spits you out onto the sidewalk. This has more than its share of tracks that really do work - the Ramones-like 'Attack', the almost punk-meets Glam-rock grinning sneer of 'Sex And Violence', the Dictators-like swagger of 'Tomorrow' - and bizarrely enough works best when the band is taking things at a slightly slower, less frenetic, still loud and powerful, pace, the almost frantic race for speed being the one thing that they do with admitted conviction but mixed results. Less desperation for speed, more of the classic early seventies punk-styled melodies, could make much of this album every bit as classic as the debut albums by Clash, Dictators, Ramones and more. Too many tracks, so it's up to you to find the gems, do the editing and get down to approx thirty-seven minutes of the hot stuff - it's there if you know where to find it. More editing next time, lads.
UNJUST: Glow CD
On the opening three tracks alone, you're treated to three different side of the band - all of them grade A class, quality and passion! Starting with a liliting, guitar-led instrumental of great beauty, they launch into a slice of pure class nu-metal rock with a distinctly King's X feel to the riffing and guitar work while an impassioned vocal soars over the top and climbs higher and higher, over this molten metallic sonic soup that is the guitars and rhythm section burning fit to die. 'Way Out' is equally powerful but in a more controlled, dynamic way, as the band tone it down a notch but still come up with what is essentially a nu-metal power ballad, something that is both economical, full-sounding and so superbly written and arranged, its relatively short length being nigh on perfect. But if that wasn't the holy grail, then take on 'Tired' which mixes power ballad, anthemic vocal and scorching guitars and panoramic keyboard backdrops over driving rhythms to absolute spine-tingling effect, the whole band lifting off like a Saturn V rocket on as magical a trip to nu-metal heaven as you'll hear, the huge depth of sound and sheer overwhelming quality shining through like a star in deep space. Elsewhere the band take it right down to real ballad status or turn it right up to propulsive power that simply leaves you breathless. This is a band that can write, arrange, sing and play, the production as perfect as the rest of it, and it's one of those albums that is both immediate yet substantial, as meaty as it is tasty, as dynamic as it is forceful and one that you'll be playing in years to come and it will still wreak of class and quality - quite, quite stunning!!!
VERO: Howdoesitfeel CDEP
There are just so many great British rock bands around right now that it's almost a crime - hellfire, it IS a crime!!! - that they don't become household names right now. This lot are the latest addition to that elite genre, and they rock, they explode and they burn. The 10 minutes and three tracks of this EP will have you foaming at the mouth with delight as you turn it way up loud and let that wall of guitars, those pounding rhythms and that incendiary sea of guitar leads power up and go absolutely nuclear under this soaring, strong and anthemic, solo and multi-tracked vocal performance, the whole band sounding like they are ready to take over the world right now, with music that oozes pure power from every pore, but power that is controlled within its wickedly addictive song-writing and arranging, production and quality , the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, as this band rises up to become a white dwarf star of blistering heat. Next to bands such as Incubus, Foo Fighters and FFAF, they could give all three more than a run for their money and, in my opinion, they have translate what must be an absolutely awesome stage sound, on a studio CD with way more power and electricity than FFAF have done to date on any of their output so far. This, then is a band to watch, a band to enjoy, a band you HAVE to see live and an EP that you have to turn way up load and soak it all in for an effect that is positively mind-blowing.
V-PUNK: Tora Tora Tora CD
Sixteen tracks in thirty-eight minutes and it's the Ramones all the way as this band of punks delivers one crucifyingly brilliant album of searing, more-miles-per-hour punk anthems than you can shake a stick at. From start to finish, it's one driving gem after another, with all the fun, power, strength, riffs, supercharged songs and superb vocals that you could want - just every song is as anthemic as they come and this is one mighty good album that you have to own - the perfect album to turn way up loud on those long hot summer nights - scare the neighbours, wake the dead and lay waste the estate - punk is back and it's quality incarnate. Brilliant!!!!
WALRUS: Now U Know CD Single
Three tracker that opens with a slamming slice of nu-metal Bo Diddley rhythmical power as strong lurching rhythms and steaming guitars carve out a song that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Rocket From The Crypt album. Just to keep you guessing as to their real intentions on this planet, they come up with a superior brand of nu-metal balladeering on 'The Truth' with a song that builds without climaxing and features some steaming electric guitar lead work, but still neatly economical and not overblown. 'The Time Is Now' starts off slow with upfront phased vocal and ringing guitars before bursting into life with shouted vocal and surging guitars, then settles back into the previous groove before erupting once more, this time for longer with a quite bizarre mid-section but a guitar solo that glows. Overall, a band with ideas that really work if you let them in, and promises much for the future.
WALRUS: Now You Know CD
Now this is one of those rare albums - a top notch, no frills, down-the-line, brilliantly composed and played straight rock album. No conforming to fashion or trends or that sort of thing - this band plays it tights and hard, rocking out track after track. The band really deliver with some corking ensemble work, while the vocals are upfront and so perfect sounding for the tungsten-like strength of the band. Song after song charges up and fires off, sometimes with an almost boozy, bluesy feel, but always quality stuff. There is a rich seam of variation running through the bands material, but the rocking and riffing is kept consistent throughout. This is an album you don't think will get under your skin, but once you play it, it's difficult not to listen to it from start to finish in one sitting. Superb stuff.