Before getting to the bigger business of their next full-length studio album, Glory For Salvation (AFM Records), scheduled for release later this year, Italian quintet Rhapsody of Fire provides a little taster with new eight-track EP, I’ll Be Your Hero (AFM Records).
South of Eden, a classic rock-esq band from Ohio, release an EP, The Talk (LAVA Music), to eager supporters, new admirers, and all-around music connoisseurs. The Talk presents listeners with a wonderful classic rock era sound. Think the mid to late seventies through the early nineties; when rock was fun, light, airy, and full of awesome guitar riffs and harmonies that sweep you off your feet and float you away to rock and roll heaven. It may sound like an over-exaggeration, but pick up The Talk and you will smile in understanding.
Time To Pay (Self-Released) is the new EP from Connecticut’s Turkey Vulture, a duo consisting of Jessie May (guitar, vocals, bass, cello) and Jim Clegg (drums, artwork). The EP is a force of incredible energy that nods to a deceptively diverse set of influences. This is punk; this is doom metal; this is stoner rock. Above all, it emanates a refreshingly raw and gloriously unpolished power.Continue reading
There’s no denying Destroyer of Light‘s prolific sense of adventure. The Austin, Texas quartet’s first release was a live set and in the eight years since, the band has let loose three albums, three EPs and a split with Tucson Doom monsters Godhunter. The latest of those EPs, Generational Warfare (Heavy Friends Records), is more of a ‘double-A side’: a two-song blast of mournful energy.Continue reading
You know the old idiom, “you can’t judge a book by its cover”? Yeah, well, it’s nonsense. Just take one quick look at the cover to The Last Rager (Nuclear Blast), the new EP from Virginian beermonsters Municipal Waste and judge to your heart’s content.Continue reading
A cold Yorkshire wind blows through the speakers before a tapped out bass line floats along. It’s immediately reminiscent of the hammered-on, happy-go-lucky turned sinister oddity of Primus’ ‘Here Come The Bastards’, and forms the lilting lynchpin of the song. Quickly, ‘RVN’ becomes a colossal Stoner Metal riff barrage, filled with the same grooving bounce the bass line laid out. Suddenly any quirkiness that evoked feelings of Primus is dissipated, and in its place, a muscular yet peculiar creature is presented. This is Kurokuma.Continue reading
While Return Of The Arsonist (Fysisk Format) is a spiritual successor to the Hand Us The Alpha Male EP, the eight-year gap really shows the songwriting prowess Blood Command have amassed. There is less of a focus on the high octane, scattergun approach to the song structures and, as a result, more memorable moments.Continue reading
An attacked guitar fades in with a straight Rock n’ Roll riff before spacious strings reverberate around the listeners’ skulls. They give way into the abyss as an almighty Sludge riff threatens to swallow the world whole. ‘This Is Fine’ centres on this aforementioned riff and grinds in a cyclical manner around one’s speakers eviscerating the local surroundings. ‘This Is Fine’ is an understatement: as an opener to an EP, it is borderline excellent. Billy Myers III’s shouted vocals have the force necessary to level council flats, and come across as blissfully effortless to listen to.Continue reading
White noise feeds back into the listener’s ears. An overwhelming feeling of discomfort sets the stage for Phase One (Flatspot Records) to begin in riotous fashion. ‘A. D. (Anno Diabolus)’ starts with a slow, brooding bass and excerpts of a voice talking about “the demon” that “feeds on your hate”, before the screaming starts. As the band kick in underneath the yelped vocals, there’s a carnal urge to flip tables and spin kick like your life depends on it. In a mere forty seconds, Section H8 are able to tap into the base urges of humanity’s inherently violent nature and get your adrenaline pumping like a shot to the heart.Continue reading
An EP is an auditory window to the soul. Whether it’s a band in the infancy of their career laying out their opening salvo, or a veteran act dipping their toes into more experimental waters, it gives the listener a glimpse into what lies beneath any aesthetic visage. Following on from their debut album Raptor’s Breath, Snake Tongue returns with No Escape No Excuses (The Sign Records), an EP that is a sonic departure as well as a statement of intent.Continue reading