4 years since the much beloved UK rock quartet dropped a stellar album, they are at long last treating the masses to a brand new full-length effort – Invicta – and of course, it’s bloody brilliant.
We get Chloe’s fantastic lead vocals as we’ve come to know and love, backed up by the equally beefy screams punching at your ear drums for that added heavy edge. The lyrics are fantastic and incessantly make a major impression, full of running emotions and rarely, if ever, struggling to gauge investment; Underwater, Into Pieces and Falling are particular focal points there.
Tremendous thrilling choruses rack up the already brimming excitement and energy brought on by the rhythms into positive overdrive, plus they are jam-packed with super sweet riffs that include a few flashy solos now and again.
An outstanding record living up to the hype and keeping Skarlett Riot perpetually standing tall within the elite of the British underground, which is evidently too small to contain them; a band of their calibre deserve to reach even higher ground.
OUT NOW!
THE RAH’s – When Does It Become Real?
One successful crowdfunder and months of waiting later, the young and promising East Lothian outfit have finally delivered their much anticipated debut album, and the final result is a belter.
It’s loaded with infectiously pumping up tunes mixing indie rock with modern punk sparking an unreal energy. The singing has great resolve, and the guitar work is a pure thing of beauty.
There are plenty of cracking choruses on hand that are ridiculously catchy and won’t be getting out of your skull any time soon – The Time Is Now, Land Of The Dreamers and Never Try to pick out just a mere few – but there’s also a batch of low-key numbers like Watch The World and Fuel To The Fire which are quite magnetic in their own right.
The Rah’s have surpassed already decent expectations with such an excellent record that is electrifying all the way through, and don’t be surprised if this skyrockets them to whole new heights.
OUT NOW!
Well, there’s certainly no contest when declaring this the best work to date of the Glasgow singer-songwriter and his capable team.
It opens up on a stunningly haunting note, before suddenly dropping into a loud and large blast of rock noise which wakes you up big time and gets you engaged into the vivacious rhythms and noteworthy writing, led on obviously by Austin himself who is on the ball with his harmonies.
The music is fabricated from zealous guitars, rocking bass and stiff drumming, all of which make for an insanely tight combo that generate a hell of an intoxicating sensation, although they do for a moment return to the quieter material led by nice pianos and soothing strings.
OUT NOW!
MAY THE TEMPEST – Rise To Remain
A mighty metalcore album from a mighty German outfit which greets you with a strong opening before getting down to serious business with a list of heavy, barbaric tracks that are non-stop stimulative, led on by tight performances across the board and bloody good choruses that serve as the highlight to each of them.
OUT NOW!
BLOCK PARENT – Sick Year, Bro!
The Canadian punk boys bring a heap of humour and personality to their lyrics and performances, being unapologetically crude and brash in their singing while battering out dual rugged guitar and bass riffs, and raw, echoic drum shots.
The tunes are fast, furious, pretty damn catchy and whirled through at a relentless velocity which stays consistent all the way through.
OUT NOW!
The queer sadcore connoisseur presents quite the interesting combo of dark pop, electronica and trap.
It can be best described as a lucid, acid-trip like experience that is off and surreal, yet oddly invigorating and hypnotic, characterised by rich and deep vocal work, highly flavoured production standards, and dazzling choruses.
A really cool and immensely enthralling EP that enforces your attention from the offset and clings on to you hard until it eventually comes to an end.
OUT NOW!
GRADUATION SPEECH – Private Anxieties
Kevin Day of Aspiga is quite the busy bee, now delivering the 3rd record under the banner of his solo project.
The NJ native treats us to a trio of short yet sweet pieces with light, easy-going melodies where his harmonies are nice and tender and the writing is quite earnest, with the listener able to get drawn in to the self-reflective lyrics without much difficulty.
OUT NOW!
The up-and-coming Scottish techno artist kicks off slowly building the anticipation, then starts pumping up the energy with thick, pulsating beats to get your subwoofers jumping whilst developing a dark ambience that is emphasised by the vocal loops.
He does well to maintain that absorbing mood lingering with a sense of dread, with light synth sounds intermixed before finishing up on a banging, vitalising finale.
OUT NOW!
The Boston punk outfit make a very quick impression through their 2-track debut here.
The harmonies have a fair amount of heart to them, doing well to get across the sincere lyrics on hand, and there’s a good pulse ignited from the rocking rhythms compiled of sweet riffs and great beats.
OUT NOW!
The EP is composed of a lo-fi pop rock sound that is able to capture a variety of moods.
It can be quite melodic and flow at a satisfying mid-tempo, they can lower the pace down and generate a firmly serene and soothing mood, getting you all loosened up inside, or they can choose to up the ante and charge through some catchy bops with an added buzz.
Whatever the case, it’s pretty polished music by the Italian duo certainly worth investing time to.
OUT NOW!
SMALL MUSIC SCENE 