The opening clang of Jimi Fiano’s “Hey Joe (Not Your Father’s Hey Joe)” doesn’t so much announce itself as it throws a rusty, amplified gauntlet at your feet, immediately drenching the space in a humid haze of overdriven tube amps and a general sense of impending musical mayhem. This isn’t the kind of track that
When eight Hamburg musicians step into a studio with decades of sweat and stage smoke behind them you expect grit, but Simple Things by 5th Avenue catches you completely off guard with its pure heart and breezy melody. Ever since their legendary appearance at the inaugural Wacken Open Air back in 1990 this northern German powerhouse has
Hamburg Rock Veterans ‘5th Avenue’ Deliver Pure Unfiltered Joy on ‘Simple Things’ Read More »
When a band unearths rehearsal cassette tapes after thirty years in the vault, the result usually leans toward misty nostalgia, but Cleveland rock outfit Farline obliterates any expectation of quiet reflection with their massive single Running Blind. Formed during the explosive boom of nineties alternative rock, the group shelved early drafts of this track before dusting
Stepping straight into the furnace with a re-imagined weapon, Swedish metal outfit NERVED deliver a crushing statement of intent on Don’t Lie. Originally released back in 2008 on their album Finally Nerved, this track always possessed a ferocious core, but here it finally gets the massive stadium-sized production and punishing low end it deserved. The
This Swedish Metal Veterans Reclaim Their Past With Ferocious Precision Read More »
Credit: artwork: Andy Warren There is no such thing as universal burnout. One may try to sleep or take a vacation, whine it out with a friend or just stare blankly at a wall, wondering how you ever ended up here. TheMindWillNotLetGo, on the other hand, has chosen the more pragmatic method: plug in a
Themindwillnotletgo’s Burnout: Turning Anxiety Into an Electrifying Rock Record Read More »
There’s something immediately satisfying about a heavy rock song that refuses to sound too clean. “Forever Lost,” the latest single from Southampton outfit Blacklight Vice, understands that sometimes the little imperfections are exactly what make a recording feel alive. The track marks the band’s first collaboration with new vocalist Drew Knowles and a clear step
“Forever Lost” Is Raw, Heavy, and Impossible to Polish Away Read More »
Painting featured in the artwork:“The Sound from the Opposite Shore” 対岸の音 (4S)2023by 卯野 和宏 (Uno Kazuhiro) At an age where some songs can’t figure out their intent for several minutes, Marston and Baldi offer us a track that wasted barely a breath to get there. Within the runtime of one and a half minutes, this
Marston and Baldi Deliver ‘Hope in the Darkness’ in Under Two Minutes Read More »
There are only so many ways a rock band can tell you things are crap. They can scream at the listener, then lower the guitar tuning until the neighbors’ furniture begins to hum with their own existential rage, write a chorus explicitly about the nature of despair and scream it at an increased volume. Or,
Blade Of Thorns Navigates Emotional Abyss on “Deep Waters” Read More »
There is a very specific kind of song that hits differently when it is 2 a.m., you have headphones on, you absolutely should be asleep and your brain has suddenly decided that now is the perfect time to review every terrible decision you have ever made. Quinetik’s “Astronaut Dreams” fits that category pretty damn well.
Quinetik’s “Astronaut Dreams” Is Basically a Late Night Existential Crisis With a Beat Read More »
Alone steel string guitar squeaks against dry fingertips before a soft, close mic vocal drifts into the quiet air, instantly establishing Elay as an unsparing chronicler of grief on “Ayaw at Gusto”. The recording carries zero studio polish or glossy gloss, favoring instead the ambient room noise of late-night isolation where every quiet intake of
Elay, “Ayaw at Gusto”: A Brutally Sparse Autopsy of Disintegrating Devotion Read More »