This is our first taste of Rival Sons, though they have charted in the UK. They formed in 2009, and this is their sixth album. They’re a big band. They supported Deep Purple on their 2016 European tour and toured as main supporting act for all of Black Sabbath’s The End tour, which marked the […]
Body Type: EP2
Body Type are from Australia and play scuzzy rock somewhere between the stark indie of Kleenex and the pop of Kim Wilde. The songs are solid rather than sparkling but we have to say we’d cross a festival field to see them live, they’re probably entertaining. There seems to be a lot of bass and […]
Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes: End Of Suffering
Carter rose to prominence with Gallows, a punk band famed for their high energy music and even higher energy shows, where Carter would regularly end up covered in blood. He has mental health issues — not so long ago he blamed his “fighting demons” for pulling out of a tour with Papa Roach — and […]
Holy Moly and The Crackers: Take A Bite
This lot are one of those bands that are fundamentally a live band, playing raucous (but tight) gypsy / dance rock. Imagine Mumfords with a brass section and disco high-hats. And personality. Regulars at Rode Hall’s Just So festival will have seen many such a band — indeed, Holy Moly and The Crackers were on […]
Blood Youth: Starve
Metal outfit Blood Youth — they hail from the land of cream teas and muffins, Harrogate — are a visceral lot, their music loud and uncompromising. The album is marked by three elements: the frontman’s voice, which gets screamed hoarse over the album’s course — he sounds very annoyed about something, probably the queue for […]
Boogie Beasts: Deep
This is one of those rare records — ones we actually buy. In this case via a tweet from bluesman Son Of Dave, whose single we recently reviewed. Boogie Beasts play a style of blues that seems to be particularly European. When the Rolling Stones played Hyde Park a few years back we were far […]
Gary Clark Jr: This Land
We knew we’d like this when we read the reviews. We’re not fans of formulaic music genres so we liked some bits of Gary Clark Jr’s music but not the bits where he settled down into what he’s known for, rock blues. He’s a fantastic guitarist but rock blues is rock blues and does tend […]
Wallows: Nothing Happens
Wallows are a bit unfortunate with their page-mates this week: Gary Clark Jr and Fontaines DC are both career-defining CDs, Weezer are Weezer and Wallows, an indie rock trio from Los Angeles, are just pretty good. They’re a bit like Weezer, sunshine-infused indie and lots of harmony. It’s bouncy and it’s got lots of energy, […]
Weezer: Weezer (Teal Album)
Covers albums are a weird concept, especially for a big band like Weezer, though the backstory is amusing. Weezer have always played covers, including War Pigs by Black Sabbath (also covered by Flaming Lips for a spell), and fans pressured them to do a cover of Toto’s Africa. After trolling fans with a cover of […]
Paul Weller: Other Aspects, Live At The Royal Festival Hall
For many bands the obligatory album with an orchestra is a sign they’ve run short of ideas, their egos are too big or they’re dead. For Weller not only does it work — his songs suit gentle string arrangements — but it takes his music to a different place, that place being St Tropez, about […]
