Best of the rest

Other new releases out this month.

The Survival Code

Crosses To Carry, Coffins To Fill

Good deedS

The Survival Code are a duo, so their palette is limited. Guitarist Gary McGuinness’s lead vocal is characteristic, but swathed in bolstering effects. Formulaic modern rock, no more, no less. Next! 5/10

Crushed Beaks

Clue

The Other Room

Skewed Swervedriving guitar, propulsive motorik drums, vocals reminiscent of love beads-era Albarn. Eagulls producer Matt Peel’s located the heroism at the heart of these fuzzed-up epic shoegazers. 7/10

Rat Face Lewey

rat FaCe lewey

The Fall Of Man

Obvious mainstream post-grunge ambitions cannot hide this twobrothers-and-another Midlands trio’s obvious taste for 90s SoCal popcore on this solid second album. 7/10

Rubinoos

yep roC

From Home

Veteran San Francisco power-poppers who spent their Berserkley peak overshadowed by Mac, punk ‘n’ return with a dozen crackers (produced by Chuck Prophet) that exhibit timeless songwriting class. 8/10

Stevie D & Corey Glover

MiGhtyMiGhty

Torn From The Pages

That’ll be producer/guitarist Stephen DeAcutis, last seen with the Appices. His epic rock’s reliably rolled, but it’s the incendiary soul power of Living Colour singer Glover that provides the fireworks. 8/10

Hemina

Night Echoes

Sydney-based harmonic prog-metal quartet return with fourth album of significant emotive power, on which Douglas Skene’s strident vocal soars across a roaring soundscape of instrumental pyro. Beware: there are also ballads. 8/10

Midland

BiG MaChiNe

Let It Roll

Duded up in clichéd trad country duds, both physically and sonically, this slick trio from Dripping Springs, Texas add cloying twang to yachtrock tropes to asset-stripping effect. 5/10

Mallory Knox

a wolF at your door

Mallory Knox

Maintaining a course that’s paid significant dividends over the past decade, the Cambridge quartet deliver more anodyne meat for the rock-lite grinder. Riffs riff, vocals keen, a nation shrugs. 5/10

Robert Randolph & The Family Band

MaSCot

Brighter Days

Gospel-inclined blues rock with Stax of Staples’ soul on the side, Randolph’s evocative pedal steel soars reliably as his assured vocal attains new peaks of emotive character. 7/10

Balls Gone Wild

Metalville

High Roller

Sounding just like their logo’s font suggests, this German trio worship at the altar of ‘DC, yet despite having the chops they come across as mere pastiche. A superfluous umlaut might have helped. 6/10

Yes

50 Live

Not so much Yes as ‘almost’, what we have here is Steve Howe’s version of the much-splintered trad-prog veterans captured last year at the Philly Fillmore. No disgrace, but hardly essential. 6/10

Grenadeers

iNdepeNdeNt

How To Fit In

(Comfortable)

Grease

Did anyone order the Dutch QOTSA? Well, it seems they’re here anyway, and polished to perfection. Crisp ‘n’ heavy riffs, assured unshakeable hooks, intuitive melodic sensibilities. Ones to watch. 8/10