BEST OF THE REST
Other new releases out this month.
Mad Dogs We Are Ready To Testify GO DOWN
Pitched somewhere between the blazing hyper-sleaze of The Hellacopters and the cranked-up steroid swagger of vintage Monster Magnet, Italy’s Mad Dogs are generic as hell but a helluva lotta fun. 7/10
Brandy And The Butcher Dick Circus RIVER MONSTER
Punk-laced South Carolina bar-room brutality propel Elizabeth Hale’s sneer-lipped glitz-‘n’-grime vocal assaults. CBGB-haunted action-rock with a side order of big-ass, muscle-car cowbell. 7/10
Michael J Sheehy Distance Is The Soul Of Beauty LIGHTNING ARCHIVE
Ex-Dream City Film Club vocalist Sheehy taps into the spirit of the Velvets’ third for an engaging, seductive and reflective collection of Cave/Cash/Cohen-evoking strong words, softly spoken. 8/10
Metz Atlas Vending SUB POP
A pile-driving, hyper-cranked post-punk insistence defines the intensity of Toronto trio Metz’s skewed dislocation of dream-pop soundscapes and next-level hardcore. Well worth (re)discovering. 8/10
Red Spektor Heart Of The Renewed Sun KOZMIK ARTIFACTZ
Reminiscent of the Hendrix end of Thee Hypnotics’ sex-laced stoner psych, Stoke’s leading fuzzed-out proto-metalling three-piece deal in an ascendent brand of heavy that’s occasionally lighter than air. 8/10
Devin Townsend Order Of Magnitude: Empath Live Volume 1
Cheek-tonguing Zappa-of-prog-metal Townsend’s touring band features two FZ alumni (Mike Kenneally and Morgen Agren). Dense, complex, relentless and nowhere near as much fun as it thinks it is. 6/10
Ayreon Transitus MUSIC THEORIES
Ayreon’s latest cinematic epic finds Dutch auteur Arjen Lucassen tweaking his metal-gilded MO from sci-fi to gothic horror. Tom Baker narrates plummily, Steve Vai and Dee Snider head a vast cast. 7/10
Crystal Spiders Molt RIPPLE MUSIC
COC bassist Mike Dean’s production drags a whole sub-basement of sub-woofing doom from this bottom-heavy North Carolina duo comprised of bassist vocalist Brenna Leath and drummer Tradd Yancey. The sonic equivalent of cooking meth. 7/10
Bouncing Souls Volume 2 PURE NOISE
Reimagined career highlights from New Jersey pop-core stalwarts. Boasting a similar ear for an adenoidal hook to Green Day, the nearacoustic Souls shine much brighter when stripped of over-worked identi-punk tropes. 7/10
Jaded Hearts Club You’ve Always Been Here HELIUM-3/INFECTIOUS/BMG
High-profile collective featuring Miles Kane, Graham Coxon, Matt Bellamy et al unite with the avowed intent of adding a contemporary rock bite to a stack of northern soul classics. Irresistible. 8/10
Last Giant Let The End Begin SELF-RELEASED
Portland, Oregon’s Last Giant talk a good game. They claim to be influenced by “Zeppelin, Coltrane, Curtis Mayfield and Thin Lizzy”, but you’d never know it from these pedestrian alt.rock Hüsker doodles. 5/10
The Wytches Three Mile Ditch CABLE CODE
Intrinsically disinclined to cruise along route one, here’s a band with requisite ambition and ingenuity to rock down a road less travelled. Muscularly skewed fuzz co-exists alongside feather-light subtlety. A spellbynding brew. 8/10