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  • The Shadows Of Death With ROHAN STEVENSON From SUNK LOTO

    If you like your heavy music served with a side of absolute, unadulterated chaos, then grab a cold beer and brace yourself. Gold Coast alternative metal titans Sunk Loto are officially heading back out on the road this August for their highly anticipated Dead Shadows Tour. Trust me when I say this is shaping up […]

  • 10 Simple Ways to Honor Ozzy Osbourne in Your Daily Life

    Bubbles, burritos and going f—ing crazy. Continue reading…

  • 10 Simple Ways to Honor Ozzy Osbourne in Your Daily Life

    Bubbles, burritos and going f—ing crazy. Continue reading…

  • Snorlax – Toxic Current Review

    Having slept on the first few releases from Australia’s Snorlax, I approached Toxic Current—the Aussie one-man blackened death metal band’s third full-length—with fresh ears. I won’t bore you with any references to a certain anime franchise. But like an energy vampire I will bore you to tears with the following brief review of Toxic Current.

    If your music veers off course enough that it’s often described by people who are only vaguely familiar with metal as “extreme metal,” then I want to hear some absolutely unhinged stuff. And that’s exactly what Snorlax delivers on Toxic Current. The blackened death metal categorization still largely works, but there’s also a healthy, very much detectable pinch of grind sprinkled almost equally throughout. That surprising element really sold me on Snorlax. If there’s anything Toxic Current could use more of it is grind. But the existing, roughly 70/30 blackened death to grind ratio is effective enough.

    Toxic Current by Snorlax

    Another general rule is that if you’re a one-person band, please have some sort of ethos or vision and transfer that to your recording. If it’s a bit of a mess, you can clean that up. Or don’t. But your mission cannot be to sound like a full band. You are not a full band. And you have the benefit of your one, undiluted voice. Fortunately, Snorlax’s Brendan Auld also, seemingly, adheres to this rule, as Toxic Current certainly sounds purposefully and intentionally brutal, caustic, and sometimes even catchy.

    What I love most about Toxic Current are the little hints at care and depth. It’s the threading of a riff (“Manifestation”). Or the subtle nod that the band is about to drop a tonal change on you right quick (the mostly ambient instrumental “1984” before Snorlax kicks it into high gear with “Insignificance”). And, of course, speaking generally, it’s also the willingness to hit you—and hit you often—with a tire iron to the face (“No Fate,” “Into the Void,” “Control,” and most everything else).

    Toxic Current by Snorlax

    Snorlax’s Toxic Current is well produced and well written fun that is not just brutal but also smarter than it will be given credit for. And not because of the band name which, admittedly, seems at least questionable. No, it is smarter than it will be given credit for because the proper mix of chaos and coalesce—disfunction and function—is, or seems, anyway, difficult to achieve. Yet Snorlax has achieved just that with Toxic Current.

    The post Snorlax – Toxic Current Review appeared first on Last Rites.

  • Mimi Barks – ‘DREAMSTATE OF FEAR’

    Trap, like rap and hip-hop, is largely a solo pursuit. The individual needs to stand out. Hence with each release Mimi Barks’ image changes, as does her sound. It’s a state of constant reinvention making it hard to pin down exactly who she is or what her music will sound like. Two years ago, her album ‘This Is Doom Trap’ gave the impression she was hurtling along, unsure of a direction. Imagine the animated film The Wrong Trousers where Gromit is riding an out-of-control train frantically laying track in front of him, desperately trying not to crash. That was the sound. By embracing that joyride, new EP ‘Dreamstate of Fear’ careens off in a thrilling new direction. As its title suggested, ‘This Is Doom Trap’ was an attempt to define her music. It was a sprawling collection, dipping into different sounds, combining trap beats and rapped vocals, darker, screamy alt-metal stylings and softer soundscapes. This release plays with those same ideas, but is weirder and far more intense.

    Basically, this EP is split in two, opening with three gleefully gnarly trap/nu-metal hybrids before changing shape. ‘Dreamstate Of Hell’ is built around the flickering tick-tick-tick hi-hat beats that define trap but quickly becomes an unsettling brew of looped chord stabs and vicious guitar licks. Its chorus sounds like a corrupted Linkin Park; uncanny yet strangely catchy. Similarly, ‘Ophelia’ has the heart of a pop-punk classic buried amongst the mixture of synths, and licks and clicks. This paves the way for the EP’s centrepiece ‘Jericho’, a strange mutant built over the thud and throb of a programmed drumkit rather than a repetitive hi-hat undercurrent. Ugly, shifting guitars create a nightmarish canvas while her contorted vocal paints an uncomfortable, druggy, and deeply intoxicating portrait.

    Two short, textured instrumentals bleed away the EP’s energy making its second half feel like an extended coda. However, it’s not short of ideas and ‘Power durch verrat’ features rapping in a European language (Possibly German) which stresses the harsh consonants and shhh sounds in a way that works remarkably well over a straight beat. On ‘Butterfly In Chains’, she dredges up an infectious chorus while the music spits and sputters like a basket of snakes in a fireworks factory.

    One of trap’s biggest stars Travis Scott has more than a billion YouTube views on singles like ‘Goosebumps’. So the question is, does Scott define trap? Is that why so many artists heavily process their voices? In contrast to ‘This Is Doom Trap’, this EP breaks with that style. Each song presents her voice in fascinating ways, and yes, although the vocals are treated it’s never heavy-handed or unpleasant, helping her voice twist and contort. It’s also interesting when she treats her vocals, how intimate her songs can feel, and how she shifts the space between her tone and the listener. In effect she pursues a feeling that suits each song’s style.

    Filled with fizzing, hissing vocals coiled around stressful, anxious beats ‘Dreamstate Of Fear’ is a caustic and creative reinvention.

    IAN KENWORTHY

  • NWOBHM Triple Header: New Albums From Cloven Hoof, Saxon and Girlschool

    Three of the biggest names still with us from the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal years have albums due to be released. Well, two of them confirmed and another planned. Who are the three? Cloven Hoof, Saxon and Girlschool. Cloven Hoof are first with the release of Never a Prophet in Your Owen […]

    The post NWOBHM Triple Header: New Albums From Cloven Hoof, Saxon and Girlschool first appeared on New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

  • Militarie Gun Share New Single “World’s Always Burning” Featuring Mannequin Pussy 

    Los Angeles-based Militarie Gun announces God Save The Gun (Deluxe) due August 7th via Loma Vista Recordings. The extended version

  • Hatebreed Share New Song

    Studied, imitated, but never replicated, the Grammy-nominated hardcore legends HATEBREED have remained a fixture of the hardcore and metal scenes for the

  • “I’ve had the time of my life!” Singer Jess Holland parts ways with Solstice

    UK proggers Solstice have announced that they are parting ways with singer Jess Holland as she looks to spend more time on her teaching career and her life outside the band. You can watch a video statement from Phillips and Solstice guitarist Andy Glass below.

    The band’s live dates this Summer and Autumn, culminating in Solstice’s annual hometown show at the Stables in Milton Keynes on October 31, and their headline performance at the Prog Before Xmas mini-festival in Glasgow (in aid of Maggie’s Cancer Centres) will be Phillips’ final performances with the band.

    “I’ve had the time of my life working with Andy and the band over the past seven years,” says Holland. “Solstice is like a family to which I feel I will always belong, and the music we’ve created together, the joy we’ve had playing to audiences across the country, is an experience full of memories and friendships that I’ll always cherish. I feel privileged to have been able to help write this chapter of the Solstice’s history with the rest of the band, and whilst it’s time for me to move on to the next phase of my life, I know the band will continue to grow under Andy’s inspirational leadership, writing and playing. I’m looking forward to the remaining Solstice dates of 2026, celebrating the last seven years with the band and all our incredible supporters, and going out on a high.”

    “As the seventh singer of Solstice, Jess’ beautiful voice, warm personality and energy-filled performances have been pivotal in our recent good fortune and a huge inspiration to me personally,” adds guitarist Andy Glass. “When I first referred to the creative journey that would become ‘The Sia Trilogy’, little did I know it would come to define an era with three albums full of Jess’ unique vocal, characteristic harmonies and songs that she made her own. We will all miss her hugely, yet, with much love and gratitude, we now move forward to a new chapter full of optimism for the possibilities that may bring with the exceptional talents we have in the band, and which we will no doubt add to in due course.

    “To everyone whose wonderful support has carried us this far, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I’ve no doubt you will share our sadness over Jess’ departure, but we give thanks for the time we’ve had together and hope you’ll join us at the forthcoming dates to celebrate with Jess, and that you’ll stay with us and see where this journey leads. Work on the ninth studio Solstice album is well underway and our incredible singers, Leoni and Dyane, are working closely with me on the new material. We’ll be back on the road in 2027 with a new album to kick off the next chapter, and we’re all very excited about the next phase of the Solstice story. Love and thanks to you all.”

  • Self Defense Family Share New Single “Reclusion”

    Self Defense Family have returned with their first new music in six years! The ever-evolving group fronted by vocalist Patrick Kindlon