Melbourne, Florida, isn’t exactly the first place you’d go looking for a gateway to the inferno, but Bodysnatcher have spent the last few years proving that the “Sunshine State” is just a marketing lie for something much more claustrophobic.
On Hell Is Here, Hell Is Home, they’ve stopped flirting with the boundaries of deathcore and hardcore and just decided to build a permanent residence in the middle of the friction. It’s a record that understands the most effective way to convey misery isn’t through complex metaphors, but through a rhythmic, low-end thud that feels like a boot to the ribs.
The needle drops on The Maker, and you’re immediately hit with that signature “beatdown” velocity. There’s a blood-on-the-mic honesty to Kyle Medina’s vocal delivery, it doesn’t sound like a performance; it sounds like a man trying to exorcise a decade of urban exhaust in a single breath.
The needle drops on The Maker, and you’re immediately hit with that signature “beatdown” velocity. There’s a blood-on-the-mic honesty to Kyle Medina’s vocal delivery, it doesn’t sound like a performance; it sounds like a man trying to exorcise a decade of urban exhaust in a single breath.
It leads directly into Writhe and Coil and Plague Of Flies, where the “gristle” of the production really starts to show. It’s thick, unpolished, and avoids the high-gloss traps of the modern circuit in favour of a sound that feels like it was recorded in a room where the amps are vibrating the floorboards loose.
What really anchors this record in the “essential” category for me is Survive Or Die, featuring Scott Vogel of Terror. Having the godfather of modern hardcore show up for a guest spot is a total masterstroke; it bridges the gap between the band’s deathcore foundations and the street-level grit of the old guard. It’s a high-velocity, three-minute rampage that targets the struggle of the grind with a level of anger that feels entirely earned. The guitars don’t just cycle through riffs; they construct a vast, shifting architecture of noise that feels like it’s vibrating your teeth loose.
The back half, Two Empty Caskets, Blade Between the Teeth, and the finality of the title track doubles down on the attrition. Hell Is Home is a sprawling, atmospheric descent that finally allows the band to stretch into some of the darker, more cinematic corners of their sound without losing the pugnacious energy that got them here. It’s a pained, honest jolt of reality that proves veterans don’t have to play it safe to stay relevant.
Honestly, as much as I’m enjoying the record on my headphones, I can’t stop thinking about how this is going to translate to the stage. By the time Day 4 of Welcome To Rockville rolls around next week, the Florida sun is going to be punishing, but I suspect Bodysnatcher are going to be a lot more abrasive than the weather. There is something uniquely masochistic about wanting to experience this level of “blunt-force trauma” in that midday humidity, but Hell Is Here, Hell Is Home feels like the perfect survival guide for the pit. I’m packing the high-factor sunscreen and getting ready for the collision.
What really anchors this record in the “essential” category for me is Survive Or Die, featuring Scott Vogel of Terror. Having the godfather of modern hardcore show up for a guest spot is a total masterstroke; it bridges the gap between the band’s deathcore foundations and the street-level grit of the old guard. It’s a high-velocity, three-minute rampage that targets the struggle of the grind with a level of anger that feels entirely earned. The guitars don’t just cycle through riffs; they construct a vast, shifting architecture of noise that feels like it’s vibrating your teeth loose.
The back half, Two Empty Caskets, Blade Between the Teeth, and the finality of the title track doubles down on the attrition. Hell Is Home is a sprawling, atmospheric descent that finally allows the band to stretch into some of the darker, more cinematic corners of their sound without losing the pugnacious energy that got them here. It’s a pained, honest jolt of reality that proves veterans don’t have to play it safe to stay relevant.
Honestly, as much as I’m enjoying the record on my headphones, I can’t stop thinking about how this is going to translate to the stage. By the time Day 4 of Welcome To Rockville rolls around next week, the Florida sun is going to be punishing, but I suspect Bodysnatcher are going to be a lot more abrasive than the weather. There is something uniquely masochistic about wanting to experience this level of “blunt-force trauma” in that midday humidity, but Hell Is Here, Hell Is Home feels like the perfect survival guide for the pit. I’m packing the high-factor sunscreen and getting ready for the collision.
Melbourne’s finest are about to make that Daytona asphalt feel very, very small. 9/10
Elegant Weapons – Evolution (Exciter Records) [Matt Bladen]
A few years back the first Elegant Weapons album crossed my platter and somewhat blew me away, to the point where tracks therein still pop up on my most used playlist.
Elegant Weapons – Evolution (Exciter Records) [Matt Bladen]
A few years back the first Elegant Weapons album crossed my platter and somewhat blew me away, to the point where tracks therein still pop up on my most used playlist.
There’s no shortage of these supergroup projects out there, but most of them don’t go anywhere on the grounds that either the artists involved only just found the time to squeeze the recording in between whatever their main source of income is contractually committed to, and therefore had no plans to tour (which is the only real way to let an audience know you are out there) or because the whole thing is funded by vanity or the need to write off cash through an apparently legitimate business posing as a record label.
Elegant Weapons fit neither of these caustic motes from this old hack, however. 2023 saw them play an impressive set of festival dates in Europe, and no shortage of critical acclaim and Rock Radio airplay for the still impressive debut Horns For A Halo – proving that this really wasn’t just a stopgap for Richie Faulkner whilst Priest were idling or a rare window in Ronnie Romera’s back to back schedule which is making his increasingly successful solo career mean he’s doing nowhere near as many of these projects any more. This second record runs with this.
The line-up is slightly different, with Scott Travis and Rex Brown not involved in the recording this time out, but with their drum and bass slots now filled by Christopher Williams and Dave Rimmer respectively. The key point is that this is the touring line-up from three years back, so I think it’s safe to say that this is the line-up moving forwards. They’ve set themselves a high benchmark to follow however… Also returning is studio maestro Andy Sneap, who’s Priest commitments also mean he’s a lot more picky about what production work he takes on nowadays. The message here is that is no longer a one-off project, but a proper going concern of a band.
This record feels a little different. It’s more experimental for a start. Whereas the debut was pretty straight ahead Metal throughout, there’s both bluesier and heavier pieces mixed in here, as well as the odd eyebrow raising bursts of Synthwave. This makes it a more subtle offering than the 10-track banger-fest we got first time around, but that also makes it slightly less immediately accessible and fragmented… …Which to an extent mirrors how it was produced, as remote production was the order of the day this time out. In places this shows through, but when you have experienced pros like this in the mix, the songwriting and performance more than pull the bootstraps up when something unexpected happens.
The running order is a bit eclectic too, as there are some good, solid belters for sure (The Devil Calls is catchy as hell and Thrown To The Wolves is a drinking horns aloft festival singalong waiting to happen), but we don’t get to them until halfway through the album, which in an age where hooking short attention spans in early is prudent seems odd, but conversely it forces us to listen to the more varied stylistic content first. That material needs a little more gestation to grab you, but grab you it unrelentingly does, and by my second spin through I can tell that once again this record is going to be getting a lot of repeat plays in the car. 9/10
Bronco Forte – Lightning Scars (Self Released) [Rich Piva]
On what is considered L.A. band Bronco Forte’s first full length (they put out an excellent EP in 2023), the band settles into this wonderful dark 90s vibe that resonates across all the tracks on Lightning Scars. 90s sounding? Yes. Derivative? Definitely not. This record is all their own, leveraging bits of their many influences to bring us one front to back banger of a record.
The opening track, Emberwalker, has the riffs you look for in heavy rock but also has this dark swagger about it that just connects. The doomy riff on the next one, Cultist Canyon, continues that darker vibe the band brings on album number one, both musically and lyrically. Chris Klepec is an excellent writer and guitar player who really shows off his skillset across the ten tracks.
Elegant Weapons fit neither of these caustic motes from this old hack, however. 2023 saw them play an impressive set of festival dates in Europe, and no shortage of critical acclaim and Rock Radio airplay for the still impressive debut Horns For A Halo – proving that this really wasn’t just a stopgap for Richie Faulkner whilst Priest were idling or a rare window in Ronnie Romera’s back to back schedule which is making his increasingly successful solo career mean he’s doing nowhere near as many of these projects any more. This second record runs with this.
The line-up is slightly different, with Scott Travis and Rex Brown not involved in the recording this time out, but with their drum and bass slots now filled by Christopher Williams and Dave Rimmer respectively. The key point is that this is the touring line-up from three years back, so I think it’s safe to say that this is the line-up moving forwards. They’ve set themselves a high benchmark to follow however… Also returning is studio maestro Andy Sneap, who’s Priest commitments also mean he’s a lot more picky about what production work he takes on nowadays. The message here is that is no longer a one-off project, but a proper going concern of a band.
This record feels a little different. It’s more experimental for a start. Whereas the debut was pretty straight ahead Metal throughout, there’s both bluesier and heavier pieces mixed in here, as well as the odd eyebrow raising bursts of Synthwave. This makes it a more subtle offering than the 10-track banger-fest we got first time around, but that also makes it slightly less immediately accessible and fragmented… …Which to an extent mirrors how it was produced, as remote production was the order of the day this time out. In places this shows through, but when you have experienced pros like this in the mix, the songwriting and performance more than pull the bootstraps up when something unexpected happens.
The running order is a bit eclectic too, as there are some good, solid belters for sure (The Devil Calls is catchy as hell and Thrown To The Wolves is a drinking horns aloft festival singalong waiting to happen), but we don’t get to them until halfway through the album, which in an age where hooking short attention spans in early is prudent seems odd, but conversely it forces us to listen to the more varied stylistic content first. That material needs a little more gestation to grab you, but grab you it unrelentingly does, and by my second spin through I can tell that once again this record is going to be getting a lot of repeat plays in the car. 9/10
Bronco Forte – Lightning Scars (Self Released) [Rich Piva]
On what is considered L.A. band Bronco Forte’s first full length (they put out an excellent EP in 2023), the band settles into this wonderful dark 90s vibe that resonates across all the tracks on Lightning Scars. 90s sounding? Yes. Derivative? Definitely not. This record is all their own, leveraging bits of their many influences to bring us one front to back banger of a record.
The opening track, Emberwalker, has the riffs you look for in heavy rock but also has this dark swagger about it that just connects. The doomy riff on the next one, Cultist Canyon, continues that darker vibe the band brings on album number one, both musically and lyrically. Chris Klepec is an excellent writer and guitar player who really shows off his skillset across the ten tracks.
Goat Church is as gloomy as you want a song called Goat Church to be and brings the riffs you want in a song with that title too. I love the interesting changes and the layered vocals that make Bronco Forte really stand out on this one and many of the other tracks, leveraging their secret weapon of Jen Glomboski on bass and backing vocals.
Tower shows off both the drumming of Geoff Summers as well as how great the whole record sounds, with a shout out to how the drums were recorded and mixed, as they sound excellent. I love the dual guitar work of Klepec and Sako Injaian who sound super tight on the record. Pair that with Jen Glomboski’s back up vocals and you have a winner with the track Hellascope.
My favourite track on the record, Scuffed Up, gives me Failure vibes all over, which could not be a bigger complement. The darkness across Lightning Scars continues on Dusk Jacket, which has my favourite riff on the record and reminds me of when Soundgarden used to turn the tempo down, but not the heavy. This song has the most space to breathe and some killer guitar and drum work. I love it.
Lightning Scar shows how melodic the band is and how much, when they choose to, their pop sensibilities show. The background vocals once again shine, making Obvious Alias another killer track in an album full of them. You can tell the band is from L.A. because traffic is a repeated topic lyrically, as the closer, Sixteen Lanes, covers that but also doubles down on the melodic side of the band while always staying a bit dark and a bit more heavy.
There is a lot to love on the debut full length record from Bronco Forte; excellent playing and song writing, killer riffs, the right balance of dark and heavy to let their melodic side shine though, and amazing lead and harmonized vocals that pairs perfectly with the excellent production. You can tell the band comes from all sorts of angles influence-wise, and they manage to tap all of the best parts in creating the ten tracks on Lightning Scars. 9/10
Kissing Kaos – To Your Limit (Mighty Music) [Cherie Curtis]
To Your Limit is Kissing Kaos’ 9 track debut album and it’s a thrill. To Your Limit is a masterful attempt on making the modern-day music nostalgic, it’s sleazy, heavy and somewhat glamourous with the fine tuning of today’s technology.
There is a lot to love on the debut full length record from Bronco Forte; excellent playing and song writing, killer riffs, the right balance of dark and heavy to let their melodic side shine though, and amazing lead and harmonized vocals that pairs perfectly with the excellent production. You can tell the band comes from all sorts of angles influence-wise, and they manage to tap all of the best parts in creating the ten tracks on Lightning Scars. 9/10
Kissing Kaos – To Your Limit (Mighty Music) [Cherie Curtis]
To Your Limit is Kissing Kaos’ 9 track debut album and it’s a thrill. To Your Limit is a masterful attempt on making the modern-day music nostalgic, it’s sleazy, heavy and somewhat glamourous with the fine tuning of today’s technology.
The tracks are incredibly catchy and feel – good, and the overall composition is tight and well thought out with the illusion of ease; it feels like a 4k remaster of an 80s action film which ultimately makes this one feel like the perfect summer album. There’s a definite classic feel; it has an open-air quality that is perfect for cold beers at a summer festival or a long drive.
The atmosphere around this one is soaring and anthemic with energetic and outstanding vocals which boarder on 80s Glam Metal with triumphant, heavy and dirtier riffs and low-end drums; it’s an album to dance too rather than throwing down in a mosh pit but it’s a kicker all the same. Each track hits you with deja vu, you get a strong nagging sensation that you’ve heard these melodies before, but you just can’t place it.
Ultimately, it’s very well done. By bridging the gap between raw nostalgia and pristine modern-day production, Kissing Chaos has gifted us the ultimate summer soundtrack. It’s fun and down to earth and gears you up for the festival season approaching, I would love to see them on the bill for Download festival one day as I feel these guys would put on a hell of a show. Though, To Your Limit may not be complicated or revolutionary, it is a great album that offers everyone an invitation to get moving and to feel alive again. 9/10
The atmosphere around this one is soaring and anthemic with energetic and outstanding vocals which boarder on 80s Glam Metal with triumphant, heavy and dirtier riffs and low-end drums; it’s an album to dance too rather than throwing down in a mosh pit but it’s a kicker all the same. Each track hits you with deja vu, you get a strong nagging sensation that you’ve heard these melodies before, but you just can’t place it.
Ultimately, it’s very well done. By bridging the gap between raw nostalgia and pristine modern-day production, Kissing Chaos has gifted us the ultimate summer soundtrack. It’s fun and down to earth and gears you up for the festival season approaching, I would love to see them on the bill for Download festival one day as I feel these guys would put on a hell of a show. Though, To Your Limit may not be complicated or revolutionary, it is a great album that offers everyone an invitation to get moving and to feel alive again. 9/10
