Wailin’ Storms – The Arsonist (Season Of Mist) [Rich Piva] It is fitting that the new record from North Carolina band Wailin’ Storms is dropping the same month the band Solace also has a new release.
Not because they sound anything alike, but because like Solace’s 2019 record The Brink, Rattle, the 2020 record from Justin Storms and crew, was one of a handful of records that really helped me understand that there is a musical heavy underground and catapulted me head first right into where we are today.
Speaking of today, Wailin’ Storms’ new record, The Arsonist, brought to us by Season of Mist, is awesome, taking their noisy Southern preacher on fire vibes and bringing even more heavy to their take on gothic noise rock.
Starting with the reverby guitar and rolling bass and drums on the opener, Dead End, you can feel the heat in the room where Justin Storms is singing from while the music burns all around him. You will hear 80s goth vibes on this record, but goth if Jesus Lizard somehow got involved. Dead End is so huge and the guitar work is so killer, but how about when it gets all creepy and quiet, like he found a way out of the building structure only to decide just to stay put and let everything burn around him anyway.
Storms’ voice and ranges are on display throughout, and is used as effectively as any other instrument in setting the tone and the urgency of the tracks, like his high range on Heart Of Mine and his screams on Never Rest. These songs seem to always be building to something, whether that is an explosion or just enough to think it’s going to blow but the fuse is extinguished at the last second. You Never Answered is an onslaught, where I hear Steel Pole Bath Tub combined with Bauhaus which is not a formula I would have ever dreamed of.
The title track is a full on sermon, with Storms captivating his congregation through the flames all around them. The back half of the record is as killer as the first, with Patient Night and The Wind bringing more of the heavier side of this record, setting up perfectly the closer, It’s All Dark Now Where Your Eyes Used To Be, a stripped down, piano and voice driven minimalist track that has Storms looking down on the wreckage, surveying the damage, and deciding what is salvageable, if anything.
This record sounds amazing, and that is because The Arsonist was recorded by Matt Talbott of Hum in full analog. Enough said. Wailin’ Storms has and will always be an important band to me., which is why I am so happy to say The Arsonist is their best work yet, with an already killer discography. Dark, smart, urgent, meaningful, and beautiful all at the same time. This is the magic of Wailin’ Storms. 9/10
Devildriver – Strike And Kill (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]
After a double album that garnered rave reviews for the Santa Barbara groove metal crew fronted by Dez Farfara you may think that they would continue to make records that continue in that way but actually they’ve gone the other way back to their roots for a 13 track blast through all the facets of Devildriver.
From punishing groove on the Title Track and industrial punch of Headed For The Fall to the melodeath technicality on Dead In The Water and In The Moonlight. There’s an almost black metal atmosphere on Sanctified In Scars as the blistering Ride Or Die is outright ferocity and punishing tech groove of Shut The Silence Out.
Every track featuring that unmistakable snarl of Dez who offers up a varied vocals throughout to match whatever stylistic change this record plows through. Alex Lee and Gabe Mangold shred like absolute bastards on every track ferocious riffs and breakneck solos/leads coming throughout.
Davier Ortega Perez kicking the life out of his kit on tracks such as Never Coming Home (written for the England football team?), while returning founding bassist Jon Miller drops right back in for the bottom end power, even when there’s a slight pause for Summoning Shadows and You’re Just A Ghost, where more melodic strain appears before more battery.
Focused and feral, Strike And Kill sees Devildriver armed to the teeth and ready to wage war. 8/10
Shadow Of Jupiter – Bones (Ripple Music) [Rich Piva]
Chicago’s Shadow Of Jupiter’s second record, and first for Ripple Music is a triumph of heavy, melodic songs that stick with you and crush you at the same time. Bones has the band and the peak of their powers, a group who have figured out how to both play together as a fourpiece and how to get the most out of the songs that they put down for this record. The results are obvious, and will have you have this record on repeat, spinning in your mind even when it is not on the turntable.
The opening title track is all you need to understand what I am talking about with Bones. Colin’s riffs and playing, John’s vocals, which have grown into him being one of the best singers in the scene, Scott’s bass high up in the mix keeping it all together, while Adam does his thing on the drums (more on Adam later). This slow burn has so much atmosphere, and that along with Colin’s psych-leaning guitar work make this track a song of the year candidate.
SoJ gets tracking and pace, because that slow burn moves to the ripper Whatever God You Fear that has both a grunge and thrashy kind of thing going on that balances that seven-plus minute opener perfectly. Speaking of grungy, Ugly On The Inside is that, giving off Soundgarden vibes a plenty, but showing the band’s mastery of the tempo change. There is so much going on musically on this track, but I have to call out the double take I did while listening to Adam’s drumming. The dude is a monster. I had to stop everything I was doing to just focus on his work on the back half of this song. Amazing stuff.
The atmospheric aspect of this record is throughout Bones, like on Echo Chamber, a song that also shows that these guys get melody as much as they get the heavy riffs they are constantly delivering. My favourite track (currently at least) is Rumblestrip, with its killer vocal melody and John’s excellent singing performance. I hear Fireball Ministry vibes in this one, and there is not much higher of a compliment than that.
These guys are not just bringing the heavy and riffs, they are storytellers too. Just check out Riotdogs to see what I mean. The closer, For Heaven Above, has all of the great stuff I have mentioned: the atmospheric psych guitar work, the heavy riff, the vocals, but also has an emotion to it that grabs on and will not let you go.
Bones is a triumph for a band who play together because they love to do it and enjoy doing it with each other. All four members of Shadow Of Jupiter are represented in this 41 minutes of music, as the band has figured out their strengths and doubled down on what works for them, and more importantly, what they feel is them, as a band, on wax. Bones is an amazing record that everyone should check out. Album of the year candidate for sure. 9/10
Eva Under Fire – Villainous (Better Noise Music) [Matt Bladen]
Eva Under Fire is the musical arm of vocalist Amanda Lyberg’s work as a therapist, emerging from her own demons they debuted in 2022 with cathartic lyrics that are there to emotionally connect with audience and even male them reflect to choose themselves over everything else.
After completing her studies her father died of a fentanyl overdose and her mother nearly died from the same, now sober, these events have inspired Amanda on her work as psychiatrist dealing with trauma, grief, loss, and addiction which was turned into a documentary and featured her bands music throught, Eva Under Fire another outlet for her therapy work.
The Detroit band now follow up that debut album with their second full length release called Villainous which brings more massive hooks, metallic stomps and electronic thumps, creating music to get you moving but with lyrics that make you think and perhaps even re-evaluate as there’s an inherent catchiness to this music but on repeated listening the impact of the lyrics gets stronger.
As if Amanda’s powerful vocals weren’t enough she’s joined by Maria Brink of In This Moment on the industrial tinged Title Track, as ITM are clearly a big influence on Eva Under Fire. From the massive chorus of Awakening, through the Nu-Metal groove of Survive My Scars, the synthwave vibes of Dark Soul, the glitchy anthemic Don’t Say I’m OK or the radio ready Hello Hollow.
Villainous is a modern metal record that packs an emotive punch. 8/10
