Blog

  • BOSTON MANOR To Celebrate 10th Anniversary Of Be Nothing

    Boston Manor have big plans to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Be Nothing.
  • Jack J Hutchinson Announces New Album ‘Soul Believer’ & Releases 1st Single/Video

    Guitarist and singer-songwriter Jack J Hutchinson returns with brand new single and video ‘Soul Believer’. Sream/download the single – here The track is the first single taken from Hutchinson’s forthcoming new studio album of the same name, ‘Soul Believer‘, due for release on Friday 22nd January 2027 and available to pre-order now. To celebrate the […]

    The post Jack J Hutchinson Announces New Album ‘Soul Believer’ & Releases 1st Single/Video appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.

  • All Them Witches – ‘HOUSE OF MIRRORS’

    Longevity is an underrated skill. To keep a band alive and still be making music years after breaking out is something to be valued. It takes persistence and commitment just to keep it going, let alone make a quality album. After six years without releasing new music, All Them Witches started to wind down. When their drummer unexpectedly quit, their commitment wavered. It all seemed to be coming to an end. But chance kept them going. Revitalised by the addition of new drummer Christian Powers, they set to work on a new album. Guitarist Ben McLeod, bassist/vocalist Charles Michael Parks Jr. and keyboardist Allan Van Cleave rediscovered their love of music. The result is ‘House of Mirrors’, an album heavy with experience but supercharged by the thrill of rediscovery.

    The album’s cover features the four band members, blurred and dyed red; the colour of anger, love and danger. It’s a deeply fitting choice for music that feels passionate and devilish. Each of the ten songs feels like an idea expressed thoughtfully but with an air of recklessness. Compared to their previous album, 2020’s understated ‘Nothing As The Ideal’, it’s far more upbeat and creative and, because it’s almost uninterested in compromise, the tone and energy shift wildly throughout its runtime. This isn’t a bad thing as it all operates within certain parameters and styles that make the whole thing work remarkably well, despite its scope.

    As their band’s name implies, the sound is a bubbling brew of folk rock, sludge and doom, with a healthy dose of blues. Each song contains a different mix of these elements and each sits somewhere between Monolord, Cave-In and the White Stripes. It’s an unusual but effective mix.

    The whole record is built upon shifts in style and tone that feel both atmospheric and surprisingly effective. At their heaviest, the crushingly eerie ‘Red Rocking Chair’ uses slow, quaking riffs and spoken word to give it authority, while ‘Angel on the Wayside’ is a bluesy number with so much energy it bounds around like a puppy. At the other end of the scale, ‘Starting Line’ feels almost like a folk song until its emotional strings tighten, pulling it in a different direction entirely.

    The album’s strongest feature is the way the band balance the different musical styles and the energy between them. ‘The Welterweight’ and ‘Saturn Song’ use fast, muted guitars to give them a sense of urgency and momentum but it’s a sound that sits slightly at odds with the way the songs unfold, giving them a mischievous air. Similarly, ‘Turn On The Light’ marches along on a comfortable, shrugging guitar part, right until its dynamic changes like a twisting knife.

    Although the record’s greatest strength is the interplay between band members, the production work by Eddie Spear at Blackbird Studio in Nashville allows the different elements to slot together like a puzzle. It’s notable how much creative energy drummer Christian Powers brings to the album too, and the heavy booming sound gives them a strong presence, particularly on ‘Turn On The Light’. The rides (and the metallic Ting sounds) under ‘Hold Up, Say What?’ also give it a strong character. However, the record’s sound is best defined by the tangible bass and guitars, sounding grubby and lived-in as they express their ideas. Notably, ‘Culling Line’ leans back on a heavy sludge riff that allows the guitar to sing over the top and its biting, emotional tone. It’s a beautiful piece of work.

    One of the album’s most compelling elements is its sequencing. Like on their previous record, the various shifts in style lend an unusual energy. After moving slowly in one direction, it shifts, giving it a strange and unpredictable quality. Track four ‘Hold Up, Say What?’ is such a straight-up noisy rock song that it arrives like a shock and feels strangely out of place despite giving the album a huge jolt of energy. Similarly, the lively ‘Angel On The Wayside’ feels as if it’s stepping in a different direction to the proceeding songs, like a kind of musical square dance. That said, the variety of styles makes it difficult to decide if there is a more effective track order. Either way, the slightly bumpy ride is part of the charm.

    The album’s title tells you a lot about its themes. The idea of the self being reflective, of recursive ideas and repeated patterns. The most straightforward use of this idea is the droning blues riffs under ‘Aethernet’ or the repeating patterns of ‘Angel On The Wayside’. Both songs treat this as a basis and then break free of the patterns. It’s a striking form of expression, especially as they are using sounds honed over years of commitment.

    All Them Witches are reborn on their new record. As the title suggests, ‘House Of Mirrors’ is a familiar space crammed with new ways of seeing themselves. It’s a brilliant, beguiling piece of work.

    IAN KENWORTHY

  • The Barbarians Of California Announce New Album ‘MEGATONS’

    The Barbarians Of California have shared everything you need to know about their upcoming second album, including an unstoppable new single.

    The chaos-loving hardcore-punk outfit’s latest album is titled ‘MEGATONS’, and it’s set to arrive on August 21.

    On the announcement, the band’s Eric Stenman has said:

    “Everyone has heard of the sophomore slump. Making a second album can be a fraught process full of overthinking and self-doubt. Perhaps, the benefit of us starting this band, at this later point in our lives, relieves some of that pressure. This felt so easy, and is a seamless continuation of whatever we started with the first batch of song – just bigger and better.”

    Following the arrival of crushing single ‘Vanilla Latte’ earlier in the year, the album’s announcement also brings with it another belting new track titled ‘The Gnarlycore Class’, which comes with a delightfully hilarious music video set in a classroom.

    Check it out below.

    On the release of ‘The Gnarlycore Class’, Eric has shared:

    “Sometimes when writing a new song, the goal is to land on a tempo that hasn’t been used anywhere else on the album. ‘Gnarlycore’ was just that. I think Aaron has been wishing for something in this vein for a while now. This was the second to last song that we came up with for MEGATONS, and it seemed to come together quickly and effortlessly.”

    Take a look at the artwork and full tracklisting for ‘MEGATONS’ below.

    1. BACK TO THE VALLEY
    2. THE GNARLYCORE CLASS
    3. VANILLA LATTE
    4. BOMB TO A KNIFE FIGHT
    5. REALLY REALLY RAD
    6. MEGATONS SEGUE
    7. EARTHQUAKE
    8. THIS IS SHREDICAL
    9. HIDE ALL YOUR RECORDS
    10. MODERN FASHION
    11. SHARK OUT OF WATER
    12. I AM THE SUBMARINE

    The post The Barbarians Of California Announce New Album ‘MEGATONS’ appeared first on Rock Sound.

  • Stand Atlantic Announce European Headline Shows

    Stand Atlantic have announced a run of European headline dates taking place around their shows supporting Simple Plan.

    It’s been less than a week since the band returned with bright and breezy single ‘Velcro’, and they’ll be bringing those impeccable vibes across the ocean for some more shows later in the year.

    The Aussie’s will be supporting pop-punk legends Simple Plan at their huge arena shows in London and Manchester this October, but they’ll be hitting up a bunch of places across Europe before that.

    Tickets will be on sale this Friday (May 29) from 10am BST.

    Check out the full list of dates below.

    And to get you extra hyped, have a listen to the heart-meltingly wholesome ‘Velcro’ here,

    The post Stand Atlantic Announce European Headline Shows appeared first on Rock Sound.

  • Softcult Share Powerful Music Video For ‘Tired’

    Softcult have shared a powerful music video for ‘Tired’, taken from the duo’s latest album ‘When A Flower Doesn’t Grow’.

    Photo: Kaylene Widdoes

    The Ontario sibling duo released their debut full-length at the start of the year, and the stunning videos just keep coming.

    Speaking on ‘Tired’, vocalist Mercedes Arn-Horn has shared:

    “This track is about radicalization. We wrote it about reaching the breaking point of frustration with a fundamentally unfair and oppressive system. Almost all of us can think of a specific moment in our lives that altered our perception of the world and influenced our core beliefs. We’re currently experiencing an upheaval of opinions on both ends of the political spectrum. We’re exhausted, disgusted and horrified by the blatant violation of human rights and fearful of the very real threat of fascist dictatorship.We’re worn out from debating, educating, and simply existing in these times. There are no more excuses. No justifications. This song is about rejecting and revolting against the current systems of power, and condemning the hateful ideologies they promote.”

    Check out the brand-new video below.

    Earlier this year, Rock Sound spoke to Mercedes and Phoenix to get the full lowdown on their debut album as part of our Album Story series.

    Read everything the pair had to say about the creation of ‘When A Flower Doesn’t Grow’ here.

    The post Softcult Share Powerful Music Video For ‘Tired’ appeared first on Rock Sound.

  • CIRCUS – A Kiss Before Dying

    What happens when mankind becomes so advanced that technological progress threatens to become a possible weapon of mass