Spiritbox have stepped out of the black and white and into a world of colour with their beautiful new track ‘Mourning’.
The first piece of music from the band since the release of their full-length ‘Tsunami Sea’ in 2025, it’s a song that feels truly transformative, a fresh start and a new outlook after stewing in the darkness for so long.
Musically, ‘Mourning’ is a melodic masterclass. A chugging, thrilling, gorgeously constructed piece of modern metal, pulling on elements of shoegaze and post-metal to hammer home the soaring nature of the track. And lyrically, it finds Courtney LaPlante in a reflective and accepting mood. Making sense of the fact that sometimes you have to go through the bad to make peace with it and approach a brighter tomorrow, and that path may not always be the way in which you would prefer things to go, it’s a song that is still steeped in deep emotional despite the flickers of hope peeking through.
Basically, it is stunning.
The song comes as the band prepare to hit the road for an extensive tour of the UK and Europe, with support coming from Jinjer and Dying Wish. Here are all of the dates that you can catch them.
SEPTEMBER
12 – GLASGOW SECC Hall 3 14 – NOTTINGHAM Motorpoint Arena 16 – MANCHESTER Co-Op Live 17 – CARDIFF Utilita Arena 19 – LONDON OVO Arena Wembley 22 -BERLIN UFO im Velodrom 23 – GLIWICE Gliwice Arena 25 – PRAGUE Forum Karlin 26 – VIENNA Gasometer 28 – ZURICH Halle 622 29 – MUNICH Zenith 30 – FRANKFURT Jahrhunderthalle
OCTOBER
02 – HAMBURG Sporthalle 03 – AMSTERDAM Afas Live 04 – DUSSELDORF Mitsubishi Electric Halle 06 – LUXEMBOURG Luxembourg Rockhal 08 – ANTWERP Lotto Arena 09 – PARIS La Seine Musicale
Born With A Hammer, the new solo album from Kai Hansen, is due for release in ten days time. Kai is currently in Costa Rica, and I would love to have said I went there and did a face-to-face interview. But I was happy enough to settle for an internet chat. The conversation ranged far and wide, covering everything from his pre-Helloween days right up to the here and now.
Kai says that Born With A Hammer is like a ride through his colourful, musical garden in terms of hard music. “It’s not what I would usually do, it’s something beyond it,” he says. “I guess that’s the purpose of a solo album. It doesn’t make sense to create a solo album that sounds like your original band, right?”
For the fans, even those who have known Kai for a long time, this will be something very new for them. “Quite a new experience for them,” he says. “There are some surprises, I would say, even for a fan of Gamma Ray or Helloween, or any of the other projects I’ve been involved with before. I hope so, anyway. It will be something else for sure. I’m definitely not getting boring.”
Kai Hansen – Born With a Hammer – Out 18 September 2026 via earMusic
The Born With A Hammer album cover is definitely Metal but not hugely serious. It reminded me of the Little Angels, though this is not a band that he is familiar with and certainly not their album covers.
Kai Hansen is a serious musician, but his album covers are more light-hearted. It is “Absolutely” important that he does not take himself too seriously. “That’s what keeps my feet on the ground,” he says. “I like to make fun of myself as well, and not take myself seriously. I take my music seriously, but I like to do things with a wink of an eye.”
The second track on Born With a Hammer, Welcome To Life, has a reggae-sounding middle section. Reggae on a Heavy Metal album. Where did that come from?
“It is reggae,” he smiles, “and it comes from my liking of whichever place I’m at. I’m in Costa Rica, where the sun shines, there’s palm trees, there’s a beach and stuff like that, then I regularly don’t listen to Metal because it doesn’t really fit into this, so I always end up listening to reggae.
“Mainly Bob Marley, because it fits the atmosphere, and I really liked that. So when I was getting to that point in the song, it was just a spontaneous flash that made me do it, and I liked it. I thought, okay, yeah. I’m free to do whatever I feel like, so I did it.”
Another track that caught my ear was I Don’t Care At All, and it sounded to me like there was disco or funk in there as well. There is huge diversity in this one album.
“With Gamma Ray, we always had a bit of diversity,” Kai says. “We always tried to break out of the regular red line here and there. I always like to do little things that are out of the ordinary. But on this album it’s really extreme.
“I Don’t Care At All is a track that has this kind of disco Euro dance vibe to it, combined with Metal, and to me that was interesting. That was fun to do.”
Helloween – Eventim Apollo, London – 20 October 2025. Photo: Robert Sutton/MetalTalk
There are two other guitar players on the album. One is friend and producer Eike Freese, and the other is his son, Tim Hansen. The bass player is originally a guitar player for Heaven Shall Burn, Alexander Dietz, and Dan Wilding joins on drums.
Kai and Tim have been working together for quite a while, “ever since he [Tim] got firm with the guitar. We exchange ideas. We send each other our demos. We criticise. We give each other input.
“I did some stuff for his band, singing on an album, but not guitar. Tim has played some solos on the Helloween Reunited release. We are constantly in touch in terms of music and doing things together. His working with me on this album made total sense because he’s a Hansen too. He’s also a really fantastic player, so I really appreciate him being there.”
The seeds of Born With A Hammer were sown during Covid. “I started songwriting then because I got bored,” Kai says. “There wasn’t much to do, in terms of music, and so I sat down in my studio. I had ideas, so I started working on them.
“There was a lot of diversity in these ideas, so I said, I’m just gonna spit them out and put them on a recording. In the end, I realised that there really was a lot of diversity. I wondered what I could do with it, because it didn’t really fit with Helloween or Gamma Ray completely. So I said, okay, I’m just gonna put everything on a solo album and throw it out.”
Kai Hansen has successfully mixed singing and playing guitar, two very separate skills combined in one. I wondered if this was something that came naturally.
“When I wrote my first songs, I used to sing along,” he says. “I had lyrics, and I had melodies. So for me, it just comes naturally. I can’t do it any other way. I cannot compose a song without having a vocal melody and lyric. It’s not possible. So I’m very used to it, and that’s developed over the years.
“You get more firm in it and have more experience in discovering your voice in various ways, so I’m faring fine with this. I just don’t like to spend two hours on stage being the frontman with guitar and vocals. That’s too much. I would prefer to have a singer onstage, and I would rather just play my guitar.”
Heavy Metal nowadays seems to be very much into genres and subgenres. Power Metal, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal. “What I did with Helloween or Gamma Ray has been branded Power Metal by people, which, to me, I don’t really agree with,” Kai says. “To me, it’s just Heavy Metal, sometimes fast, more melodious, sometimes rhythmic, slower stuff.
“We have all kinds of Metal in there. But the definition of Power Metal that somebody gave me is like speed, double bass, and high vocals. Well, yeah, we have that. But it’s not completely true that we only exist in that. So to me it’s just Heavy Metal.”
It is fair to say that Kai Hansen has been around for a while now. Has it been hard to navigate changing musical tastes even within Heavy Metal? “There’s always some hardship involved in that,” he says. “When you get down to songwriting, I always try to reinvent myself without leaving my usual trademarks because I like them.
“Sometimes it comes easy and natural, and sometimes it’s like biting on stones that won’t budge. I guess every musician who has been around for a long time knows that, especially when you have been for an even longer time.
“You have put out so many ideas that it is very hard not to be repetitive. But then again, if you are inventive and try to create something new, then there could be trouble.
“There are fans who, if you do the same thing over and over again, well, some might like that, but you get criticised for that. And if you go too far out with your band, then you get criticised for that. But in the end, you can only do what your heart says.”
Released on 18 September via earMusic, Born With A Hammer is a burgeoning blast-bomb of raw, energetic Metal. MetalTalk will have more on the album soon, as well as the second part of this interview. In the meantime, get your pre-orders in via kaihansen.lnk.to/BornWithAHammer.
Who wants to party fuckin’ hard? Calgary welcomed a stellar all-Canadian lineup to the Arrowhead last Sunday night. The lineup featured Propagandhi, The Flatliners, and Iron Tusk. It was a sold-out show, and the line stretched on forever, but it was worth the wait.
Local three-piece Iron Tusk kicked off the evening with a stellar performance, proudly representing the Siksika Nation, here on Treaty 7 land, in Alberta. As the lights dimmed, they quickly captured the crowd’s attention. Thanking everyone for their early attendance, they got right down to it. Their unique blend of punk and metal helped set the tone for the night, despite their brief performance. Closing with “Sunbreather” was a perfect finale choice, setting the stage for the evening.
The Flatliners were up next, and the crowd could hardly wait. Their live performances are always a treat; powerful and energetic – recordings can’t match it. Short one member, guitarist Scott Brigham, the band’s good friend and guitarist, Chuck Coles, was filling in. They tore through their set, playing favourites like “Eulogy,” “Monumental,” and “Hang My Head,” igniting the crowd into a frenzy. They also showcased songs from their album, Cold World, which dropped just last May, kicking off their set with “Stolen Valour”. The crowd was fully engaged, and frontman, Chris Cresswell, commended them for singing along with the new material.
Finally, the moment we were eagerly waiting for, our headliners, Propagandhi, took the stage. The energy in the room soared as soon as the first note hit, with the crowd bursting into song with them. Calgary has consistently shown its love for Propagandhi, and another sold-out show was a testament to that. The band kept it straightforward; besides a little wisdom from Jord in between songs, they focused on delivering the melodic, thrash punk we all adore. They played “Nation States”, “Back to the Motor League”, “Haillie Sellasse, Up Your Ass,” “Failed Imagineer,” and “Cat Guy,” to name a few. As always, it was a stellar set. When it came time to wrap up the night, we all pretended they had left the stage so they could “return” for an encore. We couldn’t have asked for more.
It was an epic night, and Calgary truly stepped up to show their appreciation. Can’t wait for the next show! Check out more photos from the show below
Spiritbox have released a new single, Mourning, as they prepare for their headlining tour of Europe.
The Canadian metalcore stars have put out the standalone track with a music video directed by guitarist Mike Stringer and Alex Bemis. The band co-produced alongside frequent collaborator Dan Braunstein. Watch and listen below.
Mourning comes just days before Spiritbox hit the road with support from Ukrainian djent band Jinjer and US metalcore bruisers Dying Wish. The tour starts at Sec Hall 3 in Glasgow on Saturday, September 12, then continues through the UK before hitting mainland Europe. The last show takes place at La Seine Musicale in Paris on October 9. See the list of dates below and get tickets via the Spiritbox site.
“Whether they will continue to influence wider trends across the metalcore and alt metal landscape remains to be seen,” wrote journalist Rich Hobson. “But Tsunami Sea feels like the moment Spiritbox firmly step into their own as a band who could contend with the likes of Bring Me The Horizon and Sleep Token, as the next zeitgeist-setting act.”
Last September, singer Courtney LaPlante teamed up with pop-metal solo act Poppy and Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee for a standalone single called End Of You. Produced by ex-Bring Me The Horizon member Jordan Fish, the song was a viral hit; it currently has more than 15 million views on YouTube.
In February, Tsunami Sea track Soft Spine was nominated for the Grammy Award For Best Metal Performance. It lost to Turnstile’s track Birds.
After the European tour, Spiritbox will support Metallica at an intimate show at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut on November 21. They’ll play three Australian dates as part of travelling heavy metal festival Good Things from December 4 to 6.
Spiritbox 2026 European tour dates:
Sep 12: Glasgow SEC Centre Hall 3, UK
Sep 14: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UK
Sep 16: Manchester Co-op Live, UK
Sep 17: Cardiff Utilita Arena, UK
Sep 19: London OVO Arena Wembley, UK
Sep 22: Berlin UFO im Velodrom, Germany
Sep 23: Gliwice Gliwice Arena, Poland
Sep 25: Prague Forum Karlín, Czech Republic
Sep 26: Vienna Gasometer, Austria
Sep 28: Zurich Halle 622, Switzerland
Sep 29: Munich Zenith, Germany
Sep 30: Frankfurt Jahrhunderthalle, Germany
Oct 02: Hamburg Sporthalle, Germany
Oct 03: Amsterdam AFAS Live, Netherlands
Oct 04: Düsseldorf Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Germany
Great Demise’s LOSE YOUR FACE is a raw and confrontational alt-rock/punk track driven by cutting guitar riffs, forceful drums and an explosive chorus. The chaotic energy gives the song a strong live-band character, while the direct vocal delivery reinforces its confrontational message. There is a clear DIY spirit throughout the production, with the rougher edges working in the track’s favor rather than feeling overly polished. The combination of punk urgency, heavy rhythmic drive and an unapologetic attitude makes LOSE YOUR FACE an energetic and uncompromising listen.
Californian singer and guitarist Pembroke Tenneson has unveiled his new single, “Sex Appeal”, the first release from a collection of 14 original tracks.
Classic rock influences including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and The White Stripes inform his musical outlook, while the humour and storytelling of artists such as The Kinks, Joni Mitchell, Joe Walsh and Wheatus provide inspiration for his approach to lyrics.
Speaking on “Sex Appeal”, Tenneson says, “‘Sex Appeal’ is based on swaggering early ’70s rock. All those old bands are brash, fun and ridiculous, so when I wanted to write a song inspired by that style, I had to keep my tongue in my cheek. Those guys are outrageous characters so I had to play one too. The recording process was great fun.”
I find the song extremely enjoyable from start to finish, with fantastic bass lines and a quality production. The chorus is super catchy and the song will make you tap your foot. A quality release from every point of view and with a superb sound, enjoyable from start to finish.
Give it a go by clicking on the Spotify player below and follow Pembroke Tenneson if you like what you hear.
As a music journalist and TV producer, I am often asked which album is my all-time favourite and, hand on heart, it is Operation: Mindcrime by Queensrÿche. I first witnessed this album performed live with my MTV Headbangers Ball bestie and Metal legend, Vanessa Warwick, nearly 40 years ago. Now we are all reunited to hear it for the last time at Islington Assembly Hall in London.
Geoff Tate – Operation: Mindcrime – The Final Chapter
Islington Assembly Hall, London – 5 September 2026
Rewind to the ’90s when Vanessa and I were having a lovely lunch with Geoff Tate in some very posh hotel, and Robbie Williams came running over in full fan mode, saying that Tate was his favourite vocalist and had inspired him and so many other singers.
In fact, a lot of singing teachers I know hail Tate as their biggest influence too. So it was of course an honour to hear his delicious vocals once again here in London.
The Islington Assembly Hall is packed with fans old and new to witness Tate with his current line-up performing what most rock fans hail as the best ‘concept’ album ever.
Geoff Tate – Islington Assembly Hall, London – 5 September 2026. Photo: Nick Tadd/MetalTalk
If you live in a box and have never heard Operation: Mindcrime, it is a masterpiece in concept albums, regaling a whole story set to music with actors, sound effects and everything you need to tell a whole musical saga.
Then there is Geoff Tate’s spine-tingling vocals. We are front row with our air microphones ready to sing along. Sorry to the fans next to me.
Geoff Tate – Islington Assembly Hall, London – 5 September 2026. Photo: Nick Tadd/MetalTalk
As the lights go down, the crowd roar in anticipation as Geoff’s line-up of musicians appear on stage, two guitarists, a bass player, a keyboardist and vox, and drummer to wild applause.
We cheer like crazy at the first sound effects of Anarchy-X, the opening track on Operation: Mindcrime, set in a hospital with a nurse paging a certain Doctor Blair who promptly turns up with a big needle, stating “sweet dreams, you bastard” to their patient.
The band build the scene musically, and then the magical moment arrives. Geoff Tate steams on stage with seriously sexy sunglasses, a cut-off waistcoat and muscles galore. The maestro is back in business and singing pitch-perfect.
His latest six-piece band are super skilled, matched sublimely with the mighty pipes of Geoff. The crowd literally scream, cheers, raises devil horns and bursts into song. We all know every word to every track.
Geoff Tate – Islington Assembly Hall, London – 5 September 2026. Photo: Nick Tadd/MetalTalk
And just like that, Tate takes us through Operation: Mindcrime. The sound is phenomenal. Huge kudos to the engineer and the venue itself, as you could really hear all the stereo effects, and Tate’s voice is simply sensational.
Revolution Calling is up next and is another trailblazing song, packed with anthemic riffs and lyrics telling us more about the journey of Dr X. In an exclusive chat with Metaltalk about this legendary album, Tate says, “I lived in Montreal where I frequented a certain bar. There was a lot of talk about political unrest there.
“I often listened to the locals chatting about this sinister leader who inspired the idea for Doctor X. I sat down, ordered some drinks and made up the whole story.”
And what a story it is.
Revolution Calling, and the whole audience is chanting with fists in the air as Geoff masterfully leads us to completely get involved, which we all do.
We head into the title track, Operation: Mindcrime, where there is a hitman working overtime. The word ‘epic’ is often overused but is well deserved for the man who has written some of the most iconic rock songs over the years.
At this point, the band take it up a notch, and Tate is clearly enjoying the musicianship of the band he has put together for this tour. The aural journey continues with Speak, Spreading The Disease and The Mission.
Geoff is clearly in character, and there is no chit-chat between each song. It is track after track, and these songs do not need any introduction.
Geoff Tate – Islington Assembly Hall, London – 5 September 2026. Photo: Nick Tadd/MetalTalk
Soon we are into one of the greatest and most dramatic songs ever written, Suite Sister Mary. Geoff introduces vocalist/keys Michele Panepinto onto the stage, and she sings and plays her role as the fallen nun perfectly. The male fans in the crowd sing Tate’s powerhouse parts, and us gals sing Sister Mary’s vocals. This was a true goosebumps moment.
As I looked around at this totally sold-out crowd, it is just amazing to see fans old and new enjoying this incredible concept setlist. Nearly 40 years is a long time in an album’s shelf life, but these songs are clearly as poignant to the gorgeous young student crowd as to the older T-shirt-wearing gents.
Straight into The Needle Lies, followed by Electric Requiem. With a band as tight as Tate’s gorgeous waistcoat, it is into the crowd-pleasers, Breaking The Silence into I Don’t Believe In Love.
Waiting For 22 and Empty Room keep us pumping our fists, and then it is time for the big crescendo and the ending of the story of Doctor X with Eyes Of A Stranger.
If we were not all standing already, we would be giving this band of Rÿche a standing ovation.
Geoff Tate – Islington Assembly Hall, London – 5 September 2026. Photo: Nick Tadd/MetalTalk
Then we are into four deep cuts of Queensrÿche classics and a foray into the third Operation: Mindcrime opus, as the set continues with the truly anthemic The Answer.
As we all scream for an encore, Geoff teases us. “Well, that was nice. Let’s do it all night. How about a song from 1990?” He introduces Silent Lucidity, which is hailed as the anthem most rock babies were made to.
A stunning set celebrating one of the best albums ever produced, and I feel so proud to have been there with all my friends, fellow rock journalists and fans and of course Vanessa Warwick.
Right, I am sweating, and I am knackered, so it is time for a pint of wine, very likely Geoff’s own vintage vino entitled Insania, and to relive this epic gig.
So – lets get something out of the way now; I’ve seen comments like No Brent = No Mastodon. This is fine, it’s an opinion that you should hold to if its actually what you feel, instead of another way of saying you don’t like the band.
Whilst Brent was considered by many to be the heart and soul of the band, personally I felt that his influence and involvement had diminished over time.
There has been that falling out, and he left them behind. I’m not interested in the whys or wherefores of that, I like others weren’t going to be able change that status so you got on with it.
That separation became permanent following his untimely death which may just have served as the catalyst for a rebirth for the band. I suppose this is a long winded way of saying that if the lack of Brent will stop you from even trying a song from this, then you should leave and listen to something else.
Ok, now to the album.
So as you follow their progression from battering ram with a mad smile through to the more complex progressions and dense storytelling, we land at the modern version of the band, where they had moved beyond just heavy metal, and just played heavy music that went wherever it needed to.
The death of Hinds as well as Brann’s mother played a massive part in tone here, and the opening of Barbarians Blood is straight into that measure; its lush, built off a scale that is constantly moving. Its them, unmistakeably so. Guitar lines that fold in on themselves, the dual vocals of Troy and Brann are present and an arrangement that goes everywhere.
It doesn’t sound that far removed from Hushed And Grim but possesses a greater urgency to it. Subconsciously needing to write the best material they could weighed heavily on them, and for me this is a much more accessible album.
There is a section on Poisonous Weapons with Brann singing over one of those mint progressions that they just throw up on a whim. Do the lead breaks have the Brent Stamp? Of course not, how could they and it would be insensitive to try to do that.
Your Ghost Again is a cracker, one that you assume would have had Brent’s singing on it but without they are pushing as hard as they can to excise any negative feeling remaining. One thing that is clear is that there is no scraping of barrels from albums past; They are still creative, still writing music that you want to play yourself.
Snakes For Dinner with Josh Homme making an appearance is another strong effort which solidifies their approach – its heavy when it needs to be, but not if it doesn’t fit the song itself.
There are softer moments on here such as In The Ruins where the everything is dialled back but you know it won’t stay like that for long and it doesn’t. The fact that it went the way you thought it would does not make it a lesser song because having that dynamic to it makes it a better song than if it had stayed in its meek form.
The lead work is very good, Golden Spires being a wonderful example of this, nestled in amongst a superb riff set that channels tasteful delivery and pure skill and its something that repeats across the album on the whole.
They wrap up an hour or so with The Three Fates. In the past they have left a jewel at the end and with this one, I’m not quite sure. Of all the tracks this one could have been trimmed a little and it would have been better received.
It’s the sound of a band that has recaptured a feeling that was previously lost to them. The fact that Brent left has allowed them to move into their next phase, like marriage sometimes they fail and the separate parties have to move and evolve or risk repeating the same mistakes.
Its recorded as a 5 piece now, with a keyboardist in tow to further fill that sound out. They do this in the right way, its not in your face and changing the sound dramatically, rather you just notice it and approve.
It is a song or two heavy; I will say that but if you consider that they had a lot to say I’m not going to penalise them for it.
Each song has its own uniqueness to it, from a vocal delivery to a progression to a lead break, its so rich in what it offers the listener that even with a run time that could have been trimmed it is still one of the albums of the year for me. 9/10
Flotsam & Jetsam – Rats In The Temple (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]
RATS! RATS IN THE TEMPLE! I can almost see the face of the horrified priest as he screams, running from the pulpit as the mutated creatures gnaw their way through the walls. It’s the kind of B-Movie silliness that has been closely associated with thrash metal.
However Flotsam & Jetsam are more than just your typical thrash metal band, yes they came out of the late 80’s and even featured a bassist who would go on to be in Metallica, but since their 2019 album The End Of Chaos they have adopted a sound that sits them closer to the American power metal style.
Think Metal Church, Jag Panzer and you’ll be in the right ballpark. Aggressive riffs, blast beats and tough vocals that come from the thrash side but with melodic lead guitars and choruses that are made to be shouted out loud as they deliver more dark tales of death, abuse, betrayal, and war, subjects that just fit the Flotsam & Jetsam aesthetic.
Eric AK Knutson’s vocals are excellent, he snarls, shouts, wails, a powerhouse who has been leading the band since 1982, sounding as good now as he did then, better even.
Guitarists Michael Gilbert and Steve Conley share the rapid fire riffs on the blistering The Ghost Behind My Door and the widdly trade offs on The Edge Of Nowhere aland Last Rites, where Ken Mary (drums) keep the pace breakneck as William Bodily (bass) brings a tough groove to A Taste For War, locking in with Mary.
There are Rats In The Temple but Flotsam & Jetsam are ready to exterminate them with their sixteenth studio album and Napalm Records debut. 8/10
Those Made Broken – A Door You Can Never Close (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
I had to do some research when I started listening to A Door You Can Never Close, as over a decade ago there was a post grunge band from Glasgow called Logan, they sounded a lot like Creed and Nickelback but also managed to creep their way into classic grunge bands like Alice In Chains.
The research I did was to see if fellow Glasgow band Those Made Broken shared any members from that band as they also have a grunge/post-grunge sound, but there’s brings the likes of Karnivool and Soen to mind with an emotional alt rock sound, perhaps a more refined version of what they were doing before.
It’s turns out this was not the case as singer John Murray and guitarist Scott Wood met at Glasgow music college and formed a band, joined by bassist Paul Robertson (ex-Dirt) and drummer Martin John ‘Hutch’ Hutchison (ex-Vega).
A Door You Can Never Close is their sophomore record and refines their alt rock to its most melodic and atmospheric, hooked on huge choruses such as Monsters.
Those Made Broken make sure that the songs speak for themselves, little messing around, just hard hitting tracks that are made for the stage, performed with conviction by musicians that all excel at their individual roles.
From the spacious drumming of Martin John, through the sprawling bass of Paul on the grooving These City Walls, Scott’s guitar playing has the technicality and feel of Mark Tremonti on These City Walls and Have Everything as John Murray has one of the clearest, emotive and refined voices I’ve heard in a long time..
Beneath all the songs there’s a vein of synths/keys that run through the whole record just creating atmospheric expression, taking over completely on final track Rest. These electronics take the band to a more accomplished place than many would be on their second album in my opinion.
So while there’s no link to Logan, much like I loved them, I love Those Made Broken, I just how that they manage to break out of being an underground sensation into being the the next big thing, as on this evidence they deserve it. 9/10
I don’t think it happens often that I don’t like something from the off. Bloody Dreams is one of those occasions where I just found it a massive waste of time.
Is it me? Maybe, but let’s blame them instead. Its 6 songs that bounce between metal and punk, with a lo-fi sound that sits within the just about recorded state to give it a touch of authenticity.
I couldn’t find anything here that I liked, and it’s not that I haven’t sat with this and give it a fair go. The songs just pass by without leaving a mark on me, and while I appreciate that they have a following and that the punk/crust approach works for some, I just couldn’t get onboard with it.
So, to try and avoid a hatchet job where I write some snarky words in an effort to make myself look better, lets settle on the fact that I didn’t like it.
One positive is that the songs are by and large short affairs, and where they do stray into longer territory, they try to keep the speed up to ensure that you don’t get bored by them. Its likely that watching them live will be a different beast altogether, which is true for a lot of bands who excel on stage but struggle to capture it in the studio.
It is certain that there will be more receptive people out there than me and this will appeal to fans of that blackened/crust/punk mix, delivered with a horror edge to it. I wish I could be more positive, but I can’t. I’m sure that they won’t lose any sleep over it. 5/10
Playing at one of the last sweaty bastions of rock music, The Waterloo in Blackpool, Crobot opened the show. A band of four from Pottsville Pennsylvania they blasted the good size and receptive audience with their own recipe of hard … Continue reading →
