TEN – Here Be Monsters

RELEASE YEAR: 2022  
BAND URL: HOME | TEN Official

Receiving a promotional copy of an album by TEN is always a treat, and their latest effort, “Here Be Monsters”, is a gorgeous slab of well-crafted hard rock with a poetic quality and an enchanting atmosphere to it. Warm and heartfelt vocals infuse the compositions with passion and the hooks are just to die for here. In other words, this 10-track opus bears all the characteristics and hallmarks of TEN’s unique brand of rock music, and the group’s signature style of classy and elegantly composed tunes has been pumped up for maximum effect here with some of their most memorable and muscular melodies yet. Vocalist/guitarist Gary Hughes once again proves that he is one of the most gifted songwriters of his generation, and there is substance, beauty, and sophistication in spades throughout the record. Ranging from intimate and melancholy to epic and huge sounding, “Here Be Monsters” is one of the strongest outputs in their catalogue yet and testament to just how ludicrously skilled this quintet is.

While my personal favorite by TEN remains the masterpiece that is “Illuminati” (2018), this sparkling new offering boasts some of their most moving pieces yet in the shape of “Strangers on a Distant Shore” and “The Miracle of Life”, and you owe it to yourself to check this British hard rock gem out asap.