SHE BURNS RED – Out of Darkness

RELEASE YEAR: 2023  BAND URL: http://sheburnsred.com/ Having not yet had the pleasure of listening to the previous offering by this Scottish hard rock act, namely the debut EP named Take Back Tomorrow from 2020, I had no idea what to expect from this upcoming album by She Burns Red. What I can tell you is that…

FOLLOWING THE SIGNS – Conflictions

RELEASE YEAR: 2023  BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/FollowingTheSignsCork/ Cork natives Following the Signs released this groove-laden, pummeling offering of theirs just a few days ago, and it turned out to be a rather interesting and cool listen packed to the rafters with juicy riffs, crushing breakdowns, and some inspired vocals. Although it would be easy to compare the…

SMACKBOUND – Hostage

RELEASE YEAR: 2023  BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/smackbound/ This Finnish act’s previous album from three years ago was a bit of a mixed bag to these ears, but I was looking forward to this new one of theirs titled Hostage as I was curious as to how they had developed their brand of modern-sounding hard rock/melodic metal. The…

WEBB – Deadly Sins and Virtues

RELEASE YEAR: 2023  BAND URL: https://www.webbofficial.com/ Melodic metal with progressive overtones and a huge amount of groove that works like a charm – how could I not love this well-written and inspired output by the British act named Webb?! The riffs are meaty and pack a lot of punch, there is finesse and sophistication to the…

APRIL ART – POKERFACE

RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/aprilartband/ The German outfit named April Art recently released this independent offering titled POKERFACE, and the quartet essentially dabbles in something akin to a mixture of alternative rock/metal and nu metal, which means that what we have here sounds rather modern and contemporary in many ways. There is a good flow…

ANTI-CLONE – Human

RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/anticlone/human-2 The darkly intriguing musical crew from the UK named Anti-Clone are about to unleash their inspired new EP titled Human on CD and digitally in September, and if cleverly written metalcore/nu metal gets you excited then this one is certainly worth both your time and money. These four masked musicians…

AMBRIUS – Effigies of Time

RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/AmbriusOfficial/ The hard-hitting British metal outfit Ambrius, which includes former members of Oakhaart and Tempestora in its ranks, is about to unleash this exciting 6-track debut of EP of theirs, and if modern melodic metal with a solid dose of aggression is your thing, then you could certainly do worse than…

DVL – Hush

RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://www.dvlband.com/ Now this was a nice surprise. With the overall theme of this spirited record by the Scottish outfit DVL revolving around mental health and highlighting various issues relating to said issue, this is some explosive, high-octane stuff where classic heavy metal meets 80s-inspired US hard rock and then throws in…