Yossi Sassi – ‘Roots And Roads’ [Review]

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Innovative instrumental guitarists are a rare breed. Most still stick to recycling Satriani licks over stock-issue backing tracks. The standard has been set and met many times, but rarely exceeded.

Yossi Sassi is a notable exception. This guy has mastered many stringed instruments, the electric guitar being just one – and he’s even masterminded the creation of an entirely new instrument, the bouzoukitara – half guitar, half bouzouki. In short, Yossi Sassi is pretty much a one-man orchestra.

Fans of Jimmy Page’s ‘Guitar Army’ approach to composition and arrangement will instantly Read more…

Posted on 23 May 2016

Signals – ‘Paraesthesia’ [Review]

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What can I write about Signals that I haven’t before?

This Southampton-based self-proclaimed math-pop quartet makes music that seems to demand a hell of a lot of hyphens in order to explain it properly. With Paraesthesia, Signals have levelled up afuckinggain, taking a soulful, jazzy tack and dropping a freaky Tim Burton-esque video accompaniment, viewable below. Paraesthesia takes math-rock’s trademark sense of playful joy and keeps dead-brain numbness at bay by amplifying Signals’ trademark quirks, showcasing a band hitting the next peak of their powers.

Long may Signals’ ascent continue. When these guys hit debut-album territory, it’s going to be Read more…

Posted on 17 May 2016

Cabin Boy Jumped Ship – ‘Pathways’ [Review]

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Imagine a musical four-corner cage match involving Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon, Periphery, and Enter Shikari. The results would be fucking chaotic – and they’d likely also sound a lot like Cabin Boy Jumped Ship.

Cabin Boy Jumped Ship aren’t looking to play sardines within an already cramped scene. They’re not trying to live up to someone else’s expectations, or Read more…

Posted on 16 May 2016

Tiny Moving Parts – ‘Celebrate’ [Review]

Too often, punk-inspired music seeks to do little more than recycle the ways of the past. The cookie-cutter pop-punk path has become especially well-worn, with countless bands applying generic formulae to their own music. When a band take a fresh approach to punk, though, greatness results.

Celebrate has given me reason to celebrate. Cheers, Tiny Moving Parts.

Tiny Moving Parts’ songs are freakish but friendly mutants. Like Beast from The X-Men, they’re Read more…

Posted on 14 May 2016

The Jelly Jam – ‘Profit’ [Review]

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It’s often said that money is the root of all evil.

Looking around at the world, it can be hard to argue otherwise. Numbers dominate and define our lives, limits, sometimes even our loves. With Profit, The Jelly Jam go straight for the corporate world’s jugular – and throughout this album’s twelve-song track listing, the Western world’s unquenchable craving for cold hard cash is examined from a variety of creative and thoughtful angles.

Given The Jelly Jam’s lineup – guitarist/vocalist Ty Tabor (King’s X), John Myung (Dream Theater), and drummer Rod Morgenstein (The Dixie Dregs, Winger) – it goes without saying that as far as musicianship goes, these guys have Read more…

Posted on 11 May 2016

DevilDriver – ‘Trust No One’ [Review]

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Put yourself in Dez Fafara’s shoes right now.

DevilDriver – the band you’ve been leading since 2002 – has undergone some heavy-duty lineup changes.

You’re talking a new guitarist (ex-Burn Halo axe slinger Neal Tiemann), bassist (Diego Ibarra, who previously worked with Wayne Static), and drummer (Austin D’Amond, formerly of Chimaira).

Your upcoming album, Trust No One, is also due to mark the end of the longest length of time between two DevilDriver albums to date.

It’s fair to say that this situation comes complete with Read more…

Posted on 09 May 2016

Griever – ‘Soul Searcher’ [Review]

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A year ago, Griever showed great promise as potentially shit-hot metalcore up and comers.

With their brand new Soul Searcher EP, these guys are delivering on that promise – and then some.

If names like Trivium, Killswitch Engage, and Malefice make you Read more…

Posted on 05 May 2016

The Rubens – ‘Hoops’ [Review]

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With Hoops, Australian chart-toppers The Rubens have penned an instant classic breakup album. Infusing a fuzzy rock foundation with plenty of soul and drenching the whole thing in organs galore, each song on Hoops sees The Rubens illuminate a different point on the journey from the beginning to the end of the end and beyond:

Hallelujah: A worldly and cynical “son of a gun” hopes to be saved by a heavily intellectual girl.

The Night Is On My Side: Hoops’ main protagonist struggles to keep his emotional distance while spending the night with Read more…

Posted on 04 May 2016

Sixx:A.M. – ‘Prayers For The Damned’ [Review]

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Prayers For The Damned is an album aimed at the underdogs of the world.

Nikki Sixx is a truly rare rock star, one willing to stand up for the downtrodden – whether they be up-and-coming musicians or, as made plain on Sixx:A.M.’s sophomore record, victims of abuse. Those of you in need of some rock ‘n’ roll-style motivation will find plenty of comfort and courage in Prayers For The Damned’s opening tracks Rise and You Have Come To The Right Place. Those songs get to the point immediately: If you’re going through some seriously harsh shit, you’re not alone.

Prayers For The Damned feels not just like a hard-rock/glam-metal showcase – although it definitively is that – but more akin to Read more…

Posted on 29 April 2016

Lu’Ami – ‘Better’ [EP Review]

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The “experimental electronic” label has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it allows you to accurately describe the otherwise uncategorizable; on the other, it’s extremely vague. Experimentalism is what keeps music moving forward, yet there are countless artists out there all pulling in different directions.

Lu’Ami uses a miniature arsenal of digital gizmos to create loop-based sonic structures with a Read more…

Posted on 24 April 2016