Reviews: SKAM, Poppy, Ritual Fog, Healthy Junkies (Reviews By Simon Black, Matt Bladen, GC & Zak Skane)

SKAM - From The Depths (Independent/Earache Digital Distribution) [Simon Black]

This Leicestershire 3 piece have been around for thirteen years now, yet I can’t help in my mind thinking of them as a new band, despite the fact they have released three studio albums, one live one and a swathe of EP’s since 2014. From The Depths is the first full length since 2020, when Covid ground they’re growth plans into the ground, and the band wisely switched to a series of EP’s to keep things ticking over. I had the pleasure of reviewing both Intra and Venous in these ever-growing pages, and both really hit the back of the net for me with their strong 90’s infused hard rock/indie vibes vibe.

Both of those releases were short and punchy, so I was keen to see how they would approach a full-length release, and the answer is with exactly the same energy, fire and freshness that keeps me thinking that they are fresh off the starting blocks. Those 2021 EP’s were subtly different in tone one full on hard rock, the second more measured and less intense, showing the two sides of the band. The album covers both aspects as you would expect, but more importantly often demonstrates both characteristics within individual songs, sometimes almost leaning into the progressive with their arrangements.

They’ve also lost none of the groove that is the backbone of their sound – tracks like The Grind nail this perfectly, and it’s still impressive at how rich they sound for a three-piece. I’m made comparisons to Therapy? in the past, and I stick to that analogy. Not because of how they sound, write or play, but for their ability to sound like a five piece with sixty per cent of the resources. It has the same root cause though – damn fine musicians who know how to write and not sound like they are going through the motions because there isn’t a duff track on here.

It's got all the energy that I expect from them, but a richer maturity that knows when to pull them and exactly when to land a sucker punch, managing the pace and flow of the songs perfectly and showing how much better these guys have become as musicians over time, whilst still retaining that essential frisson of immediacy that they built their fan base on. The band know what they are doing, and at several moments lyrically pour derision on those who told them what they ought to be doing. One spin of this new opus confirms they were wasting their breath and should let this fiercely independent and powerful trio do their thing. Back of the net and into the stands. 9/10

Poppy – Negative Spaces (Sumerian Records) [Matt Bladen]

Poppy is something of a media darling, the GRAMMY nominated (2025 Best Metal Performance alongside Knocked Loose and as a solo artist in 2021) singer/songwriter/performer has unique take on metal as a genre, forging together djent, metalcore, death, industrial, synthwave, pop punk and just plain old bubblegum pop, Poppy has become in a genre all by herself and rightfully is being lauded for that.

So we get to Negative Spaces her new record and it’s just one part of a sprawling artistic vision, one that has performance art, video direction, graphic novels and countless tours and features, her tour next year is with the BabyMetal, a perfect fit in my estimation. In the music side of Poppy, like the rest of her ventures there are no rules. There are 15 songs though, 15 songs on this album, however don’t fret as Negative Spaces has little interludes to split up the main songs, creating a fully immersive experience.

From the NiN-like Have You Had Enough, there's 2000's Nu-Metal on The Cost Of Giving Up and brutal death metal on They're All Around Us, just these three songs alone show you the multifaceted style of Poppy's music. From there though it gets wilder with the Euro-pop of Crystallized, some Orbit-like trance (think Ray Of Light) on Push Go while The Centers Falling Out is wild mathrock and the title track has the sneering alt rock of a band such as Hole or Smashing Pumpkins.

Negative Spaces is a definitive statement of what Poppy is about. Transcending genres norms while fully embracing her influences it's a multifarious mélange of music and you should experience it for yourself. 9/10

Ritual Fog - But Merely Flesh (Transcending Obscurity Records) [GC]

Another release week and another Transcending Obscurity release has landed in my inbox. This week I have But Merely Flesh by Ritual Fog, not much in the way of background info and even my old friend, the internet doesn’t hold much info on this lot, could be a good thing, could be a bad thing, let’s find out.

The intro Misticism opens the album up with 30 seconds of electronic pointlessness so its Desolate Chasm that actually gets us going for real and what we get is a combination of doom and thrashy death metal that feels like its mixed muddily on purpose to really add to the scuzzy nature of the music, it all works well and is a refreshing approach to the old school death metal style.

Slimeblade ticks all the right boxes and has a galloping rhythm that introduces some echoey solos that screech and cut then the main section of the song kicks in with the mix of thrashy and doomy sections once again mixed together and while there isn’t much you won’t have already heard here its all done with enough vigor and energy to make it sound interesting and fun.

The same is the case on Nocturnal Suffering, which starts off fast and blasty then falls into the slow doomy section that then in turn mixes these both together and creates a big stompy death metal track I feel like it has to said that maybe the snare drum and vocals are a bit high in the mix for me because sometimes they both overpower the guitars but it’s not like it ruining anything so this is easily overlooked as when the guitars do pierce through they always sound big and scuzzy in the best sort of way. 

On Demented Procession the formula is followed to a tee again and starts slow, drops into the fast bit and the segues in between the 2 styles for the rest of the track and while it’s all enjoyable enough to listen, all the tracks seem to just have one set way of sounding that’s a bit annoying as you already sort of know what is coming before you even hear anything which can make the whole album sound a bit samey throughout which is getting to be the case here.

Fog Sermon doesn’t do anything to mix up the formula at all and again its not that the songs are bad or anything they just all sound the same, here we have a slow and brooding opening and then it all explodes into life with some enjoyable if not a little predictable at this point thrashy death metal there is the addition of some more nice guitar solos to mix the sound up a little bit and overall its an enjoyable listen but the other main sticking point here is no vocals, I personally don’t really like instrumentals as they break up the flow of an album, here though it actually doesn’t but it just seems slightly pointless? 

Carnal Pain starts fast and goes all out as a head down death metal rager and of course the pace change happens but here it benefits the song so much more and seems more focused and precise and is probably my favourite track on the album! Sentient Chamber carries on the more focused attack and hones in with more beautifully done scuzzy lo-fi death metal which has a big rhythm filled body and shows a real early Sepultura influence to the sound which is an absolute compliment but also a shame its taken this long to be shown. 

Merely Flesh is a great way to end the album as it throws the shackles off completely and has some of the best parts on the whole album musically its sharp, fast and savage but with enough of a mix of what they have done previously not to sound alienated from the rest of the record, but again why didn’t the rest of the album sound like this??

On the whole I can’t really complain too much about, But Merely Flesh as it was a solid death metal album that had lots of good thigs about it, but I just felt it lacked the wow factor and did get a bit predictable in places but when it was good it was very good, just don’t expect too much maybe? 7/10

Healthy Junkies – Listen To The Mad (Banana Castle Records) [Zak Skane]

Formed in London in 2010 Healthy Junkies was born from Nina Courson and Phil-Honey-Jones creating a project which will allow them to explore their musical desires. Since them the band have recruited Dave Whitmore on bass, and Tony Alda on drums they’ve toured Europe and the UK to spread their mixture of New Wave, Punk and Grunge assault. Released via Bannana Castle Records the band have their recent LP Listen To The Mad.

Through out the album the band do what they do best and that’s providing meat and potatoes retro styled new wave crossed with punk. For example on the opening track Favourite Place we are getting some classic hyper energised grungy riffs with the guitarist coming in with some over the 12 fret power chords before the we are launched into some retro style early nineties sounding alt-rock choruses. 

The following track Desire ebbs and flows with the guitars going from laid back sleazy riffage whilst additional guitars provide retro styled ambience, before it picks up the pace by giving us bluesy solos and sprinting bass lines. Son And A Daughter brings in some reggae influences of the likes of the Clash and No Doubt with the guitars coming in with some classic off beat chord progressions whilst the bassist brings in some smooth bass runs. Media Whore brings in some slow paced Soundgarden vibes with sleazy fuzzed up riffs and swinging rhythms.

Through out the album Nina Courson oozes punk energy from start to finish from the quirky alt-rock attitude of their opening track Favourite Place channelling a mixture of Perry Farrell’s with some Gwen Stefani. Nina brings in some 80’s bubblegum choruses on the song Dead Souls with these shoegazy delivered verses along with the flanged guitars. 

Even though through out the majority of the album the band show their fun side they can still be serious with songs like Media Whore, which I can gather is about the exploitation of female public figures whilst the raw emotion is channelled on the closing song World On Fire. World on Fire talks about oppression through a venomous performance with screaming harsh vocals contributing the climatic build up leading to a closer.

Healthy Junkies still continues their take of retro style punk and alt-rock but with a more refined production. The retro sounding reverbs on the vocals really cut through the mix especially on songs like Dead Souls and their closing track Word On Fire. The shoegazy layers on songs like the opening track Favourite Place and the plate sounding reverbs on the reggae inspired track Son And A Daughter really bring those 90’s rock sounds that No Doubt were established for. Healthy Junkies Listen To The Mad keeps their retro sound consistent, genuine but more refined. For fans of The Clash, No Doubt and Soundgarden. 7/10