Modern rock duo VUKOVI have traversed the globe on the back of an electrifying live show. On stage they are charged with excitement a d explosiveness, an all inclusive place to let loose and get lost in the music. Music that is incredibly personal to both Janine Shilstone (vocals) and Hamish Reilly (guitars), though very relatable with their audience, themes of love, the human condition, the environment and mental health are all filtered through bouncy, electro-tinged, modern rock that has fringes of metal.
My God Has Got A Gun is their fourth album but their debut on Sharptone. It seems them getting darker and heavier, their confessional lyrics put to huge metalcore influenced music. The Scottish duo have obviously been inspired by their most recent on stage ventures as this new record is bigger arguably than their last few, the tile track is cavernous but beats with a synthetic heart, there's orchestral backing on Fallen Beyond, Misty Ecstasy reminds me of Mindless Self Indulgence while Peel is highly Americanised and Kitty takes from J-Rock.
VUKOVI use albums to add new songs to their repertoire, now they're good on record but their live show is where they excel. These are going to sound huge. 7/10
Call Me Amour - Call Me Amour (Circular Wave Records)
An amalgamation of AFI and Papa Roach, Call Me Amour deliver their self titled EP. They're a new band with experienced members, HR (vocals), Danny Hall (guitars) and Geoff Murphy (drums) have played in multiple bands before this but walked away for different reasons.
They reconvened under the Call Me Amour banner and have set about creating electronically charged music with some anthemic choruses, drums you can pump your fist too and big guitar riffs that grab you with their hookiness on Good Day, a track that features Mikey Chapman of Mallory Knox joining on vocals.
This track is a clear future favourite but Call Me Amour can't help but write catchy tunes be it the percussive Where's The Chemistry or the twitching Bloom which features Scott Kennedy of Bleed From Within. Call Me Amour define what they want to be with this EP, expect them to be huge. 8/10
SABER - Lost In Flames/Without Warning Re-Release (ROAR-RPM)
L.A. NWOTHM band SABER return with their second album Lost In Flames. Their first for the newly formed ROAR-RPM label, who have also reissued their 2020 debut Without Warning too. Like fellow American NWOTHM acts such as Haunt and Visigoth, they play 80's inspired speed metal with blistering leads from Joel Dominguez as the rhythm guitars and bass from Jesus Delgado and David Sanchez gallops with a reckless intent.
It's standard speed metal worship but brings a smile to the face a s bend your fingers into some air guitar heroics. Singer Steve Villa has a histrionic scream and while Trevor William Church (Haunt) played drums on the debut, things have changed around Jesus Delgado now plays drums as Antonion Pettinato takes rhythm guitar and harmony guitars.
Once again the album was produced by Church and under his watch, Lost In Flames is sonically bigger than Without Warning, the debut had a more muffled analogue sound whereas this second record owes more to American 80's glam scene than the tougher UK scene. I think this will benefit SABER in the long run and could see SABER become a top player in the NWOTHM pantheon. 7/10
Inborn Suffering – Pale Grey Monochrome (Ardua Music)
The band name? Miserable, the album title? Miserable, the label? Known for carrying the best in death/funeral/doom. So there’s a good chance Pale Grey Monochrome isn’t an album for a sunny day. Inborn Suffering are a group from Paris and take ennui to whole new decibel levels with their return from the abyss. Sombre, sad and sobering, Pale Grey Monochrome is an album of gargantuan riffs, anguished vocals and plenty on influences from the Peaceville scene of the early 90’s.
Yep it’s death doom, music that laments the fact it has to exist, usually a forlorn experience weaving tales of woe around brief moments of melody sitting on top of long slow distorted guitar riffs, case in point here being From Lowering Tides or the acoustic section in the title track. Another acoustic moment comes on Of Loss And Despair which takes Chaplin’s speech from The Great Dictator and sets it to some classical strumming.
At times blissful, at others punishing, it’s this merging of the two sounds that gives Pale Grey Monochrome a cinematic quality, a bleak cinematic quality though like a black and white French film without the silence but with the same longing and regret. Inborn Suffering haven’t released an album of new music since 2012 but they don’t seem to have lightened up at all, of course this perfect for death doom as the world gets darker and crazier than ever, there’s plenty to be terrified of, Inborn Suffering have the soundtrack. 7/10
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