Tallah are vocalist Justin Bonitz, guitarists Alex Snowden and Derrick Schneider, bassist Max Portnoy, drummer Joel McDonald and also DJ Navi and they formed as an homage to the Nu-Metal generation with Slipknot, Linkin Park and Korn the biggest similarities to their percussion driven, constantly shifting grooves.
They've already released two albums, but on their third Primeval: Obsession // Detachment they have evolved themselves again, Max Portnoy switches from drums to bass and Justin Bonitz recorded the vocals for the whole album in one continuous take, the band wanting everything to be as primal as it can be recording with no edits or click tracks just unbridled fury and technical ferocity, with producer Josh Schroeder there to capture the madness.
Portnoy has made the right move to bass, his thick finger style riffing is used like a lead guitar to create caverns and rapid rhythms while Joel McDonald's drumming is insanely progressive, from the shifting jazz of As Fate Undoes to the more straightforward My Primeval Obsession, his drumming and Portnoy's bass is a perfectly intense foundation for this sci-fi concept album.
Yes a concept album, one that deals with belief, identity, and loyalty, with a heavy narrative construct that allows them to get theatrical on La Cuna before all hell breaks loose again on A Primeval Detachment, those Slipknot influences large and on charge here with frenzied vocals plenty of scratching from the DJ. Vocally it's a broad church from guttural growls, throats shredding roars to nasal emo on Depleted and rapid fire rap delivery.
I haven't said much about the guitarists but they do a lot on this record, yes they riff hard, check out the breakdown on Undone By Fate, but much of the presence comes from distorted, angular noises and effects laden lead breaks. As with previous records this album has a video game attached to it that can be played through a browser as an extension and adds to the story of this album.
Primeval: Obsession // Detachment is still firmly rooted in Nu Metal but Tallah expand their style into the crushing modernity of Code Orange and the outright madness of Mr Bungle too. Experimental noises from these pioneers of nu-core, Tallah forge their own path steeped in history. 8/10
Eternal Returns – Let There Be Sin (Brutal Records) [Spike]
What if the seven deadly sins could kill you with riffs? That’s the battleground Eternal Returns stake out on Let There Be Sin. Nine tracks that don’t just visit sloth, lust, greed and co. they charge through them with relentless precision and weight.
The record opens with Birth-Life-Death, a warped pulse of ritualistic ambience that doesn’t welcome you, it drags you under. Then it’s gone, and the real slaughter begins. Sloth has a lethargic menace in its groove so twisted it feels like sinking into quicksand but never stops dragging you in. Lust, Envy, Greed and Gluttony are all carved with the same dual-edged construction: melody truncated by aggression. Each has enough nuance to not feel like a concept-for-show, but enough brutality to feel like a warning.
Two tracks stand out. Wrath is a molten core of fretboard venom and viscous breakdowns. It is just pure rage metered with intent. And then Pride, where the band slows the momentum into something that feels more like locusts settling on a tomb, grim and crushing. The closer, Emasculator is built like a defiant tombstone raised over the ruins of temptation. It doesn’t cancel the sins; it dares them to break through it.
The production hits the sweet spot between claustrophobic and breathable. Riffs have polish but still sting; drums hit like they’re burning the room; vocals articulate every drop of scorn without losing grit.
This is storytelling by energy as much as structure. The album doesn’t just name the sins, it digs them out from under your skin and tosses them back with interest. This album locked in for me from the start and I loved it. It’s atmospheric, brutal, and concept-rooted without ever losing weight. Eternal Returns don’t just riff, they summon storms from sins. This deserves a very proud 10/10
Mad Dogs - The Future Is Now (Go Down Records) {Simon Black]
Most of the albums that cross my path for review that are aping a lost time do so through a misguided attempt to recreate an analogue recording sound of a bygone era. It rarely works well, but occasionally something lands that feels like it has fallen through a crack in time from the late 1970’s before even the term NWOBHM got coined. Mad Dogs hail from Italy yet have managed to capture a pure London sounding garage rock feel to their music, albeit one with a little New York zeitgeist for good measure.
It's pure hard rock beats, but crosses over with the barely distorted electric guitar sounds of that period, to the point where musically this could have fitted in alongside the early part of Hanoi Rocks cannon somewhere in a pub in deepest darkest Camden.
It’s been properly produced but also retains that edgy part demo feeling of a band capable of cutting complete tracks in a couple of takes on an 8 track, which I guess is what they were aiming for. You can tell that live this will sound fuller and fatter, but as an attempt to capture a bygone age and immediacy it works surprisingly well.
The songs are all straight to the point, oozing groove and weaving rock ‘n’ roll soul, but do tend to be mostly a bit similar in terms of vocal melody lines, suffering from a problem common to many four pieces whose front man is tied to a six-string and thus the riff melody lines tag the vocal ones throughout.
The songs are all straight to the point, oozing groove and weaving rock ‘n’ roll soul, but do tend to be mostly a bit similar in terms of vocal melody lines, suffering from a problem common to many four pieces whose front man is tied to a six-string and thus the riff melody lines tag the vocal ones throughout.
What it does do is deliver punchy and catchy music you can boogie to from start to finish and leave you wanting more, which for a genre supposedly past its prime five decades ago, is positive as far as this old hack is concerned. 7/10
Stan Bush - Born For Battle (Cargo Records) [Cherie Curtis]
For his 15th studio album, Emmy award winning Stan Bush presents us with Born For Battle which has 11 tracks of prevailing hard rock. Upon first listen I was immediately comforted and enraptured, the steady pace which constantly leads us to a rhapsodic and powerful crescendo is something to be applauded.
The lead single Invincible is strong and blazing which in part is owed to the stunning keyboards by Holger Fath and harmonies which brings an other- worldly atmosphere. The bold and bittersweet lyrics really paints a picture of the narrative for the album.
No Surrender has 80s style synths and prickly riffs. Much like its counterparts on the album, this one is hearty. It’s your familiar road trip hard rock, that’s catchy and hopeful with and strong echoey guitars which brings us the power.
For his 15th studio album, Emmy award winning Stan Bush presents us with Born For Battle which has 11 tracks of prevailing hard rock. Upon first listen I was immediately comforted and enraptured, the steady pace which constantly leads us to a rhapsodic and powerful crescendo is something to be applauded.
The lead single Invincible is strong and blazing which in part is owed to the stunning keyboards by Holger Fath and harmonies which brings an other- worldly atmosphere. The bold and bittersweet lyrics really paints a picture of the narrative for the album.
No Surrender has 80s style synths and prickly riffs. Much like its counterparts on the album, this one is hearty. It’s your familiar road trip hard rock, that’s catchy and hopeful with and strong echoey guitars which brings us the power.
Brothers In Arms, a personal favourite of mine is slower in pace and cheesy in the best way. It’s summer as a song, it’s so refreshingly optimistic and I am reminded a lot of Journey in this album through the instrumentals and plentiful use of cymbals and reverb.
Overall, Born For Battle is a great listen, and I finished the album feeling wholeheartedly better than I did going in. 7/10
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