Tedeschi Trucks Band - Future Soul (Fantasy Records)
After their long awaited tribute concert to Leon Russell's Mad Dogs And Englishmen, one of Americana's foremost live acts Tedeschi Trucks Band return with their sixth studio album of original material, Future Soul.
The Grammy winning duo of Susan Tedeschi (vocals/guitar), her husband Derek Trucks (guitar) and their extensive band, have been releasing and performing music together as one entity since 2010, after being solo artists and band members before that, Derek in particular spent time in The Allman Brothers and lots of that collaborative Southern brilliance can be heard across every TTB album.
With Future Soul the eyes are fixed to the future but with one foot still in the melting pot of inspiration that is blues, soul, funk and the musical traditions of the USA, the writing team of Tedeschi, Trucks Mike Mattison (guitar/vocals), Gabe Dixon (keys/vocals), and Tyler Greenwell (drums/percussion) leading to the widest set of musical influences to date.
As they brush their canvas with punk rock, straight country and old school rock n roll, all delivered with Susan's impressive and honest vocals. However these new sounds come on a more focussed affair after their more conceptual 2022 record, Future Soul is a bit more laser guided and direct, as they run through the this album in 42 minutes.
Produced with modern embellishments by producer Mike Elizondo as Trucks co-produces to keep the analogue feel, executing his trademark guitar skills with pure skill, while doing some things that you may not have heard. Future Soul is Tedeschi Trucks Band lurching into the future without forgetting the past. 8/10
Nervosa - Slave Machine (Napalm Records)
Extreme thrashers Nervosa seem to get nastier with every album. Each release moves them closer to the megastars of the genre, doing so in their own unflinching, uncompromising way.
With founding member Prika Amaral now established as the vocalist of the band, having taken the role on Jailbreak, with Slave Machine she broadens her vocal abilities on tracks such as 30 Seconds and Crawling For Your Pride, adding cleans to her snarling growls to heightened the melodic and atmospheric moments of this record.
Amaral is of course part of the guitar duo along with Helena Kotina, the duo creating these torrents of molten metal where modern battery is joined by old school technicality. Whether they bleed into one another or counterpoint each other, the riffs are sharp and explode from the first moments of Impending Doom until the closing Speak In Fire.
The rhythm section coming with renewed power as Michaela Naydenova returns to the drumstool for plenty of blasts and bludgeoning, driving the ferocity of the while the bass is now shared between Hel Pyre and Emmelie Herwegh both locking down the speed and groove of these 10 killer cuts.
Slave Machine is a record that exudes confidence, the Devin Townsend-like moments on the title track, the thrashing Hate, the explosive Beast Of Burden or the hanging grooves of You Are Not A Hero and prog from The New Empire, all are the songs of a band who have secured their place at thrash's top table. 8/10
For fans of: Cult of Luna, Isis, Neurosis, The Ocean etc etc. I think you can get a decent idea what Asymmetries the debut album from Glasgow six piece Void Of Light will sound like.
Although perhaps don't get too complacent as the bands I've name here do have a habit of shaking up the sound they are 'known for' with all of the experimentation that comes from the post-metal soundsphere, something which Void Of Light do with Asymmetries, taking from the influences but working in their own sound too, such as the grooving bass driven beginnings of Still The Night Skies.
Having released two EP's before this and honed their approach on stage (ArcTanGent is calling), they are a band who play with the dynamics the way all great post metal acts do. Delicate fragility of ambient structures swoop into massive cathartic, distorted heaviness, both sides unified by intensity but made different by volume.
Beginning with the immediacy of The Passing Hours, the album begins it's look at perspective, reflection and internal conflict, a journey through past trauma and future acceptance, just the kind of esoteric, introspective themes you want from post metal band with those influences. It's with this opening number, one of five, that Void Of Light's trio of guitar players prove their worth as layers of leads and melodies are built towards the end of the track when as the blast beats increase the tempo to a breathless conclusion.
With Ends though they manage display the other side of their skill with discordant riffs and those pained screams, as the album closes with the glistening chug of Mirrorings, a cinematic climax to this impressive debut album from Void Of Light, where the clean vocals work brilliantly to really capture the emotional release of this final number. While it may only be five tracks long, Asymmetries is a debut album that collects a huge body of music together, from the trenches of post-metal, Void Of Light shine like a beacon through the massive body of acts labelled 'ones to watch' with an impressive album one. 8/10
Mallavora are a band with a message, seen by many to be one of the most exciting new bands doing the rounds they also strike me as one of the most important too.
Vocalist Jessica Douek not only has a mesmerising vocal range that encompasses growls, shrieks, screams, wails and almost operatic delivery as well. She and guitarist Larry Sobieraj both use their music as a therapy to do deal with chronic illness/disability they both suffer with and in Jessica's case vocally campaign about. They are a band with a moral fibre that's hard to maintain in the music world, only playing venues that offer accessibility for them and their audience as they create spaces for anyone who resonates with the music, the ideology or anything else Mallavora stand for.
Since arriving on the scene in 2020 they have been resolute in their goals and have achieved big things, but with their debut What If Better Never Comes? they have produced their manifesto for change, or at least their excuse to rage. A 'conceptual exploration of sickness - personal and societal', there's a a huge mass of emotions on this record, a catharsis for the band or anyone that identified with their struggles as they try to negotiate whether things do get better? Or will they be forever on the outside of what is considered "normality" (overrated in my opinion).
With Jessica's incredible vocals and Larry's incentive riffs, bassist Ellis James and drummer Sam Brownlow, round out this gritty alt rock quartet who play anthemic heavy music that includes R&B, soul and Jessica's Jewish-Middle Eastern ancestry in the mixture of wonderful noises that come on What If Better Never Comes? Mallavora's debut record is a very strong introduction for anyone who has not listened or seen them before. Genre spanning alt metal driven by frustration and the need for change. 8/10
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