Formed in Kiev, 2009, Stoned Jesus play a blisteringly heavy style of stoner and doom rock which is guaranteed to trip you out. The band’s doom-soaked occult sound incorporates a range of styles which include the likes of Mastodon, Tool, Neurosis as well as the riff heaviness of Sabbath and Zeppelin. Most of the tracks on this 50-minute album are lengthy animals, winding and meandering through several musical territories whilst always bringing the heavy.
It starts with the pulsating Excited, all bristling energy and spunky groove. Then you have the Mastodon feel of the trippy Hands Resist Him which contrasts with the thundering journey on the nine minutes plus Water Me, with its soaring space rock style. Stoned Jesus won’t meet the requirements of all, as some of their direction takes a more indirect path. With several albums already under their belt, Pilgrims is a solid addition to a catalogue of high-quality music. 8/10
Be The Wolf: Empress (Scarlett Records) [Rich]
Empress is the third album by Italian hard rockers Be The Wolf which is due out on Scarlet Records. Be The Wolf play melodic hard rock with a number of different influences from classic rock to modern hard rock to traditional heavy metal resulting in a variety in the songs from the heavy metal driven Burn Me Out to the hair metal swagger of You’re My Demon Tonight and the groovy hard rocking of Trigger Discipline. The only song which sticks out like a sore thumb is the pop and electronic inspired Action which is a truly dreadful song. Empress is a solid hard rocking album played with love and passion which whilst not groundbreaking by any means is an album I would recommend to hard rock fans. 7/10
Groundbreaker: Groundbreaker (Frontiers Records) [Rich]
Groundbreaker is the self titled debut album of the new project featuring FM singer Steve Overland where he is collaborating with Robert Sall of Swedish melodic rockers Work Of Art. With these two collaborating the style of this album is as you guessed is melodic hard rock. This is very saccharine coated melodic hard rock with soaring melodies and hook laden songs. It’s a decent album for those that love this style but it’s very much by the numbers with very little variation throughout the album and so the songs do seem to all blur into one.
There are one or two which stand out a bit more such as the ultra saccharine Eighteen Til I Die. All the staples of the genre are in place here - super sweet vocals, melodic lead guitar playing and retro sounding synths but there’s very little to differentiate between the countless other melodic hard rock bands out there. If you are a big fan of the genre you will love this. Groundbreaker is out now on Frontiers Records. 6/10
Groundbreaker is the self titled debut album of the new project featuring FM singer Steve Overland where he is collaborating with Robert Sall of Swedish melodic rockers Work Of Art. With these two collaborating the style of this album is as you guessed is melodic hard rock. This is very saccharine coated melodic hard rock with soaring melodies and hook laden songs. It’s a decent album for those that love this style but it’s very much by the numbers with very little variation throughout the album and so the songs do seem to all blur into one.
There are one or two which stand out a bit more such as the ultra saccharine Eighteen Til I Die. All the staples of the genre are in place here - super sweet vocals, melodic lead guitar playing and retro sounding synths but there’s very little to differentiate between the countless other melodic hard rock bands out there. If you are a big fan of the genre you will love this. Groundbreaker is out now on Frontiers Records. 6/10
Enterfire: Slave Of Time (Self Released) [Paul H]
London based Enterfire’s debut album, Slave Of Time is an average affair. Melodic thrash in the vein of Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium, the songs are well constructed and performed. Driven by vocalist/lead guitarist Niki B, a Greek born musician, the opening salvo work well, with the title track a driving thrash tune. Open Sky follows and it’s from here on in that interest in the album starts to wane. Throw away tracks which last seconds in the memory. Weapon Of Broken Dreams starts like a BFMV track but morphs into a Maiden-style romp before fading. Unfortunately, most of the 29 minutes here are rather mundane and the album fades from the memory shortly after it finishes. 5/10
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