The issue with EP’s is they give the artist a small amount of time to make an impression, in this case across just six songs. Still, a great EP can be just as forceful and powerful as an album can, and Space Of Variations demonstrate how to pack tones of clout and wallop into just 20 minutes of running length. Room 57 begins on a visceral and harrowing scream, an exciting and constantly altering guitar part hollers it's way through the song, until the unexpected yet intriguing melodious interlude, which brings in ideas from psychedelia to oriental. After we are thrust back into the chaos XXXXX continues to impress with a dystopian and eerie finish, which incorporates these harsh and abrasive synth textures into the mix, lending to the sense of unease and anxiety being violently cultivated. Razorblade continues to experiment with uncanny and strange effects, fusing ferociously with the erratic drumming and groove-laden lead passages. Once more this anthem takes a left turn into fiercely melancholic and beautiful territory, before the record itself beguiles with its most striking change yet – a slow burn rhythm and a blues-infused piece which rids of the distortion while harnessing echo, reverb, and progressiveness to create an emotional experience which spans far beyond anger or rage.
Empty Universe brings together the elusive and hypnotising qualities of both these emotional states, to create an experience which feels incomparable to anything either inside or outside of the metal genre. Through that weirdly absorbing synthesis, the listener is left to contemplate the unsettled and changeable nature of their own feelings and experiences – proving that these ventures into the unknown are having their desired effect. Despite only being two minutes in length, Find Me In The Dark furthers that sense of exploration through the dark, conveyed throughout the experience. The final song translates from Russian into Will Be Punished and possesses all the viciousness and wildness you’d expect of the closer. We are left staring wilfully into the abyss with only fading instrumentals and light patterns of synths to provide brightness to the unending abyss. That’s how expansive the potential and ambitions of these musicians seem. Only time will tell if I’m correct. 8/10
Great American Ghost: Power Through Terror (eOne Records) [Rich Oliver]
Contemporary hardcore is very much not my cup of tea. When it comes to hardcore I’m far more of a old school or crossover guy so I didn’t expect much going into Power Through Terror which is the third album by Boston metallic hardcore band Great American Ghost. I am now eating several large servings of humble pie as Great American Ghost just totally proved me wrong. It contains all the elements of modern hardcore I’m not overly fussed on - chuggy riffs and breakdowns and that ‘hardcore bark’ vocal delivery but this these elements are delivered in such an honest, brutal fashion that I couldn’t help but be utterly impressed. Great American Ghost delivery bruising hardcore with elements from contemporary metal bands such as Machine Head and Gojira and even some nods to far more extreme bands such as Nails.
The result is some mightily pissed off and rage filled hardcore which is some of the angriest music I have heard in a while. It has a huge powerful production that enables monstrous slabs of terror such as the title track, the pummelling Rivers Of Blood and the emotionally charged No More. Highlight for me though was the absolutely relentless Prison Of Hate which was the musical equivalent of being kissed by an exploding grenade. Power Through Terror is one angry motherfucker of an album and whilst it does contain elements in the music I’m very much not fond of it never feels forced or contrived (not even the breakdowns) with Power Through Terror being a singular mission to break peoples faces. If you have some anger to expel then this album comes very much recommended to help release some inner rage. 7/10
Hollywood Undead: New Empire (Dove & Grenade Media) [Alex Swift]
Despite apparently being a fun band to see live, Hollywood Undead’s style of rap-metal has never broken through for me, and in all honesty, it’s not difficult to see how they could detract many people. Their first album Swan Songs, spawned a few major singles yet their popularity grew out of a reminiscence for nu-metal, and a willingness to be controversial and provocative. In the space between 2008 and 2017, I honestly wiped my memory of them. However, I gave their last album, 2017’s Five a listen and was honestly not shocked to find a band who despite maturing musically, are still serving up an acquired though a personally forgettable combination of hardcore rap and alternative. And, as New Empire continues to prove, while there’s nothing overtly awful on display, there’s very little that will be tasteful or timely to anyone outside of a certain niche!
Time Bomb is offset by an aggressive, forceful guitar riff, and erratic exchanges between the two vocalists which excellently crescendos in a huge chorus with melodic instrumentation, proving a stark contrast from the chaos of the verses. Admittedly, the anthem could do without the effects and distortions with lather almost everything, and if there’s one massive criticism I’d make of these hooded intruders, it’s their utter disregard for subtlety. Still, from an objective point of view, here’s a pretty epic opener. Moving into Heart Of A Champion there’s a very clear sense of Linkin Park copycat antics, the huge chant-along melodies, all the way down to the looping through enticing duel synth guitar line, feels extremely reminiscent of 1000 Suns or Living Things – I don’t often care to use comparisons, though the influence is all but impossible to ignore. However, hearing that sort of sound resurrected by these of all people certainly helps to fuel that nostalgic vibe, and there are worse acts from that era to copy, so I’m still largely pleased, albeit not thrilled so far.
Though, there is some straying back into bad habits going on in places – Already Dead plays by the same rulebook of the openers, and despite terrible on the surface, spoils itself with constant tempo changes, ear grating sound effects and an overarching sense of disorder that proves utterly unnecessary. Therein lies the crux of the problems I have with Hollywood Undead – When the emphasis is on melody and song structure they are a decent, albeit unoriginal popular rock act. When they try and bombard the listener with huge production value for no other reason than to satisfy an attitude and defiant image, then they end up alienating me – and I suspect a lot of potential casual listeners, given how they’ve seen a dive in notoriety.
Empire was one of the singles that preceded the album’s release and despite bearing a pretty powerful lead guitar part is probably the worst song here. The pacing here is all wrong- the instrumentals completely drop out for the rap verses, the melodies feel tiresome, unattractive and sleepy and once again the electronic whirrs and wheezes make no sense in context. Killin, it may be experimental for the genre it falls into which is trap rap, yet probably falls outside of our jurisdiction, and is definitely not amount to anything I would spend my own time on. Thankfully, we do get something of a return to form with Enemy which is a full-throttle punk anthem, with elements of jungle and metal-infused – making the piece the most original and exciting track on the entire record. Upside Down is another one with creative writing and powerful execution, with a strong message about not regretting past failings. The rawer emotional feel of this track continues on to Second Chances which despite not breaking any new ground musically, has an aura that hints at a willingness to deploy talent to maximum emotional effect. If there’s one song which proves that Hollywood Undead has matured it’s this one.
Ultimately, nothing on New Empire really impresses me, and I wasn’t expecting anything to. I can admire the cult fanbase from a distance, but I will never be part of the Hollywood Undead hype train, and that’s okay, I’m sure their fans could say the same about some of the bands I love and admire. I offer Hollywood Undead a respectful if lukewarm score. 4/10
Mortal Fools is album number three from San Francisco stoner rockers Disastroid. Having lost a fair bit of interest in stoner rock over the past few years this is not a band that I am aware of but they are a band that take the stoner rock formula and very much put their own twist on things. It is nine songs of very discordant stoner rock with plenty of odd time signatures and a playful quirky nature. You get songs like 8hr Parking, Reset and Bilge which are full of 90’s stoner rock tropes such as fuzzy riffs and rumbling bass but delivered in an unconventional style whilst you also get songs such as The Crewser, Hopeless and Insect Mind which are far more off the wall with a myriad of twists and turns.
It is clear that the band are highly influenced by 90’s noise rock bands as well as stoner rock as heard in the unconventional song structures, discordant riffs and moments of squealing guitars and feedback. It comes across a mix of noise rock meets the Melvins meets Mastodon. It is great to hear a band do something a bit more leftfield in the stoner rock genre. It’s always my one big complaint within stoner rock and metal that it’s all way too samey and played far too safe. Mortal Fools is definitely an album that goes to different and experimental territories but at the same time I found this a quite unengaging and jarring album at times. Full props to Disastroid for doing something different but overall it just didn't connect with me. 6/10
The result is some mightily pissed off and rage filled hardcore which is some of the angriest music I have heard in a while. It has a huge powerful production that enables monstrous slabs of terror such as the title track, the pummelling Rivers Of Blood and the emotionally charged No More. Highlight for me though was the absolutely relentless Prison Of Hate which was the musical equivalent of being kissed by an exploding grenade. Power Through Terror is one angry motherfucker of an album and whilst it does contain elements in the music I’m very much not fond of it never feels forced or contrived (not even the breakdowns) with Power Through Terror being a singular mission to break peoples faces. If you have some anger to expel then this album comes very much recommended to help release some inner rage. 7/10
Hollywood Undead: New Empire (Dove & Grenade Media) [Alex Swift]
Despite apparently being a fun band to see live, Hollywood Undead’s style of rap-metal has never broken through for me, and in all honesty, it’s not difficult to see how they could detract many people. Their first album Swan Songs, spawned a few major singles yet their popularity grew out of a reminiscence for nu-metal, and a willingness to be controversial and provocative. In the space between 2008 and 2017, I honestly wiped my memory of them. However, I gave their last album, 2017’s Five a listen and was honestly not shocked to find a band who despite maturing musically, are still serving up an acquired though a personally forgettable combination of hardcore rap and alternative. And, as New Empire continues to prove, while there’s nothing overtly awful on display, there’s very little that will be tasteful or timely to anyone outside of a certain niche!
Time Bomb is offset by an aggressive, forceful guitar riff, and erratic exchanges between the two vocalists which excellently crescendos in a huge chorus with melodic instrumentation, proving a stark contrast from the chaos of the verses. Admittedly, the anthem could do without the effects and distortions with lather almost everything, and if there’s one massive criticism I’d make of these hooded intruders, it’s their utter disregard for subtlety. Still, from an objective point of view, here’s a pretty epic opener. Moving into Heart Of A Champion there’s a very clear sense of Linkin Park copycat antics, the huge chant-along melodies, all the way down to the looping through enticing duel synth guitar line, feels extremely reminiscent of 1000 Suns or Living Things – I don’t often care to use comparisons, though the influence is all but impossible to ignore. However, hearing that sort of sound resurrected by these of all people certainly helps to fuel that nostalgic vibe, and there are worse acts from that era to copy, so I’m still largely pleased, albeit not thrilled so far.
Though, there is some straying back into bad habits going on in places – Already Dead plays by the same rulebook of the openers, and despite terrible on the surface, spoils itself with constant tempo changes, ear grating sound effects and an overarching sense of disorder that proves utterly unnecessary. Therein lies the crux of the problems I have with Hollywood Undead – When the emphasis is on melody and song structure they are a decent, albeit unoriginal popular rock act. When they try and bombard the listener with huge production value for no other reason than to satisfy an attitude and defiant image, then they end up alienating me – and I suspect a lot of potential casual listeners, given how they’ve seen a dive in notoriety.
Empire was one of the singles that preceded the album’s release and despite bearing a pretty powerful lead guitar part is probably the worst song here. The pacing here is all wrong- the instrumentals completely drop out for the rap verses, the melodies feel tiresome, unattractive and sleepy and once again the electronic whirrs and wheezes make no sense in context. Killin, it may be experimental for the genre it falls into which is trap rap, yet probably falls outside of our jurisdiction, and is definitely not amount to anything I would spend my own time on. Thankfully, we do get something of a return to form with Enemy which is a full-throttle punk anthem, with elements of jungle and metal-infused – making the piece the most original and exciting track on the entire record. Upside Down is another one with creative writing and powerful execution, with a strong message about not regretting past failings. The rawer emotional feel of this track continues on to Second Chances which despite not breaking any new ground musically, has an aura that hints at a willingness to deploy talent to maximum emotional effect. If there’s one song which proves that Hollywood Undead has matured it’s this one.
Ultimately, nothing on New Empire really impresses me, and I wasn’t expecting anything to. I can admire the cult fanbase from a distance, but I will never be part of the Hollywood Undead hype train, and that’s okay, I’m sure their fans could say the same about some of the bands I love and admire. I offer Hollywood Undead a respectful if lukewarm score. 4/10
Disastroid: Mortal Fools (Heavy Psych Sounds) [Rich Oliver]
Mortal Fools is album number three from San Francisco stoner rockers Disastroid. Having lost a fair bit of interest in stoner rock over the past few years this is not a band that I am aware of but they are a band that take the stoner rock formula and very much put their own twist on things. It is nine songs of very discordant stoner rock with plenty of odd time signatures and a playful quirky nature. You get songs like 8hr Parking, Reset and Bilge which are full of 90’s stoner rock tropes such as fuzzy riffs and rumbling bass but delivered in an unconventional style whilst you also get songs such as The Crewser, Hopeless and Insect Mind which are far more off the wall with a myriad of twists and turns.
It is clear that the band are highly influenced by 90’s noise rock bands as well as stoner rock as heard in the unconventional song structures, discordant riffs and moments of squealing guitars and feedback. It comes across a mix of noise rock meets the Melvins meets Mastodon. It is great to hear a band do something a bit more leftfield in the stoner rock genre. It’s always my one big complaint within stoner rock and metal that it’s all way too samey and played far too safe. Mortal Fools is definitely an album that goes to different and experimental territories but at the same time I found this a quite unengaging and jarring album at times. Full props to Disastroid for doing something different but overall it just didn't connect with me. 6/10
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