The Lucid Furs - Damn! That Was Easy (Argonauta Records)
Another day, another retro loving blues rock band. The Lucid Furs have a bit of an advantage being from one of the cities that spearheaded that 70's rock revolution, Detroit, Michigan. With years of heritage behind them due to their location, you would expect The Lucid Furs to be well versed in blues rock and you would be right. This second album wraps up blues, rock, soul and funk in one neat little package with the smoky, speakeasy sounds on Explain, more psychedelic rocking on Right On My Level and Pull The String as Conscious rumbles with the jazz rhythms of Dan Regenauer (drums) and Nick James (bass).
The album is structured well, not every song is just mindless rock n roll, there's a real soul feel to these songs, the spirit of Detroit acts such as Alice Cooper, The MC5 and Grand Funk Railroad. Another Page having those wild guitars and vocals GFR are the masters of, Geordie Kasza's guitar rooted in the blues but never constrained by it, just listen to those grunge vibes on Over Again. Vocally Karen O'Connor is from the Elin Larsson, Ann Wilson and Janis Joplin school of singing, full of power and grit. As the album ends with the the acoustic tones of A One Time Investment, you're keenly aware that the camaraderie of this band is what drives them, it feels like many of these songs are more like jams than composed tracks and is more exciting because of it. Another retro loving blues rock band? Yeah but a good one. 7/10
The Human Veil – The Hybrid Era (Self Released)
Manchester modern metalcore band The Human Veil, have tried, deliberately to improve upon their debut EP Fractures. Now obviously most bands try to do this, but The Human Veil have brought a conceptual nature to this record, to link the tracks together. The theme that flows through this album is the struggles we have with our mental health and that many are unable to speak about it keeping their demons inside to rule over them. Mental health is quite prominent topic at the moment in metal music, especially in the metalcore/modern metal world due in part to these bands using the clean/harsh dynamics to offer up that mix of frustration and introspection. The Hybrid Era does this across its five tracks with the most powerful offerings being Enemies and Pray For Me.
The
album also marks a change to the band’s sound, inspired by neon sci-fi the
tracks all feature bags of electronics, along with symphonic elements, shifting
them away from standard metalcore templates. Alive especially pairs bleeping
electronics, with lots of strings and a crushing guitar breakdown, coming at
the end of the EP, it’s a sign of their natural progression into this wider
soundscape. They have also backed away from the traditional heaviness, allowing
more emotion to ring out, making this EP the next stage of evolution for The
Human Veil, welcome to their Hybrid Era. 7/10
Anti-Mortem - Anti-Mortem (Romo Music Group)
Well this is a blast from the past! Anti-Mortem, a band who released their first album in 2014 and shortly after split up. Leaving what I thought was going to be only album, well they have returned from Oklahoma with new music. Preceded by two singles in the midst of 2020, this is second full length album from the proponents of ‘New Southern’. While Anti-Mortem has been as dead as their namesake, the founding members Larado and Nevada Romo have been busy with Texas Hippie Coalition a band not too dissimilar to Anti-Mortem’s groove/thrash Southern metal mixture. Self-titling an album usually indicates some kind of rebirth and while only the Romo brothers remain from that first version of the band.
Musically things stay pretty similar to that debut, with perhaps more of a look to some of the Pantera off shoots such as Hellyeah, Damageplan, rather than the cowboys from hell themselves. From the defiant STFU, to the bouncy The Good Life there’s a lot of big riffs but after the doom but boring Money there’s the Back And Forth which sounds like a bad Korn cover. Happily those Southern licks come back on Oh Yeah and Old Washita, which is a bonus track here but comes from the earlier period. For me some of the sonic experimentation doesn’t work, Anti-Mortem work brilliantly as a Southern metal band, the additions of nu-metal for me detract from this album. Nice to see you back, but stick to what you do best guys! 6/10
Liberty Lies – Halloween EP (Self Released)
Comprised of Shaun Richards (vocals), Josh Pritchett (guitar), Adam Stevens (drums) and Miles Bagshaw (bass), Black Country rockers Liberty Lies are ready for spooky season with their Halloween EP. It features one new song, the single Monster along with four covers. Monster is very much in their NWOCR sound but with their alt rock twist, the covers though have been chosen for their spooky names. They do Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon where Shaun duets with Chloe Ozwell of Sister Shotgun, there’s also Highway To Hell which features The Fallen State.
There two tracks that were made famous by Creedence Clearwater Revival, I Put A Spell On You which is the band doing this soul classic with the amps made louder while Bad Moon Rising features Wolf Jaw and is a little more bittersweet due to the recent tragic death of their frontman Tom Leighton. All of the covers are relatively decent and stick close to the originals making the Halloween EP essentially a bit of seasonally fun curio as they work on their third full length. Not essential but a fun listen for your Halloween weekend. 6/10
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