Reviews: DeadBlondeStars, Seum, Shallow Truths, Full Circle (Reviews By Rich Piva, Mark Young, Zak Skane & Simon Black)

DeadBlondeStars - Metamorphosis (Self Released) [Rich Piva]

Being of a certain age, current bands that pay homage to the days of flannel, bad goatees, and musicians spawned from a certain city in the Pacific Northwest always peak my interest. In many cases I am disappointed with the output, finding bands using these certain buzzwords and throwing out influences that may get forty and fifty-somethings all worked up but ultimately sounding like any of the other radio ready crap that is being pumped out today. 

Yeah, sure, throw AIC or Soundgarden in your Bandcamp tags, but how about don’t sound like Shinedown or Nickleback instead. This brings me to the third album from Sheffield, England’s DeadBlondeStars, who on their latest release, Metamorphosis, are anything but cheap imitations of our favourite Seattle bands. Yes, singer Gary Walker sounds uncannily like Chris Cornell, and yes the riffs are reminiscent of some of Kim’s and Jerry’s best work, but these guys take what was the best from that era and make it their own, creating their best album till date and a record should catapult them to stardom.

Let’s be clear, no one can sing like Chris Cornell…but Walker’s voice is certainly close and it works perfectly across the twelve crunchy tracks on Metamorphosis. These guys have the songs for sure. The guitar work is killer too, with a three pronged riff filled attack that is the key driver for how awesome this record is. Right of the bat you know what you are in for with the killer riff from the opening track, 11 Teeth, that leads you to some seriously well done late period Soundgarden worship but modernised to fit the band’s style and individual traits. The record never sounds like an imitation, and I think a big part of that is the production. Generally, I would think it may be a bit too polished for my liking, and I think the drums should be turned up a bit in the mix, but for some reason overall it really works on Metamorphosis. 

This Tree sounds more like Audioslave then Soundgarden but again stands alone as their own thing, borrowing the best parts and putting their on spin on what comes out. I love the layered vocals on this track. Other standout tracks for me are Alaska, which sounds like it could have been on Facelift musically, OverOcean which is a killer grunge tune that could have been on any later era Seattle compilation and A Friend Like You, the closer, and probably my favourite track that has all the traits of what a great song from that or any era would have; catchiness, excellent vocals, killer guitar work, and a crunch and gallop that is unmistakably awesome.

So yes, you can be super influenced by a band or era or style of music and not come off as a cheap imitation. You can even create an album as excellent as DeadBlondeStars have with Metamorphosis. If you like grunge and are yearning for something from that time gone past, this record is for you. The perfect balance of influence and individuality. 9/10

Seum - Double/Double (Electric Spark) [Mark Young]

Doom and bass!! This is NOT Royal Blood.

From the off Montreal three-piece Seum tell you in no uncertain terms there are no guitars on this release. That is not to say that there is a lack of dexterity on show from them as they embrace the low-end spectrum with this release.

They have been a steady number of releases from 2020 onwards, with this being their second album following the debut Winterised. Double/Double’s main objective is to groove from start to finish without being a hyper-intensive experience. Steady tempos are observed with some absolute monolithic riffs straight from the Geezer Butler playbook.

There is very much a punk attitude on display with an almost black metal style of vocals but married to a sludge/doom speed limit which gives you a heavy but slightly less than smooth experience. Here length of track takes second place to the riff and the riffs must be good to keep you listening.

They are slow, at least compared to what I normally listen too which is not a bad thing but over the course of 28 minutes there doesn’t seem to be that much variation between tracks and if this is not what you are a fan of then it is possible it won’t convert you into listening further. 

It is possible that I am slightly biased that there is no guitar involved but again variety is everything so I can see that for fans of doom, stoner music it generally does the trick, and they will embrace this release because it is uncompromising in its approach. 6/10

Shallow Truths - Bury Yesterday (Shallow Records) [Zak Skane]

Starting with their opening track Bury Yesterday, which has bouncy interval hoping riffs, swinging from major to minor key notes to give the listener heavy feel good vibes. The clean and harsh vocals trade off are remind me of old school Issues. The melodic lines in the chorus sections are effortlessly catchy. House Of Lies combines the old school NWOAHM riffs of Lamb Of God with new school technicality of the likes of Periphery. 

The kick drum pattern routed in the vary from section to section of the song to satisfy very drummer that is listening to this E.P. The harsh vocals on this track oozes emotion and angst whilst the singer vents emotional turmoil. Wallow and Not Broken pushes forward the emotion onto the listener by bringing spacious keys and atmospheric layers to lay a bed for their modern metal recipe. Finally another highlight on this album is Veins which strips away the ambient backing tracks to bring the meat and potatoes metalcore which consists off meaty power chord stacked riffs and punchy drum grooves.

If you like your metalcore modern but featuring an old school edge to it Shallow Truths has got you covered. From the djenty bouncing riffs of their opening track Bury Yesterday which would please any of Northlane and Issues fan. House Of Lies presents the meeting of the old school with the new school by preforming Lamb Of God style groove laden riffs and mixed double kick patterns all soaked in a modern production and Wallow and Not Broken soaks the listener in ambient emotion whilst still packing the heavy. Within the five track journey the band have managed to show all sides of their sound without it feeling forced or disjointed. 7/10

Full Circle - Songs From The Apocalypse (Self Released) [Simon Black]

Progressive metal is an insanely broad descriptive term for a genre of music that can deliver in so many styles on its own that it’s often impossible to classify. But all things progressive have their roots in the experimental age of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and that’s definitely where Full Circle get started. For every album from the likes of Pink Floyd that was so musically precise that you could set an atomic clock to it, there was a pile of stuff that was way looser, freer and liable to head in any direction until it meets a solid structure, and definitely more rock than metal throughout. 

There’s a lot of this improvisational feel in the mix, which is really surprising considering that there is only one musician (Val Faluotico) in here playing absolutely everything. It’s one thing for a band to invest huge amounts of energy trying to recreate the feel of old analogue recordings on digital tech, but to attempt to make one man sound like a handful of stoned improvisational musos from another century is either genius or insanity.

The whole thing sounds like an old demo, or an edgy live recording, with the exception of the lead vocals which are very forward in the mix most of the time. Although to be honest, the mixing and mastering varies between tracks to such an extent that this feels like there were at least three distinct recording sessions involved. Another jarring vocal element is the harmonised vocals, mainly because they aren’t actually in harmony, or indeed key from time to time – again remember one man is doing all this, but it’s trying to recreate that demo or live feel from another decade that little bit too hard.

When Faluotico’s vocals are focused, his voice has quite a good range, and I can’t criticise his playing on the grounds that he can play at least three more instruments than me, and at least four better than me, but the music is a little too rambling and unstructured for me. An interesting experiment, but a really tough listen. 4/10