Some Welsh AOR now from a band formed by Mark "Penfold" Powell (ex-Psycho Kiss drummer) and the ex-vocalist of Airrace, Adam Payne. Both now veterans of the melodic rock/AOR scenes they have combined their talents to form this new band signing to Frontiers Music in the process.
Formed in 2022 as a way to pay tribute to lost love ones the initial singles spawned into something biggest as Mark and Adam brought in Aydan Watkins (guitar) and Alex Anderson (bass) to complete the four piece. With an album of songs and a full band they'll be looking to tour soon but the album itself? Well it's proper AOR, owing much to Journey, Toto, Dare or Foreigner alongside the more modern influences of the Scandi scene on Staring At The Sun.
Better Days gets the albums started, it's boisterous beginning with a huge hook, a sign of things to come as Powell's steady drum beats give No Escape propulsion the synths shimmer in the background against guitar stabs as Voices adds the rock to melodic rock, the guitars are particularly impressive here. With the music and production highly polished, Payne's vocals carry the emotion of songs such as The Storm.
For anyone that heard him in Airrace, Serpentine or around these parts Tidal, you'll know what a great singer he is, elements of Steve Perry and Joe Elliott both prominent, be it on the country balladry of Questions (very Bon Jovi), the anthemic Taking Back Yesterday or the closing mega ballad All For Love, he carries the huge choruses as Powell's drums carries the beating heart. Voilà arrives as a real presentation of AOR skill and veteran ability. As if the 80's never left Powell-Payne throw it back with style. 8/10
The Sabians – Shiver (Ripple Music: Beneath The Desert Floor Vol. 6) [Rich Piva]
When Todd from Ripple Music told me about the Beneath the Desert Floor series he was doing, where the Ripple executive team (Todd, with maybe some input from some Ripple fanatics) chose some forgotten, lost, and/or out of print heavy records from the 1990s or early 2000s to bring back to the world via some sweet Ripple represses, including on their amazing vinyl offerings, I was super pumped and thought maybe we can get two or three cool records in 2024 as part of the series.
Well, here we are talking about volume six (and later volume seven), with classics from Fireball Ministry, Glitter Wizard, Rollerball, White Witch Canyon, and The Awesome Machine already in hand and back to blowing the listening public away. I mean Fireball Ministry for crying out loud! For the next two releases we go a bit more obscure, with volume six from The Sabians, a San Francisco Bay area band with members from bands you may have heard of before.
Let’s start with Shiver, from The Sabians. The Sabians included guitarist Justin Marler (who left the band originally to enlist in a Russian Orthodox monastery but came back to the band seven years later) and drummer Chris Hakius from the legendary Sleep (Hakius is in Om too). Mr. Pike even played a role in The Sabians, helping them secure some rehearsal space to get the band going. This is record two from The Sabians, originally released in 2003. Please do not think this sounds anything like Sleep, because it doesn’t, at all.
Let’s start with Shiver, from The Sabians. The Sabians included guitarist Justin Marler (who left the band originally to enlist in a Russian Orthodox monastery but came back to the band seven years later) and drummer Chris Hakius from the legendary Sleep (Hakius is in Om too). Mr. Pike even played a role in The Sabians, helping them secure some rehearsal space to get the band going. This is record two from The Sabians, originally released in 2003. Please do not think this sounds anything like Sleep, because it doesn’t, at all.
It sounds like late 90’s early 2000s post hardcore, or early heavy emo (hear me out), and it is excellent. This sounds more like something that would have been on Revelation Records, No Idea Records, or Doghouse Records, not anything stoner or doom related. Think a more edgy, louder, and less produced Sunny Day Real Estate. Bands like Threadbare and Falling Forward come to mind too. The singer sounds so much like a guy who as a kid sang in a hardcore band but needed to chill in his next band a bit, but not take any of the emotion out of his music or singing.
The song One By One is the perfect example of this, and it rules. There is a sparseness to the heavy here and the production is not lo-fi but also did not seem important to the band, which is exactly how I like it. Cold Black River is another standout, mixing some grunge vibes with the post hardcore stuff with excellent results. Numb is another great track that should have stood firmly next to other bands having success with this style back in the day.
Imagine if the Foo Fighters decided to go in a much rawer direction after The Colour And The Shape instead of mostly sucking for the rest of their career. This is what the track Sweet Misery reminds me of. Bullet is my other favourite track on Shiver, which is more of the post hardcore goodness, right in my wheelhouse, even though most of what I write about and listen to these days is all about monster riffs. The closer (before the bonus track), Broken Circle is killer too, reminding me of later period Krishna-core champions, Shelter. Just great stuff. 8/10
Mudlarker - Radio Silence (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
My my my. As the year ends we have ANOTHER big riffing psych/stoner/doom record from Albion’s shores. Hereford based band Mudlarker bring us their second album Radio Silence, a shifting, heavy riffing record which has influences from Orange Goblin, Desert Storm, Sergeant Thunderhoof and even Conan (on the ear bleeding Leviathan). Heavyweight stoner riffs driven by Dave Knott’s fuzzy, phased, distorted guitars and Marc Jones’ booming bass, the latter sitting right up in the mix for maximum organ movement.
The way they incorporate classic 70’s rock into tracks such as the grooving Cruisership, the chuggy title track or the grungy River, makes for not just plenty of Sabbath worship but Zeppelin and Hawkwind too as so often a dirty stoner riff will take off into the psychedelic stratosphere Elliot Crosby’s drumming manoeuvring this rocket of riffs through galaxies. Inspired by sci-fi Radio Silence has a loneliness too it, conjuring images of that lone explorer trapped in the vastness of space forever, a track such as Empyrean, creating a dissonance as the white noise moves into the sounds of the ocean.
Throughout Radio Silence the transitions between big stoner riffs and psychedelic moments are seamless, making the songs have a bit of length but the expansive playing and the gritty voice of Tom Berrow is just as effective on the woozy Godhand as they are on the doomy The Persistence or the swaggering Reaver . I loved Radio Silence, it's got grime, sleaze and most of all riffs, loads of them. Just as 2024 comes to an end the stoner scene is still burning. 9/10
Dear Deceased – Dead Deceased (Ripple Music: Beneath The Desert Floor Vol. 7) [Rich Piva]
Continuing my reviews of the new Ripple music Beneath The Desert Floor series, a record from Dear Deceased, a Sabbath and grunge inspired San Jose band from the 90s that dissolved right before they were to sign to a label and whose masters from their debut record stayed locked away, until now. Listening to this record it is a crime it never saw the light of day until now.
Continuing my reviews of the new Ripple music Beneath The Desert Floor series, a record from Dear Deceased, a Sabbath and grunge inspired San Jose band from the 90s that dissolved right before they were to sign to a label and whose masters from their debut record stayed locked away, until now. Listening to this record it is a crime it never saw the light of day until now.
I mentioned Sabbath earlier, but the band’s influences were all over the place, as you can tell from the eight tracks on the self-titled record. I assume the band was named after the Skin Yard song, especially given how much these guys sound like the band and their successor, Gruntruck, which is so freaking awesome. My next thought goes to Corrosion Of Conformity, if you need good starting reference points. This is especially true on the killer opener, Traffic. Maybe the COC related Righteous Fool too. Either way, it is excellent.
The eight tracks are heavy and dark goodness, like the early Soundgarden vibes of Better Than Life, for example, where the Skin Yard/Gruntruck vibes are aplenty too. Same with the next one, River. So good. Early Sub Pop grunge is what I hear all over a track like The Open. The vocals have so much of a Ben McMillan (RIP) thing going on, like on the song Wide Eyed. Tracks like Loaded and Beez brings me back to Righteous Fool while the closer, the ten-minute Deeper is all of this stuff combined for an epic grungy/stoner closer.
Ripple Music just gets it. Todd just understands what the fans of the label and other heavy music fans want to hear. Cheers to Todd for bringing two more lost records back to life. I can’t wait for what 2025 brings for the Beneath The Desert Floor series. 9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment