Therapy? – Disquiet (2015)

Therapy? - Disquiet (2015)

Therapy? - Disquiet (2015) Believe it or not, but “Disquiet” is the fourteenth studio album by Therapy?. “Teethgrinder” it’s still ringing in my ears like it was yesterday and their 94’s “Troublegum” it’s probably one of the best punk-rock albums ever. Between their fourth and fourteenth album lot of things was going on, but the only thing it’s really matter is that Therapy? are still alive and kicking.
Co-founder drummer Fyfe Ewing left the band in 1996 and he was replaced by Graham Hopkins. Hopkins left the band in 2001 and was replaced next year with Neil Cooper. Although they never delivered a “Troublegum 2” type of success album, Therapy? had a couple of great songs and some really good albums in between. Just for the record, their previous album, the 2012’s “A Brief Crack of Light” it’s a solid, modern rock album. But there’s one thing that kept the band going: the love and the support of their fans.
“Disquiet” it’s definitively a perfect gift for them. And another killer album from a quite under-rated band! Read more Therapy? – Disquiet (2015)

Gallows – Desolation Sounds (2015)

Gallows - Desolation Sounds (2015)

Gallows - Desolation Sounds (2015) Gallows it’s the perfect mixture of the Aleister Crowley originated mysticism and healthy, punk rooted hardcore. Definitively one of the most interesting and solid Brit acts of the last decade and a band with the power and talent to deliver further exciting releases.
After the release of their debut album, Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz named “Orchestra of Wolves” as one of his favourite albums of 2007, praising it as being the best hardcore album since Refused’s “The Shape of Punk to Come”.
In 2007 the band won the Kerrang! Award for best British Newcomer.
They signed to Warner Bros. Records for a £1 million contract for one album with option up to three, were dropped after the release of the first one, “Grey Britain”. “Grey Britain” was a killer album, but probably not commercially successful enough for the Warner Bros. expectations.
Lead singer Frank Carter left Gallows in July 2011 and formed his own project with ex-The Hope Conspiracy and Suicide File guitarist Jim Carroll named Pure Love.
Former Alexisonfire guitarist/vocalist Wade MacNeil replaced Carter shortly after Alexisonfire announced their disbandment.
They launched their own record label, Venn Records, and the eponymously titled third album “Gallows” on 10 September 2012.
In February 2013 the band announced that they would be continuing as a four-piece, with Steph Carter leaving to focus on his other band, Ghost Riders in the Sky.
Their fourth album, titled “Desolation Sounds” was released on 13 April 2015. Read more Gallows – Desolation Sounds (2015)

Celldweller – End of an Empire (Chapter 03 Dreams) (2015)

Celldweller - End of an Empire (Chapter 03 Dreams) (2015)

Celldweller - End of an Empire (Chapter 03 Dreams) (2015) Klayton is back again and we’ve got the third installment of his quite ambitious project, “End of an Empire”.
Maybe I’m tired, maybe I’m getting too old for this EDM scene, don’t know, but Celldweller lost me lately, the previous Chapter 02 did not left any marks on me, although it was a top Celldweller production. His other project, “Transmissions vol. 01” was a nice surprise, Klayton explored the limitless spaces and possibilities of analog synthesizers, but somehow didn’t really touched me. Too much, too fast…too many releases. Maybe I’m old-fashioned and I still believe in the value of an album, a solid release, eventually on vinyl. F_ck digital!
I think in this digital era it’s getting harder to reach out to the people, the time feels shorter and our brain can’t absorb all the information anymore. Or maybe it’s just me.
But now, Celldweller delivered the wickedest track in years and one of the best electro-industrial anthems of the decade!!
“Good L_ck (Yo_’re F_cked)” it’s the best song Klayton have written and performed in years and it can be considered an excellent radiography of the times we’re living! Read more Celldweller – End of an Empire (Chapter 03 Dreams) (2015)

Agnostic Front – The American Dream Died (2015)

Agnostic Front - The American Dream Died (2015)

Agnostic Front - The American Dream Died (2015) The album begins quoting George Carlin: “The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it” which synthesize perfectly the state of facts and the perception of America today. We might consider it a joke, but it’s a deadly serious issue.
If you ask me, I think the American dream was gunned down in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 PM Central Standard Time on Friday November 22, 1963, but a huge machinery of propaganda made it looks like it was still alive till more recent times. Make no mistakes, we, the citizens of this world, are the victims of manipulation and propaganda both from Vest and from East. I’m living a nightmare because I’m caught in the middle and I was seriously abused by both sides, although believing in the “American dream” kept us alive while the other part made our life a living Hell. Now Hell have no boundaries and it’s hard to tell on which side of the planet the lie it’s bigger…the dream it’s deader. Read more Agnostic Front – The American Dream Died (2015)

The Prodigy – The Day Is My Enemy (2015)

The Prodigy - The Day Is My Enemy (2015)

The Prodigy - The Day Is My Enemy (2015) There are a couple of albums expected to be released this year (2015) I am anxious to listen to. One of them it’s the upcoming Agnostic Front album, the upcoming Limp Bizkit album, the debut album of Black Futures (ex-Subsource) and not at least the 6th The Prodigy album.
The Prodigy promised “violent sound” and a brand new level of sonic aggression. And well, have listen the whole album now for a couple of days and the sound it’s definitively there.
I’m still not sure if there are real songs under the massive sound and if The Prodigy have added anything new to their already fat repertoire.
“The Day Is My Enemy” sound almost exactly as “Invaders Must Die” back in 2009, the structure of the album and the structure of the songs it’s quite similar, but the songs are not that good and memorable. While I still can sing almost each song from the previous album purely from memory, after a couple of days of listening to “The Day Is My Enemy” the only thing which still ringing in my ears it’s “Nasty, nasty!” and that’s not really that good, but it’s more something quite compulsive. Only “Invisible Sun” it’s more stickier, but less radio friendly. Read more The Prodigy – The Day Is My Enemy (2015)

Seasick Steve – Sonic Soul Surfer (2015)

Seasick Steve - Sonic Soul Surfer (2015)

Seasick Steve - Sonic Soul Surfer (2015) Some stories are too good to be true. Imagine a hobo, a man with no past, future, nor present who eventually end up making a blues album and bringing in John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin to play the bass only because he do not knew anybody else playing that instrument. So, yes, I mean no, this could not happen.
Steven Wold (aka Seasick Steve) was born in 1941 in Oakland, California and in the 1960s he started touring and performing with fellow blues musicians. He made friends like Joni Mitchell and since then he has worked, on and off, as a session musician and studio engineer. In the late 80s he worked with several indie label artists around Seattle. In the 1990s he work as a recording engineer and producer, producing several releases by Modest Mouse including their 1996 debut album “This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About”. Read more Seasick Steve – Sonic Soul Surfer (2015)

Waltari – You Are Waltari (2015)

Waltari - You Are Waltari (2015)

Waltari - You Are Waltari (2015) If you’re nostalgic for the 1989–1991 type of, “The Real Thing” era Faith No More, Waltari definitively it’s your type of band and you will devour their 14th studio album released on February 27, 2015.
The band’s name is a reference to the popular Finnish author Mika Waltari, a favourite author of guitarist Jariot Lehtinen.
Waltari was formed in 1986 in Helsinki, Finland, by Kärtsy Hatakka (vocals and bass), Jariot Lehtinen (guitars) and Sale Suomalainen (drums). Sami Yli-Sirniö joined as second guitarist in 1989.
Their first album entitled “Monk-Punk”, was released in 1991 followed next year by the album “Torcha!” (1992) on which Waltari started blending various musical styles into the sound that would become their own although there are strong similarities with the style and sound of Faith No More.
Their previous studio album, “Below Zero” was released in 2009 followed by a cover album entitled “Covers All” in 2011 – and I have wrote about it – read my review HERE.
The new album, “You Are Waltari” was introduced by the single “Digging the Alien” which also got a music video. Read more Waltari – You Are Waltari (2015)

Venom – From The Very Depths (2015)

Venom - From The Very Depths (2015)

Venom - From The Very Depths (2015) Venom is definitively one of the most influential metal bands of all times and they were genre founders with their first two albums, “Welcome to Hell” (1981) and “Black Metal” (1982). Their third album, “At War with Satan” (1984) left some serious marks on me too with it’s 20 minutes long title track. it was a semi-concept album that tells the story of a war between Heaven and Hell where the latter side wins. Cronos – bass guitar, vocals; Mantas – guitar and Abaddon – drums had major influence on the development of heavy metal and contributed to the creation of other sub-genres such as thrash, speed, death and power metal.
In 1985, Venom released their fourth album entitled “Possessed” which was not as successful as their previous albums. Dunn then left the band to pursue a solo career.
Their fifth album, 1987’s “Calm Before the Storm”, moved away from Satanic themes in favor of “sword and sorcery” material and it was even less successful than Possessed. As result Lant, Clare and Hickey all left Venom which left Bray as the only group member.
As many other fans I lost touch with Venom as many other exciting bands flourished on the scene. Read more Venom – From The Very Depths (2015)

Ghostpoet – Shedding Skin (2015)

Ghostpoet - Shedding Skin (2015)

Ghostpoet - Shedding Skin (2015) When everything it’s obsessively boring and irreversible predictable, Ghospoet find his way and manage to deliver – once again – something fresh and genuinely enjoyable. Where conformity ends there Ghospoet kicks in!
Ghostpoet (born Obaro Ejimiwe, on January 18 1983) debuted as singer and musician in June 2010 with first EP entitled “The Sound of Strangers” on Brownswood Recordings and was later featured in The Guardian’s “New Band of the Day”.
His first single “Cash & Carry Me Home” was released on 24 January 2011, followed by the debut album on 7 February 2011, Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam. The single “Survive It” was launched in Rough Trade East Record store, on London’s Brick Lane on 9 May 2011.
Ghostpoet was among the nominees for the 2011 Mercury Prize, but the winner of the prize was PJ Harvey.
The second album called “Some Say I So I Say Light” was released on 6 May 2013. The first single “Meltdown” premiered on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show on 20 March 2013.
Ghostpoet via Soundcloud hosted a remix contest for three of his songs from “Some Say I So I Say Light”, but somehow I missed the submission deadline… Anyway, I do only weird hardcore stuffs…far off the mainstream. Read more Ghostpoet – Shedding Skin (2015)

Haxby Swango – Banana Songs EP (2015)

Haxby Swango Banana Songs EP 2015

Haxby Swango Banana Songs EP 2015 The York-based alternative electronic production duo Haxby Swango was formed in 2014 from the ashes of the progressive rock act Astrae with that band’s founding members vocalist Hutchy Swango and keyboardist Jack Swango.
They have announced the release of their first free-to-download EP, ‘Banana Songs’ for Monday, February 23 and recommended for the fans of Die Antwoord, Calvin Harris, The Cure.
Influenced by the sounds of their youth (a grimey diet of hard dance, hard rock and rap), ‘Banana Songs’ is the perfect introduction to the almighty aural explosion that is Haxby Swango.
Throughout this collection, the band craft monolithic mega-disco soundscapes that smash at the senses and burrow into the brain pushing out killer hip-hop-style beats and massive pop choruses.
Vocalist Hutchy comments: “This whole EP gives a very colourful picture of what this band is about, and it’s a very strong foot forward for us.” Read more Haxby Swango – Banana Songs EP (2015)