rock and roll fables

music, comics, and media in a rock'n' roll world

The Clay People Stay Vigilant But Are Far From Calm On Crushing Cult Hypnotica

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Let’s face the facts: there’s no such thing as a bad album from The Clay People. Our only gripe over the years has been consistency. The songs are there and the musicianship is definitely there but there’s just something in the execution with the album sequence that tends to drop the momentum after the first blast of songs. 2018’s Demon Hero… fixed that glitch in the system and now, with Cult Hypnotica, The Clay People stand on the precipice of some long awaited and much deserved greatness.

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Municipal Waste Thrive And Throw Down Some Sweet Thrash Anarchy On Electrified Brain

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This is the kind of album that makes us question our life choices regarding why we never got into Municipal Waste in the first place. Maybe we should start a column called “Oops! I Did It Again!” with the focus being artists we initially neglected only to find out they kick serious ass. Sounds better than the “How’s that egg on our face look?” or “Boy! Does that crow taste great!”, right?

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ITHACA Taps Into Defiantly Diverse Heaviness For Sophomore Effort They Fear Us

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Sweet holy jeebus, there’s nothing on the market right now that sounds anything like ITHACA. With their sophomore outing, the London-based quintet take your favorite parts of Metalcore, Doom, and just Heavy music in general, infuse it with an undeniably captivating melodic side, and conjure up one of the most original new Metal records of 2022.

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Singles! dropbear, “Bystander”

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Photo courtesy of dropbear

Tapping into the Alt-Rawk fuzz of the ’90’s, Boston’s dropbear exude an enchanting kind of aura on debut single, “Bystander”, which is similarly endearing to fans of that era of music while also standing tall as an enduring track all its’ own serving as the perfect introduction to the quintet ahead of their first EP arriving in July.

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Profiler Master The Nu, Make It The Neo On Heavy Debut EP

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There have been a lot of hopefuls in recent years but I don’t think anyone’s come as close as Profiler has to capturing the Nu-Metal vibe so perfectly. The Bristol, UK outfit especially excel when it comes to harnessing the power of the oft looked over latter years of that genre when bands like Linkin Park were really dominating (Think Meteora) and many an underground band were getting signed, putting out records, then getting dropped before the ink on the contract was even dry (Lookin’ at you, Darwin’s Waiting Room, The Deadlights, Five Pointe O, et al). Add in some vocals from guitarist/vocalist Mike Evans that perfectly mix Fred Durst’s magical flow on the mic with Jonathan Davis’ raw aggression and fans get one helluva potent combination on a debut EP that’s a cut above the rest.

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Vexes Double Down On The Expansive Epic Rawk With Double Album Imagine What We Could Destroy If Only Given Time

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Okay kids! First things first, let it be known that the latest from New Jersey’s Vexes is a lot to take in. It’s a double album! And that’s a bold move if you don’t have the material to back it up. We can think of a few veteran acts who’ve done the same recently releasing records that just failed to connect and missed the mark entirely. Not the case with Imagine What We Could Destroy /// If Only Given Time whose only fault seems to be the abundance of compelling consistency within its’ sonic walls so trust us when we say you’re going to wanna set some time aside to soak this all in.

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The Swell Fellas Elevate And Educate On Rad Desert Psych Rawk EP Novaturia

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What a delightfully dense collection of magical music from The Swell Fellas! With their latest release, Novaturia, the transplanted trio originally from Maryland (Who now reside in Nashville) provide a glimpse into their future with an EP that acts as a third eye and connects the dots between their debut full-length (2020’s The Big Grand Entrance) and subsequent follow-up EP with a release that expands on their already impressive palette of erudite musical statements and takes their brand of Desert Psych Rawk to newfangled levels of aural awesomeness.

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Billy Howerdel Manifests Dreams Of Electric Sheep On Evocative Synth-Driven What Normal Was

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If there was just one word to describe the whole of What Normal Was, the latest from A Perfect Circle co-founder Billy Howerdel, it’d have to be “haunting”. Or maybe “evocative” is more fitting as it conjures up less a Gothic setting and more an expansive one. Which is exactly what WNW is. As massive sounding as What Normal Was is, it isn’t meant to sound like the aforementioned moody Alt of A Perfect Circle nor is it the more straightforward Alternative Rawk of Ashes Divide (Howerdel’s 2008 outfit). What you get with this collection of Electronic/New Wave-tinged sonic soliloquies is just Billy Howerdel being the most Billy Howerdel ever on probably the most (And maybe best?) Billy Howerdel sounding record of all.

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Valley Of The Sun Voyage Towards Desert Rawk Excellence With Stellar The Chariot

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There’s something inherently timeless when listening through The Chariot from Cincinnati’s Valley Of The Sun. That’s it, that’s the opener! Timeless is tantamount to classic so by that logic y’all should go out immediately and pre-order your new favorite Desert Rawk album of 2022. And we’ll get to a comparison or two in a few but to be honest, experiencing Valley Of The Sun’s originality for the first or fiftieth time makes a strong argument that comparisons are not needed. At. All.

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Ex-Hyena Take Listeners On A Futuristic Sonic Odyssey With Sophomore Outing Moon Reflections

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You’re not likely to find a more original outfit in the current Boston music scene than Ex-Hyena. A ridiculously hard to pin down outfit that’s part TV On The Radio, part The Faint, and part Massive Attack put through some futuristic Cyberdyne-fueled filter within the sonic odyssey that Daft Punk created in Tron: Legacy. Still with us? Well, that descriptor barely scratches the surface of what the rest of Moon Reflections holds!

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