NEW MUSIC FRIDAY – 22nd April 2022
If you’ve not kept up with the latest music news this week fear not as we have a run down of the brand new albums and releases you need to hear!
ALBUMS
Northlane – Obsidian
Northlane have released their latest album Obsidian and prove yet again they’re living in the future of heavy music. The band really started to carve their own unique style and sound on 2019’s Alien, and Obsidian takes that style and ramps it up. They blend EDM moments with heavy detuned guitars so well it’s sometimes hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. The record as a whole has that signature Northlane sound with an extra bit of spice as the experimental aspect of the band is present in each song. They’re not afraid to try new things from chilled out moments, atmospheric soundscapes, driving industrial elements to varying effects across instruments and vocals. Speaking of which Marcus expands his vocal range yet again seamlessly going from pop singing to rapping to screaming. Obsidian is a journey and is definitely one to put some time aside to listen to in full!
Ocean Grove – Up In The Air Forever
Ocean Grove are back with music from their Oddworld™ universe – Up In The Air Forever is a 10-track, genre-bending epic musical journey. An evolution of the trio’s early heavy sound, the record finds Ocean Grove leaning into their strengths in the worlds of Brit-rock, pop, grunge and punk and ultimately confirms them as a creative force that can’t be tamed. Celebrating personal freedom, expression and creativity, the record is characterised by strong anarchic sentiments and resentment for a system that squashes individualism and anti-“norm” ideas.
Bob Vylan – Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life
London two-piece BOB VYLAN have today released their brand new album ‘Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life’ and they hold no punches! The duo are angry and it comes out in their unique mix of rap & grime with a punk edge that hit’s like heavy social commentary sledgehammer. They take on a range of issues from the housing crisis & government scandals to racial, class & social issues still prevalent in modern Britain. This is an important record from an important group!
SINGLES
Architects – when we were young
Metalcore pioneers and kings of the surprise music release Architects have gone and caught everyone off guard again by dropping a huge new single “when we were young” out of nowhere. The song features a driving industrial influenced main riff which quickly evolves as drummer Dan Searle transitions to a classic hardcore/punk backbeat not often used by the band, followed by an big anthemic chorus with Sam Carter’s iconic vocals soaring through and of course no Architects song is complete without some sort of pit opener and WWWY does not disappoint returning to a half time beatdown version of the opening riff! The video, directed by Dan Searle takes a simple but effective route with the band performing in the middle of circular camera track with some fancy lighting and blue hues.
Boston Manor – Foxglove
Blackpool’s Boston Manor are back with a massive new single ‘Foxglove’. The release is the first new music since their killer EP ‘Desperate Times, Desperate Pleasures’ last year. The song perfectly blends the mass of influences that have reared their heads through Boston Manors past releases, from 90s alt rock & grunge to dark industrial elements, ‘Foxglove’ has it all yet doesn’t sound disjointed as they manage to keep their pop sensibilities with some seriously catchy hooks.
The track comes from a cohesion of ideas and energy in the studio recording with Larry Hibbitt in Brixton. As frontman Henry Cox says: “It’s about losing your grip on things and starting to feel the train coming off the tracks. The video was a lot of fun to shoot, it spanned several nights across the North West of England hanging out of a box truck with a camera strapped to me.”
Static Dress – fleahouse
Static Dress have just dropped another huge new single off their forthcoming debut album ‘Rouge carpet disaster’ set to come out in May this year. The video, like most of their releases so far was shot, edited and directed by the band themselves and is full of their signature stylings complete with old box tvs & brightly coloured backdrops contrasted with grainy black and white or washed out footage. The song is a perfect blend between catchy singalong moments and that 00s screamo style we’ve come to love from SD.
We Came As Romans X Brand Of Sacrifice – Darkbloom
In a somewhat surprising team up We Came As Romans have re-released their 2021 single “Darkbloom” with the help from Deathcore crew Brand Of Sacrifice and boy does it pack a punch. The re-imagining has taken the heavy bits and made them even heavier, adding some blast beats, bass drops, electronic atmospherics, guttural screams and one of the heaviest breakdowns you’ll hear this year!
Bring Me The Horizon & Sigrid – Bad Life
If you’re surprised at Bring Me The Horizon throwing a complete curveball and doing the opposite of what you expect, well you must be new here. BMTH have built a career on continually trying new things, experimenting with new sounds and more recently collaborations and the latest team up with Norwegian pop star Sigrid is no different. The two have released a catchy, emotionally charged pop song that could be something off a movie soundtrack. It has a positive message and Oli & Sigrid’s voices work surprising well together, showcased in the enormous singalong chorus with Oli taking the low harmonies in the which the note selection is spot on. The video is a one take performance with Oli & Sigrid each side of a wrecked house with clever use-age of lights, wind and rain machines, the camera glides between the two as the conditions increasingly ramp up until the final crescendo which is a visually pleasing metaphor for the song. Overall it’s a well crafted (if a little predictable) pop song that packs a ton of emotion like all of Bring Me’s releases do and if you’re mad that ‘it’s not heavy’, well that was never the intention – also refer to 2019’s “amo”, a very much pop inspired record!
