A Few Too Many – Solid Ground EP

Oct22

Last year British pop punks A Few Too Many drew keen attention and praise with their debut album Lessons Learned. It was a collection of songs which had the body bouncing whilst giving modern pop punk a fresh lure to get close with. Admittedly for personal tastes, the album was as much magnetic for its potential as its eager roar. Now the quintet has returned with a new EP and a set of tracks which eclipse the previous release left, right and centre.

Hailing from Saffron Walden on the outskirts of Cambridge, A Few Too Many emerged in 2009. It is fair to say they have earned a rich reputation for their live presence ever since and as mentioned plenty of plaudits and support through their tracks and Lessons Learned and they can expect plenty more through Solid Ground. Offering six tracks which are as individual to each other in enterprise as they are united in creative exuberance, the EP sees the band toying with an array of flavours around their pop punk instincts.

It opens up with Stay The Night, a lone strain of guitar lure and spark to the incoming boisterous stroll of the track. The first hook grabbing ears incites a rolling charge of rhythmic and sonic zeal, continuing to core the lively blossoming of the song. Vocalist Michael Achilles soon leaps into the mix, his delivery carrying a rousing swing matched in the riffs and grooves of guitarists Jez Giles and Danny Freeman. The latter adds his vocals tones to the mix alongside those of bassist Luke D’Alton, taking central stage from time to time to add another rich hue to the excellent encounter.

The excellent start to the EP continues through Ultimate Glory, an instantly more clamorous proposal but just as swift to tempt with hooks and melodic wiring as the animated beats of Mitchell Holleyman bite. It calms down in many ways thereon in but not in providing an infectious incitement as shades of alternative rock collude with its punk catchiness before Ghosts tenaciously saunters in with the swings of Holleyman to the fore. As all tracks, it seals an immediate friendship with ears and imagination as its energy and contagiousness infests body and spirit; its twists and turns escalating the seduction.

Next up, Stuck On Repeat had no problem breeding pleasure and involvement if not quite finding the heights of its predecessor’s success. Nevertheless its zeal and catchy antics only thickly satisfied before being swiftly eclipsed by the early Green Day spiced swagger of The Pity Parade. With its Celtic blood and viral canter of hooks and vocal enticement, the track grabbed favourite track honours though it is quickly more than challenged by the EP’s closing title track.

Solid Ground springs its inescapable bait from its first breath, rhythmic hips swinging as the guitars cast their sonic web around Achilles’ and the band’s ever enticing vocal prowess. Every subsequent second and surge of enterprise is pure manipulation of body and throat; anthemic rowdiness at full virulence.

Short and snappy but as full of fun and adventure as you could wish for, Solid Ground is a set of tracks easily sparking refreshed appetite for pop punk. It is also A Few Too Many turning a new chapter in their sound, one sure to insist attention is fully and hungrily set upon them.

The Solid Ground EP is out now on all digital platforms.

http://www.afewtoomany.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/afewtoomany/ https://twitter.com/afewtoomanyuk

Pete RingMaster 17/10/2018

Albert Marshall – Speakeasy

Oct22

Creating an ear grabbing proposal forged in the fires and technical styling of hard rock and heavy metal, Italian guitarist Albert Marshall has just released a debut solo album in the magnetic shape of Speakeasy. It is an eight track collection of instrumental adventures, though a couple also feature the guest vocals of Mark Boals (Y.J.Malmsteen, U.J.Roth, Ring of Fire), which highlight but do not boastfully self-congratulate the undoubted prowess of Marshall whilst making for one rather enjoyable adventure.

Picking up his first guitar aged 16 and self-teaching with Deep Purple records, Marshall subsequently embraced and explored the broader expanses and styles of metal and rock alongside flavours such as blues and funk. Graduating from the Modern Music Institute while already gaining experiences in various tribute and original music making bands he proceeded to become part of metallers Altair, playing on their Sleazy Rider Records released album Descending. Now the Padova hailing musician has ventured forth with his own solo work and first full-length with Speakeasy seeing bassist Simon Dredo (L.a.Rox, Alex De Rosso, Adam Bomb) and drummer Roberto Gualdi (Pfm, Vecchioni, Glenn Hughes) playing alongside.

Inspired by the styles and sounds of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, and Jason Becker, Speakeasy immediately reveals its voice and Marshall’s magnetic prowess through opener Butler’s Revenge. From start to finish, his strings vibrate like suggestive vocal chords in ears and imagination. Alongside Dredo is no lightweight either, the pulsating resonance of his bass equally captivating and appetite ensnaring as Gualdi provides a manipulative frame for the pair to conjure upon.

The superb track sets the tone for the release in style, though each subsequent piece brings its own open individuality and technical dexterity with next up Badlands aligning an enticing hue of restraint to the same eager energy and charge of its predecessor whilst weaving its own picturesque landscape of melodic metal. Wiry grooves vine the darker muscular trespass of the track, their melodic tendrils intoxication within just as potent rhythmic shadows while its successor, Fallen Angel encases the senses in a web of heavy metal endeavour. The first of two tracks featuring Boals, it is a more unsurprising slice of heavy metal yet revels in the individual and united prowess of its creators if without catching fire in our imagination as the tracks around it.

Captivation and enjoyment is only reinforced through the melodic metal waltz of Re Marzapane and the alluring sonic lattice of Dreamlover, the former carrying a glaze to its grooves which is almost punk like against the track’s progressive nature while its successor creates a tapestry of sonic hinting rich with cosmopolitan suggestion and sophistication. Both tracks enthral without deviation before Tristam Fireland re-ignites the album’s heavy metal heart with Boals back involved.

The blues stroll of Ramshackle Blues had personal juices, which faltered a touch with its predecessor, flowing again, its enterprise bound saunter a rousing spark to body and spirit. The brief closing piece of Eclipse (White Horse) equally seduced; its melodic ballad mesmeric, descriptive, and thoroughly beguiling.

And that pretty much sums up Speakeasy and the craft of Albert Marshall, a release and ability which is pretty much spellbinding.

Speakeasy is out now via Red Cat Records across most stores.

https://www.facebook.com/albertmarshallmusic/

Pete RingMaster 18/10/2018

Silver P – Self Titled

Oct22

Providing a debut album easy to suspect most heavy metal fans will find plenty within to spark an eager appetite, Silver P is the solo project of guitarist Pugnale, alias Roberto Colombini. The self-titled release though also embraces a host of rock and metal flavours to its creative heart providing an even wider range of ears a rich and intriguing experience.

Creating Silver P early 2017, Pugnale approached drummer/sound engineer Antonio Inserillo with a clutch of songs a few months later, persuading him to get on board with the emerging project. Finding a singer was a more difficult issue but eventfully Alex Jarusso was enlisted to the Italian band’s line-up, in turn becoming a quartet for the album with bassist Alessandro Cola. Their sound takes inspiration from the likes of Airbourne, Dio, and Megadeth but finds its own if not unique certainly distinct voice within a first album released through Red Cat Records.

The Deep Breath Before The Plunge opens up the release, its dramatic instrumental landscape a firmly magnetic intro to the release. The imagination easily ran with its epic and growing theatre of intimation and sound before Fields Of War erupts from its portentous air with an armoury of infectious riffs and rhythmic confrontation. The classic/eighties metal influenced delivery of Jarusso soon erupts from the battlefield and though it is a general vocal flavouring which we generally find hard to embrace as a style, his presence and prowess only adds to the track’s heavy/classic metal nurtured appeal and enjoyment.

Pugnale’s guitar craft and enterprise is another potent feature and provides even more attention grabbing enticement within next up Road To Hell, his grooves wrapping round ears with infectious intent as the rhythms of Inserillo and Cola rap and throb with flirtatious aggression. Growing into a definite best track contender it is swiftly rivalled by the blues rock lined strum of Memories; a track with a whiff of stoner rock and grunge to its relatively calm but increasingly tempestuous climate

Thrash and alternative hues colour the metal heart of The Net, wiry grooves luring quick pleasure into a just as enjoyable web of heavy and classic metal smelted invention. It is a trap as unpredictable as it is familiar in certain ways and another song adding to the album’s best passage of tracks though A Shade In Light with its opening feral riffs and nagging grooves within predacious shadows is as attention enslaving as anything around it. It never relinquishes that hold either as its dark trespass and melody woven predation continues to captivate.

Out Of This World follows and also ensures a compelling engagement with ears and appetite. It too has a darkness to its body and air which is disrupted and seared by bewitching sonic flames and melody hot tendrils and it is maybe no coincidence that for us the truly standout tracks are those bred in the shadows.

The thrash poked chug of I8 is old school metal/hard rock at its most wild and frivolous but built on open craft and adventurous mischief which seems to get more daring by the twist while Straight At The Heart closes things up by uncaging a rock ‘n’ roll holler not too hard to have body and spirit bouncing with.

Generally classic/heavy metal is a flavour others will appreciate more than us here but we cannot deny that Silver P, band and album, pleasured and captivated before getting under the skin in many ways.

Silver P is out now via Red Cat Records across all worldwide digital stores.

https://www.facebook.com/SilverPugnale

Pete RingMaster 18/10/2018

The Senton Bombs – Outsiders

Oct19

It is fair to say that any news of something new from UK rockers The Senton Bombs has us licking our lips in anticipation. Four spirit rousing previous albums among just as potent singles and EPs has fuelled that reaction with each encounter building on the exploits of its predecessor and pushing the Blackpool hailing quartet to the mass recognition and attention we with so many feel they deserve. The band’s impending fifth and new album, Outsiders, continues that trend sparking excitement in appetite at the prospect of something special whilst taking the band’s songwriting and sound to another level of prowess and adventure.

Perpetually varied and flavoursome in its styles and character, the band’s rock ‘n’ roll has eagerly evolved and grown up across their albums. With every offering The Senton Bombs has pushed it and themselves to new areas and adventures but all the time reinforcing the recognisable individuality of their music. With Outsiders, the band has aligned their ever ready punk ‘n’ roll instincts with southern and classic rock scented endeavour on the hard rock side of their sound; the result, a rousing and raucous collection of multi-flavoured and variously delivered anthems as familiar to the band as they are unique.

The album erupts into life with its title track, Outsiders entering upon punchy rhythms and sonic stabs as the ever enticing vocals of bassist Joey Class open up their declaration. With attitude and defiance at its core in sound and word, the track prowls with a swinging hard rock swagger lit by the flames and enterprise of guitarists Damien Kage and Johnny Gibbons. The throaty throb of Class’ bass resonates throughout, adding a darker threat to it all as the bold swings of drummer Scott Mason descend. It is a controlled but dynamic start to the release, an ear and attention grabbing statement of intent swiftly backed and built upon.

The band’s new single, Who We Are, does both with relish and tenacity straight away. The devilishly earthy stroll of the bass instantly had imagination and appetite hooked, its inescapable lure aligned to the perpetually lively dynamics of Mason’s rhythms. Both continue to arouse and manipulate as guitars and vocals join the song’s incendiary holler; a union brewing a delicious slab of punk ‘n’ roll as virulently catchy as it is rapaciously invasive.

From one major highlight of the release to another as Violet Black follows unleashing its own rock ‘n’ roll trespass. With each album Class has developed his vocal presence, almost developing a two sided proposition. Here he returns to the grainy delivery which partly trademarked the band’s sound from day one and is always a welcome essence to their creative diversity. The track itself is a boisterous slice of punk rock with a blues rock lining and hard rock virility.

If the previous track is headstrong, I Am Ablaze is an insatiable hell-raiser of sound and rowdiness; an anthem epitomising the band’s live sound as much as its rebel rousing heart. Raw and feral yet skilfully woven to create a hellacious roar the track is superb; The Senton Bombs at their rabidly infectious best leaving next up Reckless Youth a tall order to match. That it does though by revelling in the calmer side of the band’s attack, growing from a melodic shimmer into a contagious stroll led by the inspiring swings of Mason. Reflecting on times past as youths into the seeds of the band stirring things up today, the song is a bold smoulder compared to the fires that are its companions but just as magnetic and riveting

Across the irresistible country blues rock scented saunter and vivacious swing of Bury The Hatchet and the mellow southern surf kissed croon of Remind Me Of The Moon, the album simply blossoms in its variety of sound and imagination while Dead Revolution immediately had body and spirit addicted to its Misfits laced darkly hued rock ‘n’ roll. As ever hooks escape the band with instinctive agility, riffs and rhythms offering their own spiky bait to get hung up on as vocals lead the way. Similarly the individual craft of Kage and Gibbons masterfully gets under the skin alongside the equally devious antics of Mason and Class’ bass.

Video is a track which would fit as perfectly within the confines of previous encounters such as Chapter Zero and Mass Vendetta; a trademark rather than formula Senton Bombs song easy to devour greedily before Under Offer hits the spot dead centre with its fifties scented modern punk infused rock ‘n’ roll. Reminding of another band deserving mass attention in Canadian outfit The Black Frame Spectacle, the track is a stomping viral temptation.

Wake The Maker brings the album to a close with its classic/hard rock melody shaped howl and though it did not personally excite as those before it, the song is a richly satisfying conclusion to an album which we can only suggest is the finest offering from The Senton Bombs yet.

Global attention is long overdue for the band we strongly suggest but maybe about to be seriously poked by Outsiders, a release and title which sums up the band’s sound and presence within rock ‘n’ roll and the individuality which will always make them stand out and excite.

Outsiders is released November 5^th via Regolith Records.

https://www.sentonbombs.com/ https://www.facebook.com/thesentonbombs https://twitter.com/thesentonbombs

Pete RingMaster 16/10/2018

Matt Finucane – Disquiet EP

Oct19

Following the release of Ugly Scene this past May, an “abrasive, noise-heavy protest” of an encounter, British alt rock troubadour Matt Finucane has its successor, Disquiet, poised for unveiling. Living up to its name, the EP is a collection of songs which as mellow and intimate as they are, come soaked in discord and melodic dissonance. They all breed a mix of challenge and seduction but most of all a fascination leaning towards needing more.

Having come across Finucane back in 2012 through his acclaimed album, Glow in The Dark, an encounter which had us simultaneously absorbed and confused, pleased yet unsure and most of all compelled to pay attention to its creator ahead, there has been constant intrigue to follow how things evolve. Fair to say feelings around Disquiet have not ventured too far away yet the enjoyment of his sound has certainly continued to grow through the offerings between both releases and is now at its most eager with the latest encounter.

As all his propositions, Disquiet is a DIY cast summons on ears and imagination as raw as it is creatively animated with opener Ulterior Motives quickly establishing Finucane’s distinct character of enterprise. Its acoustic/electric indie pop dances and flirts with ears though biding its time disharmony haunts the shadows brewing its infestation by the chord until eventually sparking a low key but inescapable cacophony for a captivating incursion of senses and song. The track epitomises the indefinable nature of his music; art and punk rock possible tags, wonk pop and dark folk others but honestly it is in a corner of its own.

The darker woozy presence of Happy Chains continues the contradiction and temptation, it’s off kilter shimmer and Finucane’s equally divisive vocals infesting melodic radiance like disorientating haze over a sunspot while the following People Move On exposes its fuzz seeded instincts. There is something akin to the kind of music artists like Frank Black and Pere Ubu have spread to Finucane’s sound, certainly a hue in its want and need to unsettle the expected and orthodox.

The EP concludes with firstly the warped melodic reflection of Always A Shadow, a track which feels like the aural side of a distorted mirror, and finally the seven minute plus journey of Dead Men Sing Us To Our Rest. In a cavernous embrace of echo and distortion, emotively and physically, the track is a malaise of frictious harmony, melodic discrepancy, and pretty much unnerving beguilement.

There is no doubt that the music of Matt Finucane is not going to sit easy with a great many but for those with a penchant for disturbing adventure and the song of the asylum, it and Disquiet should definitely be checked out.

The Disquiet EP is out October 19^thvia Crude Records; available @ https://mattfinucane.bandcamp.com/album/disquiet

https://mattfinucane.net/ https://www.facebook.com/Matt.x.Finucane/

Pete RingMaster 19/10/2018

Healthy Junkies – Delirious Dream

Oct18

Two years on from the album Box Of Chaos outshining its impressive predecessor The Lost Refuge, which had started the trend by eclipsing the band’s debut Sick Note, UK punksters Healthy Junkies have again repeated the feat with their fourth album. Delirious Dream is a collection of tracks embracing the band’s broadest kaleidoscope of flavours yet over a punk ‘n’ roll landscape; a 15 song strong release which is for sure their finest moment to date keeping expectations clueless and the imagination enthralled.

Recorded with Brian O’Shaughnessy and mastered by Pete Maher, Delirious Dream is the songwriting and sound of the band at its boldest yet most intricately woven. With the founding duo of vocalist Nina Courson and guitarist/vocalist Phil Honey-Jones tapping into their most imaginative depths yet alongside the rhythmic prowess of bassist Dave Whitmore and drummers Pumpy and Adam Lewis, Healthy Junkies have created a new magnet of sound which needs mere seconds to demand attention through album opener When All Is Said And Done.

Instantly the track is strolling eagerly through ears with a rich melodic hook amidst eager rhythmic bait, all the while keys adding their intimation. Courson’s ever alluring vocals quickly join the mix, adding elegance and harmonic radiance to the earthier breath of the song. With drama soaking every note and syllable, theatre intensifying across the host of twists and turns making up the simply outstanding punk ‘n’ roll incitement, the track immediately sets the high creative bar and striking character of the release.

This Is Not A Suicide brings its own exceptional roar of sound and enterprise straight after. Dirtier and grumpier than its predecessor and driven by attitude fuelled riffs and senses biting rhythms, the track sets its own particular pinnacle within Delirious Dream. Nagging grooves and garage punk spicing also add their incitement to the bracing trespass before the even tempered rock ‘n’ roll of Juliet’s Call saunters in. Like a gothic rock nurtured punk inspired collusion between Siouxsie and The Banshees and In Evil Hour, the track is pure virulence.

The band embraces more hard rock like hues for next up Johnny Demented, its raw sonic haze magnetically tempered by Coulson’s angelic tones. The song did not quite raise the roof as its predecessors in appetite and the passions here yet from start to finish it is a full captivation raising the ante as its holler and breath erupt across its eventful body.

Through the infectiously tenacious croon of Some Kind Of Girl and Ghost Without A Soul with its shadow draped atmosphere, riveting sound and adventure abounds with unpredictability and rapacious enterprise while All Talk brews an emotive entanglement of old school punk and classic rock in its own individual recipe of temptation. All three tracks easily grip ears and appetite though the delicious punk instincts and pop flirtations of The Sound Of My Guitar outshine all. The track is Class-A addiction spurning late seventies kissed new wave/punk rock slavery as ripe with hooks and celebration as a festive holly bush.

The following Boy Or Girl is something akin to a meeting of early Blondie and The Photos and quite irresistible with its successor, Meet & Greet preyed on an already aroused hunger for what is on offer with its predacious escapade resembling a kind of X-Ray Spex/Spinnerette collusion as the band take a swipe at musical greed. It is simply another major highlight of the album echoed in success by the frisky indie/pop punk animation of This Condition with Honey-Jones leading and dueting on vocals.

The album’s worst track is next and These Boots Are Made For Walking is nothing less than full pleasure as Healthy Junkies make the classic their own by giving it a predatory breath as classic rock guitars blaze before James Dean rumbles with old school punk ‘n’ roll lust and uncontainable ebullience.

The album concludes with the pair of Theft and Part 2. The first is a rebel rousing protagonist vivaciously prowling the senses before breaking into a similarly ravening rock ‘n’ roll canter with erupting psych rock bred flames while the second is its dark but incandescent underworld where physical and emotion elements of the tracks shimmer, smoulder, and burn.

Together they make for a fascinating conclusion to Delirious Dream, echoing its title despite their brooding volatility and showing there is so much more to the creative palette of Healthy Junkies, one they have still yet to fully explore.

We always feel a sense of excitement when a new encounter with Healthy Junkies comes along as they have always manage to outdo themselves so far; Delirious Dream is no exception; in fact it pretty much outshines most other punk/rock nurtured offerings around this year too.

Delirious Dream is out now via Banana Castle Records/Cargo Records UK across most online stores.

http://www.healthyjunkies.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/healthyjunkiesband https://twitter.com/HealthyJunkies

Pete RingMaster 17/10/2018

Chasing Dragons – Faction

Oct18

There is no doubt there has been plenty of eager anticipation for the debut album from British rockers Chasing Dragons, especially since the release of their last EP, Faction: Prologue, a couple years back. It was a kind of teaser for the band’s first full-length, unsurprisingly called Faction, which built on their earlier offerings and successes whilst peering into a whole new landscape of sound and imagination, indeed intimation now fully explored and expanded within the new encounter where we would suggest, the Chasing Dragons sound has come of age.

The time since the last EP has also seen the Leeds outfit truly establish themselves on the UK live scene with a big reputation to match, Chasing Dragons sharing tours and stages with the likes of Stone Broken, The Qemists, Skid Row, SikTh, InMe, Diamond Head, Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics, Courage My Love, Skarlett Riot, Theia and many more. Featuring nine new songs along with re-recorded versions of the three tracks from the Faction: Prologue EP, the album swiftly ignites attention and imagination with opener Factionless. Part intro part full intimation, the track stretches up from its initial arousal on the ever striking tones of vocalist Tank. Like a flame within unsettled atmospherics, her potent presence is a rich lure and spark for the outstanding piece’s subsequent shadow bound predacious stroll. Portentous yet virally inviting, the track masterfully erupts before making way for the melodically inflamed How The World Went Black. Guitarist Adam quickly spins a web of metallic temptation woven with melodic rock enterprise whilst the track bites through the determined beats of Katie, they courted by the dark rumble from Murf’s bass. Progressive hues emerge as the song evolves, technical craft lining its invention as all the while Tank radiates with her powerful and impressive delivery.

Amongst the band’s influences stand artists such as Halestorm, Avenged Sevenfold, and Bullet For My Valentine, all open spices to the band’s individual recipe as proven again by the melodically vociferous roar that is Parasite and the dramatic exploits of Like Gravity. The latter is a tempest of textures and flavours carrying a volatility which accentuates its warmth and elegance rather than devours them. As many tracks, it is a proposition which grows by the minute through new twists and avenues, all unpredictable and each an imaginative turn along the track’s magnetic journey.

Through the equally tense Bareknuckle Lover, the mercurial attack of the track as alluring as it is resourceful, and the lively emotive roar of For Kingdom For Glory, Chasing Dragons continue to add fresh adventure to their release. The second of the two in some ways promises more than it delivers, certain inventive moments not exploited as much as personal tastes wished yet is still a gripping snare of sound.

The calmer climate and croon of This Time Is Ours allowed a breath as it simply enthralled though it too has a sprightly nature which eventually catches fire with Adam casting another striking blaze veined with mazy temptation before the riveting Devil In Her Eyes wound eager attention around its tantalisingly creative fingers and in turn The Connection takes ears on a saunter through gothic lined shadows and emotionally suggestive caresses before subsequently erupting into a furnace of muscular sonic theatre. The second of the trio is especially irresistible, every moment a clever thread into the next unexpected and virulent turn of the song though then pretty much matched in glory by its successor.

As the classic seeds of the similarly impressing I’m No Devil (I’m Just A Girl) catch fire within its metal/heavy rock drama and Whitehorse teases and fascinates, the album continues to reveal new aspects in sound and craft; the latter’s haunting opening passage an especially mouth-watering incitement for ears and imagination which hints at new corners and corridors for the band to explore ahead.

We Are The Wall concludes the release, the track a ravenous onslaught of sound and intent driven by rapacious rhythms and coloured by wiry grooves and rich melodies as Tank for a final time powerfully incites thoughts as she potently roars.

It is a fine end to an equally ear-catching album which as suggested declares Chasing Dragons at a new level in songwriting, sound, and performance, a plateau teasy to suspect the metal/rock world will be unable to ignore.

Faction is available now across most online stores.