Crimson Star – The Olde Dawg

Apr4

It might be fair to say that UK outfit Crimson Star have not yet found the widespread recognition that their previous EP, Bay View, suggested they deserved but certainly acclaim, a greater reputation, and a fresh wave of fans did follow its unveiling two years back. Now the band has its successor ready to tease and tempt and again we can only say that their voracious rock ‘n’ roll carries all the attributes to provoke richer attention.

The time between releases has seen vocalist/guitarist Jay D Shaw and bassist Roj Ash joined by new addition in drummer Chris Hopton; the Birmingham based threesome uniting to create a trio of tracks which almost prey on ears within The Olde Dawg. The new EP bears the same rousing roar of its predecessor but swiftly reveals something hungrier and more dramatic in character and presence.

Recorded with Romesh Dodangoda (Lower Than Atlantis, Bring Me The Horizon, Funeral For A Friend), as its predecessor, the new release opens with Living A Lie. Emerging on a sonic dawn, punchy rhythms are soon rupturing the air to be quickly joined by bass and guitar bringing the ripe grooves and hooks the band has already earned potent praise for. Once into its eager but controlled stride, engaging melodic enterprise wraps the muscular dynamics of the track which are especially fertile around its eruption of a chorus, dynamics emulated in the similarly potent vocals of Shaw. Groove thick, the track is a striking and stirring start to the EP revealing alone the new strength and imagination in the band’s sound.

The outstanding Norma is next up and immediately accosts ears with its own gripping grooves and rapacious rhythms. The growl of Ash’s bass instantly had ears and appetite greedy to be swiftly matched in touch and temptation by the swinging grooves of guitar and the firm flying beats of Hopton. Again Shaw’s vocals provide a similarly magnetic proposition, at times almost teasing the listener as the song twisted and turned as it got under the skin; unpredictability lining every move and creative trespass offered.

The EP’s title track closes up the release, The Olde Dawg again an insistent bordering on predacious enticement which devours the air in riffs and rhythms whilst tempting ears with melodic and contagious enterprise. Moments of harmonic imagination only adds to the track’s lure, moment s of siren charm within waves of voracity which sweep the senses.

It is a great end to an EP which left us thick in pleasure and keen to suggest all go sail upon The Olde Dawg with Crimson Star, one of the UK’s brightest rock bands.

The Olde Dawg EP is released April 3^rd.

https://www.facebook.com/crimsonstarrocks https://twitter.com/crimsonstarrock

Pete RingMaster 03/04/2020

No Kings No Slaves – New Lease of Life

Mar26

Providing a striking full introduction to themselves with debut album New Lease of Life, Switzerland hailing No Kings No Slaves have swiftly proved themselves a compelling proposition. The release is a cauldron of melodic hardcore but an encounter which dares to seek out bold and fresh pastures if maybe not always quite fulfilling the potential that imagination brings. Even so it is an album that scorched ears and ignited the senses as well as raised a hungry appetite for the band’s emotion loaded, tenaciously sculpted roar.

Lucerne hailing, the quintet of Pädi Reichmuth, Julian Thalmann, Philip Heini, Mario Rosso, and Dave Aletz embrace the inspiration of bands such as Architects, While She Sleeps, Bring me the Horizon, Gallows, The Ghost Inside, and Pure Love to their melodic hardcore bred sound though one as suggested relishing the additional flavouring of a varied mix of metal and rock. It has already shaped a well-received EP though New Lease of Life will be the first contact for a great many with No Kings No Slaves and one which will surely draw rich attention their way.

Dealing with issues ranging from transience and social ills to toxic relationships, New Lease of Life is fuelled by a furnace of passion and emotion, worldly and intimate; a fire matched in the intensity and enterprise of its sounds. Album opener, Judgment, swiftly shares that multi-faceted blaze, the song rising from portentous rhythmic intimation with a wave of heavy metal riffs quickly followed by Thalmann’s raw throated, senses abrasing tones. Just as urgently imaginative melodic threads wrap ears, the brief track an intro of sorts but providing a full incitement before the album’s title track erupts. Nagging almost bullying rhythms are surrounded by blazing guitars as again vocals coarsely assault the air but an attack from all quarters which equally captivates, especially the more post hardcore textures and harmonic vocal backing that brings greater potency to the track.

Though a form of familiarity is bred from its hardcore instincts a persistent unpredictability also shapes the alluring character of the album and the likes of the following Ticket To Far Away and Modern Life Slaves. Both tracks sear the senses as much as they melodically stir the imagination, each a tapestry of passion and intensity relishing the recipe of flavours making up their adventurous natures. The second of the two especially hit the spot with its groove metal tinted dexterity, being rivalled by the just as dynamic and multi-flavoured inferno of Humanity’s Curse.

Across the likes of Hell with its intense heart and sonic firestorm, the heavy metal hued A Quiet Place, and Medication with its more classic metal instincts, No Kings No Slaves reveal more of their creative adventure and boundary breaking imagination, the latter pair of the three the best moments within New Lease Of Life for us while after the haunting radiance of a short Interlude, the explosive Our Name Is Greed provides another fiercely memorable moment and pleasure. It is a rousing proposal that singes the senses as it cauterizes ill-will and emotion, rhythms and melodic flames relishing the individual and united prowess of the band.

The final pair of songs, Electric Sky and Losses, similarly flourish through the quintet’s eager embrace of flavours, the first emerging our favourite track as it casts a web of styles and agile dynamics upon the band’s melodic hardcore pyre with its successor similarly explosive and bold in its nature and creative character.

New Lease Of Life is a release which just gets better song by song, its second half majorly arousing the passions and personal plaudits but from start to finish the album only impressed and declared No Kings No Slaves a band attention was made for.

New Lease Of Life is out now.

https://www.facebook.com/NKNSband/ https://www.instagram.com/nokingsnoslaves/ https://nokingsnoslaves.bandcamp.com/

Pete RingMaster 14/03/2020

Stirring the senses: Vital Noise Interview

Nov6

Meet Vital Noise…

Hello and thanks for taking time out to talk with us.

Thanks so much for having us!

Can you first introduce the band and give us some background to Vital Noise?

Our band consists of Andrew Wilmot, lead vocals/ guitar; Preston Wilmot, bass; and Reid Campbell, drums. Andrew and Preston are brothers and have been playing together since a very young age. We met Reid in 2018, and have been playing with him ever since.

Is Vital Noise the first project it for you all and if not has previous ventures had a direct effect on the band?

We have all been involved in several different bands/ musical projects throughout the years. Being in those bands has definitely inspired a change in direction as none of us had been in projects in the genre that we play (hard rock/ metal), and definitely made us want to build a band around that.

What inspired the band name?

To be completely honest, we came up with it when we were very young and thought it sounded cool, and it has just sort of stuck with us since.

Was there any specific idea behind the forming of the band and also in what you wanted it and your sound to offer?

All of us really were in to heavier music at the time and wanted to make a band that played that kind of music, so that drove us to come together and actually make it happen.

Do the same things still drive the band when it was fresh-faced or have they evolved over time?

Things have definitely evolved over time; we have all gotten much older and matured a lot since we first formed the band which has played a big part in that.

Since your early days, how would you say your sound has particularly evolved?

Definitely… At first we just wanted to play straight up metal, but now we are much more into writing music that tends to be more radio friendly, but still heavy of course.

And that has been more of an organic change or deliberate?

It is been more organic. It has just naturally seemed to happen as all of us have matured.

Presumably across the band there is a wide range of inspirations; are there any in particular which have impacted not only on the band’s music but your personal approach and ideas to creating and playing music?

Bring Me The Horizon has probably had the biggest impact on the band and our writing style, as we have drawn tremendous inspiration from them.

Is there a process to the songwriting which generally guides the writing of songs?

Every song is a little bit different, but generally speaking, one of us will come in with a riff or some sort of musical idea, and then will kinda jam around it until a full song starts to form. Then our singer, Andrew will put lyrics over it.

Where do you, more often than not, draw the inspirations to the lyrical side of the band’s songs?

We draw inspiration from what we happen to be going through in everyday life. Whether we be happy about something, sad about something, going through relationship issues, etc., we find a way to write about it.

Give us some background to your latest release.

We most recently released two singles entitled “The Ones” and “Famous”, they were both written during the summer of 2017 and we consider them to be some of our best work to date.

Please give us some insight to the themes behind them.

“The Ones” is about people fighting against societal norms and embracing individuality, it was meant to go out to people struggling with those issues and meant to show that it’s ok to be different, and it’s ok to be an individual. “Famous” on the other hand is about people letting materialistic things and unimportant things in life take precedence over things that are actually important like friends and family. This happens way too often in today’s society, so we decided to write a song about it.

Are you a band which goes into the studio with songs pretty much in their final state or prefer to develop them as you record?

We tend to get into the studio with songs in their final state, even though we do very often make little tweaks here and there.

We try to make our show as energetic as possible. We try our best to get the crowd as into it as we possibly can, as we feed off of the energy that they give us.

It is not easy for any new band to make an impact regionally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it your neck of the woods?

We are from Los Angeles. Because of this, the scene is very overpopulated, so it is definitely hard to get a ton of recognition, but nonetheless we are trying our best.

How have you found the impact of the internet and social media on the band to date? Flooded with bands and artists, do you see it as something primarily positive or more of a negative on the band’s progress so far?

The internet and social media has definitely helped us in getting gigs and reaching an audience we otherwise wouldn’t have. However, it is definitely hard to get to that next level, but we know we will get there eventually!

Once again a big thanks for sharing time with us; anything you would like to add for the readers?

Thanks so much for having us. Be sure to check out our website and social media (links below) and to listen to our music on Spotify and all other digital streaming platforms!

Check Vital Noise out further @…

https://www.vitalnoise.com https://www.facebook.com/VitalNoise/ https://www.instagram.com/vitalnoise/ https://twitter.com/vitalnoiseband

Pete RingMaster 06/11/019

House Of Hatchets – Reach

Jun21

Having heard rather good and promising things about UK outfit House Of Hatchets there was genuine intrigue and a sense of real anticipation facing the band’s debut album, Reach. Across ten slabs of multi-flavoured alternative metal, the encounter swiftly revealed all the answers to any questions posed and yes the Edinburgh quintet pretty much live up to the ‘hype’ and potential offered.

Reach also quickly established that the band’s sound is a kaleidoscope of styles and textures, each track a twist from another revelling in familiar flavours and unique enterprise and all emerging as something as individual to House Of Hatchets as you can imagine or wish. A hindsight listen showed that the seeds and hints were already firmly sowed in the band’s 2017debut EP, The Grind and now in full bloom within Reach. As with that earlier encounter, the band has linked up with Romesh Dodangoda (Bring Me the Horizon, Bullet for my Valentine, Monuments) upon their first album, a release in full rousing voice from its first breath.

Moth Song starts things off, looming in from the distance on a sonic thread with soon reveals its melodic intimation. Finally face to face with the listener wires of guitar entangle with restrained but muscular rhythms, a confrontation which relaxes a touch as the voice of Chris Allison joins in and erupts in full temptation as the track instinctively bounds through ears. Even then it is a mercurial attack, ebbing and flowing in intensity and aggression as its unpredictable nature colludes with enterprise and an impassioned heart.

It is a great start to the release driven by the rhythmic powerhouse of drummer Frazer Parker and bassist Pete Cook; their muscle complemented by craft as echoed within next up Epitaph. Similarly the prowess of Allison’s delivery and tones are a potent essence in the track’s adventurous stroll, the guitars of Jamie Parker and Lewis Wheeler writhing and creating around all with sonic and melodic dexterity. As all tracks; it too is an offering which revels in its mix of metallic and melodic strains which teases of others yet never shares anything less than individuality.

The voracious instincts and contagion of The Sick And The Damned follows with its web of styles and adventure across a melody rich and unapologetically infectious exploration. A relentless temptation within which guitars seduce and sear, rhythms tempt and assault and vocals singularly entice and unitedly arouse before Lilith unveils its own sonic landscape of beauty and tempestuousness. For all their ravenous appetites and imposing trespasses, there is an instinctive poppiness to songs which is no better highlighted than with the creative and fiery cauldron of this excellent proposal.

Uprising leaps upon the listener next, its nu-metal essences colluding with crossover instincts as the song jabs and incites before sharing its full melodic anthemic roar. Hooked on its lures in quick time, the track only escalated its persuasion by the twist and turn, placing a firm hand on best track honours though quickly rivalled by subsequent incitements such as the following Burn. Ferocious in breath and intent as extreme and melodic metal merge, the track provided an invigorating and thrilling incursion to challenge its predecessor.

There is a somewhat calmer nature to Open Ocean, a melodic tide in sound and voice infesting whirling sonic eddies to break up an otherwise fierce maelstrom of emotion and intensity. It is a skilfully woven mix which if not quite matching up to other tracks just captivated before Black And Blue brought its tempest of sound and imagination to accost the senses. Virulent in every trespass shared, it too made a potent play for favourite song with the outstanding Asylum making another compelling declaration soon after with a voracious onslaught of thrash fuelled adventure.

Last One Lost brings things to a close, the song a beguiling melodic metal croon come insurgent storm with richly persuasive power in its voice and heart as the album makes a final turn in its constantly changing sequence of enterprise and adventurous sound.

House Of Hatchets is a band demanding and deserving of closer attention and their first album one which you can only see bringing that greater recognition. For all the great releases heard across a year few truly ignite real excitement levels but Reach is one.

Reach is released June 21^st; available @ https://houseofhatchets.bandcamp.com/album/reach

https://www.facebook.com/houseofhatchets/
http://www.houseofhatchets.com/ https://twitter.com/houseofhatchets

Pete RingMaster 21/06/2019

Black Water Chemistry – Return To Ashes

Aug30

Though formed in 2014 it is the last eighteen months or so that the buzz around Welsh metallers Black Water Chemistry has really intensified. It has been a time where the band itself says that they have been “working tirelessly to cement their style and increase their fan base”, success of that intent in the first aspect now strikingly heard within and in the second poised to be ignited by new EP Return To Ashes.

Tagged as metalcore but with much more to its template of imagination and adventure, the Black Water Chemistry sound is a cauldron of aggressive energy and inventive enterprise. It has maybe yet to breach the walls of true uniqueness but as the four tracks within Return To Ashes shows, it has an individuality which is as memorable as it is unpredictable. Formed by blood brothers in vocalist Matt Saunders and lead guitarist Chris Saunders and completed by bassist Gizz, rhythm guitarist Murph, and drummer Dan, the Newport hailing quintet embrace inspirations from the likes of Architects, Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage, Chelsea Grin, August Burns Red, Mastodon, and Periphery to their creative breast. They are strands of influences which light up the band’s sound but more seems to spark Black Water Chemistry’s own individual endeavour.

The EP opens up with new single Oracles. Instantly ears are under a barrage of predacious rhythms but equally are wrapped in a wiry mesh of grooves hunted by ravenous riffs. Vocals come with matching force and attitude but soon reveal great diversity as clean strains alternate and unite with throaty squalls. Already that richness of sound within its metalcore breeding is working away, enticing and intriguing as simultaneously other aspects trespass the senses. Evolving through more placid but no less gripping moments before the track’s rock ‘n’ roll explodes it is an outstanding start and appetiser to the fresh impetus in the rise of Black Water Chemistry

The Last Iconoclasts follows, it also making a striking entrance as guitars and rhythms concoct a web of rabid temptation before vocals roar and croon to create the song’s very own lure of unpredictability and imagination. The punk ferocity of its predecessor is accentuated within the second offering as too its raw metallic animosity, the song prowling almost stalking the listener at times and seducing them with melodic elegance and angst in others.

There is no let-up in the great mercurial attack of the band’s instinctive imagination and feral enterprise within next up Masterstroke. The song is borne of a more heavy rock/melodic metal seeding but again an untamed but skilfully crafted maelstrom of extreme metal nurtured ill-content. Grooves and riffs tease and nag as rhythms stalk and bite, every twist and turn an ear luring confrontation before the EP concludes with the hellacious fire of its title track. If the last song nagged in certain ways, its successor simply harasses, rewarding its imaginative malefaction with a beguiling entanglement of senses infringing adventure and unexpected twists and turns; at times roaring like a natural union between Periphery, Bring Me The Horizon, and Reuben.

It is a fine end to a release which will surely thrust Black Water Chemistry forcibly into much thicker and eager recognition and attention. Excellent from the off and even more striking by the listen Return To Ashes is a wake-up call to the UK metal scene fuelled by a potential which will conceivably take the band beyond those boundaries.

Return To Ashes is released August 31^st.

https://www.facebook.com/BlackWaterChemistry/ https://twitter.com/B_W_Chemistry https://blackwaterchemistry.bandcamp.com/

Pete RingMaster 29/08/2018

Naberus – Hollow

Jul13

Around seven years after emerging upon the Australian Metal scene, Naberus released their debut album, The Lost Reveries. It was a well-received offering earning critical praise and confirming the Melbourne outfit’s potent presence within their national metal landscape. Now the quintet has unleashed its successor in the shape of the ravenously resourceful and compelling Hollow and it is fair to say the band has hit a whole new level.

The Lost Reveries was the band’s sound at the time at a pinnacle, one which was heavily influenced by melodic death and thrash metal, a mix honed over previous tracks and EPs since day one. Whilst Hollow also revels in those hues it reveals an embracing of a far broader template including essences of groove, nu, and technical metal. Everything about the new album is a growth from its predecessor, one which maybe will be a step too far for some original fans but will surely recruit a whole new tide of fresh appetites. At fourteen tracks it is a bulky proposal for sure which flirts with overstaying its time but one which pretty much constantly holds its strength and lure throughout before leaving with a bang.

Mixed by Henrik Udd (Bring Me the Horizon, Architects, A Breach of Silence) and mastered by Ermin Hamidovic (Architects, Periphery, Devin Townsend), Hollow launches at the listener with the outstanding Slaves. Immediately the guitars of Dan Ralph and Dante Thompson entangle ears with their sonic wires as the vocal snarl of James Ash harries ears. Djent spices infest the intensive blaze as other flavours collude in its rapacious web around the scything beats of Chris Sheppard and the predatory growl of Jordan Mitchell’s bass. Familiarity and individuality merge in its intensive roar, they all going to make a savagely raucous yet skilfully woven captivation.

The following Space To Breathe is just as swiftly imposing but inviting, taking a less invasive stance initially as its elements settle before uniting in its own ferocious trespass. Ash’s vocals again impress with their not vast but strong diversity within the emerging rich tapestry of sound. There are essences of bands like Spineshank and Static X to the track at times but equally it lusts after death and extreme metal textures with the same fervour and invention before the superb Split In Two uncages its own similarly but individually woven tempest. Harsh and melodic strains in both vocals and music make an easy union as the imagination in songwriting incites their drama, the track continuing the explosive success of the first pair ensuring that Hollow is already a riveting proposal.

Both Shadows and Webs nag the senses whilst seducing attention; the first a sonic harassment as adventurous as it is predatory with its successor, deceitfully calm at its start, a subsequent cauldron of fiercely simmering intensity with scalding eruptions and a persistently bubbling enterprise. True uniqueness could be said to be less potent within the two yet everything about them and all songs is as fresh and inventive as you could wish, the album’s title track further evidence. Its enmity is a harsh fury from the start, searing trespass and rhythmic lashing entangled in the sonic imagination of the guitars and the collage of vocal incitement. It makes for a dramatic and dynamic assault which just hits the spot like a sledge hammer.

Through the likes of the belligerently tenacious I Disappear, the corrosive reflection of The End and Seas Of Red with its almost feral tides and melodic fire, the album continues to delve into malice, aggression, and different degrees of variety in their individual characters. It is fair to say that the latter two of the three did not ignite the same energy of passion and acclaim as those previously within Hollow yet all easily enticed and pleasured before The Maze had ears lost to its creative course. Living up to its name, the thrilling song is a tangle of grooves and melodic vines within a formidable confrontation, each tunnelling through song and psyche alike.

My Favorite Memory similarly springs a spiralling union of endeavour within its dark catacomb but its mercurial exploration of emotion and sound quickly develops its own individual presence while Fading with far more savage jaws challenges and erupts upon the senses with enterprise and inventive dexterity, every member of the band creating a simultaneous threat and temptation within the track.

The album is closed up by firstly The Burrow and finally The Depths, both tracks leaving thick enticements in their wake for a swift return with the closing incitement within Hollow a labyrinth of irrepressible grooves and sonic wires through a lusty trespass of vocal and rhythmic animation. The track is another major moment within the release possibly its greatest following so many lofty peaks.

As a whole Hollow is a refreshing and rousing offering from a band deserving thick attention hereon in. Yes with so many tracks it might be a stretch in one go; a couple of times songs almost merging into each other in certain ways but each is an imagination and pleasure sparking assault in their own right and proving Naberus one exciting proposition.

Hollow is out now through Eclipse Records.

https://www.facebook.com/naberusband https://twitter.com/NaberusOfficial

Pete RingMaster 10/07/2018

Crimson Star – Bay View

Jan17

There is something very clever about the Bay View EP and the sounds it eagerly shares. Certainly the new outing from UK rockers Crimson Star sounds rather good from the off with a blaze of rock ‘n’ roll which may not dramatically impress but leaves a definite appetite for more. But like all relentless fires, it leaves little cinders in the shape of persuasive hooks and grooves which continue to catch in the imagination even in its absence. You could say the five track encounter is a slow burner in many ways despite its sizeable impact first time around and that is a success as potent as anything in our eyes.

Hailing from Birmingham, the threesome emerged in 2012 and since then has earned a rich reputation for their live presence and weighty alternative/melodic rock sound. 2016 saw the release of the Driven EP with the line-up of vocalist/guitarist James Shaw, bassist Roger Ash, and drummer Ross Edgington together. That well-received offering was recorded with producer Romesh Dodangoda (Lower Than Atlantis, Bring Me The Horizon, Funeral For A Friend), a successful union repeated with Bay View.

The EP opens with recent single The Pragmatist and straight away riffs and vocals lure attention, the increasingly grooved invitation of the guitar aligning with the equally potent scowling tones of Edgington. As it establishes its eager stroll, the song ebbs and flows in intensity without losing its instinctively infectious nature whilst always looking to evolve as melodies and the ever captivating grooves share their imagination. More addictive than it seemingly appears at the time, the song is a masterful slice of rock ‘n’ roll setting the release off to a great heavy and rousing start.

The following La Prom carries the same intent, instantly pushing through ears with a bold touch but soon revealing an atmospheric breath around crystalline melodies. Its calm has an underlying volatility which subsequently erupts as fiery grooves and raw riffs join an already laid bait of coaxing rhythms. With great fuzz to its tone and an edge to its energy, they aligning to further melodic enterprise, the song simply hits the spot.

Desert rock grooves fire up within next up Once, their spice leading to a grunge/alternative rock scowl which again is always looking to spring an unpredictable and imaginative adventure. Like its predecessor, the track does not have the immediate sparks of the opener yet grips from start to finish sowing that earlier mentioned niggle in its own way to return at will in the memory; a trait just as successful within Euthanise Me. The muscle of its grooves and rhythmic incitement courts a fine blues rock hue, a flavouring which blossoms within the following dark lit stroll the voice and bass take the imagination on. Like a blend of Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam with a slight touch of Kyuss, the song is unbridled captivation rivalling the first for best song honours.

The release is concluded by Gimme Some, another slice of intriguing rock ‘n’ roll which like the EP just grows and impresses with every listen. Grooves need little time to wrap their persuasion around ears though, melodic shadows and radiance working away on the imagination, as it brings Bay View to a magnetic close.

With double figure listens under our belt, it is fair to say that Bay View has become a keenly devoured and praised proposal. It took its time with us despite its potent start and we can only say share some of your time with Crimson Star to discover some prime heavy rock; it is hard to imagine you will be disappointed.

Bay View is released January 19^th

https://www.crimsonstarrocks.com/ https://www.facebook.com/thecrimsonstarmusic https://twitter.com/tcsmusic

Pete RingMaster 17/01/2018

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