The Great Sabatini – Goodbye Audio

Pic by DAVE LEVITT

Four years on from their psyche ravaging third album, Dog Years, Canadian noise sludgers The Great Sabatini return with another maelstrom of noise bred dissonance which, to continue a trend set from their first releases, is their most irresistible trespass to date. Goodbye Audio is around thirty five minutes of sonic abrasion as unpredictable creatively as it is expectantly striking; an invasion of raw and toxic noise intent on caustic seduction.

The Montreal quartet of Steve, Sean , Rob, and Joey Sabatini have in many ways continued exploring the less destructive but deviously manipulative essences of its predecessor with Goodbye Audio but equally the new encounter again openly embraces the ravenously raw ferocity and bedlamic seeds of their sound exposed from day one. It makes for a release which tempts, seduces, and flirts with the senses and imagination as at the same time it marauds, pillages, and corrodes them.

The album opens up with recent single Still Life With Maggots, instantly descending on ears with a sonic and rhythmic harassment before taking a momentary breath and repeating the assault with the causticity of raw throated vocals enrolled. Melodic taunts and imposing tenacity also add to the short but evolving landscape of the song, that unpredictability swiftly fingering the imagination and igniting an admittedly already in place appetite for The Great Sabatini adventure set through previous escapades.

As next track, Dog Years quickly confirms this is a new psyche twisting caper with the band though but an exploration unafraid to hint at possible inspirations as the likes of Melvins, Unsane, and Sofy Major come to mind at certain moments across the whole of Goodbye Audio. The second song is an immediate bestial infringement, its carnal instincts fuelling sound and voice alongside intent as it crawls over the senses. Sludge metal and noise punk provide smog of irritability and raw tension but again if with less openness there is an underlying incalculable adventure which teases before exposing its majesty in the outstanding Strip Mall or, The Pursuit Of Crappiness Parts 1-4. The track is superb, from its initial hip manipulating flirtation breaking open a fissure of thick prowling malevolence veined with toxic grooving, that in turn twisting into corruptive punk ‘n’ roll rebellion before finding a quickly corrupted paradise.

You’re Gonna Die (Unsatisfied) stalks years and thoughts next, the guitar again inviting and taunting with its riffs as rhythms stroll and fly through the skulking throaty bass and swinging sticks. It is a maelstrom of threat and ferocity with the most frenetic prowl while Tax Season In Dreamland provides a feral punk tango exposing scars and lust with equal creative savagery. Its moments of emotionally hazed tranquillity are just as imposing stirring up emotive reflections as potent as the physical reactions its uproar provokes.

Through the shadow draped increasingly contaminated celestial breath of Brute Cortege and the intimidatingly mercurial fourteen minute emotional wilderness of Hand Of Unmaking, the album is brought to a mighty close; both tracks a provocation of body, spirit and thought with the latter a complete trial and adventure of its very own to hungrily immerse in.

We are not afraid to say that The Great Sabatini has been one of our favourite bands for a long time but even that usual readymade submission to their adventures was taken aback by the thrills and spills of Goodbye Audio. If noise annoys run for cover as the Canadians have it down to a fine raw art.

Goodbye Audio is out now on vinyl from No List Records, Ancient Temple Records and No Why Records with a cassette version featuring exclusive bonus track Drain The Swamp available from Pink Lemonade. Head over to https://thegreatsabatini.bandcamp.com/album/goodbye-audio for digital release and more…

http://thegreatsabatini.com https://facebook.com/thegreatsabatini https://twitter.com/greatsabatini

Pete RingMaster 01/12/2018

Martyr Art – FearFaith Machines

Dec8

Self-Dubbed as digital metal, the Martyr Art sound is a voracious mix of varied metal and industrial/electronic textures with more besides from an artist which embraces technology as eagerly as the cauldron of flavours woven into his bold recipe of enterprise. FearFaith Machines is the new and fifth album from the band, a release which for fans and newcomers can only make for one compelling adventure.

Martyr Art is the one man project of Joe Gagliardi III, an Orange County musician whose skills on the guitar are as captivating as the songwriting, vocal prowess, and imagination which equally escape his invention. The band is truly a solo project with Gagliardi playing every instrument before recording, mixing and mastering every second of adventure making up FearFaith Machines. Since emerging in 2004, Martyr Art has shared stages with the likes of Corey Glover, Doyle, KMFDM, Drowning Pool, Saul Williams, Full Devil Jacket, Brick By Brick, Dead Empires, and Moon Tooth whilst releasing a host of well-received singles and EPs as well as those previous four full-lengths. Up to this point Martyr Art had evaded our radar but FearFaith Machines has corrected that and will for a whole new tide of fans such its striking offerings.

The album starts with Motion, metallic electronic pulses and temptations luring ears before raw steely smog brings a rousing scourge of groove and alternative metal awash with industrial espionage. Quickly Gagliardi shows his vocal diversity as throat scarred and clean tones intermingle with the former heading the virulent contagion. Equally his craft on the guitar further ignites the tempest, shredding and picking multi-cultural sonic temptations.

The following cyclone of The Pleasure of Pain is just as invasively magnetic, its industrial inclinations steering the listener towards the waiting metal bred uproar. The cycle repeats with even greater heat and intensity, vocals again a great blend of attack and enterprise matching the adventurous emprise of sound. Like a maelstrom of Rabbit Junk, Squidhead, and Cynical Existence, the track is a captivating fury more than matched by next up Who Are You. The third song scowls as it plunders the senses, raging with punk dissonance as again a web of styles and flavours unite with voracity and imagination on the way to forging another major highlight within the release.

Across the sinister almost psychotic Just and the superb Constrict, the album simply expands its landscape of sound and captivation, the second of the two almost primal in its breath yet precise in its layers of boldly varied texture and spicing while their successor, Thundering, is a dark seduction with hues of bands like Type O Negative and Sisters Of Mercy to its irresistible gothic rock/post punk serenade.

Final track is Binary Slavery, a carnivorous slice of industrial metal gnawing at the senses yet soothing the wounds with melodic caresses though they too come with an edge of trespass to their infectious exploits. It is a rousing end to the album highlighting the craft, imagination, and bold fusions making up the heart of FearFaith Machines.

Gagliardi creates something that is nothing less than unique from the familiar styles and sounds he weaves with, indisputable evidence coming with one of the most fascinatingly individual and simply enjoyable encounters this year.

FearFaith Machines is out now; available @ https://martyrart.bandcamp.com/album/fearfaith-machines

http://martyrart.com/ https://www.facebook.com/martyrartofficial

Pete RingMaster 01/12/2018

Owl Company – Iris

Nov19

Courting the richest essences of metal and heavy rock for a roar which resonates like an invigorating air clearing storm, Brazilian rockers Owl Company have just released their new album. A thirteen track anthemic holler, Iris has an eye on the intimate and worldly explored through sounds which are equally as broad as they are inwardly nurtured; it all resulting in a record which simply thrilled and impressed at every turn.

From São Paulo, the foundations for Owl Company began when vocalist Enrico Minelli and guitarist Felipe Ruiz began writing together, the pair soon bringing in drummer Thiago Biasoli. 2017 saw the release of debut album, Horizon, and the recruitment of guitarist Bruno Solera and bassist Fabio Yamamoto. A flame of attention upon the band was soon burning bright, Owl Company touring the US, and only intensified by the release of their single Pieces which led to them signing with Eclipse Records earlier this year. Now the band is poised to strike internationally with the release of the Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Faith No More) mixed and Paul Logus (Stone Sour, Pop Evil) mastered Iris.

It opens up with the breath-taking One Last Time. Instantly the great bearish growl of Minelli is melodically snarling in the hug of voracious riffs and tenacious rhythms. A break in its trespass brings spicy grooves and a magnetic swagger bred in a collusion of melodic metal and heavy hard rock. As each song proves, there is an array of flavours entangled in the band’s rousing sound, each spicing united in open craft and hearty endeavour.

It is a thumping start to the album more than backed by the following Boogie Man, the track unleashing its groove from the first second and never relinquishing its lusty grip thereon in. From the earthy grumble of the bass to the voracious enterprise of the guitars, the song is a masterfully animated incitement; Minelli’s tones the ringleader to its anthemic prowess as it grabbed best track honours.

Next up, Rise brings a calmer proposition but one just as earnest in its heart and captivating in its layered dynamics building small crescendos which erupt in emotive intensity. As with all tracks, there is drama in every note and syllable which compels attention, its successor, Antagonist, just one echo in that respect. The band’s new single, it initially badgers and harries the senses before twisting into a flirtatious trespass full of unpredictability turns and stirring imagination. In a clutch of seconds it can stalk and prey on ears and within another few hug its victim with melodic caresses as it proves itself another major peak within the album.

The previous and lead single from Iris is the next, Shattered Dreams igniting ears and appetite with its own tapestry of styles and textures in an inviting web bordering battlefield of enterprise while Dawn of Days in turn provides a mellower but still fiery offering with Minelli imperial, in a Rasputin way, within the enthralling wiry net of grooves and melody cast by Ruiz and Solera. The big swinging beats of Biasoli as ever provide an imposingly arousing incitement as Yamamoto’s bass springs a sweet spot hitting groove to complete the track’s manipulative persuasion.

Through the big boned, contagious southern rock lined enticement of Broken Paradigm and the predacious emotionally strained lures of Disconnected, the album’s hand only tightens on praise and enjoyment while Forbidden Ground stirs another eddy of full pleasure with its deviously grooved, Clutch-esque bellow. All three hit the spot with the third another pinnacle in an encounter proving an addictive encounter.

The Other Side soon shows that Owl Company are just as adept at emotion woven balladry, the song a tantalising croon with a great mercurial character to its volatile landscape; one especially blossoming on the craft of bass and voice. Maybe not as immediately striking as those before it, the track only grows by the listen rising to be another big moment within Iris.

The final trio of Shades, with its enlivening dynamics, the intimately reflecting Doors, and the impassioned Angel bring the release to a powerful and stirring close, the final track especially bewitching. Each adds a new shade to the creative palette of Iris and all as rousing in their singularly individual ways as the earlier vociferous anthems.

Among a host of truly impressive and more importantly thrilling encounters to escape 2018, Iris ranks with the very best and Owl Company will soon have to deal with being under the biggest spotlights. Something you can only see them grabbing with eager hands.

Iris is out now through Eclipse Records across most stores.

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Pete RingMaster 16/11/2018

UnHuman Insurrection – Equilibrium

Nov16

Hailing from Monselice in Italy, UnHuman Insurrection is a band we suggest you will be hearing a great deal more of and increasing praise for as their debut album reaches an increasing number of ears. Equilibrium offers up eights slabs of metal as broad in their flavouring as they are in their enterprise; a collection of songs which quite simply demand attention.

Rising from the ashes of Burn of Black, UnHuman Insurrection emerged in 2016, initially just going under the name UnHuman. Since their first steps on the Italian metal scene, the band has earned potent support and plaudits and gone on to share stages with the likes of Sabaton, Lacuna Coil, and Arch Enemy. Their sound is a tapestry of industrial, thrash, and melodic metal but has plenty more in its arsenal of enterprise to entice with; a mix well covered by inspirations to the band which include artists such as Testament, Fear Factory, Exodus, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, and Machine Head. As Equilibrium reveals, it is a blend which at times has familiarity to it and in other moments an individuality which can only flourish ahead.

The album’s title is a perfect echo to the band’s sound, a fusion of raw and imposing trespasses balanced with a melodic radiance and enterprise; that predation and seduction uniting and in full roar within opener, Primal Instinct. A sonic mist descends initially, its industrial chill quipped with an electronic pulse. Within this breath guitars connect their wires eventually coming to a head and charging through ears with a thrash driven eruption. The potent clean tones of vocalist Giacomo Cordioli rise within the midst of the growing web of temptation, his calm but tenacious presence courted by the aggressive swings of drummer Alberto Lemoni and the throaty dark growl of bass. Guitarists Matteo Theo Milani and Marco Markwild Piva wrap it all in a web of enterprise, melodic and aggression driven metal escaping their craft and imagination in a track which just captivates from start to finish.

The great start continues through Chasing Hope, it instantly grabbing ears with force and adventure as melodic tendrils vine the song’s immediate trespass upon the senses. Again Cordioli’s vocals come with a harmonic croon as powerful as it is radiant against the heavier darker climate of sound. Milani’s classic metal nurtured vines spring across the track’s growing adventure, the song epitomising that mix of the recognisable and inescapably fresh within its compelling grooving and tenacious adventure.

As strong and rousing as the first pair are, they are eclipsed by the album’s best track, Lobotomized. Straight away the song grips attention and appetite with its sonic nagging, teasing grooves which eventually turn primal as guitars and rhythms stalk the senses alongside increasingly rousing vocals. It is a galvanic edge which escalates in the track’s anthemic chorus; an essence giving an already imaginative encounter greater insistency and captivation as does the subsequent spirals of guitar, every twist and turn escalating the track’s magnificence.

Through the industrial climate of Shreds of Identities, another major highlight of the album atmospherically chilling and barbarously predatory, and the almost demonic realm of The Edge Of Nothing, the album went from strength to strength. The second of the two is an intriguing offering, a track which overall did not quite spark the same greed as its two predecessors yet every moment with it brought fresh imagination amidst unpredictable trespasses to enthral and increasingly impress.

The following Parasite instantly lived up to its title, the song leeching on the senses and imagination with its feral tides of death metal lined riffs and melodic breezes. Another song nagging submission to its lures whilst invading with technical and malevolent enterprise, it quickly declares its presence as another memorable pinnacle of the release, intimation matched by Buried Alive and its electro hued but equally carnivorous exploits. As all tracks though, its body is a lattice of flavours, textures, and contrasts which had us thoroughly gripped and pleasured.

Ashes And Dust brings the album to a close, it another which maybe did not quite excite as those around such their strengths, but left release and ears in an even stronger union. There are only reasons to recommend about Equilibrium and plenty of them, seemingly more and more emerging by the listen. UnHuman Insurrection maybe pretty much unknown beyond their homeland but most likely not for too much longer if their debut full-length is the sign of things to come.

http://www.unhumanband.com/ https://www.facebook.com/unhumaninsurrection/ https://twitter.com/unhumanband

Pete RingMaster 14/11/2018

Deville – Pigs with Gods

Nov15

With their fifth album Swedish outfit Deville has bred their heaviest, most intensive offering yet but without diminishing any of the instinctive grooving which has already earned the band a potent reputation amidst ever growing acclaim across its predecessors. The result, an encounter which demands attention whilst taking the band’s rousing sound to a whole new level.

Hailing from Malmö, the quartet was formed in 2004 casting a stoner bred sound initially which has gradually evolved over time. Certainly with the band’s last album, Make it belong to us, Deville moved towards a more metal meets heavy rock nurtured exploration which now Pigs with Gods has taken by the throat by clearly embracing their new metal inspired inclinations. The band prior to release admitted that “When we first started writing music for a new album it became evident to all of us that we were quite tired of the traditional doom/stoner genre…It soon became clear that more Metal was what we all wanted! Thus the album was given a very metal feeling…” That deliberate move though has come with an organic evolution, nothing about the tracks within Pigs with Gods feeling forced or manufactured.

The foursome of Andreas Bengtsson, Martin Fässberg, Andreas Wulkan, and Martin Nobel immediately reveal their muscular prowess with the opening throes of Lost Grounds, the album’s first track rubbing the senses with a sonic abrasion before erupting in a thunderous stroll driven by big scything rhythms. Just as powerful and magnetic, a vocal roar accentuates the captivation with the raw edge of riffs and scuzzy grooves only adding to the thick and infectious tempest of sound as a Torche like hue adds to the richness of the song.

The album’s title track follows, striding in on a rhythmic march with sonic nostrils flared and vocal potency to the fore as flaming grooves light the invasive trespass of sound. Scything beats continue to harry and bruise as grooves share their melodic liquor though wiry veins, it all adding up to a rousing roar sprung from all quarters before Gold Sealed Tomb uncages its own particular creative squall as melodically enthralling as it is virulently imposing. As with those around it, the song grows and twists without feeding expectations, unpredictability as rampant as the gale of enterprise at its heart.

For us the album’s best track is next, Cut It Loose an insatiable temptation of grooves and swinging rhythms loaded with viral contagion and rapacious endeavour. Like all songs it nags at ears whilst feeding them a cyclone of grooved enticement as heavy rock and groove metal meet in a bold collusion, a mixture just as ripe within the just as striking Lightbringer straight after. Less forceful than its predecessors, the track still makes for a towering encounter as its thick air smoulders and sonic cinders burn on the senses around melodic calms which simply seduce before track finds its tempestuousness once more.

Through the almost grungy tones and seriously catchy dynamics of the excellent Hell in the Water and the verging on barbarous but again openly infectious exploits of Wrecked, the album only strengthened its grip on ears and appetite while Acid Meadows provides a relative melodic calm in the storm moment which equally added to the compelling stature of Pigs with Gods. Though it is fair to say that each of their songs has a united sound which is pretty much specific to Deville, the trio of tracks alone show it comes with a strong palette of flavouring and imagination.

Dead Goon also has a less intrusive nature with its blues rock kissed sultriness, the track an instrumental intimation easy for ears to feast upon and the imagination to conjure from before Came For Nothing flexes its creative biceps and the following Medicated on a Concrete Road weaves a tapestry of melodic and fibrous dexterity. Both tracks build their temptations on opulent grooves and boldly spirited but precisely swung rhythms, exploring fresh ideas and imagination from their energetic cores.

Closing track In Reverse emerges from the orchestral close of its predecessor, its sonic radiance luring intrigue into the harmonic caress of vocals. It is a haunting shimmer which eventually breaks into a prowling cyclone of sound and ferocity as snappy as it is invasive before subsequently leaving on that sonic scintillation which brought it into view.

It is a riveting end to an album which increases its impressiveness by the play, declaring itself Deville’s finest moment yet with real ease.

Pigs with Gods is out now digitally and on CD and Ltd Ed vinyl via Fuzzorama Records @ https://eu.fuzzoramastore.com/en/cd-s/deville-pigs-with-gods-cd.html

https://www.facebook.com/devilleband/ http://deville.nu https://twitter.com/Devilleband

Pete RingMaster 15/11/2018

Spookshow Inc. – Visions Of The Blinded World pt I & II

Nov3

Four years after Part I unleashed its “furiously agitated entrapment of industrial, metal, and electro rock”, a rousing accompaniment to an impending apocalypse, Part II of Visions Of The Blinded World is here to not only continue the arcane adventure but take it into a whole new level of dark deeds and senses trespassing contagion. The project is from Norwegian trio Spookshow Inc., a band which has been curiously ignored by bigger attention so far, a blind eye which if continuing after the full release of Visions Of The Blinded World will be criminal.

The beginning of Spookshow Inc. goes all the way back to 2003 when Lucky Spook (guitar, programming, songwriting, producer) and Soltex (vocals) came together and began creating and nurturing their individual fusion of industrial and heavy metal with electro rock. As proven by the 2014 released Visions Of The Blinded World pt I, there are plenty of other rich flavours to the band’s asylum of sound, Middle Eastern hues alone an inescapably alluring ingredient. With the band’s line-up completed by bassist/keyboardist Sharaz who featured on the final few songs recorded for its predecessor, the second part of Visions Of The Blinded World is an even richer affair of sound and styles, a bolder adventure in an already eager collusion of essences sure to appeal to any appetites for the likes of Pink Floyd, Prodigy, Rob Zombie, KMFDM, NIN, and Pitchshifter.

Visions Of The Blinded World pt I & II has been released as a complete package and should be listened as one to grasp its full dark majesty though each part firmly captivates alone too. It makes for a journey which leaves ears, body and imagination as aroused as they are disturbed, as inspired and animated as they are haunted. As we have covered part I previously, which you can read here, we will explore the second part of the creative emprise, a canter through the haunting shadows and ravenous dissonance of a dystopian landscape lost in extinction luring bedlam. Note though that the first ‘side’ of the album contains two brand new tracks in the shapes of the Seven Trumpets, a track sparked by the biblical legend of the same name but an echo of a split personality, and the horror movie like Lizard Eyes.

Pt II opens up with Virtual Insanity, electronic sparkling the gateway to an infernal surge of electro rock predation as ravenously hungry as it is virulently catchy. Even so, its instinctive urgency has an underlying premeditation of devious intent, melodies and calmer but darker twists adding to the track’s inescapable invasion. Something akin to Rabbit Junk meets Fear Factory, the track instantly has the project’s second part off to a flyer but also connects seamlessly to the nature and presence of the first part of Visions Of The Blinded World.

Already breathless from the superb thickly rousing start, the band show no mercy as Devil’s Triangle surges in with similarly uproarious energy and intent, Spook’s guitar gnawing away at ears as beats swipe at the senses, Soltex’s vocals in turn matching their boisterous appetites with eagerness and attitude. Again momentary detours bring darker trespass rather than a chance to take a breath, it all adding up to another galvanic assault.

Next up Mindgame does bring calm, its melodic caresses courted by demonic tones of voice and intimation, a sonic Garden of Eden oasis in some ways. Featuring XRC, the track smoulders with toxic beauty; those Eastern hues enticing with siren-esque seduction as darkness await new arrivals. Enthralling and haunting in its distraction, the song slips away for the advancing savage addiction and voracious heavy swing of Little Pill. Eating away at thoughts and senses from its initial original cinematic drama to its esurient stalking, evil soaking every note and castigating syllable, the track with Subliminal Mentality guesting equally got under the skin and nagged away thereon in.

Blackbird From Karachi with D.Tschirner involved is a deceptive creature; evolving from its initial serenade into another predatory confrontation courting chaos and corrosion with almost pernicious incitement, every moment unpredictable and disturbing before the outstanding Prison Planet casts its specific trap. A galactic tango which had the body bouncing and imagination conjuring as intrigue and espionage fuel every contagious touch, it in turn departs to encourage the emotionally harmful but physically infectious dance of Falling Down Pt. I. All three tracks simply hit the spot, repetition occurring across the whole of the album as proven yet again by the dark carnival of Cold Frantic Boy, this another track mixing flirtation and catchy harassment with cinematic intimation as cold vocals bring their own toxic fascination pretty meaning submission to its dark glamour was inevitable.

Across the likes of Match Of The Century / A. Crowley Vs. A. Einstein with its increasingly volatile and ominous disquiet around a hypothetical chess game between the two protagonists and Kissing In Graveyards featuring Underworld, another slice of aural insidiousness, the album continued taking ears and pleasure into new dark corners, the release magnetically broadening its maze of sound and creative villainy before stretching it again with the glorious Midnight Tango, a mesmeric psych surf piece with a caress of The Doors and Calling All Astronauts to its dark rock ‘n’ roll.

The final pair of Follow Me, a carnal trespass of pestilence-laden temptation, and Battle For Babylon with R. Carey (an English- New Zealand based artist better known as Fiery Jack (The Teapot Goblins)) a guest in its stark yet rousing smouldering epilogue, provide a compelling conclusion to the relentlessly enthralling release. In some ways they lack the rousing bait of their predecessors but in just as many are cast in mutually potent lures of dark emotive suggestion.

As suggested the biggest rewards come from listening to Visions Of The Blinded World pt I & II as one but certainly not essential as proven by the individual galvanic prowess of each track. Spookshow Inc. has created a landscape bred in the world’s turbulence and destruction; Part I made us want to know more, the stunning Part II sparked the desire to be lost in its impeding tempest with the band’s sounds for company.

Visions Of The Blinded World pt I & II is available now @ https://spookshowinc.bandcamp.com/album/spookshow-inc-visions-of-the-blinded-world-pt-i-ii

https://www.spookshowinc.com/ https://www.facebook.com/spookshowinc/

Pete RingMaster 02/11/2018

Verni – Barricade

Oct24

There is nothing better than a song which has you swinging from the rafters hollering and roaring. When you get ten in one ridiculously rousing collection it borders on bliss and that is exactly what the debut album from Verni uncages. The first offering from the solo project of Overkill founder and bass player DD Verni, Barricade is one unbridled raucous anthem sprung from individual hurricanes of rock ‘n’ roll incitement and easily one of the most pleasurable offerings of the year.

An ever prolific songwriter, Verni as a project arose from a growing collection of songs which did not fit either Overkill or DD’s side outfit The Bronx Casket Co. To add extra spicing to the mix, he proceeded to approach a host of musicians to guest on them resulting in the album featuring a plethora of guitarists including Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy), Angus Clark (Trans Siberian Orchestra), Jeff Waters (Annihilator), Bruce Franklin (Trouble), Mike Romeo (Symphony X), Mike Orlando (Adrenaline Mob), Steve Leonard (Almost Queen) and Andre “Virus” Karkos (Dope) as well as former Overkill drummer Ron Lipnicki. Putting all those lures aside, Barricade is a cauldron of temptation in its own right whether it swings with rock tenacity, trespasses with metal nurtured ferocity or snarls with punk driven belligerence.

Immediately opener Fire Up opens its sonic jaws, attention was not just lured but gripped as grooves drive a rapacious onslaught of rock ‘n’ roll. A tease of Verni’s thrash instincts unite with hard rock vivacity, riffs and rhythms colluding to create their own thick lure alongside the creative web of the guitars. DD’s vocals are a matching draw, it all stirring up quick involvement from body, voice, and neck muscles. No breath is spared as the song charges through ears spilling lust poking hooks and grooves as gang shouts holler and individual flare across the track ignites.

The following Miracle Drug is equally as virulent in its catchiness and energetic hard rock cast dynamics if taking things down a gear gait wise. But a single gear it is as the track still flies from the speakers with zeal and enterprise before Off My Leash has the body bouncing with its contagiously predacious animation. Punk and grunge infest its metal lined rock bred swagger, another collusion of flavours which seeds something truly fresh and viral. Unexpected twists only add to its relentless and unbridled tempting.

Like a wound up dervish, (We are) The Broken Ones strikes next with guitars scything across earthy rhythms as vocals inspire eager participation while Lost In The Underground embroils classic rock exploits in punk ‘n’ roll contagion to romp and stomp with the listener. Both tracks not only hit the spot but shatter it to incite a lustful union.

Through the darker thrash spun drama of The Party of No and the southern gothic drama of Night of the Swamp King the album only tightens its grip. The first has a definite Anthrax meets Dope feel to it while the second is atmospheric intimation and sonic theatre soaked in stoner intoxication; their successor, We Were Young, adding to the album’s blossoming variety with its classic rock balladry. The latter is a track we would not normally take to but courtesy of the devilish prowess of DD Verni we were firmly hooked.

The album closes up with firstly of Slow My Ride, a fervent entanglement of alternative metal and hard rock, and in turn the classic metal meets anthemic rock outing of Heaven Calling. It is probably fair to say neither lit the fires within as those before them but each escalated the undiluted enjoyment of Barricade, a pleasure which has only grown by the listen.

We are sure we will not be alone in hoping DD Verni continues to write tracks which do not fit his main projects because as much as those projects fully satisfy another Verni encounter is already the subject of hungry anticipation.

Barricade is out now via Mighty Music on CD, digitally and on Ltd white vinyl.