Chasing Dragons – Faction:Prologue

Almost two years on from their forcibly impressive Checkmate EP, UK alt-metal quartet Chasing Dragons unleash its equally striking and rousing successor, the Faction:Prologue EP. The three track roar is a teaser to a forthcoming album from the Yorkshire hailing band and an incendiary confirmation that their contagious sound is one of the really fresh and dramatic proposals within the British metal scene.

Formed in 2011, the Leeds bred outfit has earned a powerful reputation for their dynamic live shows which over the years has seen the band share stages with the likes of Skindred, Pendulum, InMe, Death Angel, Betraying The Martyrs, Fearless Vampire Killers, Attack!Attack!, Skarlett Riot, and The Dead Lay Waiting among many. Early releases in the Take Flight For A Firefight EP of 2012 and the single Hindsight’s A Bitch the following year, marked the band out for attention though it is probably fair to say that Checkmate sparked the biggest acclaim loaded reactions until now. Faction:Prologue in many ways carries on where its predecessor left off with rhythmically imposing and melodically fiery proposals but equally the new trio of songs reveal a fresh richness in tone and intensity aligned to tenacious attention grabbing craft and emotive energy.

From opener Devil In Her Eyes, band and release firmly seize ears and a swiftly nurtured appetite for their enjoyably imposing temptations. Straight away, the first track casts a web of melodic enterprise and bullish rhythms with matching riffs upon the senses. It is a forceful entrance as intimidating as it is inviting, especially once the recognisable and ever potent vocals of Tank spring into action. Her presence adds further drama and harmonic tempting to an already fiery mix driven by the tenacious rhythms of drummer Kate and bassist Murf. The track continues to infect ears and imagination with its swinging gait and sonic hooks; seemingly drawing on inspirations from bands such as Halestorm and Avenged Sevenfold but in its great unpredictable twists and creative turns sparking thoughts of bands like Spinnerette  and Flyleaf also, a foursome which probably most often comes close to giving a clue to the Chasing Dragons sound and individuality.

The outstanding start is matched in compelling kind by The Mutiny. As in the first, guitarist Mitch spins a spidery web of melodic imagination and intrigue which enticingly wraps the more volatile character of the rhythms and the rich flame of Tank’s commanding presence and voice. With backing vocals and siren-esque harmonies colluding with the raw snarl of the track and its lead vocal attack, the song beguiles as it sets ears and instincts alight with grouchy riffs and anthemic prowess, ultimately taking favourite song honours in the process.

Whitehorse closes off the EP, unveiling another side to the band’s maturing sound and of course the upcoming album. An electronic coaxing brings the track into view, its lure quickly joined by the hearty tones of Tank and subsequently a predacious prowl of stabbing riffs, antagonistic hooks, and rhythmic irritability. Harmonies and melodies soon temper the intimidation of the assault but without defusing the intrusive intent fuelling every note and beat.

Another tapestry of inventive endeavour and virulently catchy aggression, the song is a fine end to an excellent ‘return’ by Chasing Dragons to ears and speakers. There is no escaping that the band has got creatively bigger, bolder, and even more captivating; so roll on that album…

The Faction:Prologue EP is released March 29^th @ http://chasingdragons.bigcartel.com/

http://www.chasingdragons.co.uk/   https://www.facebook.com/musicchasingdragons/   https://twitter.com/xChasingDragons

Pete RingMaster 29/03/3016

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/

The Silverblack – The Grand Turmoil

Starting with a core blaze of industrial metal and twisting and stretching it thereon in by infusing a horde of rampant flavours, styles, and waves of imagination into its roar, Italian rockers The Silverblack have come up with one thoroughly enjoyable trespass of the senses in The Grand Turmoil. The band’s new album is a physical and creative holler of sounds, new and familiar, that captures the imagination and exhausts the breath across a volatile landscape, and though it might be pushing it to say that The Grand Turmoil is the best industrial metal incitement this year, it is firmly amongst the leaders in pure enjoyment.

The Torino hailing band is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and producer Alessio Nero Argento (NeroArgento, The Stranded) and vocalist Claudio Ravinale (Disarmonia Mundi, The Stranded, 5 Star Grave), the pair forming The Silverblack in the opening weeks of 2014. Live the band becomes a quintet with the addition of bassist Ivan King, drummer Rob Gaia, and keyboardist Nisha Sara, but for the album it is the founding duo exploring ears and their own invention alone with just a couple of guest solos for extra spice.

It opens with its title track, a stomping beast of a proposal with a sonically fetid atmosphere and pulsating electronic scenery crowding a stalking gait. It is immediately intensive and busy on the senses as the band springs a trap of agitated rhythms and great fiery and openly varied vocals, the raw emotive roars of Ravinale balanced skilfully by cleaner tones courting their confrontation from the background. With keys and guitars jostling for attention, each getting equal share as the track casts its maelstrom of adventure, the song makes a dramatic and heftily alluring start to The Grand Turmoil, though bigger and bolder things are on the horizon.

   The following Anymore with its vibrantly lighter breath and shadowy presence follows and if not one of the bolder tracks certainly whips up ears and appetite with its Dope meets Celldweller parade of electronic enterprise and vocal magnetism. It is not a song stretching the imagination or finding major originality but it does leave an energetic satisfaction and hunger behind which the outstanding King-Size Vandalism pounces on with virulent and ravenous prowess. Bursting in with robust rhythms and a joyfully warm melody, the song becomes a boisterous romp sizzling with the energetic tenacity of a Pendulum and grouchier lilt of a Combichrist, whilst vocally variety reaps a slight scent of Marilyn Mansion at times. The track quickly infects feet and emotions; it’s an electro rock anthem soon having the body bouncing as high as its own.

Retaliation comes next, its immediate heavy predacious gait a thick intent that defies the effort of the keys to lighten the ambience and mood. Nevertheless they shimmer and tempt engagingly as the song prowls through an early Rammstein leering towards an electro pop chorus. The band’s eagerness to venture into unpredictable turns and styles is a stirring quality in the album but for personal tastes not as potently impacting here with the track’s ‘nice’ pop essences, though it does not stop ears being more than content overall and ready to leap on the kaleidoscope of sound and light that is Make It Worth The Grime. Dirty and melodically glowing, the song is a great fusion of dark and light that loosely comes over like a meet up of Hanzel und Gretyl and KMFDM yet sculpts its own identity along its compelling length.

The fiercer tempest of As Good As Dead raises the levels of addictiveness next; its blended contrasts of emotive rapacity and antagonistic sounds with vocal harmonies and warm infection a perfectly crafted union whilst Attic Hime straight after quickly eclipses it. With a great vocal weave within a climate which at times is like a still warm melodic day and in other moments a blustery sonic wind that ebbs and flows to distort and enhance the drama of the song, it provides an ever evolving and constantly gripping parade of diverse sound. The track leaves ears on a lofty high; a plateau extended by the blistering examination of Pyromanservant, a track drawing on as broad a canvas of metal as it does electronic invention. Like Die Krupps, Powerman 5000, and Skinny Puppy blended, the song incites and engrosses as it takes top song honours within The Grand Turmoil.

The initial gentle shimmer of Great Expectations allows a catching of breath before it too uncages a dark and contagious theatre of emotion and enterprise, an angrier and bitter version of Gravity Kills coming to mind as yet another excellent and lingering encounter within the album exciting ears.

The release is brought to an end by firstly the pleasingly sonically thick and physically volatile Might Get Worse Before It Gets Better, a song brawling with the senses as it lays down its ultimately successful persuasion, and lastly Fragmentary Blue, the darkest, most melancholic offering on The Grand Turmoil and one of the most forcibly compelling even as its departure leaves a sense of unfinished business. It is a fine end to a richly enjoyable offering which as suggested has all the invention and adventure to be, for a great many, deeply entrenched amongst their favourite 2015 industrial releases.

The Grand Turmoil is out now via Sliptrick Records.

http://www.thesilverblack.eu/   https://www.facebook.com/thesilverblack/ https://twitter.com/silverblackband

Pete RingMaster 29/10/2105

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/

Seething Akira – Airstrike

Like a raid on the senses and a mass riot for the body, the new single from UK rockers Seething Akira sets the world on fire in just three volatile minutes. Setting out the kind of tempest fans to the band’s fusion of alternative and heavy rock with electro and hardcore dub step are accustomed to, Airstrike equally thrusts its hellacious mitts into a richer and deeper vat of anthemic intensity and psyche twisting tenacity for one ferocious devilry.

Hailing from Portsmouth, and with inspirations from the likes of Prodigy, Senser, and Enter Shikari joining their own rebellious ideation, Seething Akira was soon inciting a potent and loyal local support when emerging in 2011. First EP, You Missed The Show that year showed the band was loaded in potential but it was from the Transmission EP a year later that they hit their stride in sound and broader persuasion. Live the band has only earned an acclaiming stature, the quintet taking in shows with bands such as Hacktivist, The Algorithm, Senser, Don Broco, Black Futures, Sonic Boom Six, Max Raptor, PWEI, and Heart Of A Coward over the years. Last year the Aggro Vito EP reinforced and pushed on the band’s sound and presence but for us Airstrike is the band’s most exciting and ridiculously involving offering yet.

     Airstrike allows no escape for feet and emotions, let alone voice, stirring them up in its first seconds and then dragging them into its maelstrom of energy and attitude. It spews increasing slavery through voracious rhythms, psychotic enterprise, and a vocal assault which makes the term incitement seem lightweight. The thumping beats of Stu Mealcliffe alongside the pulsating synth stabs of Charlie Bowes cast the first lure, their union unrelenting until the subsequent vocal roars of Kit Conrad and Bowes add their united antagonistic charm. The metal spawn riffs of Harvey Sneezeface Ware aligned to the predatory prowl of Terry Brown’s bass instantly turns the already virulent temptation into a beast of a proposal, their entrance sparking greater intensity and aggression elsewhere too. The landscape of the song continues to evolve and unpredictably shift, sinister melodic endeavour from the guitars sparking a similar air to keys before the dynamics at the heart of the song explode once again in a torrential and commanding cascade of techno trespasses, heavy duty rhythmic and riff induced incitements, and vocal belligerence.

Airstrike is a brawl impossible to resist and it is easy to imagine Pendulum being offered as a hint to the song’s might. But more so it has the hues of bands like G.R.I.M, Axis Mundi, and a dirtier Pop Will Eat Itself to it. Those flavours do bring a certain familiarity to it at times but that is countered and overwhelmed by the sheer energy and unique enterprise of Seething Akira. This is a band which just gets bigger and better whilst persistently knocking on the fullest spotlights.

Airstrike is available from July 27^th

Upcoming Seething Akira tour dates:

July 31st O2, Islington, UK *

Aug 1st Downstairs, Aberdeen *

Aug 2nd Audio, Glasgow, Scotland *

Aug 3rd Bannermans, Edinburgh, Scotland *

Aug 4th Warehouse 23, Wakefield *

Aug 5th The Asylum, Birmingham *

Aug 6th Academy 3 Manchester, UK *

Aug 7th Waterfront, Norwich, UK *

Aug 11, Knust, Hamburg, Germany *

Aug 12 West Park Eventhalle, Inglostadt, Germany *

Aug 13 Little Devil, Tillburg, Netherlands *

Aug 14 Hypothalamus, Rheine, Germany *

October 3rd, MAMMOTHFEST, Brighton

* Main support to Mordred on EU tour

http://www.seethingakira.com/     https://www.facebook.com/seethingakira

RingMaster 27/07/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard on Reputation Radio @ http://www.reputationradio.net

Tribazik -Tools Of Mass Creation

Swiftly following the acclaimed success of their recent album Data Warfare, UK band Tribazik unleash their new gripping and contagion fuelled single, Tools Of Mass Creation. The closing track on their outstanding full-length, the song is an emotion and thought provoking tempest of sound and adventure, reinforcing the potential and creative emprise shining within the London based trio.

Formed by Jerry Kandiah (vocals/guitar) and Hedge Seel (drums/samples), Tribazik has grown into one of Britain’s most inventive and formidable prospects, Data Warfare their coming of age and the suspected spark to a world spotlight upon their ingenious mix of sounds. Sculpting an individual presence through the merger of genres such alternative rock, psychedelic metal, industrial, techno and much more, the band grabbed the attention of Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven from the release of the single Yang To Yin alone. The song led to the invitation and supporting of Killing Joke on two European tours as well as Jaz Coleman guesting on a track on Tribazik’s Andy Gill (Gang of Four) mixed debut album All Blood is Red in 2009. From there the pair became a trio with the recruitment of Syan and subsequently the creation and release of the self-produced and Youth (Killing Joke, The Orb, The Verve) mixed Date Warfare earlier this year. It is a fiercely flavoured tempest of imagination drenched sound and inventive force managing to cast a mix of early Killing Joke, Pendulum, Pitchshifter, The Prodigy, and Red Beat, whilst sculpting something new and invigoratingly distinct to Tribazik. Now Tools Of Mass Creation is ready to stir up another incitement for the album and itself, an aim as with its source release hard to imagine failing to achieve success.

The single harasses ears from its first breath, rhythms rapping with thick sinews on the senses whilst guitars blaze with a raw causticity to their riffs and hooks. The gothic harmonies of Syan glance across the turbulent air of the track soon after whilst beneath, the track roars with aggression and antagonistic intensity. It then relaxes into a more merciful embrace, the mellow tones of Syan snuggling closer to the ear as Kandiah unveils the narrative with his captivating voice. It is a smouldering passage prone to forceful eruptions of sonic energy and blazing passion musically and vocally. There is an unavoidable essence to Killing Joke to the track, as well as a tasty tinge of Fear Factory, but as it brawls and seduces body and emotions, the song sets down an individual character and beauty to the fury which belongs solely to its creators.

Tools Of Mass Creation is a riveting and mouth-watering furnace of sound and enterprise, the perfect doorway for those still not infected by the exciting presence of Tribazik, to dive into their glorious depths.

Tools Of Mass Creation is available on September 24^th

Tribazik have confirmed a special single release party at London’s Islington Academy 2 on September 24th. To celebrate the single release of Tools Of Mass Creation, the band have promised ‘A storming show with full visual onslaught’

Tickets for the event can be purchased from http://www.o2academyislington.co.uk/event/69196/tribazik-tickets

http://www.tribazik.com

RingMaster 16/09/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://audioburger247.webs.com/

 

Manumit – Digital & Hostile

Creating a sound which is fresh and striking whilst employing a wealth of familiar essences from a healthy array of genres, Welsh solo artist Manumit follows up the success of and acclaim for his previous singles and EPs with debut album Digital & Hostile. It is an enthralling proposition which entangles rich elements of heavy rock and electronic invention with equally potent strains of amongst many dubstep, drum n bass, and post hardcore. Released via Lost Generation Records, Digital & Hostile is a thoroughly compelling proposition which ebbs and flows a touch in its still success but never submits to predictability whilst exciting ears.

Brought to life in 2012, the Bridgend, South Wales hailing project took little time in grabbing attention and keen recognition. Manumit’s first EP F**k Genres, Love Music soon woke a hunger in fans and potent interest from the underground media upwards for his sound whilst the music video for the track Walk Away soon become a centre of attention on the likes of Scuzz TV. Subsequent singles and videos emulated that early success and bred a stronger anticipation for the band’s first full-length. Bringing those earlier singles together with a host of new songs, Digital & Hostile is a ten track adventure which from start to finish intrigues and flirts with the imagination.

The release makes a gentle opening with the intro of Sacrifice, a guitar making a lone evocative coaxing within a colder atmospheric drift of sonic whispers. It is a thoroughly engaging start to the track soon making an even stronger seduction with the excellent vocals of Manumit. The song simmers in the warmth of melodic rock at this point with a folk lilt to the vocals and melodies yet all the time in the background you sense something is brewing and moving towards the foreground of the song. It arrives in a fiery blaze of electro rock, Pendulum immediately coming to mind as the track bristles and rages within the pulsating embrace of its electronic invention. It stops itself from being a replica of existing propositions though with the continuing of the excellent melodic rock enterprise unveiled earlier in the song and the great vocals which also employ post hardcore antagonism in their delivery.

The track is a strong and appetite sparking start which the following Walk Away easily continues. It also opens with a gentle emotive stroking, a piano this time casting its melodic beauty over ears and imagination swiftly joined by the again deeply impressive vocals. There is a touch of Coheed and Cambria to the start and it too is brought into an electro maelstrom of temptation though with a stronger lilt to the heavier rock side of the track this time. Vocal squalls add to the wide texture of the song whilst the aligning electronic endeavour brings a mesh of Nine Inch Nails meets Skrillex to its striding triumph. As with its predecessor, it does feel like the track is one spark too short in its fire, never exploding into the rigorous tempest you expect and hope but it does not stop either from making a thoroughly enjoyable and impressive start to the album.

Do The Right Thing also glides in gracefully, its exotic tempting on an electronic breeze almost Peter Gabriel like. In no time it erupts with raw emotionally charged vocals within a thick and inventive weave of electronic incitement, all veined with heavier rock riffs and rhythmic provocation. Vocally the song is as superb as those before and after, the strength and expression of Manumit a striking given success across the album, whilst the expectations evading twists of the song and the classical elegance of keys within the bustling sonic storm is at times bewitching. It is another very potent proposition for the main matched by both Everything Changes and When I’m Gone. The first of the two is a flowing persuasion of electro rock with plenty of tenacious essences from both sides of that mix in its evocative stroll whilst the second is a gentler but no less busy croon of emotive keys and electro radiance splintered by an array of punchy beats and incendiary guitar designs. Maybe the least impressive track so far it nevertheless is an infectiously captivating song showing the strength of the album.

Another diverse twist comes with the album through the magnetic balladry of Your Body Giving Up. Fronted by the glorious and seductive tones of Tanyth Roberts, the song is a sultry flame of atmospheric tension, melodic drama, and electronic intrigue which makes more of a lingering impression and success than an upfront persuasion but emerges as one of the most riveting songs on the album. Its enslaving provocative charm is followed by the energetic stomp of Can You Hear Us? From a nintendo-esque opening, the song bursts into a rampant charge of electronic and heavy rock tenacity, merging the electro punk roar of a Jensen with the more mischievous virulence of a Hadouken or Axis Mundi. It is an irresistible contagion which is as antagonistic as it is anthemic, and the best track on the release.

The raging urgency continues in Abuse Of Power, its raw challenge lyrically and musically tempered by the melodic vocals and electronic designs which seduce the imagination as much as the quarrelsome textures and hardcore tones within the proposition. Elegant keys also add to the drama and though the track does not grip as many others, it is still a masterful persuasion before making way for The Passing Of Nothing. It is a track which starts much like the opening pair on the album, from its delicious harmonic and melodic initial touch evolving into an electronic and vocal blaze around a stirring sinew sculpted slice of rock. You are never too far from thoughts of Pendulum with many songs but with the numerous other flavours flowing through them, here a Spineshank like industrial metal spicing at play, Manumit takes every song into a distinctive corner.

Closed by the transfixing Afterflow which from a underwhelming start emerges as another engrossing incitement, thanks predominantly to Manumit’s fine vocals and a steely anger to the song’s body, Digital & Hostile is a formidable and richly pleasing release. Whether it is as intrusive and raucous enough to match its undoubted potential is one for the individual but Manumit has shown himself with the album, to be one of Britain’s more creatively dynamic and exciting prospects.

Digital & Hostile is available via Lost Generation Records on 1st September @ https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/digital-hostile/id883699098 and other online stores.

https://www.facebook.com/manumitofficial

Live Band line-up: ( Manumit – Vocals/guitar/keys/samples;Skullfunk – Vocals/MC;Larusso – Guitars, Bandit – Drums.

8.5/10

RingMaster 01/09/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://audioburger247.webs.com/

 

MANUMIT goes ‘Digital & Hostile’, from 1st September‏

Welsh solo artist Manumit is poised to unveil his explosive debut album, Digital & Hostile on 1^st September, through Lost Generation Records, a release which be an anthem for anyone looking for originality.

In an increasingly over saturated market, every fan, record label, radio station, music channel and magazine are screaming for something new. Manumit is certainly that. Spawned in 2012 and coming at you from Bridgend, South Wales (home to the likes of Bullet For My Valentine and Funeral For A Friend), Manumit has strived to bond genres whilst sculpting  genuinely distinctive songs that pull you in from their first breath.  Taking from a plethora of influences, ranging from Alexisonfire and Paramore, to Nine Inch Nails, Pendulum and Nero, whilst drawing from the fundamentals of dubstep, drum n bass, and electro and fusing them with cutting edge rock, metal, and post-hardcore, Manumit has amassed a sound that packs pulsating rock riffs with thoughtful melodic vocal and synth vocal work, all broken up by brutal digital breakdowns. The end result is an original onslaught of contagious, anthemic tracks that are loaded throughout with intricate dynamics.

Mamumit hit the ground running with the release of both his debut EP ‘F**k Genres, Love Music’ and his first music video for the track ‘Walk Away’; people across the world couldn’t help but take note. Turning industry heads, ‘Walk Away’ made it to the Top 10 Fresh New Videos on Scuzz TV, coming in at No. 2 ahead of Bullet For My Valentine, Biffy Clyro and Limp Bizkit, among others. Following this, Manumit went on to release two other singles and videos for ‘Can You Hear Us?’ and ‘Afterglow’, all of which were extremely well-received and also featured on Scuzz TV.

On September 1st 2014, Manumit will nationally unveil his hugely anticipated debut album ‘Digital & Hostile’ through independent imprint ‘Lost Generation Records’. A DVD featuring all music videos, interviews and live performances is also available alongside the album, which consists of ten killer slabs stemming from past singles ‘Walk Away’, ‘Can You Hear Us?’ and Afterglow’, as well as seven new tracks. The album takes you on a breathtaking and formidable journey, and it’s destined to break Manumit into the national sphere.

– MANUMIT RELEASES ‘DIGITAL & HOSTILE’ OUT ON MONDAY 1^st SEPTEMBER THROUGH ALL GOOD STORES –

https://www.facebook.com/manumitofficial    https://www.youtube.com/manumitofficial

Chasing Dragons – Checkmate

Brewing a striking fusion of fiery hard rock and ravenous melodic metal, UK ’s Chasing Dragon is one of those emerging propositions which you can only see going in one direction. Taking new EP Checkmate as evidence, the quartet from Leeds is on a potent ascent pushing an already strong reputation into a new spotlight. Consisting of six tracks which are as rigorously captivating as they are creatively potent, the new release is a striking marker on the progress of the band. It is probably fair to say that they are still finding their unique sound and voice, the EP bred well within heavy rock and metal boundaries with plenty of familiar assets to its successful persuasion but you can only feel the band is well on the way to finding that distinction and thus further recognition.

Formed in 2011, Chasing Dragons has built a formidable live presence which has seen them share stages with bands such as Pendulum, InMe, Death Angel, The Sweet, Fearless Vampire Killers, Attack!Attack!, The Headstart, Skarlett Riot, and The Dead Lay Waiting whilst lighting up the likes of Rock and Bike Festival, Highway To Hell, Leeds Fringe Fest, as well as many of the LGBT Prides around the UK. Checkmate follows the band’s debut EP Take Flight For A Firefight of 2012 and the single Hindsight’s A Bitch of last year. Their first EP made a striking and immense impression here which sparked a big anticipation of and expectation for Chasing Dragon from there on in. Whether Checkmate pushes the band forward as much as maybe hoped is still under debate but undoubtedly it reinforces the quality and potential of the band with ease, to reassert belief that the quartet can become a major force in British rock/metal.

Checkmate opens with Prelude, an atmospheric portentous piece of melodic drama and vocal whispers. It is an evocative piece which makes a stronger incitement when ravenous and coarsely sinewed riffs shape its closing narrative before making way for Throw Down Your King. The guitar of Mitch Sadler fires up its sonic bait first, entwining acidic twine around ears before being joined by the eager punches of drummer Kate Bullock and the bass snarl of Ant Varenne. Guided by the excellent vocals of Laurie ‘Tank’ Carnan, her tones simultaneously seductive, antagonistic, and powerfully potent, the track strides purposefully into the imagination with familiar attributes to a fresh roar. It is a song very easy to join in with, catchy and inviting, but also unafraid to slip into something melodically comfortable and evocatively persuasive to temper the charge. There is also a folk metal like twist midway to the riffs before they cast a carnivorous temperament to their predation which in turn slips back into the vociferous hard rock adventure which started the excellent incitement off. It is a great track feeding assumptions but equally unleashing unpredictable imagination.

The following That’s Not Love opens with a fire of hard rock colour from the guitars which makes way for a thumping rhythmic frame around the bluesy growl of Tank’s delivery. It is an irresistible enticement which loses some of its potency once the song opens up into a fluid melody washed stroll. It is not that the full appeal of the band is lacking anything, just that the aligned beats and outstanding vocals is so good, as proven again when it steals the main stage again in the passage of the song. Across the song’s body riffs chip away at the senses and rhythms bring an anthemic lure to match that of the guitar enterprise whilst vocally the song is firing on all cylinders, but it is the inventive twists and turns within the track which steals the show and passions.

   For The Sake Of Murder brings a smokey blues texture to its initial blaze of guitar before again voracious riffs and rhythms stab from within the melodic gaze of the song. Backed by strong vocals from Mitch, Tank tempts ears with a resourceful delivery whilst around her the track teases and tempts with a sultry air and climate to its inventive scenery. As in all tracks, hooks grip deeply whilst grooves and melodies entice like a wanton temptress yet it is all with a respectful touch within a magnetic creative rabidity.

Next up The Last Defence catches thoughts off guard when it opens with an evocative classically spawned piano coaxing over which Tank vocally soars effortlessly and enthrallingly. With a lesser singer the beginning possibly would not work but Tank owns thoughts and emotions at this point to make a decent entrance stunning. Keys add extra hues to the emerging landscape which is coloured richly by the guitars and rhythms. Gaining weight and energy all the time, the song evolves into a powerful and anthemic croon which is simply compelling and breath-taking.

The EP ends on Broken Jaws, a riotous rocker of a track which has nothing surprising about it but everything virulently contagious and mightily enticing to create a highly satisfying stomp. It is the least adventurous and impressive track on the release but also one of the most magnetic and infectiously enjoyable which ensures the band leave on another high, parting with another reminder of their irrepressible strength and appeal.

Checkmate is an exciting and impressive offering which keeps Chasing Dragons on course for a richly rewarding career, for them and us so a recommendation to check them out could not be fuller.

The self-released Checkmate is available digitally and physically at www.musicchasingdragons.bigcartel.com now!

https://www.facebook.com/musicchasingdragons

Check out Chasing Dragons upcoming live dates below:

Saturday 14th June – Salutation, Nottingham

Saturday 21st June – The Riverside, Selby

Thursday 26th June – The Corporation, Sheffield

Friday 27th June – The Pot and Kettle, Rhyl

Wednesday 2nd August – The Shed, Leicester

Friday 22nd August – The Club That Rocks, Consett

Friday 19th September – The Underworld, London

8.5/10

RingMaster 02/06/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

 

 

 

Axis Mundi – Sci-Curious

If debut album Chapel Perilous was the gas cloud holding the seeds to their genesis and the Science Junkie live single the spark to their expulsion, Sci-Curious is the big bang thrusting UK’s sound adventurers Axis Mundi into global recognition. An incendiary merger of aggressive rock, voracious rave, and untethered dubstep just to suggest some of its blistering invention, the band’s second album is a coming of age, a realisation of the potency in songwriting and sound which tempted before whilst breeding another strain of potential to even greater heights. A roaring celebration of science with insatiable riffs, hooks, and melodic predation, the album puts an already irrepressible proposition into the arms of essential investigation and devouring.

The trio of drummer Matt and guitarist/vocalist Gary Frewin with lead vocalist Shaun Garner first emerged in late 2008, taking little more than a year to become rated as one of the top upcoming bands in the UK. Originally a quartet, Axis Mundi earned an acclaimed reputation for their live performances and emerging songs. Already holding a passionate appetite and exploratory intrigue for all things science and its battle against the likes of politics, religion, and apathy, the Hinckley band worked closely with best-selling science author and New Scientist writer Michael Brooks during his election campaign against Hinckley and Bosworth MP David Tredinnick. Their first EP Find the Others caught strong waves of attention but it was with Chapel Perilous that the band really sparked a wider appetite for their sounds within the underground scene and subsequently more established media spotlights. Sci-Curious though makes it all seem like just the appetiser before its own main meal.

Through an attention raising Introduction, the album erupts with the instantly transfixing and highly animated opening shimmering of E-Bomb. Synths merge on the senses with sonically drenched colour and vivacity from its first breath, tempting the senses in league with increasingly tantalising sounds. Into its energetic and fiery stride the track dances around ears with a dervish like enthusiasm before settling into a more relaxed stroll within which the melodic tones of Shaun unveil the song’s narrative as infectious guitar toxins bred by Gary entwine their shadowed bait around the imagination. The sounds are as provocative as the lyrical view and its look at the turning away from scientific truths from those which choose to be blind. A masterful blend of electro alchemy and compelling heavy rock, the track is a magnetic tempest setting the album off to a tremendous start.

It is a potent entrance swiftly taken to another level by Movie In The Mind which emerges from the finale of the previous treat. Like a side show barker, Shaun coaxes in thoughts as a great niggling rub of guitar skirts his tones. The rhythms of Matt join the revelry soon after, his precise jabs adding to the unpredictable and intriguing showmanship of the song’s initial gambit. Just as immediate is the contagious air to the track, its irresistible call wrapping every note and syllable of the punk and metal kissed canvas beneath the subsequent rampantly swirling keys. Whereas the its predecessor had a feel of the Pendulum to its character, this plays at times like a rapacious merger of Pop Will Eat Itself and Enter Shikari, though as with the first song Axis Mundi have developed their sound to a point that first thoughts are always of the band itself when describing any of its distinct aspects.

The album continues to stir up hunger and passions with its might and established band sound as Science Junkie steps into view next. A favourite of seemingly everyone upon its release as a live track a while ago, the trio have understandably relinquished some of the unbridled urgency and rabidity which marked the original release with a greater adventure and melodic clarity on the album. The track still gallops like a stallion in heat, keys and guitars brewing up a techno maelstrom which is impossible to escape. As it sways, lurches, and climbs all over the senses you can almost see the invention of the song pulsating through its veins, its sonic blood rushing around the hypnotic hooks and seductive melodies which parade relentless across its ravenous body as glorious vocal harmonies between Shaun and Gary caress like a devious temptress. The track is a ridiculously thrilling encounter soon rivalled by the enthralling and confrontational rocker Shut Down The Rave. Feisty guitars and more sinewy toned vocals lead the track into another variation within the release, it in many ways a more straight forward course of electronic metal and rock but with plenty, like the acidic scythes of guitar and flowing evocative key sculpted hues, to steal the imagination all over again. With an antagonistic climax which smells of Rage Against The Machine at their best before a final bloom of seducing melodies, the song is a magnificent incitement.

As undeniable impressive as the album is already, the next stretch of songs secures its status as a classic protagonist. Springing from an informative sample, their use another pleasing additive to the album, The Astounding Fact unleashes almost ten minutes of heart racing, bone juddering invention but equally it involves elegant and sweetly melodic caresses between rabid outbreaks of predacious ravishment. Consistently evolving into and involving further anthemic strolls and almost Manic Street Preacher-esque like croons the ingenious provocative and unpredictable storm alone shows just how far the band has come in its songwriting, musical skills, and mischievous designs. It is just the start though as both What Do You Get? and Little Stories Of Discovery climb up to yet another plateau of persuasion. The first plays with that earlier carnival like premise of Movie In The Mind, though its intensive menacing onslaught of initial rhythms and guitar around discord blessed keys is a differing frightening prospect. Once the vocals enter to stir up air and lyrical dirt, a deranged fairground essence seeps into the riveting equation, wonderfully darkly tainted verses inspiring thoughts of Insane Clown Posse more than one or twice. Switching with a chorus cast in melodic rock, the song is a puppeteer of shadows and passions, the best track on the album though straight away challenged by its brilliant successor. It is a psyche /indie rocker which leaps and swaggers with the relish and craft of a Reuben and a Bloc Party aligned to the melodic craft of a Feeder, though despite those references the bewitching slice of invention is again uniquely and irrepressibly all Axis Mundi.

The album carries on enslaving thoughts and emotions though maybe not to the same heights such the brilliance of earlier songs but certainly the rich and welcomingly bruising rock endeavour of Only Genes Can Judge Me and the jagged reggae inspired canter of The Gospel According To Science steal their very fair share of the passions with their highly accomplished and skilfully coloured tales whilst the closing New Scientist brings one final undiluted festival of dancefloor igniting voracity. Within all the tracks the band again thrusts a middle finger to expectations with their enchanting harmonies and reserved melody fuelled breezes within diverse tempestuous stomps, and all constant instigators of feet and passions.

Sci-curious is an exceptional kaleidoscopic offering which takes Axis Mundi into a whole new realm of quality and instinctively invigorating adventure. You can only hope and suspect that the world will take intensive notice of the UK trio as they and the album dive into an insatiable rampage which maybe even scientific doubters will find no resistance for.

The self- released Sci-curious will be released on June 1^st

http://www.axismundionline.com

9/10

RingMaster 16/05/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Tribazik – Data Warfare

 

    Describing the sound of UK band Tribazik is easy, early Killing Joke meets Pendulum with healthy doses of the raw power of Pitchshifter, the fiery electro snarl of The Prodigy, and the rhythmic swagger of seventies band Red Beat, except as is loudly evident on new album Data Warfare, it is only part of the scintillating recipe. Forging something unique and irrepressibly contagious through the merging and rigorous gene altering of alternative rock, psychedelic metal, industrial, techno and much more, the London based trio rampage through the imagination like a sonic tornado, organic electro and rhythmic teasing entwined with hungry rapacious grooves and psyche igniting invention. It is a glorious pulsating confrontation which has already brought the band eager and potent attention though you suspect that will be nothing in comparison to the acclaim once the album reaches out and out.

     The band is the brainchild of Jerry Kandiah (vocals/guitar) and Hedge Seel (drums/samples), two musicians with a rich experience in metal based bands and having their own sound system on the underground rave scene. Linking up the pair explored styles which lit their own passions with a new and boundary pushing invention, the first results including the track Yang To Yin which caught the attention of Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven. His invitation to support his band led to two European tours alongside Killing Joke and Jaz Coleman guesting on a track from Tribazik’s Andy Gill (Gang of Four) mixed debut album All Blood is Red in 2009. Following its acclaimed release the band was then permanently joined by Syan whose previous band Interlock had released the critically acclaimed album Crisis//reinvention in 2004. The recording of the new album was hit by the death of the band’s manager Gary DS but such the force and energy to the breath-taking tempest you can only feel they used the loss to drive their creativity and passion in tribute to the man. Self-produced and mixed by Youth (Killing Joke, The Orb, The Verve), Data Warfare is a sumptuous kaleidoscope of sound and imagination, an inventive fury which transports the listener into lyrical skirmishes looking at ‘the imminent hostilities facing the human race’, and broiling sonic soundscapes woven with aggressively stirring imagination and voracious creative energy.

     A cyber enticement starts things off as Too Dead To Care emerges from an electronic cocoon to incinerate the air with a furnace of sound and riffs before settling into a deliciously agitated yet perfectly poised enveloping of the ears. Immediately that Killing Joke and Pitchshifter reference coaxes thoughts as electro driven rhythms and pulsating energy fuses with the ravenous guitars. It is a senses dominating introduction to the album, one bold in its invention and unafraid in its dramatic and persistently evolving provocation.

    The intense and breath-taking start has lips of anticipation being licked and soon satisfied as Atom soon followed by Life Force Energy parade their ingenious contagion. The first of the two flirts with and peels away the surface of the senses with a skittish almost acidic electro irritant whilst behind riffs and rhythms carve out a formidable and incendiary canvas for the vocals of Kandiah to paint the lyrical narrative. His tones are very Jaz Coleman like across the whole release which only accentuates that Killing Joke resemblance, but never to the detriment of the adventure and distinctive Tribazik presence. The second of the pair from another subdued but sinister intro erupts into a blood pumping and exhaustive consumption of the senses, riffs growling with every heavy note and the beats of Seel reinforcing the tantalising damage with sharp and incisive animosity. As now expected it is just one facet of the enterprise escorting the emotions into a near rapture, melodic swarms and thought provoking craft washing and twisting around the uncompromising pulse and heart of the track.

     Without allowing the listener a breath unless they use the pause button, Tribazik keep the riveting creative pressure on with 12th Disclosure and Sonar Sumeria, the first a sonic bred incident filled experiment wailing with aural warning signs, caustic sirens, and perilous intimidation all filtered through a dangerously magnetic swamp of techno radiance and industrial predation. It is a masterful seduction taken to even greater heights by Sonar Sumeria, a celestial journey through rave spawned, psychedelic coloured, sonic romance. Throughout a vociferous energy equally brews up resulting in a sultry and elegant evocation which Pendulum would have loved to have sculpted.

    The album continues to fire up the passions and greed in an already gluttonous hunger as firstly the restrained but predatory Hacktivism with its unrelenting electro bait and metallic rabidity seduces and abrases the senses. Just as keenly a virulently addictive groove brings slavery to the imagination before the rhythmically toxic Spacetime Collapse takes over laying a wonderfully wanton and irresistible hand on the emotions as spirals of unpredictable transfixing ingenuity expand the already dexterous invention. With an additional dub coating to its expanse reminding at times of Ruts DC, the song provides another pinnacle on the lofty range of the album before the dark and menacing presence of Bloodline Crossbreed infects and magnetises an admittedly ready to drool over anything appetite for the album. Arguably not as colourfully imposing as previous tracks but with an evocative melody enriched ambience merging with the intensive atmosphere it is on the frontline of intriguing, sophisticated alchemy.

   That deliberately sculpted and thoughtfully layered turn of the album continues through the final two songs, though no song lacks invigorating intelligence and artful ingenuity in its makeup. The melancholic yet vibrantly rousing Absence Of Proof comes first with female calls lighting the surface of the emotive exploration lyrically and musically whilst the closing Tools Of Mass Creation delivers a world of sonic emprise all of its own, it a resourcefully elegant and vivaciously daring flight of moving imagination. The pair makes a mentally and emotionally mesmeric end to an exceptional encounter; Data Warfare a sensational dawning of Tribazik and their time to take the rock world by storm you suspect and hope.

http://www.tribazik.com

10/10

RingMaster 21/02/2014

 Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Semitt Falls – I Know Bear Heads

Like a great many we were impressed and excited by Monkey See, Monkey Do Doo, the debut album from UK band Semitt Falls. It was an unpredictable and inventive twisting of flavours and imagination which marked out a band with the potential to rise to major things. It also set a high benchmark for the band to follow but for the only time they meet expectations the Stockport quartet easily take that plateau and lose it in the wake of their scintillating new EP I Know Bear Heads. The four track release is a tremendous weave of captivating invention and busily flavoured enterprise which makes the earlier album look like mere foreplay to the main event. Fusing electro metal with more of its muscular cousins and then aligning them with a breath-taking web of genres such as drum and bass, hip-hop, dub, reggae, and dubstep, the band conjures a kaleidoscope of sound which tantalises and seduces whilst sparking a riot in the passions.

Semitt Falls was formed in 2012 by Paul Kendrick (guitar, vocals and programming) and Jay Kane (vocals, synths) after the demise of their previous band Halt Under Heavy Fire. Linking up with ex-Fortune Favours Nothing member Danny Houghton (drums) who since the EP release has left the band, and subsequently ex- Son of Shinobi Craig Gilroy (bass , vocals) after a few line-up changes, the quartet evolved an initially post-hardcore sound into a more electronic rock sculpted persuasion, a sound which has continued to move and change with every song and release. The release of Monkey See, Monkey Do Doo in May of last year thrust the band into a wider focus of attention with its intensive diversity and mouthwatering adventure but as mentioned it now seems just an appetiser for greater things from the band, a mightier exploration starting to confidently flex its muscle and invention upon I Know Bear Heads. With a line-up for the EP seeing bassist Sidge Rushton replacing the departed Gilroy, Semitt Falls have unveiled a riotous temptation which just will not take no for an answer.

The EP seizes ears, imagination, and passion right away with opener FIRE!FIRE!FIRE!, a track also featuring G.R.I.M. frontman Lance Hargreaves. Funnelling through a distantly starting corridor, riffs and vocals emerge in a flood of energy and transfixing sonic confrontation. Once fully exposed and immediately into its rampant stride the song sees mixed vocal squalls igniting the senses whilst resourceful riffery and a rhythmic cage sculpt compelling narratives to secure a swiftly brewed appetite for the song’s presence. Ripe with swipes of hip hop vocals, dubstep conjuring, and a metal bred antagonism the track is an irresistible rampage merging the electronic addictiveness of Pendulum with the punk metal of The Prodigy and Skindred. It is a thrilling introduction to the release breeding a keen hunger and greed for what is to come.

The following We Be Dinosaur takes little time in offering something different, a quality repeated from their previous album, every song a unique and individual character and proposition to the next. Opening with an evocative electronic caress with shards of crystalline causticity, the track at first has an Enter Shikari like coaxing to its offering though it is soon evolved into a stomp of ska and reggae fusion guided by excellent darker vocals and a delicious trombone croon from Rushton and Andy Jones. Adding some punk rapaciousness and electronic teasing to the impressive spread of vocals and exhilarating invention, the track roams and incites the passions like a mix of King Prawn, Hadouken, and Daft Punk with adding essences of Dizraeli and the Small Gods. It a glorious landscape of pleasure and imagination which takes the impressive start of the release up another notch or two in thought and creative wantonness.

The title track brings a less urgent presence to tempt the senses, vocals and guitars showing a more deliberate restraint to their enticement which the keys and vocals wrap in an evocation of sound and absorbing soak of emotion. With samples also adding their unique touch to the flowing musical narrative it is a strong and engaging encounter but one just failing to match the heady heights and quality of its predecessors. Nevertheless the song embraces focus and appetite tightly warming them up for the closing exploits of Global Warning. The final track retains the smouldering charms of the previous song whilst inviting the more predacious energy and snarl of the first two tracks, the result another incitement to launch a fresh breath of ardour for band and release even if again despite its glowing elegance and magnetic craft it just misses hitting those early plateaus.

Immediately a gripping and entrancing tempest of imaginative excitement, the EP just gets better and stronger with every traverse of its easily impressive body. Semitt Falls has all the potential and promise to be the next big thing in electro rock experimentation, something rigorously confirmed by I Know Bear Heads.

http://www.semittfalls.com

Get the I Know Bear Heads EP as a buy now name your price at http://semittfalls.bandcamp.com/album/i-know-bear-heads-ep

9/10

RingMaster 17/12/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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