Curated by DJ Astrocreep
It’s DJ Astrocreep back on the wheels of steel and our virtual bar is back open for business once more. Monk is manning the bar this time, so get your contactless payment ready, keep your physical distance and lets’ get straight into our rundown of the latest and greatest singles to arrive amongst the 300 in the ÜR mailbox over the last couple of weeks.
First up we have modern rockers American Dream Machine, who seem to channel early 2000s alternative with occasional heavier vocals in latest single ‘New Apocalypse’. An infectious tune with a driven pace, it’s a song of positivity, despite its title!
Turning up the heaviness, we have sci-fi shredding tech deathers Xoth‘s latest effort, ‘Casting The Sigil’. Comprehensible growls, serious shredding and some damn technical tones combine for a rather enjoyable track!
Metalcore often isn’t generally my kind of thing, but the sheer ferocity and skull crushing heaviness of Emmure‘s ‘Uncontrollable Descent’ – clearly into some demon infested pit, judging by this track – definitely ranks as something I can seriously get my head into.
Shit Tinnies may sound like some booze you might leave until last, but they certainly have a ‘Point to Prove’ with their latest track, returning to the Club for the second consecutive playlisting to demonstrate that heavy punk rock is still flourishing, with a crossover metal and ska element to their song writing providing a great exmaple of how a bit of musical fusion can truly make you stand out!
Swiss heavy rockers Snurfu are our next port of call, with ‘No Fucks Given’ sounding exactly like something you would imagine from a title like that. Hard rock with an evil tone at its best!
You don’t need me to tell you that the collective of musicians known as Black Star Riders have a considerable heritage between them, and this shows clearly in ‘Candidate for Heartbreak’, their latest classic rock track, which was a bonus song on the limited edition version of their last album, ‘Another State Of Grace‘. All the groove and ability you would expect from such veterans with a real earworm of a track!
As desert rock goes, having friends from QOTSA, Kyuss, Danzig and Screaming Trees – among a plethora of others – makes for the delightful cooking pot of influences that is Patrón, another group returning to the Club, this time showing quite how they are a ‘Very Bad Boy’ in this latest song. The sound comes across like a mid-era QOTSA track – think ‘3s and 7s’ – mixed into something a touch more laid back!
Another punk track, this one injecting some of the fun of the early 2000s into a more old school sound as Girl Friday are thinking about ‘Amber’s Knees: A Matter of Concern’. Hooky guitars, driving bass and melodic vocals combine for a rather entrancing introduction to the band!
‘The Road To Right’ is Über fave Jamie Lenman‘s latest single and it quickly shows how is he garnering such widespread acclaim. Like a punk-tinged Pixies, utilising the soft/loud technique they used to such distinction, it’s going to be buried so deep in your head you’ll need a lobotomy to get it out!
Back now to a band I spoke with at HRH Metal in Birmingham earlier this year, as Blackpool upstarts Avarus are back with another single, with their collective ability at such a tender stage of their career leaving me somewhat ‘In Disbelief’. Taking Avenged Sevenfold melodies, mixing in a couple of hard rock licks and some early a7x metalcore, it’s another well woven track from the up and comers.
Jangly post-hardcore at its finest is something I would attirbute to Fall Of Messiah and their latest effort ‘Contreforts’. Mixing in soft, almost post-rock melodies at times to their heavier, much more aggressive side gives us something that doesn’t make you headbang so much as grab your ears and yank your head every which direction at the same time.
Let’s go for something a bit more melodic now, with Graveshadow and their latest symphonic metal track ‘Gwynnbleidd’. All the hallmarks of what you would expect from a band that mix symphonic and power metal so well, with lyrics that refer to ‘The Witcher’, adding to their strong gaming and sci-fi influences.
Like Alice in Chains on acid, The King’s Head have created something that shares all the darker side of alt-rock and vocal harmonies the the legendary act have produced for so many years, while adding something almost a touch prog-like to the mix. Considering this comes from their forthcoming debut release smacks of something to pay serious attention to.
The Tom Killner Band are clearly intent on bringing some Jimi Hendrix inspired blues rock back to the fore, doing a damn good job of it in ‘When Love Comes For You’, a tweak of one of his fan favourites in a live setting!
While we’re on it, let’s have some garage inspired power-pop from The Real Impossibles frontman, Marc Platt, on his blues-tinged track ‘Lonely Avenue’, a tale of isolation and frustration in a manner that would befit Nick Cave and his renowned skills of songwriting.
A track from prog debutants Lufeh now, as I ‘Find My Way’ straight into being earwormed by their Prog metal goodness. Guitar solos that sound like they’ve been written by some of the hard rock greats, with plenty of atmospheric synths and across the board able musicianship means this one was a sure fire hit from the off!
Heavy psych rock act Mothers Of The Land have set up their ‘Sanctuary’ for their new release, with an epic track that owes as much to the Thin Lizzy twin lead guitar harmonies as it does to the proto-prog of the original Iron Maiden (not the one we now know!) in its creation. Delicate harmonies entwine with truly well crafted instruentals to set up the ambience of a track that tells its own tale.
Our penultimate track leaves me thinking progressive death metal has rarely sounded as good as Mexican act Anima Tempo do when introducing their ‘Deceitful Idols’, mixing the melodies of classic prog acts with something far more heavy and technical, in a manner that does them great justice.
Finally, it comes time to draw The Sword, who mark the immenent release of not one but two retrospective boxset collections with a track that was previously only released in Japan, by the name of ‘Daughter Of Dawn’. It bears all their usual hallmarks, strong melodies, real groove and real riffing – a perfect way to close off the latest Singles Club!
So, that’s it for another busy week. The shutters are down, Kevin is doing the clearing up, and it will seem like no time until Monk is back behind the deathdecks bringing the latest slices of rock ‘n’ roll goodness to come our way over the course of the next fortnight. Until then, in time-honoured ÜR style, keep ‘er lit, keep ‘er between the hedges – and #StaySafe.
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