Biters - Electric Blood (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock

Label - Earache Records

 

Track listing:

 

01 - Restless Hearts
02 - 1975
03 - Heart Fulla Rock 'N Roll
04 - Dreams Don't Die
05 - Electric Blood
06 - The Kids Ain't Alright
07 - Low Lives In Hi Definition
08 - Time To Bleed
09 - Loose From The Noose
10 - Space Age Wasteland

 

Biters are a hard rock band hailing from Atlanta (USA) and are hell bent on reviving the good old days of classic hard rock, together with quite a few other bands today, you could say that there is a nice little scene growing worldwide. Many bands struggle to make an impression with early albums due to lack of direction and personality but this is definitely not the case with Biters. Their songs are focused and have a maturity about them that really should be a young bands debut album, yet clearly isn't in this case.

Electric Blood is packed to the brim with huge catchy chorus's and melodic riffs,  album opener, "Restless Hearts", is a positive, punchy and catchy rock n’ roll number, "1975" follows with its huge chorus and a groove, that although disciplined, will get those feet tapping, I guarantee!

"Heart Fulla Rock N’ Roll" brings with it some nostalgia and an impression of the spirit of what Biters are all about, while the enigmatic and heartfelt "Dreams Don’t Die" adds a real sense of class and sophistication to proceedings. "Low Lives In High Definition" adds some pacey riffs to the mix, whilst "The Kids Ain’t Alright" really mixes things up, starting out as a heart touching ballad before bursting into life in the form of a massive arena-filling anthem. Great song!

 Biters are a great band and Electric Blood is a very good album that manages to cover all the bases, even managing to sound familiar upon the first listen.

 

Well Worth Checking Out!

 

Rating - 9/10

 

 

 

Love Zombies - Be Honest EP (2015)

Genre - Rock / Pop / Punk / Powerpop

Label - Strange World

Track listing:

01 - Be Honest

02 - International Bug

03 - Teleportation

"The Love Zombies are a five piece band from Brixton fronted by American singer Hollis J. (who will soon be sharing the stage with Ginger Wildheart as part of his Hey! Hello! project replacing Victoria). The band mixes punk rock energy and catchy melodies together with a 70's glam rock feel with influences ranging from the Ramones and Sex Pistols to the Beach Boys, Monkees and The Beatles."

With this EP Love Zombies show themselves to be the complete package, mixing their blend of punk pop and glam to create something magical and rather unique in todays music scene.
'Be Honest' opens up this three track EP, with its 60's americarna pop influenced lead vocal line and pop sensibilities, think a polished Ramones or mellow Beach Boys.
'International Bug' follows in much the same vein, light and bouncy, great song and great performances all round.
'Teleportation' closes out the Ep and is probably the most rocking of all three tracks on offer here. A Great song that just grooves along.

Great debut EP from one of the UK's most promising Power-pop bands.

Well worth checking out

Rating - 9/10

Buckcherry - Rock 'N' Roll (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock / Rock

Label - Pledge Music / F-Bomb

 

Track listing:

01 - Bring It On Back
02 - Tight Pants
03 - Wish To Carry On
04 - The Feeling Never Dies
05 - Cradle
06 - The Madness
07 - Wood
08 - Rain's Falling
09 - Sex Appeal
10 - Get With It
11 - I've Done Everything For You [Japan Bonus Track]
12 - Mama Kin [Japanese Bonus Track]
13 - Cannonball [Best Buy only Bonus Track]

One of the greatest clichés in Rock music or brave statement of intent? That's the question that I ask myself whenever an artist labels the song or album Rock 'N' Roll. I mean just look at the pedigree that it has to live up too from previous greats suck as AC/DC, Kiss, Led Zepplin and such. In this case I believe that its a statement of intent with Buckcherry, but do they pull it off?
Well to be fair, yes. Rock 'N' Roll is the bands sixth album and follows hot on the heals of last years 'Fuck' Ep and the pledge exclusive 'Singles Club'.
From the start, with 'Bring It On Back', you get classic American hard rock that hearken back to Eighties glory days.  'Tight Pants', is a typical Buckcherry lusty ode to the ladies, with a rockin' groove, that comes complete with a horn section. Sex and sax. Can't beat that for a combination!
 Another lascivious rock behemoth is 'Sex Appeal', where the rhythm section, bass and drums, lay down this infectious beat and groove for this fast paced song. After this other rockers include the raucous 'Get With It', speedy riff heavy 'The Madness', and 'Wood', with some solid gang vocals in a dense arrangement.
Alternatively, there some additional variety. 'Wish To Carry On', while definitely hard rock, puts the focus more onto the melody and harmony.  The guys take their foot off of the gas for 'The Feeling Never Dies' and 'Rain’s Falling', two beautiful songs that just invite the listener to kick back, relax and reflect a while.
On a whole  "Rock N Roll" is a feel-good rockin' album that is an excellent summertime soundtrack.
Fans will love "Rock 'N' Roll" and it may even draw in a few new fans.

Well worth checking out

Rating - 9/10

Act Of Defiance - Birth and the Burial (2015)

Genre - Heavy Metal / Thrash / Extreme Metal / Metalcore

Label - Metal Blade Records

 

Track listing:

01 - Throwback

02 - Legion Of Lies

03 - Thy Lord Belial

04 - Refrain and Re-fracture

05 - Dead Stare

06 - Disastrophe (A New Reality)

07 - Poison Dream

08 - Obey The Fallen

09 - Crimson Psalm

10 - Birth and the Burial

Birth and the Burial is the debut studio album by American heavy metal super group Act of Defiance. It was released on August 21, 2015 through Metal Blade Records.
Act of Defiance is an American extreme metal super group from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2014 by former Megadeth members Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover, former Scar the Martyr front man Henry Derek and Shadows Fall guitarist Matt Bachand.
With such  pedigree within its ranks you would expect the debut album from Act of Defiance to be something a little special, and that it is!
Opener 'Throwback' really sets the scene, pounding riffs and Derek's vocals set to tear your face off, a great start. 'Legion of Lies' follows, and is more of the same, although I have to be honest I could really see the legendary King Diamond providing a great vocal line for this song, but to be fair Derek does and bloody magnificent job himself!
'Refrain and Re-fracture' provides a little contrast to the proceedings with its acoustic intro before launching into a great Megadeth type of riff. Mustaine will  be jealous of this one, I'm certain.
'Dead Stare' is out and out thrash at its finest!
'Disastrophe' continues in the same vein as its predecessors whilst 'Poison Dream' opens up with a piano and Cello intro adding more texture to the song and album. 'Obey The Fallen' is probably the most commercially accessible track on offer here and is till a bloody fine piece of metal! 'Crimson Psalm' is another fine piece of metal that grinds along its groove whilst the albums closer, and title track, 'Birth and the Burial' is just brilliant.

In short, with Birth and the Burial, Act Of Defiance have produced the album that the four heavy weights of the thrash genre, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax wish they were (and hope they are) still capable of!

Very Highly recommended

Rating - 10/10

 

Motorhead - Bad Magic (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal / Hard N Heavy

Label - UDR

 

Track listing:

 

01 - Victory Or Die

02 - Thunder And Lighning

03 - Fire Storm Hotel

04 - Shoot Out All Of Your Lights

05 - The Devil (feat Queen's Brian May)

06 - Electricity

07 - Evil Eye

08 - Teach Them How To Bleed

09 - Till The End

10 - Tell Me Who To Kill

11 - Choking On Your Screams

12 - When The Sky Come Looking For You

13 - Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones Cover)

 

Motorhead are back! And by god are they back with quite simply their best album  in decades. Don't go into listening to Bad Magic expecting to hear something new and ground breaking, its simply Lemmy and Co doing what they do best, raw dirty hard hitting rawk n roll.

Bad Magic opens with 'Victory Or Die', a typically feisty Motorhead number with Lemmy barking out the vocals. This then leads into 'Thunder & Lightening' which finds the guys in full flight with a huge riff from the Welsh wizard, Phil Campbell, a classic Motorhead track. With these two tracks you kind of get the feel of how this album is going. Sure there's plenty of variation on offer, the blistering 'Shoot Out All Your Lights', 'The Devil', a sleazy bluesy rocker with a great solo courtesy of Queen's Brian May to the half ballad 'Till The End', which sees Lemmy in fine voice. Hell for a gent of Seventy years of age he still rocks better than most today.

Bad Magic is the album that Motorhead have been threatening to make for the past few years and would be a fitting album for the God Fathers of metal to bow out on should they so desire (if Lemmy's health doesn't force the issue).

 

Very Highly Recommended



Rating - 10/10

Bon Jovi - Burning Bridges (2015)

 

Genre - Melodic Rock / Pop

Label - Mercury Records

 

Track listing:

01 - A Tear Drop To The Sea

02 - We Don't Run

03 - Saturday Night Gave Me Sunday Morning

04 - We All Fall Down

05 - Blind Love

06 - Who Would You Die For

07 - Fingerprints

08 - Life Is Beautiful

09 - I'm Your Man

10 - Burning Bridges

 

 

Bon Jovi return with not so much a new album, but a new album that is made up of left over, previously unfinished songs from previous recording sessions, (something that is alluded to in the albums title track, 'Burning Bridges'). It has to be said, that although Burning Bridges is basically a contractual obligation filling release, it is also one of the best Bon Jovi releases that I have heard in a long, long time.

The album opens with the moody atmospheric 'A Tear Drop To The Sea', which see's the guys treading the slow ballady material that they do so well, but this is one of the strongest tracks that I have heard from them in years. A Great start!

Next up is the new song, 'We Don't Run'. which is very much a modern rocking song.

Melodic rocker 'Saturday Night Gave Me Sunday Morning' follows, before 'We All Fall Down' slows the tempo a little once more. To be honest I could make mention of all ten tracks on offer here as they are all great songs, many of which I believe will become certified Bon Jovi classics.

Other stand out tracks include, 'Who Would You Die For?' and 'Fingerprints', two absolutely brilliant songs.

In fact this is simply the best album Bon Jovi has released in the last twenty years.

I cant recommend this album highly enough, whether you are fan of Bon Jovi or just melodic rock in general, you simply aren't going to hear a better album this year!

 

Very Highly Recommended

 

Rating  - 10/10

 

Role Models - The Go To Guy (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock / Punk / Powerpop

Label - Glunk records (UK)

Track listing:

01 - Lie For Today

02 - Saturday Night Sailor

03 - Show Me

04 - The Go To Guy

05 - Nowhere

06 - The Jerk

07 - Cherry Dear

08 - (Where They Half) Know My Name

09 - Reality Holiday

10 - Lets Get Started

11 - Leave Tonight

 

Role Models are a London based band led by the ever so talented Rich Rags (ex Loyalties) and featuring the talents of,  Nick Hughes (guitar, vocals, other stuff), Husayn, (bass) and Simon Maxwell (drums), and  The Go To Guy is their rather excellent debut album!

From the opening beats of Lie For Today through to the closing refrains of Leave Tonight the sheer quality of the songs on offer here never drops. The Go To Guy is quite simply power-pop perfection, with just the right measure of punk attitude and good old rock sleaze in the mix to make it one of the best albums of the year so far, and one of the best debut albums that I can remember!

The song writing is exquisite, the musicianship top notch throughout and Andy Brook together with bass player Husayn, has done an excellent job with the albums production.

You owe to yourselves to give this album a spin, you'll simply love it, I guarantee it!

 

Rating - 10/10