THE LOUDER STUFF
ACCEPT – Teutonic Titans 1976-2026
Re-recording the old hits to celebrate their 50th anniversary with a list of special guests that looks like metal’s Hall of Fame (everyone from Phil Anselmo and Rob Halford to Kirk Hammett and Jeff Loomis is here). Of course we prefer the originals, but the material is so strong that you can’t go wrong with it. (8)
AUDREY HORNE – Achilles
The Night Flight Orchestra playing Iron Maiden covers, or vice versa. (7)
BEHEMOTH – I, Scvlptor
A few new tracks, a couple of re-recordings, and covers of Venom and Bathory classics. A welcome bridge between proper albums for the death/black behemoths. (8)
CHAT PILE – Who Loves The Sun
I’ve seen the words “sludge metal” being thrown around a lot when describing these guys, but really, they sound more like a cross between The Jesus Lizard and a funnier Korn, a combination I never thought could work this spectacularly. (8)
GREEN LUNG – Necropolitan
They often get compared to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, but they’re really more Uriah Heep meets “Queen II”. Strong, catchy album by the UK’s best bet to develop a future metal festival headliner. (8)
KULTUR SHOCK – House Of Shock
I had no idea these guys were still around, I lost track of them 15 years ago. They’re still doing the “gypsy punk” thing that was popular at the turn of the century, and they’re better at it than most of their peers who are still around. (7)
PRESIDENT – Blood Of Your Empire
This is such an obvious fucking rip-off that I don’t care if these bandwagon jumpers are an industry plant or not, and the original they’re ripping off is not that great anyway. (3)
SLEEP – Hempispheres
They’ve always been all about rehashed Sabbath grooves and bad weed puns and that’s fine, but it’s just not the same without Matt Pike. (7)
VARIOUS ARTISTS –Yeah Man, It's Bloody Heavy!! Vol 2
Rise Above strikes again with another compilation of totally unknown British proto-metal bands that never officially released anything – all the recordings here were taken from 70’s demos. No idea how they unearth this stuff. (11)
THE OTHER STUFF
BRIAN FALLON – Not Bad For New Jersey
The original “punk guy who also likes Springsteen”, The Gaslight Anthem’s Fallon is back with a catchy and practically AOR record – this is much more Bryan Adams than Ryan Adams and even features Def Leppard’s Phil Collen as a guest. (8)
POKEY LAFARGE – Rent Money
I like this guy and his retro-Americana and the way he carved a nice little niche for himself. His songs sound they were created in the 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, and 2030’s simultaneously. (8)
ORQUESTA AKOKÁN – América
Really fun album by a Latin jazz/mambo big band featuring musicians from New York and Cuba. Play this at your next cocktail party. (8)
THE TUBS – Hard Life
Mentioning Bob Mould when talking about The Tubs is inevitable, but it goes deeper than the voice similarities – if it wasn’t enough that Sugar’s “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” seems to be the template for this band, now he’s quoting that particular song directly so apparently he doesn’t mind the comparisons. In any case it doesn’t matter much because this is probably the best British indie rock band around right now. (8)
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