And there’s something for everyone on another Super Sunday with young Brits BlackWolf leading the charge.
We check out new music from Skintrade (pictured), The Crimson Projeckt and Bigelf.
Plus we review and rate the latest sounds by Incura, Destrage, Earth Crisis and Mount Salem.
And there’s live music from Blues Pills plus a trip down memory lane with Flotsam And Jetsam.
Every Sunday we reveal the RUSHONROCK RECORD OF THE WEEK. And we round up the very BEST OF THE REST.
RUSHONROCK RECORD OF THE WEEK
BlackWolf – The Hunt (Self-Released)
Genre: Classic Rock
It’s official: British classic rock is in rude health right now. Following hot on the heels of RUSHONROCK-approved riff masters Buffalo Summer, The Temperance Movement and Heaven’s Basement come BlackWolf – a classy quintet already beloved of headline acts across the nation.
Channeling his inner Plant, Myles Kennedy and Chris Robertson, emotive frontman Scott Sharp has the potential to develop into one of the finest homegrown vocal talents since Toby Jepson and Danny Bowes blazed a trail across the UK in the early 90s.
But the real ace in the BlackWolf pack is lead guitarist John Greenhill. His solo work is simply jaw-dropping and in combination with rhythm guitarist Jason Cronin it’s easy to imagine Robertson and Gorham in their Thin Lizzy glory days.
Opener and lead single Mr Maker is mediocre by comparison to many of the better songs on The Hunt. Moving Mountains, Faith In Me and Sleepwalking showcase BlackWolf as a band surely destined for world domination. Simon Rushworth
RUSHONROCK RATED: 10/10 Hunt Is On
BEST OF THE REST
Blues Pills – Live At Rockpalast (Nuclear Blast)
Genre: Blues Rock
Buzz band Blues Pills are playing a canny game as they build up to the release of their hugely anticipated full-length debut.
Drip feeding a few tantalising taster tracks, via a couple of neatly marketed EPs, has done the trick. Demand for these retro-fuelled cosmopolitan rockers is reaching fever pitch and this four-track live record only adds to the sense of sweet anticipation.
Elin Larsson is a genuine find: take one look at her and it’s impossible to imagine the haunting, heavy blues that pours forth from a set of lungs way beyond her years.
The power behind Black Smoke and Little Sun is frightening. So is the potential of this killer quartet. SR
RUSHONROCK RATED: 9/10 Blues Light
Incura – Incura (Inside Out)
Genre: Prog Rock/Pomp Rock
Who You Are is pitched somewhere between a Rocky Horror Show rehearsal, a Freddie Mercury soundcheck and a Rush remix – four tracks into Incura’s self-titled debut, it’s a sensational fusion of the progressive, the pomp-fuelled and the plain bonkers.
The Canadian quintet – featuring the occasionally shrieky Kyle Gruninger on lead vocals – refuse to be limited by convention. No sooner has Who You Are come to a suitably grandiose conclusion than the nu-metal flavoured Turning Blue blasts a great big hole in any lazy preconceptions threatening to cloud your judgement.
Such is the energy and invention underpinning a wonderfully bold release it’s safe to say this lot will rip it up live. Even on the piano-led Muse-like intro to Decide the effervescent Gruninger manages to play a blinder. Brilliant, bizarre and begging for a bigger stage. SR
RUSHONROCK RATED: 10/10 Incura Fits All
Mount Salem – Endless (Metal Blade)
Genre: Occult Rock
There seems to be no stopping the so-called occult rock movement: from the dark pop of Ghost to the psychedelica of Purson, it’s all the rage. And given the sheer quality of music on offer, that’s no bad thing.
Newcomers Mount Salem certainly have all the right ingredients floating around their witch’s cauldron to make their mark on the scene – warm, musty guitar toes, Hammond organ embellishments, effortlessly cool female vocals ( courtesy of the brilliant Emily Kopplin) and on tracks like Lucid, a real mastery of doom dynamics.
What Mount Salem lack though – compared to contemporaries like Blood Ceremony – is an otherworldly, ‘magic’ element that might lift their retro rock to even greater heights.
That said, the Chicago quartet have conjured up a solid effort here and Endless certainly hints at greater things to come. Ones to watch. Richard Holmes
RUSHONROCK RATED: 6.5/10 Salem’s Lot
Destrage – Are You Kidding Me? No (Metal Blade)
Genre: Metal
A stylistic mash up of prog, melodic hard rock, state-of-the-art metal, electronica and God knows what else, Are You Kidding Me? No is a musical playground for its undoubtedly talented creators. Opener Destroy Create Transform Sublimate is a prime example of the Milan act’s mind-boggling experimentalism, throwing djent, breakbeat and symphonic metal together in just over five minutes of mayhem.
The problem is that Destrage’s wackiness can really grate – which is a shame as beneath all the histrionics is a damn fine band waiting to get out. A band that can clearly write a riff or two, as well as a great chorus (Where The Things Have No Colour is stunning). A band with some serious talent in their ranks.
Some listeners will ‘get’ this, others won’t get past the first track. But you doubt Destrage would really care. Intriguing stuff, but not necessarily enjoyable. RH
RUSHONROCK RATED: 4/10 Kidding Around
Flotsam and Jetsam – No Place For Disgrace 2014 (Metal Blade)
Genre: Thrash Metal
Re-recording classic material can have mixed results, with the outcome often being derided as either pointless or lacking the ‘soul’ of the original recordings.
That hasn’t stopped grizzled US metallers Flotsam And Jetsam re-visiting their 1988, sophomore effort, No Place For Disgrace, however, and the new version’s razor sharp riffing, brought right to the fore on the title track and Dreams Of Death, has lost none of its viciousness in the process.
For anyone disappointed by 2013’s pedestrian Ugly Noise, No Place For Disgrace 2014 is a reminder that the spirit of thrash is still alive and kicking in Flotsam And Jetsam (dodgy cover of Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting) aside), even if that doesn’t translate to their more recent material.
Intended to enhance the album, rather than change it, the re-recording has, by on large, worked well… and while No Place… will never match the band’s debut, Doomsday For The Deceiver, in cult status, it deserves a second chance. RH
RUSHONROCK RATED: 6/10 Disgrace-full
Earth Crisis – Salvation Of Innocents (Candlelight)
Genre: Metallic Hardcore
Metallic hardcore boasts few bands more punishing – or committed to their cause – as Earth Crisis. Since 1989, their impassioned music has dealt head-on with issues such as animal rights and environmental destruction… and on album number eight, the US act show no signs of letting up.
Launched in conjunction with the fifth edition of vigilante-themed comic series, Liberator, Salvation Of Innocents is a hardcore fireball, a maelstrom of crunching, brutal riffs topped with the heartfelt vocals of Karl Buechner.
There are plenty of highlights among its 12 tracks (veterans like Earth Crisis don’t do filler), but The Pallid Surgeon stands out for its incendiary axework, while Devoted To Death boasts a hook Manny Pacquiao would be proud of.
An album full of anger and searing aggression, Salvation Of Innocents is a worthy addition to the Crisis canon, and proof that the gnarly quintet can still deliver the goods. RH
RUSHONROCK RATED: 7.5/10 Earthquake
Skintrade – Refueled (AOR Heaven)
Genre: Hard Rock
Most recently seen and heard fronting the fabulous Red, White And Blues, the ubiquitous Matt Alfonzetti is back with the reformed and revitalised Skintrade. Leaning heavily on hard rock’s US standards, Refueled is a rousing example of the singer’s vocal dexterity and devilish charm.
There’s no doubt Alfonzetti deserves acclaim as one of the finest frontmen of his generation and just why the former Jagged Edge favourite never quite hit the big time remains one of rock’s more painful mysteries.
Refueled solves nothing. Alfonzetti is in fine form on opener Monster and rips through Hardcore MF Heart Attack as if his life depends upon it. Yet those who truly appreciate the veteran singer may find the guitars too loud and the bass too invasive. It’s as if Skintrade don’t truly recognise the value of their obvious USP.
Even Close My Eyes is heavier than it should be – Refueled is more Black Stone Cherry than Bad Company but Alfonzetti copes just fine. It’s good to have him back – let’s hope he’s back for good. SR
RUSHONROCK RATED: 8/10 Trade Craft
Bigelf – Into The Maelstrom (Inside Out)
Genre: Prog Rock/Psychedlic Rock
It seems like an eternity since Bigelf’s Cheat The Gallows caused quite a stir on Classic Rock Magazine’s short-lived Powerage imprint.
In reality it’s five years since the UK release of what looked like being the breakthrough album for the brainchild of wacky frontman Damon Fox.
The good news is that nothing’s changed in terms of Bigelf’s desire to create a sonic explosion inspired by Hawkwind, Sabbath and the Beatles.
The spacey Hypersleep sounds like Ozzy dueting with Julian Lennon (it’s all Fox as far as we can tell) with those responsible for the Beeb’s 70s cult sci-fi classics twiddling their studio knobs in the background.
Bigelf were big news back in 2009. Now that Fox has deemed it time to revive the band (with Mike Portnoy starring here as a session drummer) the only question is: does anybody care anymore? SR
RUSHONROCK RATED: 7/10 Elf Warning
The Crimson Projeckt – Live In Tokyo (Inside Out)
Genre: Progressive Rock
King Crimson lives on through the ‘double trio’ live band that continues to garner critical acclaim on tours across the US and Japan.
With Robert Fripp no longer willing to bounce from city to city playing the Crimson classics, it’s down to a core of Tony Levin, Adrian Belew and Pat Mastelotto to keep the legacy alive: this incredibly accomplished set proves there’s life in the kingdom yet.
The percussion on opener B’Boom is impossibly precise and perfectly timed. Played through a high-end audio system it has the potential to blow even the most cynical of minds.
Penultimate track Red will have would-be progsters weeping into the night such is its peerless quality. It’s an artistic triumph unleashing the full power of the electric guitar as an instrument from which fantasies are born. And it’s on repeat right now. SR
RUSHONROCK RATED: 8/10 King For A Day