Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a good Christmas and all that. Now it's time to suffer some misery and yearn for the pay day that can't possibly still be over a fortnight away. By, January isn't half shit.
So yeah, if you're poor and sad like me then perhaps the second blog featuring tracks from albums that I liked last year will offer some sweet respite? It'll pass an hour or so for you if nothing else.
The first blog can be read
HERE if you haven't already seen it and want to.
I've got a few themed blogs planned for the coming year, I was toying with the idea of a Profanity strewn mix and also one with songs of a depression/suicide theme. I should probably do something a little more cheerful too. I'll also likely be doing more mixes of Cover versions, B-sides and Rarities and Band Best Ofs. One thing I've not done yet is a genre specific blog so I might look into that too.
There's plenty to come over the next year then, in fact, the next mix will only be a week or so away hopefully, there's no specific theme for that one but I've about settled on the tracklisting for it. IT'll be the 20th Blog, a milestone!
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one.
Cheers,
Luke
Tracklisting
Katatonia - Old Heart Falls
Leo Moracchioli - Royals
CJ Wildheart - Light It Up
Periphery - Motormouth
The Divine Comedy - How Can You Leave Me On My Own
Devin Townsend - Gump
Twin Atlantic - The Chaser
Muncie Girls - Gas Mark 4
Drama Club Rejects - Idiot Brigade
Metallica - Spit Out The Bone
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
Ignite - Alive
Hey! Hello! - Kids
Beyond The Black - Heaven In Hell
Prong - Without Words
The Baseballs - Never Ever
The Dowling Poole - When She Knows, She Knows
She Loves Pablo - Inheritance (To The Desert Jackals)
Megadeth - Bullet To The Brain
The Prettiots - Me And Little Andy
You can download the mix
HERE and read more about each album below. Ta!
Katatonia - The Fall Of Hearts
These Swedish Doom/Progressive veterans have released another of stylish and classy melancholia, their best for quite a while now. It takes a couple of listens to properly sink in but it's a beautiful, soothing album that deserves for you to let it.
Leo Moracchioli - Leo Metal Covers Volume 9
I stumbled onto Leo and his metal covers of mostly Pop songs whilst bumbling through Youtube. He churns out these songs at an impressive rate, releasing ten albums worth since 2014. He sings and plays everything as well as recording it in his own studio. A lot of these songs work really well as, for the most part, he plays them fairly straight. The quality of some of the songwriting shines through on tracks like Royals that I've included in this mix and they become really great Rock songs.
CJ Wildheart - Robot
The second solo album from The Wildhearts guitarist is much more in keeping with the weighty Punk Metal of his day job rather than his previous releases like his last album, Mable as well as older projects like CJ & The Satellites and especially The Jellys. There's still plenty of quirkiness and sugary choruses plus CJ's vocals are never going to be the most brutal of tones but this album has a lot of bite to it too.
Periphery - Periphery III: Select Difficulty
Speaking of bite, there's plenty to be had on the current release from this Djent/Progressive Metal band. This isn't actually their third album but the fifth. I find that irritating. The music is anything but. though; it's equally technical and brutish. Melodic but aggressive. Spencer Sotelo switches effortlessly between growls and an impressive soaring clean vocal. I found this album much more engaging than their last two, Juggernaut: Alpha and Juggernaut: Omega for some reason. Not that they were bad by any means, I just seemed to struggle to get into the,. No such problem here.
The Divine Comedy - Foreverland
Foreverland is the first album in 6 years and it's good to have Neil Hannon and his peculiar little Indie Folk Pop songs back. It's full of charming, pretty and humorous songs, all with Neil's clever and articulate lyrics.
Devin Townsend - Transcendence
The umpteenth album by this Canadian genius is another effortlessly fantastic collection of atmospheric Progressive Metal. The song I've featured on the mix (Gump)is taken from Holding Patterns, a bonus disc of extra material that came with the deluxe version. It's as good as any of the album tracks proper in my opinion.
Twin Atlantic - GLA
The fourth album by these Glaswegian Indie Rockers is perhaps not as good as the last couple of albums and the guitar has a weird, almost synthesized tone to it but there's still some cracking songs and big choruses to be found.
Muncie Girls - From Caplan To Belsize
Another band I found on pottering about on Youtube at 3 AM on night shifts. This Indie/Punk trio from Exeter have some great songs and Vocalist/Bassist Lande Hekt's accent comes out just enough to give them an interesting quirk and not seem affected, There's hints of Bratmobile/Sleater-Kinney style Riot Grrrl to their sound too but still sounds current.
Drama Club Rejects - Drama Club Rejects
Drama Club Rejects are a new band from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne formed by former Whatever men, Nick Parsons and Stidi. They don't sound too dissimilar to that outfit really; crunchy Punk Metal with big riffs, lots of melody and singalong choruses. It's a really strong debut with no weak tracks
Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct
I've always thought latter-day Metallica get a hard time, even St. Anger wasn't THAT bad. As for Hardwired, yeah it's no Ride The Lightning and there are a couple of plodding songs that are mostly a little too long. That album artwork is awful and the title is a bit shit if only for them ellipsy whatnots. Apart from all that there are some great songs on offer and if this were released by some other band then we'd be singing their praises. it's a solid album that could use some pruning and tweaking that's all.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
The sixteenth album by Nick Cave continues the mellower feel started with Push The Sky Away. It was recorded just after the death of his son and that's obviously reflected in both the lyrics and the tone of the album. It's not an easy listen by any means, often a harrowing one, but it's a great album that's both cathartic and moving.
Ignite - A War Against You
It may be an unusual choice but this was my favourite album of 2016. It was Ignite's first album in 10 years but picks up directly after the equally good Our Darkest Days. it's non-stop, high-quality Post Hardcore, vocalist Zoltan is an incredible singer, some songs regard his Hungarian family emigrating to America, some are political and others, like the track I've included here, are positive and life-affirming. I just hope it's not 10 years until the next one.
Hey! Hello! - Too!
There seems to be a lot of bands featuring ex or current members of The Wildhearts on this mix, this being the fourth of five. Maybe I should have spread them out better over the two blogs. Anyway, Hey! Hello! are one of many projects by Ginger Wildheart, this is wholly different to his recently released Mutation project. Whereas that is a violent, angry, glorious noise, Hey! Hello! is pure Pop Rock. Due to last minute vocalist issues Too! features a variety of guest vocals as well as the entire band getting to sing at some point. There are no bad songs but the multi-vocalist thing gives it a lack of cohesion. Hopefully by Three! they'll have further solidified their line up.
Beyond The Black - Lost In Forever
Beyond The Black are a German Symphonic Metal band who formed in 2014 and Lost In Forever is their second album, both are really good. Vocalist Jennifer Haben is a former talent show contestant winner and was in a girl band for a while though Beyond The Black are a world away from that. Musically it's fairly standard Gothic Metal fare but it's fairly guitar heavy and there are a few cool riffs knocking around. The songs are massive and sound like Eurovision power ballads given a Metal rework. That's a good thing!
Prong - X: No Absolutes
The tenth album by these Hardcore/Industrial/Groove Metal legends is actually their eleventh unless you discount last year's cover album Songs From The Black Hole. No Absolutes sees a shift towards Thrash Metal that suits Victor's instantly recognisable voice well. One of my main complaints with their previous proper album Ruining Lives was that it was a bit samey. That's something that's been addressed here and there's even a ballad. It's finally a proper return to form.
The Baseballs - Hit Me Baby...
I've been listening to The Baseballs a lot lately, they're a vocal trio from Germany who sing Rockabilly version of contemporary Pop songs. They're guaranteed to put a smile on your face and this, their fourth album, features mainly songs from the nineties so there's glorious version of songs like Wannabe, The Sign, Back For Good, Survivor, I Believe I Can Fly and the song I've included on this mix, Never Ever.
The Dowling Poole - One Hyde Park
The last of The Wildhearts spin off bands, The Dowling Poole is a collaboration between current bassist Jon Poole and former Honeycrack (another Wildhearts spin-off. Honestly, I could easily do a mix compiled solely of bands featuring members of The Wildhearts) Willie Dowling. Both sing and play a variety of instruments in this entertaining, intelligent and slightly odd collection of Power Pop.
She Loves Pablo - Try Mandarin
She Loves Pablo are a Stoner Rock/Alternative Metal band from Croatia and this, their third album, is a strange one. There's plenty of riffs, memorable song and vocalist/guitarist Domogoj Simek has a great voice but, I dunno if it's due to cultural difference, language barriers or just that he's, well, a bit odd but lyrically it goes a bit weird sometimes. That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind and this is well worth you checking out.
All of their albums are available to download as Name Your Price on Bandcamp HERE
Megadeth - Dystopia
The rivalry between Megadeth and Metallica seems to continue whether either band want it or not, the fact both have albums out this year probably won't help things. In this case, Megadeth 'win' as Dystopia, on the whole, is a much better album than Hardwired... To Self-Destruct. Dave Mustaine will never be the singer James Hetfield but he has an instantly recognisable voice, he's a gifted guitarist and songwriter and Dystopia is a major return to form. They've had their share of dodgy albums in the past but Dystopia is full of punchy riffs and memorable choruses and the new line-up has breathed new life into the band.
The Prettiots - Funs Cool
The Prettiots are Kim and Lulu from New York and Funs Cool is their debut collection of charming, twee and often funny Indie Folk songs. There's a lo-fi feel to the whole thing but not in an affected way. The song I've included is about a little girl out on the streets because of her alcoholic parents. It's about as cheery as that sounds!
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