Category: New Album

SECRETS Announce Self Titled Album, World Tour

One of my favourite bands, SECRETS, have finally announced their fourth full length album, which will be self titled, is coming out in February 2018. The album is available for preorder from their Absolute Merch page.

To support the new album, they will be embarking on a WORLD TOUR. I’m super pumped, and you will be able to catch me at the Brisbane show.

See the dates for the world tour below:

But wait, there’s more!

They’ve also dropped a new music video for their latest single, and probably their heaviest ever song, Five Years.

2018 is going to be an amazing year for SECRETS.

Skillet To Release Deluxe Edition Of “Unleashed” On November 17

Skillet have announced not just one but two new albums releasing November 17. They will be releasing a deluxe edition of Unleashed, titled Unleashed Beyond. The new deluxe edition will be a massive 20 songs, with 5 brand new songs, including one featuring Lacey Sturm, as well as remixes of Feel Invincible and The Resistance, and the acoustic version of Stars that was included in The Shack movie soundtrack. They are also releasing a digital only Feel Invincible EP, featuring 5 different remixes of the hit single. The EP also comes out on November 17 but is included as free download with pre-orders of Unleashed Beyond.

You can pre-order Unleashed Beyond from the official online store.

Pierce The Veil Release “Today I Saw The Whole World” EP, Music Video

Pierce The Veil have released a new 2 song Today I Saw The Whole World. The EP features the the title track, taken from their latest album Misadventures, as well as an acoustic version previously only available on the deluxe edition.

They have also released a new music video for the song, which you can watch below

Thousand Below’s “The Love You Let Too Close” Is Finally Out

Ever since Tradition dropped in January, I’ve been anxiously for new music from Thousand Below. They were kind enough to give us another 3 singles after Tradition, and on Friday their debut album The Love You Let Too Close finally hit stores.

My excitement around this album was so much that I stayed up until midnight for it to release on Spotify, and it was absolutely worth it. Honestly the album is just perfect in every way. Each song is unique enough to hold it’s own, the length is absolutely spot on, neither too short or too long. The balance between clean and unclean vocals is on point throughout. From the instrumentals to the lyrics that hit really close to home, the whole album is just completely amazing.

The standout track is the title track The Love You Let Too Close. Lyrically, this song is brutal as it deals with the suicide of a loved one, and musically it’s the heaviest song on the album. Elsewhere, the album starts hard and fast with Sinking Me, followed by the super catchy lead single Tradition. One thing I look for in post-hardcore bands is songs without any screaming, and they deliver with Carry The Weight, which more than holds it’s own. The order of the tracklist is good too, it feels very cohesive and never feels like it peters out or has distinct sections like some albums tend to. The album closes with Into The Gray, while lacking in vocals for the most part has a very ambient feel similar to Glasslands before closing the album perfectly with a massive scream.

This is the best album of 2017 and one of my favourite of all time, there is absolutely no question. That’s quite an accomplishment for a band that no-one knew existed a year ago.

I’m impatiently waiting for my mega bundle pre-order to arrive (probably gonna be 3 weeks away, pretty standard for Australia) but at least I got the digital download with the pre-order.

August Burns Red and The Ongoing Concept also released new albums on the same day but I’ve barely listened to them as The Love You Let Too Close is just overwhelming good.

You can stream the album through Spotify below

Spoken Release Their Ninth Album “IX”

Spoken have released their ninth studio album, aptly titled IX. The CD is available from their online store and from digital retailers such as Spotify and iTunes.

I didn’t pre-order the CD and I regret that. When they announced the Kickstarter, the band stated that Scoop, the guitarist, had left the band but had already written and recorded the guitar tracks (see the video from the pledge page). I was concerned by this somewhat fractured process and felt it would negatively impact the record, and I wasn’t too sure if it would turn out alright. It’s not unusual for songs to be recorded in stages and mixed together, but felt that it would be too disjointed.

I’m happy to say that I was wrong. The album is really good and I ordered it as soon as I gave it a listen. 2017 has been a bit of a quiet year for new music, but regardless I think I can safely say IX is the best record of 2017 at this stage. My only real criticism would be that it feels a little bit short, especially with Breathe Again coming in at 14 songs, 10 songs is noticeably shorter.

Favourite song: In My Sight. I may be a metalhead but I tend to rate bands largely on their ballads and Spoken are one band that knows how to do them well, and this song is absolutely beautiful.

Tracklist:

  1. This Is Not The End
  2. Stronger
  3. Dying Without You
  4. Silence
  5. I Will Not Fade
  6. Remember The Memories
  7. Pages Of The Past
  8. The Light
  9. Sleepless Nights
  10. In My Sight

Thousand Below Announce New Album With A Chilling New Single

Thousand Below have finally announced their debut album, “The Love You Let Too Close”, which will be released on October 6.

They have also released a new single No Place Like You. It’s not as catchy as their first too singles but instead is a quite emotional song that managed to make me cry.

Listen to No Place Like You:

You can pre-order the album with some cool merch over at MerchNow.

I pre-ordered the mega bundle, this is seriously my most anticipated album of 2017.

Solid State Records Release Free Sampler “The Starter Pack”

Solid State Records have released a new free sampler, entitled “The Starter Pack”. The 9 song album features a brand new single from The Ongoing Concept from their next album.

Tracklist:

  1. The Print – The Ongoing Concept
  2. Enemies To Everyone – To Speak Of Wolves
  3. The Estate – Earth Groans
  4. Understanding Love As Loss – Silent Planet
  5. Cold Winter Sun – Demon Hunter
  6. Deathgrip – Fit For A King
  7. Wake Me (When I’m Dead) – Death Therapy
  8. War In The Time Of Peace – Wolves At The Gate
  9. Everyone Talking Over Everyone Else – Norma Jean

You can download the album for free from Noisetrade, likely only for a limited time.

 

Nickelback’s New Album Feed The Machine OUT NOW

Nickelback‘s highly anticipated new album Feed The Machine was finally released to stores yesterday.

Having listened to it a few times now I’m feeling kinda mixed about the album. The title track which was released earlier this year set high hopes for a lot of people, giving the impression the album would be heavier than usual for Nickelback. In terms of heaviness though, that was the peak for this album. Coin For The Ferryman is also a good hard rock song before it jumps to a classic Nickelback power ballad in Song On Fire, which I think is one of their best songs to date. I love rock ballads. Sorry not sorry. Must Be Nice is another strong driving rock song that’s quite catchy, but the lyrics are questionable and really don’t make much sense. Kinda like From First To Last‘s new track Make War, they sound great but the lyrics are nothing short of cringey. From there the album really struggles. Home is a really good ballad, The Betrayal (Act III) and Silent Majority are really good, strong hard rock songs, the latter definitely one of the best songs on the album, but other than that the rest of the album is pretty forgettable (although After The Rain is growing on me), before it closes with a brief instrumental.

Overall, the album feels like it leaves more questions than answers. It’s the first Nickelback album in over 20 years to feature a direct title track, the first one since Curb in 1996! Where’s The Betrayal (Act II), and why does Act III comes before Act I? Why does the album conclude with an instrumental? Why weren’t any of the songs even nearly as heavy as Feed The Machine? Even though they made a last minute decision to increase the track listing from 10 songs to 11, it still feels a little incomplete.

If I had to rate the album, I’d probably give it about 3.5/5. It’s definitely one of the best albums of the year so far, but that’s not hard as nothing’s really stood out yet. For the traditional Nickelback fans, it still sounds very much like a Nickelback album. For those after something heavier it’s definitely got a bit of that, and for those like me who like their slower songs there’s something in there for you too. It didn’t quite meet my expectations, but it was still a decent album overall.

Listen to the new album below.

Dayseeker Release Single “Vultures”, New Album “Dreaming Is Sinking /// Waking Is Rising” Details

Metalcore band Dayseeker have released the first single, with accompanying music video, from their new album to be released later this year. “Dreaming Is Sinking /// Waking Is Rising” releases on July 14 and is available for preorder through MerchNow. The new album is a concept album about a man who’s fallen into a deep coma and his long-winded journey to escape the mental prison he finds himself in.

The album artwork for “Dreaming Is Sinking /// Waking Is Rising” is gorgeous

The first single “Vultures” is about one of the band’s friends who was sexually assaulted, which the music video also depicts. It’ll be interesting to see how it ties into the concept over the course of the rest of the album. You can watch the music video below.

 

Beartooth Release Music Video For “Sick Of Me” With Aggressive Deluxe Edition

Beartooth have released an unconventional music video for “Sick Of Me“. The video highlights a number of personal stories of suffers of anxiety and depression, similar to Good Charlotte‘s video for Hold On. As a result the video does feel a little disjointed but it’s great to see awareness being raised and showing that it can be overcome. Caleb hasn’t been shy about his struggles with anxiety and depression and form the basis for most of Beartooth’s songs.

Sick Of Me is probably my favourite song off Aggressive. I really connect with the message of the song about winning the battle within our own minds and the new music does the meaning of the song justice.

This coincides with the release of the deluxe edition of Aggressive, including 6 new tracks (acoustic and live versions of songs already on the album). Listen on Spotify below.