Wolf Jaw: The Heart Won't Listen (Listenable Records) [Matt Bladen]
Emerging out of the ashes of The Bad Flowers, the trio of Tom Leighton (guitar/vocals), Dale Tonks (bass/vocals) and Karl Selickis (drums) have had a name change since their debut record Starting Gun was released. Now back in 2018 Paul H called them "well worth checking out" comparing them to Led Zeppelin, Rival Sons and The Cult. So has the name change affected their sound in anyway? Well if anything it's given them a new fire, The Heart Won't Listen opens with a dirty rocker in the shape of Hear Me which sounds a little like Royal Blood as the fuzzy bass and guitar riffs are slung with reckless abandon as Selickis keeps it all in check with his powerful drumming. It's a statement of intent for sure bound to be blasted out on rock radio, however unlike a lot of the 'Planet Rock Fodder' bands we review here Wolf Jaw are not one dimensional as they have very bluesed based sound shown on I Ain't Ready with Ticking Time Bomb having that early brashness of Aerosmith, (that guitar sound is wicked by the way) boosted by the rawness of Tom's voice.
Like all great power trios, the songs here sound natural, full of soul and organically created by three men in a studio after a number of years touring with some of the biggest acts on the circuit to hone their craft. They also break the mold with some stoner/occult rock influences especially in the jangly guitars as Leighton starts to shout a bit on groovers such as The Fighter. He has said that as well as the normal rock influences he has been inspired by bands such as "All Them Witches, Red Fang, Kadavar and QOTSA" and those sounds infect this album with stoner/desert rock influences too comin in on Piece Of Me and the aggressive Beast. The Heart Won't Listen is a very modern hard rock album from a band who have taken to a new identity with a renewed fire, I'd do more than check them out, I'd say pick this album up and get it blasting! 8/10
Michael Monroe: One Man Gang (Silver Linings Record)
Now aged 57, Michael Monroe continues to plough his own furrow. Frontman of Hanoi Rocks, the Finnish glam punk rockers who took the rock world by storm in the early 1980s, he’s also been a successful solo musician for three decades and whilst glam is in the bottom one of my most disliked metal genre, there’s no denying that Monroe has proved himself to be a survivor. Astonishingly fact fans, in 1984 Hanoi Rocks were voted the second-best band in the world behind Marillion. I must admit I was never a Hanoi Rocks fan, their cover of Up Around The Bend about as much as I could take. One Man Gang is his tenth solo studio album and his first since 2015’s Blackout States and focuses on his approach to life with positive mental attitude. Guest guitarist Captain Sensible adds crunch to the opening title track, a punchy 2:25 song which has you pogoing within seconds. Last Train To Tokyo revives Monroe’s love of Japan. With his band full of veteran musicians there is no question of the quality. Sami Yaffa (New York Dolls and Hanoi Rocks) Ginger Wildheart's guitarist Rich Jones, Steve Conte and drummer Karl Rockfist (Danzig) join Monroe.
Emerging out of the ashes of The Bad Flowers, the trio of Tom Leighton (guitar/vocals), Dale Tonks (bass/vocals) and Karl Selickis (drums) have had a name change since their debut record Starting Gun was released. Now back in 2018 Paul H called them "well worth checking out" comparing them to Led Zeppelin, Rival Sons and The Cult. So has the name change affected their sound in anyway? Well if anything it's given them a new fire, The Heart Won't Listen opens with a dirty rocker in the shape of Hear Me which sounds a little like Royal Blood as the fuzzy bass and guitar riffs are slung with reckless abandon as Selickis keeps it all in check with his powerful drumming. It's a statement of intent for sure bound to be blasted out on rock radio, however unlike a lot of the 'Planet Rock Fodder' bands we review here Wolf Jaw are not one dimensional as they have very bluesed based sound shown on I Ain't Ready with Ticking Time Bomb having that early brashness of Aerosmith, (that guitar sound is wicked by the way) boosted by the rawness of Tom's voice.
Like all great power trios, the songs here sound natural, full of soul and organically created by three men in a studio after a number of years touring with some of the biggest acts on the circuit to hone their craft. They also break the mold with some stoner/occult rock influences especially in the jangly guitars as Leighton starts to shout a bit on groovers such as The Fighter. He has said that as well as the normal rock influences he has been inspired by bands such as "All Them Witches, Red Fang, Kadavar and QOTSA" and those sounds infect this album with stoner/desert rock influences too comin in on Piece Of Me and the aggressive Beast. The Heart Won't Listen is a very modern hard rock album from a band who have taken to a new identity with a renewed fire, I'd do more than check them out, I'd say pick this album up and get it blasting! 8/10
Michael Monroe: One Man Gang (Silver Linings Record)
Now aged 57, Michael Monroe continues to plough his own furrow. Frontman of Hanoi Rocks, the Finnish glam punk rockers who took the rock world by storm in the early 1980s, he’s also been a successful solo musician for three decades and whilst glam is in the bottom one of my most disliked metal genre, there’s no denying that Monroe has proved himself to be a survivor. Astonishingly fact fans, in 1984 Hanoi Rocks were voted the second-best band in the world behind Marillion. I must admit I was never a Hanoi Rocks fan, their cover of Up Around The Bend about as much as I could take. One Man Gang is his tenth solo studio album and his first since 2015’s Blackout States and focuses on his approach to life with positive mental attitude. Guest guitarist Captain Sensible adds crunch to the opening title track, a punchy 2:25 song which has you pogoing within seconds. Last Train To Tokyo revives Monroe’s love of Japan. With his band full of veteran musicians there is no question of the quality. Sami Yaffa (New York Dolls and Hanoi Rocks) Ginger Wildheart's guitarist Rich Jones, Steve Conte and drummer Karl Rockfist (Danzig) join Monroe.
One Man Gang is feisty, at times fiery and fist pumping, full of devil may care rock n’ roll. Monroe contributes not just with his vocals, but a blistering harmonica on Wasted Years and Junk Planet. Midsummer Nights is awful, a wistful look back at a time long gone, whilst In The Tall Grass is weak. Monroe is at his best when the pace is fast, the beat heated and the chorus anthemic. He may not have Ginger in tow anymore, (in fact it was eight years ago on Sensory Overdrive when Mr Wildheart added his strings to the band) but there remain many opportunities for rawk and roll here, such as The Pitfall of Being An Outsider. I’ll freely admit that this isn’t my favourite style of music, but I can certainly appreciate the work that has gone into an album that retains sleaze, punk and generally good time rock n’ roll from one of the rock world’s survivors. 7/10
Esoteric: A Pyrrhic Existence (Season Of Mist) [Matt Bladen]
Esoteric are not a happy bunch, that could be because they are from Birmingham (joke) but you can almost feel the industrial decline in this music, dense and slow moving A Pyrrhic Existence opens with a 27 minute song that is no progressive masterpiece, it's the sound of a tortured soul as they push the sonic boundaries with some of the most boring doom metal I've heard. Nothing really happens on this record it's just snail pace riffs, that I suppose can be considered funeral doom capped off with low roars, the long run times mean that the songs blur into one long song which might be the point. At times they do try some cinematic moments but with the length of the songs it's difficult to sit through all 98 minutes of this record in one sitting. It's bleak and oppressive but too much for me. 6/10
The Whirlings: Earthshine (Subsound Records) [Lee Burgess]
Um, right, this is an odd one. The Whirlings is a real mind bender. I’m not even sure what it is right now. Do I like it? Yes, kind of. Is it heavy? No, not really. Is it metal? Not one bit. It’s kind of like listening to Alcest in one ear and then deciding that you need a bit more Sabbath. This is post rock, of sorts, Space Rock if you will. It’s a nice enough listen but (and I realise I may be fence sitting here) it’s something of a puzzle. The largely instrumental compositions are dreamy and swirling. This is a musically talented outfit with an obvious multitude of influences. My problem here is that the influences on show are sometimes at odds with each other. It’s almost as if the band members often argue and decide to agree to disagree on which direction to go in. The result is a confusing (if interesting) mixed bag of styles and genres.
Along with the bands I have mentioned, there are times when we could be listening to classic Fields Of The Nephilim or Monolord. You could be mistaken for thinking this is a good thing, and maybe you would be onto something if the various styles came together a little easier. The problem here is that actually I rather enjoyed a lot of this, but I was never quite sure what the band wanted me to hear. It all seemed a little at sixes and sevens. All this would really need to knock it into shape is a little pow-wow between the band members to solidify the ideas within the music. It’s cool to be complex, to give listeners something to mull over, but it should be driven by a clear vision that is obvious to consumers of music. 7/10
Esoteric: A Pyrrhic Existence (Season Of Mist) [Matt Bladen]
Esoteric are not a happy bunch, that could be because they are from Birmingham (joke) but you can almost feel the industrial decline in this music, dense and slow moving A Pyrrhic Existence opens with a 27 minute song that is no progressive masterpiece, it's the sound of a tortured soul as they push the sonic boundaries with some of the most boring doom metal I've heard. Nothing really happens on this record it's just snail pace riffs, that I suppose can be considered funeral doom capped off with low roars, the long run times mean that the songs blur into one long song which might be the point. At times they do try some cinematic moments but with the length of the songs it's difficult to sit through all 98 minutes of this record in one sitting. It's bleak and oppressive but too much for me. 6/10
The Whirlings: Earthshine (Subsound Records) [Lee Burgess]
Um, right, this is an odd one. The Whirlings is a real mind bender. I’m not even sure what it is right now. Do I like it? Yes, kind of. Is it heavy? No, not really. Is it metal? Not one bit. It’s kind of like listening to Alcest in one ear and then deciding that you need a bit more Sabbath. This is post rock, of sorts, Space Rock if you will. It’s a nice enough listen but (and I realise I may be fence sitting here) it’s something of a puzzle. The largely instrumental compositions are dreamy and swirling. This is a musically talented outfit with an obvious multitude of influences. My problem here is that the influences on show are sometimes at odds with each other. It’s almost as if the band members often argue and decide to agree to disagree on which direction to go in. The result is a confusing (if interesting) mixed bag of styles and genres.
Along with the bands I have mentioned, there are times when we could be listening to classic Fields Of The Nephilim or Monolord. You could be mistaken for thinking this is a good thing, and maybe you would be onto something if the various styles came together a little easier. The problem here is that actually I rather enjoyed a lot of this, but I was never quite sure what the band wanted me to hear. It all seemed a little at sixes and sevens. All this would really need to knock it into shape is a little pow-wow between the band members to solidify the ideas within the music. It’s cool to be complex, to give listeners something to mull over, but it should be driven by a clear vision that is obvious to consumers of music. 7/10