Those Damn Crows: Point Of No Return (Earache Records) [Matt Bladen]
Those Damn Crows a band whose rise can be considered to be meteoric, their live reputation goes before them, they put 110% into every single show, which has earnt them not only a rabid, ever expanding, fanbase but also has seen them get signed to Earache Records who re-released their debut Murder & The Motive last year. Since signing to Earache the band have gone fro strength to strength honing their skills across stages UK wide supporting all manner of acts, most recently Monster Magnet at the Forum in London. They have also found time to record a follow up to their debut, the prophetically titled Point Of No Return is Those Damn Crows making a statement that they don't intend to look back, they are a band on the rise and ready for what's coming next. You can hear this as soon as you press play, it's brimming with confident, assured, fiercely modern hard rock. The kind of music that will be played not only on early supporters Planet Rock also with numbers like Sin On Skin they have songs with enough sing-along-ability and attitude for Kerrang and beyond.
Now we have often made a lot of noise about bands we consider to be a blatant copyists this means bands that stick rigidly to the classic rock style of the past resulting in numerous musical clones. For a while it looked like Those Damn Crows may be heading that way but Point Of No Return cannily avoids this by bringing together a more mature record, yes the rock swagger is still there with chugging Send The Reaper and choppy Kingdom Of Dust but songs such as Be You and the piano-laden Never Win channel the arena beating sound of Alter Bridge or Shinedown (as do anthems like Go Get It). Be You especially has Shane Greenhall giving his most intimate vocal performance on the album. This Welsh five piece are certainly in evolution, everything about this record is bigger than their debut, from Ronnie Huxford's massive drum sound, Lloyd Wood's driving bass and the twin axe attack of Ian 'Shiner' Thomas and David Winchurch which is as sharp as a tack, Point Of No Return sounds as far away from this bands Valley's roots as they can get, it's a polish Americanised sound that takes broad strokes with influences. Currently riding high in the rock album charts and in the midst of a sold out headline tour, Point Of No Return is and to an extent Those Damn Crows are the state of rock in 2020. 8/10
Void Droid: Bipolar (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Billed as a heavy/Southern rock band I'd say Patras' Void Droid fall more into the stoner rock category personally, but they stretch the realms of their musical style a little into the Southern rock grooves and some proggy touches too that separate this from many of the stoner bands. Having played in Greece with Orange Goblin and Monster Magnet along with countrymates Planet Of Zeus, Nightstalker and VIC. They are truly a band who live and die by the riff, there's plenty of Sabbath worship here along with some Pantera and Down touches too adding to that swampy Southern feel on Zarathustra with the country style coming in on the beginning of Milkaholic before it starts to grunt and dip between both styles throughout with lashings of tasty groove.
This might be the best song on the record as it perfectly sums up Void Droid's ethos when it comes to writing, it shys away from the formulaic, trying to subvert some of the conventions while also keeping true to them. Songs such as The Mars March are executed with style, despite only being an instrumental it has the drama of one Metallica write flowing into the slower paced The Venus Effect which keeps the heaviness at top level with it's crunching riffage and woozy style, as the title track, which is also instrumental, has an echoed, dreamy sound to it that leads into the crunching Puer Blue a dramatic final song that fades out to a single piano piece. Bipolar is a song with multiple sides to it, far beyond the realms of Southern metal, this is much more intelligent and interesting style of music than some of the more well known Southern bands, these Greeks have stepped up on their third record. 7/10
Another Day Dawns: Stranger (Self Released) [Alex Swift]
An alternative metal act it’s very difficult to talk about Another Day Dawns without immediately comparing them to acts in the same vein: Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, even elements of Slipknot, in the more aggressive moments. That’s not to pass any comment on the skill of these musicians display across the course of the EP – as you will see I have mixed feelings about that – rather, there’s a familiarity present in the fact that they perform the mainstream dominant version of metal. Beautiful Suicide, for instance, takes down-tuned riffs, anger ridden lyrics ridden with these of mental health and a marching beat. Personally, while I respect the forward motion of the track and the respect for the subject matter, the instrumentation here is too sparse and predictable to really seize my attention. Thankfully though that’s not the tone of the entire 17 minutes as the next track, Am I feel far more striving and passionate in tone, the guitars ferociously melodic and the transitions beautiful.
There is still that trademark alt sound on display, yet the anthem rings with a degree of emotion that exudes honesty. Taste Of Heaven is more unique, the jaunty hooks, effervescent riffs and exuberant experimentation making this the finest song here. However, we lurch back into tedious territory with the final two songs, Never Okay– an acoustic ballad which despite trying to create tone variety, feels meandering and whiney; and Forget Me Not, which has the openers problem in that it does not do enough to wrench itself of generic, copycat territory. Stranger is a decent release with some really great moments, yet with the noticeable lack of originality, the inconstancy in songwriting and the slavish devotion to trends, the piece lands sadly lower in my estimations than I would have preferred. 5/10
Those Damn Crows a band whose rise can be considered to be meteoric, their live reputation goes before them, they put 110% into every single show, which has earnt them not only a rabid, ever expanding, fanbase but also has seen them get signed to Earache Records who re-released their debut Murder & The Motive last year. Since signing to Earache the band have gone fro strength to strength honing their skills across stages UK wide supporting all manner of acts, most recently Monster Magnet at the Forum in London. They have also found time to record a follow up to their debut, the prophetically titled Point Of No Return is Those Damn Crows making a statement that they don't intend to look back, they are a band on the rise and ready for what's coming next. You can hear this as soon as you press play, it's brimming with confident, assured, fiercely modern hard rock. The kind of music that will be played not only on early supporters Planet Rock also with numbers like Sin On Skin they have songs with enough sing-along-ability and attitude for Kerrang and beyond.
Now we have often made a lot of noise about bands we consider to be a blatant copyists this means bands that stick rigidly to the classic rock style of the past resulting in numerous musical clones. For a while it looked like Those Damn Crows may be heading that way but Point Of No Return cannily avoids this by bringing together a more mature record, yes the rock swagger is still there with chugging Send The Reaper and choppy Kingdom Of Dust but songs such as Be You and the piano-laden Never Win channel the arena beating sound of Alter Bridge or Shinedown (as do anthems like Go Get It). Be You especially has Shane Greenhall giving his most intimate vocal performance on the album. This Welsh five piece are certainly in evolution, everything about this record is bigger than their debut, from Ronnie Huxford's massive drum sound, Lloyd Wood's driving bass and the twin axe attack of Ian 'Shiner' Thomas and David Winchurch which is as sharp as a tack, Point Of No Return sounds as far away from this bands Valley's roots as they can get, it's a polish Americanised sound that takes broad strokes with influences. Currently riding high in the rock album charts and in the midst of a sold out headline tour, Point Of No Return is and to an extent Those Damn Crows are the state of rock in 2020. 8/10
Void Droid: Bipolar (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Billed as a heavy/Southern rock band I'd say Patras' Void Droid fall more into the stoner rock category personally, but they stretch the realms of their musical style a little into the Southern rock grooves and some proggy touches too that separate this from many of the stoner bands. Having played in Greece with Orange Goblin and Monster Magnet along with countrymates Planet Of Zeus, Nightstalker and VIC. They are truly a band who live and die by the riff, there's plenty of Sabbath worship here along with some Pantera and Down touches too adding to that swampy Southern feel on Zarathustra with the country style coming in on the beginning of Milkaholic before it starts to grunt and dip between both styles throughout with lashings of tasty groove.
This might be the best song on the record as it perfectly sums up Void Droid's ethos when it comes to writing, it shys away from the formulaic, trying to subvert some of the conventions while also keeping true to them. Songs such as The Mars March are executed with style, despite only being an instrumental it has the drama of one Metallica write flowing into the slower paced The Venus Effect which keeps the heaviness at top level with it's crunching riffage and woozy style, as the title track, which is also instrumental, has an echoed, dreamy sound to it that leads into the crunching Puer Blue a dramatic final song that fades out to a single piano piece. Bipolar is a song with multiple sides to it, far beyond the realms of Southern metal, this is much more intelligent and interesting style of music than some of the more well known Southern bands, these Greeks have stepped up on their third record. 7/10
Another Day Dawns: Stranger (Self Released) [Alex Swift]
An alternative metal act it’s very difficult to talk about Another Day Dawns without immediately comparing them to acts in the same vein: Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, even elements of Slipknot, in the more aggressive moments. That’s not to pass any comment on the skill of these musicians display across the course of the EP – as you will see I have mixed feelings about that – rather, there’s a familiarity present in the fact that they perform the mainstream dominant version of metal. Beautiful Suicide, for instance, takes down-tuned riffs, anger ridden lyrics ridden with these of mental health and a marching beat. Personally, while I respect the forward motion of the track and the respect for the subject matter, the instrumentation here is too sparse and predictable to really seize my attention. Thankfully though that’s not the tone of the entire 17 minutes as the next track, Am I feel far more striving and passionate in tone, the guitars ferociously melodic and the transitions beautiful.
There is still that trademark alt sound on display, yet the anthem rings with a degree of emotion that exudes honesty. Taste Of Heaven is more unique, the jaunty hooks, effervescent riffs and exuberant experimentation making this the finest song here. However, we lurch back into tedious territory with the final two songs, Never Okay– an acoustic ballad which despite trying to create tone variety, feels meandering and whiney; and Forget Me Not, which has the openers problem in that it does not do enough to wrench itself of generic, copycat territory. Stranger is a decent release with some really great moments, yet with the noticeable lack of originality, the inconstancy in songwriting and the slavish devotion to trends, the piece lands sadly lower in my estimations than I would have preferred. 5/10
Theory Of A Deadman: Say Nothing (Atlantic Records) [Alex Swift]
I’ll admit from the off, I was not expecting much out of Say Nothing. Theory Of A Deadman, while not the worst act to emerge from the early 2000’s alternative, certainly hasn’t done much to win my praise. I’ve been aware of them since roughly 2008’s Scars And Souvenirs, which took a humdrum approach to songwriting that combined the ever irritating timbre of Nickelback with the unoriginality of mainstream country. Particularly, I took a distaste to Connolly’s lyrics, which intentionally or unintentionally, reek of narcissism, and don’t stop short of expressing his ire towards those who have screwed him over – ya’ know hobos who ‘just sit around and get paid’, women who ‘love to complain and never shut up’, his girlfriend – you name any jealous personality trait, these musicians have probably written a song for just that. I don’t mean to sound accusatory but when a band does interviews to clarify that they’re definitely not misogynists, red flags get raised. In 2017 the conveniently renamed act Theory joined the throng of mainstream acts trying to impersonate imagine dragons and scored a hit with the dozy Rx Medicate. Say nothing essentially proves a desperate attempt to rescue any credibility from within the rock scene, while struggling with their newfound identity as a pop act.
In the one and only positive I’ll aim towards the record, the song's history of violence is a surprisingly mature attempt to write a sombre song about the serious subject of domestic violence. The lyrics reflect a sense of captivity and paranoia, while the contrast between the mellow and harsh guitar tones helps accentuate the tone. While I can’t praise the use of minimalism and dramatics elsewhere, here it actually works in a way that is both emotive and sensitive.
I hope that last paragraph helps you sympathize with the frustration I’m about to express. Let’s start with Ted Bundy – yes really, a song written from the perspective of a man who kidnapped, raped and murdered several young women and girls. I’m not necessarily against the idea of songs seen through the eyes of awful personalities, yet the boisterous horns here and the hook of ‘Baby, you know that I love you to death, but I’m never gonna see you again’ reek of an immature, pitiful and deplorable attitude to the subject matter. This has always been Theory’s problem when they address real issues they look unsympathetic and callous, so they resort to deliberately cruel language, and bigotry disguised as humour; ‘who cares? Our fans will keep buying our records.’ The same could be said of White Boy, a piece about the subject of racism and terrorism, which succumbs to the same over simplistic narratives which fuel the problems they claim to care about while muttering their lyrics between monotone melodies and inapt rhythms. Whatsmore, they’ll typically follow these with an insultingly sunny fun-times, summer anthem in the vein of It’s All Good or Affluenza. There’s barely any change in the practically non-existent instrumental tone to indicate that we’re moving between these moments, yet somehow we’re expected to believe that they’re emotionally genuine when they sing about the trivial or the serious.
Are there any other points to make about Say Nothing? I could talk about how Black Hole In Your Heart is more of the same - ‘my life is awful and all my ex-girlfriends are to blame’ – narrative, that they have been beating to death for two decades. On the other side, I could talk about how there is more of an effort on this album to move towards addressing serious subjects, albeit in a clumsy and disrespectful way. I hoped when I heard the one half-decent song, that it would not be an anomaly. I now know that there’s a method to how Theory chooses their singles, plot out their albums and keep people hooked on their brand – many have used that same analogy to compare them to Nickelback. I would say that’s probably to generous. They are more cynical, monotonous and attention-seeking than any act currently inhabiting the admittedly dismal rock charts. With their desire to blindly follow popular sounds, and write deliberately provocative words, they will continue to plunge themselves further and further into irrelevance. 2/10
I’ll admit from the off, I was not expecting much out of Say Nothing. Theory Of A Deadman, while not the worst act to emerge from the early 2000’s alternative, certainly hasn’t done much to win my praise. I’ve been aware of them since roughly 2008’s Scars And Souvenirs, which took a humdrum approach to songwriting that combined the ever irritating timbre of Nickelback with the unoriginality of mainstream country. Particularly, I took a distaste to Connolly’s lyrics, which intentionally or unintentionally, reek of narcissism, and don’t stop short of expressing his ire towards those who have screwed him over – ya’ know hobos who ‘just sit around and get paid’, women who ‘love to complain and never shut up’, his girlfriend – you name any jealous personality trait, these musicians have probably written a song for just that. I don’t mean to sound accusatory but when a band does interviews to clarify that they’re definitely not misogynists, red flags get raised. In 2017 the conveniently renamed act Theory joined the throng of mainstream acts trying to impersonate imagine dragons and scored a hit with the dozy Rx Medicate. Say nothing essentially proves a desperate attempt to rescue any credibility from within the rock scene, while struggling with their newfound identity as a pop act.
In the one and only positive I’ll aim towards the record, the song's history of violence is a surprisingly mature attempt to write a sombre song about the serious subject of domestic violence. The lyrics reflect a sense of captivity and paranoia, while the contrast between the mellow and harsh guitar tones helps accentuate the tone. While I can’t praise the use of minimalism and dramatics elsewhere, here it actually works in a way that is both emotive and sensitive.
I hope that last paragraph helps you sympathize with the frustration I’m about to express. Let’s start with Ted Bundy – yes really, a song written from the perspective of a man who kidnapped, raped and murdered several young women and girls. I’m not necessarily against the idea of songs seen through the eyes of awful personalities, yet the boisterous horns here and the hook of ‘Baby, you know that I love you to death, but I’m never gonna see you again’ reek of an immature, pitiful and deplorable attitude to the subject matter. This has always been Theory’s problem when they address real issues they look unsympathetic and callous, so they resort to deliberately cruel language, and bigotry disguised as humour; ‘who cares? Our fans will keep buying our records.’ The same could be said of White Boy, a piece about the subject of racism and terrorism, which succumbs to the same over simplistic narratives which fuel the problems they claim to care about while muttering their lyrics between monotone melodies and inapt rhythms. Whatsmore, they’ll typically follow these with an insultingly sunny fun-times, summer anthem in the vein of It’s All Good or Affluenza. There’s barely any change in the practically non-existent instrumental tone to indicate that we’re moving between these moments, yet somehow we’re expected to believe that they’re emotionally genuine when they sing about the trivial or the serious.
Are there any other points to make about Say Nothing? I could talk about how Black Hole In Your Heart is more of the same - ‘my life is awful and all my ex-girlfriends are to blame’ – narrative, that they have been beating to death for two decades. On the other side, I could talk about how there is more of an effort on this album to move towards addressing serious subjects, albeit in a clumsy and disrespectful way. I hoped when I heard the one half-decent song, that it would not be an anomaly. I now know that there’s a method to how Theory chooses their singles, plot out their albums and keep people hooked on their brand – many have used that same analogy to compare them to Nickelback. I would say that’s probably to generous. They are more cynical, monotonous and attention-seeking than any act currently inhabiting the admittedly dismal rock charts. With their desire to blindly follow popular sounds, and write deliberately provocative words, they will continue to plunge themselves further and further into irrelevance. 2/10