Kissin' Dynamite - Not The End Of The Road (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]
Now I always thought that Kissin' Dynamite were a glam band. But on their seventh record they have wholeheartedly embraced the pumping power metal for Not The End Of The Road putting European power metal with an 80's glam metal shine. You make balk at the idea but bands such as Dragonforce have successfully brought in that 80's ethos into their music, so why not go the other way? Yeah ok it's not full pelt super shredding, but there's influences from Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and The Scorpions, especially on the swaggering What Goes Up and the tongue in cheek Yoko Ono which will be a live show killer.
There is also however a few nods to 90's with Good Life which feels like Katrina & The Waves in their Eurovision pomp, the song itself was released as a single to raise money for a Children's cancer charity and features guest vocals from Charlotte Wessels, Alea der Bescheidene (Saltatio Mortis) and Guernica Mancini (Thundermother), while Coming Home sounds Alter Bridge at their most radio friendly. Not The End Of The Road is about as polished as your neighbours car on a Sunday morning, No One Dies Alone is a full on rocker with that chorus inciting some laughs at MoM Towers as does the thumping Voodoo Spell which kicks off sounding like The Prodigy but goes into yet more power glam. Packed with anthems Not The End Of The Road will be warmly welcomed during the summer festival season! 8/10
Comeback Kid - Heavy Steps (Nuclear Blast) [Matt Cook]
If you were itching for a by-the-book hardcore album, then you’re in luck, because that’s precisely what Comeback Kid offer with their newest full-length, Heavy Steps (Nuclear Blast). To be fair, Jeremy Hiebert and Stu Ross leave their fingerprints all over the 11 tracks, riffing hard and sneaking in guitar fills here and there. One curious decision, though, was to incessantly incorporate layered pick sliding on No Easy Way Out, which in it of itself is basically the refrain repeated over and over again, especially at the conclusion.
Understanding it’s almost canon of the genre (for better or worse), Heavy Steps at times felt fragmented and wandering. Face The Fire especially seemed like the five-piece independently wrote their own parts and came together without any cohesion or direction. Conversely, Shadow Of Doubt is an absolute rager; Dead On The Fence is another example of the axemen putting in work; and Standstill opens with a serviceable introduction thanks to skinsman Loren Legare and adequately keeps the pace throughout. But lyrics such as “Everything relates to everything” are borderline offensive in its utter lack of creativity or thought.
The aforementioned Face The Fire announces “We’re still playing those drums/you’ll see what happens,” as if to say, Look, we have instruments, and we promise we will break the mold…except it never materializes. Andrew Neufeld’s gravelly performance on the mic is unique in its cadence and sound, though it fails to contribute to any superlatives the record might receive. Hardcore punk is raw, edgy, in your face and take your pick with any number of other abrasive adjectives.
But in 2022 and beyond, there needs to be more, not in the least to stand out and/or trailblaze for future bands, but also to leave people wanting more. Heavy Steps spit in the face of innovation, and two decades since the band first formed, Comeback Kid fell flat and appeared to assume fans would consume their newest music unflinchingly and without question. 6/10
The Ferrymen - One More River To Cross (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]
The third album from The Ferrymen, pretty much does what the first two did. Combine melodic hard rock and symphonic/power metal into a driving style of melodic metal that comes from three extremely talented performers. The band is comprised of Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear), Ronnie Romero (Lords Of Black/Rainbow) and Mike Terrana (Rage) and with One More River To Cross they return to flex their musical muscle with track such as Bringers Of The Dark outlining what the trio do so well, a galloping drumbeat, big riffs, massive vocals and the augmentation of sweeping choirs, orchestras and keys.
Karlsson is no stranger to this style of music having curated numerous projects for Frontiers and along with Romero and Terrana they have built up the chops to make this kind of music be as slick and impressive as it is here, rarely lacking in quality even on the ballads where Romero gives us a blast of that voice Ritchie Blackmore chose to front the legendary rock band. They are a band that have come out fully formed from the debut the quality was evident, there's been no building up the band across their releases, they grasped early on what they do as trio and have proceeded to do exactly that on every subsequent record.
Now I scored the last two The Ferrymen albums highly, but there is a feeling of deja vu on One More River To Cross which does make you think that perhaps the project may have hit it's nadir a little. Now that's not to say it's bad, far from it, this a great melodic metal, but there's not much else. 7/10
Confess - Revenge At All Costs (Rexius Records) [Matt Cook]
It’s very easy to take music lightly - consuming it, writing it, performing it. But the harsh reality is not everyone has the opportunity to express themselves or even take part in creating and contributing to the scene’s landscape. Take Confess for example: Nikan Khosravi and Arash Ilkhani were quite literally sent to jail in 2015 for expressing anti-religious and anti-regime sentiments in their native country of Iran. They sought refuge and eventually found themselves in Norway, having been given asylum and (hopefully) a safe spot to continue their craft. And how fortunate for us. Revenge At All Costs (Rexius) is chock full of raging sentiments and in-your-face attitude that can only be conjured up from the depths of dissent and disenfranchisement.
The stage is set as Based On A True Story features news clips reporting the aforementioned arrests. Unfilial Son is a forearm shiver of heavy-as-hell hardcore and punk. At first listen, Slipknot appears to be a significant influence on the groove/thrash metallers. Megalodon and I Speak Hate…are straight-up headbangers. The riffs come alive in extremely tight and clean bursts (Phoenix Rises, Hegemony, You Can’t Tame The Beast). The vocals provide a raspy, aggressive tool in which to be guided throughout the album. The seven-year absence from Confess’s last full-length only allowed the group to amp up the intensity and hatred, not that they need much more motivation or inspiration.
Revenge sternly lifts a middle finger firmly against the notion of being targeted and imprisoned in the name of metal. The band’s bravery and courage works in tandem with their scintillating songwriting and vitriolic vocals. When threatened by their own government, Confess found freedom elsewhere all in the name of being able to release their art and music, and rightfully so. Even in the modern era, metal is threatened. Let this be a reminder that it will never die, and this ferocious foursome is fronting the charge. 8/10