Some bands in their fifth decade will chill a bit. Maybe release their “Stones Influenced” record and rest on their old school thrash laurels. Not Metal Church, who are back with their thrashiest record in years, Congregation Of Annihilation. This is the first record after the passing of former lead vocalist Mike Howe and the first with new singer, Marc Lopes, who has a bit of a higher screech than I am used to with The Church, but it works with the total aggression that comes out of record number thirteen from a band who has been to hell and back lately, potentially having Congregation Of Annihilation as a type of scream therapy for the band.
Right off the bit these guys are ripping with the opener, Another Judgement Day. You get some serious screams from Lopes, and I am getting not just old school MC vibes but am I hearing some Testament too? I love the dual guitar attack and the right up in the front drums. The vocals take a while to get used to, but once you settle in you see the vision here. You get even more thrashier on the title track, which is a flat-out banger. Lopes fits in nicely with the vibe on this record for sure. Anyone up for a MC/Overkill tour because this track literally screams yes.
Overkill, and now Metal Church has revived my hope for how bands I loved as a kid can keep killing it in 2023. Congregation Of Annihilation is a testament to a band who has lived though the loss of their singer and come back strong, battling the sadness to unleash a monster of pent-up rage that we have not heard from them in a long time. Great stuff from a band who has no right sounding a fresh and heavy as they do on Congregation Of Annihilation at this point in their discography. 8/10
Blind River - Bones For The Skeleton Thief (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
These road dogs write their music in green rooms and work out the tracks on stage, perfecting the songs in front of audiences until they go into the studio to record the fully formed cuts. It's worked on their two previous records and it works again on the brilliantly titled Bones For The Skeleton Thief. Proudly recorded with "No click track. No auto-tune. No edits" it was recorded straight to tape to encapsulate the sound of Blind River perfectly, recorded differently, I might add to their last two albums but Bones For... feels more fired up, rawer and bit more pissed off than they did previously.
I've always considered Blind River to be the UK's answer to Clutch, with the no-frills dive bar sound of many of their former bands (a few of which are my favourites). They easily merge stoner riffs, southern rock grooves and punk wildness. Their debut album was fast and furious heavy blues rock, Made Of Dirt the second album brought more variation as they continue to broaden their style on this third release. The 10 tracks (all their albums are 10 tracks) comes out of the stalls swinging fists on Punkstarter, with the brawl begun, the groove is established on Second Hand Soul, riff monsters Chris Charles and Dan Edwards playing it low and slower, before Andrew Esson's percussive blast carries the slithering Snake Oil.
Just three tracks and Blind River are almost screaming "We're back baby!" Out Of Time slowing to the throb of Will Hughes' bass, Harry letting his gritty blues howl do the work, though he's more restrained but equally powerful on the beginning of Skeleton Thief. The dynamics have always been a part of Blind River's music, that's why I mention Clutch as their music your head banging and fist pounding, touching the inner caveman on tracks like Mind Blown but it's also got a cleveness, the work of skilled musicians who have thought about the compositions and the lyrics, with tracks like Passing By.
As they have plenty more shows lined up, and a tour in November with Sasquatch, Blind River 4 may not be that far away, still, Bones For The Skeleton Thief continues the bands rise as one of the most respected and bloody entertaining bands in the UK scene. 9/10
Oceanlord - Kingdom Cold (Magnetic Eye Records) [Rich Piva]
Australian doom baby!!! Oceanlord has dropped their debut of slow burning doom goodness on us from down under, shaking the streets as their release their mythical sea creature, in this case six killer tracks of traditional and not so traditional doom, upon the masses. This is heavy, fuzzy, doom with cool vocals, and a kind of constant buzz across all the tracks. This must be from the deep parts of the Australian Ocean because Kingdom Cold lives up to its chilly name.
That is the vibe right off the bat with the opener Kingdom, a slow, plodding track with an excellent guitar tone and the aforementioned excellent vocals. The pace does not pick up with the next track, 2340, but why would you want it to with doom this good? I get some serious Trouble vibes with this one, especially in the chorus. There is such a cool darkness to Kingdom Cold that is hard to put into words without listening. The album can be listened to by individual tracks, but to me this record seems like a natural continuation from song to song, case in point the move to the next track, Siren, with more doomy goodness, and an urgency to the lyrics and vocals keeps that cold wind blowing along the coast that is this record.
Kingdom Cold is an excellent debut record, positioning Oceanlord as part of the future of doom for years to come. These guys seem to have a natural feel for the genre and take pieces of what everyone loves about doom and melding it into their own dark, cold, and gloomy offering. Great stuff, and I look forward to what is next from the cold depths of the land down under. 8/10
Samantha Fish & Jesse Dayton - Death Wish Blues (Rounder Records) [Matt Bladen]
There's a certain sound to this album, I was trying to put my finger on it. Fuzzier and dirtier than Samantha Fish's last release, this is renegade sounding album fusing blues with outlaw country but there's something else? It's in the buzzing guitar tone or the reverb vocals, like garage rock meets hillbilly attitude. Then I looked at the credits and it said production by Jon Spencer, the penny dropped and it all made sense. He of the self named Blues Explosion is synonymous with the 'sound' of this record, the musical traits I've mentioned earlier, his music has always been experimental and boundary breaking.
So it's only right that he's behind the chair for this collaboration between two artists from similar mindsets but alternate musical backgrounds. Both forging their musical relationship in Kansas City; Samantha Fish is one of the most red hot blues players on the scene, she's got the chops, the skills and the attitude while Jesse Dayton has played with Cash and Jennings while also punched out four chords with punk band X.
Both players wanted to push the boundaries of their respective styles while merging them and creating something different. Lustful, sardonic, dark music, that can be called alt-blues but I'd say it's rebel music, songs for lovers, thieves, drunks and killers. Biting guitar tones using the unpublished dark side of rock n roll, it's the motorcycle crash epics Jim Steinman loved with the murder ballads of Nick Cave, Fish and Dayton trading off on vocals and guitar, Fish bringing the Cigar Box twang as Dayton has a Baritone thump, the idea was to keep it blues based but without the fear of being traditional.
Recorded in just 10 days, Death Wish Blues sounds frenzied and frenetic, a band featuring Kendall Wind (bass), Mickey Finn (keys), Aaron Johnston (drums) augment the duo who often feel like they're sparring with each other on Riders, the shuffling Lover On The Side and Dangerous People. The swaggering Deathwish is 2 and a half minutes of bad ideas and blossoming lust on top of filthy blues, the funky Down In The Mud sees Dayton take vocals for a bit of Americana, both of them changing between taking lead vocals on the tracks where they don't duet.
Elsewhere in the album; Settle For Less is some prime Fish blues rocking, things get slower and soulful on No Apology while for me Rippin’ And Runnin’ is one of the best songs here a moody cut from the deep blues, while the fun Supadupabad is full Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the left/right divide in the production. Death Wish Blues is a collab that shines a light on both artists telling anyone that listens to it, that this blues...beyond. 8/10