Notable recent rock and metal releases

I've added about 30 albums to the New Rock and Metal playlist in the last week. I'm adding all the time so just hit follow and sort by date added.

Metal Church - XI : Classic heavy metal (a la Priest, Accept). A band with a long history, influencers themselves, and here they're being true to their roots. This has been in the playlist for a couple of weeks, taking time to work its true magic.
★★★★★

Long Distance Calling - TRIPS : Although the sound of vocals / lyrics vary between bands more than anything else, they've never been very important to this blogger unless they're particularly special. So instrumental tracks / long instrumental passages is no problem to me, maybe even a plus. The complexity of the music makes it progressive, the style varies widely, at times reclining back and other times banging its head. Is it a coincidence that the last track, 'Echo' with its slide guitar and driving rhythm reminds me of Floyd, not 'Echoes' itself but 'One of These Days?"
Love it.
★★★★★

Angarthal - Uranus And Gaia : Steve Angarthal is primarily a guitarist so this solo project features plenty of virtuoso guitar work and some guitar-based instrumentals. The music is quality hard rock / melodic metal, a touch epic in places. I like the sound of his vocals though they often don't quite hit the mark. Overall, excellent stuff.
★★★★☆

The Order - Rock n Rumble : This really stood out from the crowd for me this week. As a teen of the 80s. It brings back memories of big hair, ripped jeans and pretty boys wearing make-up (which The Order aren't).  The titles sum up the feel - Play it Loud, Rock 'n' Rumble, Gimme a Yeah. Early in the first track I was getting strong hints of AC/DC but that gave way to Van Halen and 80s Kiss. The artwork looks like a well-played LP cover, they're not trying to hide where they're coming from. For this blogger it's like tasting Mum's cooking again. Retro done extremely well.
★★★★★

War Machine by Tank

Currently on the turntable (or rather not on the turntable because it's a CD but coming out the speakers anyway) is this relatively-recent Tank offering.

I made the 'pre-loved' purchase because it's not available for streaming or to buy digitally. (I don't count Youtube but that's a conversation for another day.)  Odd that, because War Nation (same record label) and the recent Valley of Tears are both available sans removable media.

Tank vinyl figures in my collection, but when an album first comes out in 2010 it feels as if the vinyl is simply put out as a collector's item and that perversely makes me not want to collect it. In this case I'll go for the nice clean rip, not being in the 'vinyl is warmer' camp.

Some say that it's not Tank without Algy Ward (who rather confusingly is also releasing records as Tank). My own feeling on this is that any album is a collection of work by a particular set of musicians and should be judged as such  regardless of the name on the front, but I can certainly understand how Algy's fans would feel on this matter.

What about the music? It's great. It's a more sophisticated sound than early Tank, but still has the classic metal sound that I love. I can really hear Saxon there in the music as well as the vocals; lots of good lead riffs and root-note bass. I'm not a fan of a couple of the more ponderous tracks here, but when it rocks, it rocks.

I'm becoming a Doogie White fan, he has a new album out in his own name (with La Paz) as well as a more recent Tank album.

New Rock and Metal Releases playlist and notable recent releases

The Spotify playlist that I've used for the last couple of years for discovering new Rock / Metal releases hasn't been getting many updates recently, so I've had to start doing the legwork myself - my own playlist is here:

New Rock and Metal Releases

A few notable recent additions are:

Inner Blast - Prophesy : The epic / symphonic sound is getting very familiar now, but what's not to love? It's a great sound and the songwriting / arranging is particularly good here and rewards a few listens. Debut full-length album so I'm really looking forward to hearing what they produce as they mature.
★★★★☆

Why does the cover bear more than a passing resemblance to Known-Learnt from Arcane? Same artist? Both inspired by something else? Anyone know?

Holy Dragons - Civilizator : Great old-school metal verging on thrash at times with twin leads and double-bass drum. Soaring vocals with harmonies but just enough roughness. A brilliant sound a la Maiden / Priest, I don't know how I've missed them before now, superb.
★★★★★

Shiraz Lane - For Crying Out Loud : Oh those Scandinavians. This is more hard rock / melodic, and very well done. Vocals are a bit high-pitched for me, but I love the way Hannes Kett sounds like Dave Mustaine when he growls.
★★★★☆

Kvelertak - Nattesferd : I don't usually go for full-on death growl, but I find Erlend Hjelvik's vocals a little more accessible and the music is excellent, thrash dipping a toe into melodic metal maybe? I don't know but I love it.
★★★★★


I'm just adding to the New Rock and Metal Releases playlist all the time. Hit the 'Follow' button and sort it by date to keep up with the new additions.

Grim Reaper, See you in Hell and the Ebony label

I've just welcomed this little beauty into the family.

I'm collecting Ebony LPs now. I have a few in the collection, bought at the time (mid-late 80s) because of the great music; Touched, Samurai among others, but strangely not Grim Reaper, possibly (I know now) the best act to come out of the Ebony studio. (Don't judge too harshly, these were pre-internet days - we relied on magazines, a weekly rock show and word of mouth. Plus you often had to buy a whole album without any way of sampling any of it on demand. It was easy to miss great stuff.)

With so much of that output currently not available to buy or for streaming, it's a reasonable excuse to fill the gaps in the vinyl collection now.

Why Ebony? Back then, on cheap stereos and without the benefit of an audiophile's ear, it was obvious that the sound on these particular LPs sucks, but what they lacked in polished sound they made up for with top-quality A&R.

They had an ear for a really good band and great songs, and even on the Rock meets Metal compilation albums (bands payed for a day's studio time in return for being cut into a record) there are some real gems.

So here's to Darryl Johnston. Being able to discover (and afford) the music was difficult at the time, but better late than never!