This week our writers at The Mic review new tracks from Nickelback, Blood Orange, and WILLOW.
Grayscale – Lamb Of God
With their latest album just around the corner, Lamb Of God are going hell for leather and have released one of the most hardcore-influenced songs of their career. Grayscale features some of Randy’s best growling in a long time too, reminiscent of their seminal album Ashes Of The Wake. Mark Morton and Willie Adler are on prime riffing form, as always, and the squeals and pic scrapes they’ve included sound not dissimilar to a siren announcing the end of the world. Predictably, I love this song as it’s a hard-hitting track by my favourite band. The lyrics are cyclical in the song, and they seem to be speaking about the confusion of the world right now, and how nothing is as easy as black and white but rather all different shades of grey. The band are known for their political and social commentary, and this song is following their general theme as such, but in a manner that is sonically different to much of what we’ve heard of them and is making me very excited for the new album. Jake Longhurst
Ice V – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
The 6-piece genre-defying psych rock band hailing from Melbourne in Australia return with a 10-minute snippet of their 3-album run this October, a somewhat unsurprising feat to any accustomed Gizzard fan, given their already massive 20 studio album discography spanning 11 years. Their new single, Ice V, sees the collective consolidating their familiar jammy sounds, accompanied by saxophone, flute and farfisa to name a few of the many instruments mastered by the band. Ice V builds around the Dorian mode in true gizzard complexity, bringing with it a similar intensity and intricacy to their 2017 release, Polygondwanaland, while perhaps remaining less urgent than other jams found in their genre-bending discography. Ambrose’s backing vocal refrains surrounded by a whirlwind of jangly guitar passages and ferocious drumming allows the track to intensify across its runtime, which will undoubtedly be a sight to behold in a live setting. The extended jam from the album Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushroom and Lava returns to the band’s conceptual album roots, whilst still remaining true to the Gizzard formula; an exciting tease of what’s to come from the band next month. Luke Bower
San Quentin – Nickelback
Ok holy crap. What the hell is this??? Nickelback are taking influence from actual proper metalcore??? Excuse me, hold the phone – I need to go and check my ears because it’s true: Nickelback have returned and they’re through with standing in line; they’re making a stand and it’s sounding great. If I had more time, I’d speak further about how it reminds me slightly of Knocked Loose, but you’ll have to listen to it to figure that out. Our favourite rockstar, Chad Kroeger, is on fine vocal form, and the vitriol in his voice when singing about San Quentin makes it sound like he could burn it to the ground. They’ve changed their sound as a band and pivoted towards a slightly chuggier sound, and whilst I don’t always think it’s a good idea for bands to change their sound, it feels like they’ve done it for all the right reasons. So, with any luck, if this is leading up to a new album it could be my dark horse (pun intended) choice for album of the year. Jake Longhurst
I.N.V.U. – Kid Kapichi
The fifth and final single ahead of the release of the new album Here’s What You Could Have Won, I.N.V.U. is a song about the ‘top dog’ around town, the man who always wants to make everyone jealous. It’s very different musically from the other four singles, which even amongst themselves are fairly diverse, giving us a great idea of how varied the music on the album is going to be. Featuring an incrementally more interesting drum beat that ends up with cymbal bells, toms, and even something that sounds like a glockenspiel, the band have massively added to their percussive interests here. The track is the least guitar driven of the singles, even including the acoustic Party At No. 10, but this isn’t a problem in my eyes, as to me this is the sound of a band having the freedom to write whatever they want and expanding their musical horizons without constricting themselves sonically. So far, they haven’t put a foot wrong, and if they continue on the road they’re on right now then they’re in for another smash album. Jake Longhurst
Jesus Freak Lighter – Blood Orange
Jesus Freak Lighter, the first new solo release by Blood Orange from his four-song E.P in over three years, confirms the lyrical and quintessential melodic beauty of Devonté Hynes’ mind. As ever, the way he sculpts such delicate words into his music, particularly prevalent in this new track, elevates the tone of his music to something godlike- fitting for this new track as it appears somewhat more muted in both his style and lyricism. The track, containing only 5 different lines in repetition, saunters through his familiar use of R&B but promotes a new melancholic realism. Hynes’ lyrics differ further from his other more euphoric albums like Angels Pulse (2019) delivering emotional unease with the semantic field of broken words. This combined with the delicate warped guitar paralleling the loud introduction is suggestive that his new E.P will contain themes of vulnerability and evanescence- a new stance for Hynes. Standing at only two and a half minutes, Jesus Freak Lighter functions as an introduction to the new album, a sort of sanctuary or calm before the storm of emotional turmoil promised within the rest of the E.P. Faith Hussain
curious/furious – WILLOW
WILLOW is always on the radar. I was only saying this the other week when I reviewed their previous track (which, by the way, was one of my favourite WILLOW tracks). Single after single, WILLOW is pivotal in this new antagonism towards albums and doing things the ‘traditional way’. Instead, with each single comes a new chance to be creative and not worry about ‘how well it will fit in with the body of work my label wants to release’. That being said, all of WILLOW’s work this year has been extremely fluid and uniquely them, bearing itself easily to form a body of work together, which is now actually a reality! Their next album <COPING MACHANISM> will be available on the 23rd of September, yet the tracks featured are kind of a mystery to me. curious/furious is a poppier side of their capabilities, nearing away from the punkier sound in tracks like <maybe> it’s my fault. At its centre is the warm grit of WILLOW’s vocals that tie all of their ambitious strays together. I expect this will be the last single released before we get to hear the album, so work out for yourself what this body of work will sound like. Roxann Yus
Forced Collective Introspection – Escuela Grind
The band Escuela Grind have previously been described as “unbelievably hostile” by Kerrang. This is an excellent summation of their sound. The best way to describe the genre they inhabit would be “brutal death grind” and their latest single is firmly covered by that, with the down-tuned guitars chugging everywhere, the percussive bombardment of the highest order from behind the kit, and growled lyrics that sound as if a T-Rex was trying to do an impression of Mayhem. The lyrics are about social issues, and with a song title like Forced Collective Introspection, you can guess roughly what they’re about. However, the band are known for their generally very positive lyrics and very open attitude towards an audience, as they are really forcing the gates to open on the genre and introducing new fans every day. This is just another reason as to why the band are one of my favourite small groups right now. Jake Longhurst
Super Fiend – WARGASM (UK)
So, the MIXXXTape is finally here, featuring well-acquainted tracks like Pyro Pyro and Salma Hayek. We have a couple of new releases, such as Super Fiend which secedes the creative and on-brand Introduction. It opens up the pit and screams who they are: they’re chaotic, nu-metal, pop, glamour, and gore. It’s everything I expect from a WARGASM track because, despite how layered it is, it’s drawn back to its roots: armed voices battling on a pitch of genre-defying turf. As with their entire discography, their production deserves an honourable mention because it can take two adverse elements and melt them together. Super Fiend also highlights what incredible vocalists both Sam and Milkie are, and again, both at the end of different spectrums but still battling seamlessly. And I’m sure WARGASM are over the moon that the MIXXXTape was released on the same day as the new Nickelback. Roxann Yus
Heal – Pip Millett
Ahead of the release of her album When Everything is Better, I’ll Let You Know, Pip Millett showcases her stunning soul-driven vocals and heart-wrenching lyricism in her new track Heal. Pip explores the rather exhausting process of heartbreak and undeniably provides her listeners with a sense of comfort and relatability. Driven by elegant piano chords, subtle strings and a gentle drum beat the delicate tone of the track is established from the very beginning and draws the listener’s attention to the ardent lyrics. While the production of this track is very smooth and uncomplicated, it allows the listener to truly focus on Pip’s extremely alluring voice. Heal is the embodiment of soul music and is proof of the ‘blissful fusion of R&B and soul’ featured in her work! I truly believe that Pip has mastered capturing the conflict between feeling empowered by difficult personal situations and the unavoidable wallowing that occurs as a result. After having a flavour of her new musical venture, I am beyond excited for Pip’s new album on the 21st of October! Lottie Murray
Edited by: Roxann Yus
Cover image courtesy of Blood Orange via Facebook.
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