When a band re-appears after a long time away, it often leads to fan apprehension. The return of a favourite act can be exciting, but what if the new material isn’t up to scratch? What if it’s really different from the old stuff? What if, as a listener, it’s your ears that have moved on, and you now crave different thrills? None of these concerns apply to the return of New York’s art rock band Ecce Shnak. The five years since their ‘Metaphorphejawns’ album assaulted an unsuspecting audience hasn’t diluted their desire to bend sounds into almost impenetrable shapes and, at its best, their ‘Shadows Grow Fangs’ (released in February 2025) presents material that’s as unclassifiable and inventive as ever.
Author Archives: Real Gone
ENVY OF NONE – Stygyan Waves
The first album by Envy of None – the first new post-Rush music from guitarist Alex Lifeson – very much conveyed the attitude of a musician moving on. The fan reaction, on the other hand, proved that many of his followers were incapable of doing so. Many of them were hoping for something prog based, or at least something hugely guitar oriented in the vein of his vastly underrated Victor project. What they got was an album full of hooky songs that sounded like the missing link between ‘Blood For Poppies’ era Garbage and Chvrches.
Taken on its own terms, the music’s broad, melodic sound – coupled with great vocals from Maiah Wynne – provided something hugely enjoyable. Although the songs occasionally took a little while to sink in, it was an album that had more than enough potential to find its way under the skin of those willing to keep an open ear.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #94
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the past few weeks. This time around, we’ve got some enormous sounding post rock/metal from a still new act, an interesting excursion into the alternative end of the new age spectrum, a couple of superb singer songwriters…and more. The weight of submissions to the SB since January has been vast, so it’s been an even harder job picking tracks than ever before, but we hope you love what you hear…
*
Watch: Loud George share the new video for ‘Monster’
The opening riffs of ‘Monster’ – the second track to be shared from Loud George’s upcoming EP ‘Sex Teeth’ – give the impression that the band are about to share a dirty punk ‘n’ roll banger. However, this track isn’t all it initially seems to be…
Watch: Take a ‘Stroll…’ with Ecce Shnak
At the beginning of February 2025, art rock band Ecce Shnak released their ‘Shadows Grow Fangs’ EP, their first new work for many years. Between the bendy experimentation of lead single ‘Jeremy, Utalitarian Sandboy’ and a couple of other uncategorisable tunes, it really didn’t disappoint.