In 2014, the London-based DIY blues-rock outfit The Healing released their debut EP ‘Childhood Home’. A year later, three quarters of the band resurfaced under the name House Above The Sun, seemingly having had a musical rethink. While still recognisable as the core of the same band, House Above The Sun favour a much rootsier sound, placing vocalist Jim Moreton’s voice over music that’s arguably more thoughtful than before.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
SAVAGE GOTH – Savage Goth EP
Savage Goth is concrete proof that you can’t judge things by name alone. Such a judgement led to one of the band’s first gigs being support to a tech metal band – their choice of music somewhat lost upon the receiving audience. Led by songwriter Matthew Kenworthy, the name was a tongue-in-cheek throwback to a slur dating back to his school days in the north of England, where anyone who admitted to liking guitar based music was labelled a “savage goth”.
BLOOD RED SAINTS – Speedway
Vocalist Pete Godfrey first came to the attention of the melodic rock community as frontman of the short-lived (but very promising) In Faith. Realising that being part of a full band would have better career prospects, he formed Blood Red Saints with Rob Naylor (previously of Angels Or Kings) and then enlisted the talents of Gary Hughes’s sometime guitarist Lee Revill. The result is a debut album with some hugely enjoyable melodic hard rock tunes – tunes that constantly hark back to the golden age of 1985-1989 – which should very much appeal to a cross-section of melodic rock buffs.
NATO COLES AND THE BLUE DIAMOND BAND – Promises To Deliver
Imagine what a band might sound like if the new wave edge of Tommy Tutone collided with The Gaslight Anthem’s American rock… That would surely be cool, wouldn’t it? If that kind of rock ‘n’ roll floats your boat, then you need look no further than the 2013 release by Nato Coles & The Blue Diamond Band. On ‘Promises To Deliver’, Nato and company really bring the party. It doesn’t matter whether their listeners are in the highlands of Scotland, the middle of Greece or in a far flung corner of Australia, the musical sounds are so vibrant and heartfelt, that within a couple of tracks it’s like being transported to Springsteen’s beloved New Jersey or the heartland of blue collar America.
HERSCHER – Herscher
Herscher are practicioners of a rather mean and lo-fi brand of doom metal, the kind that’s so intense that makes your average doom band sound like they’re gearing up to play a few Boney M covers and then bed down for a late night at about 7pm. On the bulk of this third release, this French trio are so frighteningly robust, it’s a genuine challenge to get through the near forty minute playing time in one hit. Depending on how much you love your doom and sludge, of course, this could turn out to a be a very positive thing.