Born at the very beginning of 2014, Empires of Light is a post rock/extreme metal band sprung from the ashes of History of the Hawk, sharing members with doom metal band Opium Lord. On their first release ‘Apricity’, dark tendencies are abound as the quartet of musicians seek to explore as much musical ground as possible within a relatively short duration, resulting in twenty five minutes of both distorted sonic spaciousness and sledgehammer riffs.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
FRANKS WILD YEARS – Four EP
After after five years of working and experimenting as a trio, alt-rock band Franks Wild Years added an extra guitarist to their ranks. The dual guitar approach helped the Mancunian outfit – in their own words – “hit upon the right formula”…and listening to the resultant EP ‘Four’, it’s hard to argue with that. They’ve not captured something that not only works, but works wonderfully, with songs possessing not just a depth of character and plenty of opportunity to show off their expanded line-up, but with each also given a more than reasonable send off in the production department.
URIAH HEEP – Outsider
For most people Uriah Heep are a band consigned to the seventies with their some of their earliest albums ‘Very ’Eavy, Very ’Umble’, ‘Demons & Wizards’ and ‘The Magicians Birthday’ their best known. Those same people probably still regard the band as a poor man’s Deep Purple and are blissfully unaware that the band’s twenty third studio release – 2011’s ‘Into The Wild’, their first for Frontiers Records – is among their absolute best. Although the straight forward hard rock on display owed more to the band’s output from the early 80s and beyond than the flowery fantasies and psudo-prog of their 70s heyday, the whole album showcased a class act – a band still more than capable of delivering the goods in the classic rock vein and in some cases really outshining their peers. Since that last album, the world also lost bassist Trevor Bolder. With that in mind, 2014’s ‘Outsider’ had much to live up to and need to work incredibly hard to match the great impression left by its immediate predecessor.
BROCKLEY FOREST – Second Nature EP
Dropped at the beginning of 2013 into a world of DIY noise, the debut EP from Bristol’s Brockley Forest gave fans of garage blues much to celebrate. Taking a tried and tested blueprint then cranking the volume and intensity, Dec and Seb (vocals/guitars and drums respectively) tore through ten minutes of blues-based grooves with passion, raising hopes for the full length release we assumed would follow. Just over a year on, they returned. Sadly, it is without the full length so deserved by their awaiting cult of followers, but their second release – the aptly titled ‘Second Nature’ – is, at least in part, harder than the predecessor; it’s three numbers structured around brash and basic sounds, the grooves much befitting of their approach built around two guys in a rehearsal space.
MÖNGÖL HÖRDE – Möngöl Hörde
During the relentless touring for his huge selling album ‘England Keep My Bones’ – gigs that saw support slots with Billy Bragg and successful festival appearances alongside sold-out headline shows – singer-songwriter Frank Turner made an unexpected move. He teamed up with his old mate Ben Dawson and formed Möngöl Hörde, a hardcore band channelling a lot of the spirit of their previous band Million Dead. The band played a low key gig in a Camden pub before appearing at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, before Turner resumed his solo work, releasing the commercially successful ‘Tape Deck Heart’. Little more was heard from the Hörde until a couple of years later, when they announced the release of a debut album, little over a week before it was due to hit the shelves – a lightning-fast, almost guerilla like promotion very in keeping with the sharp and uncompromising sound from the band themselves.