Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews

ENVY OF NONE – Stygyan Waves

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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.

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MORLOCKS – Amor, Monstra Et Horrore Profundi EP

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In terms of musical interest, Morlocks’ 2023 LP ‘Praise The Iconoclast’ didn’t sell its listeners short. On the stand out track, ‘I’m The Payload’, the band managed to fuse orchestral sounding synths to a relentlessly mechanical rhythm, before loading the arrangement up further with alt-pop vocals, 80s keys and a few rock-edged guitars. The result sounded at times like an industrial band channelling early Oingo Boingo, with a couple of vocal phrases in the latter part of the number that hinted at a love of KMFDM. Rather fittingly, that legendary band’s Käpt’n K would also make an appearance on the record, and somewhat predictably, his presence throughout ‘Mean World Syndrome’ leant that number more of a KMFDM flavour. Elsewhere, ‘Instigation’ swamped vocal samples with a heavy groove and nods to classic Ministry, and taking another curveball, ‘Cold War Fusion’ melded soundtrack-like elements and darkwave melodies into an epic closer that more than suggested this most cult of bands still had musical ground to cover somewhere in the not too distant future.

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YAWNING BALCH – Volume Three

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The first two albums by Yawning Balch – the side project featuring members of Yawning Man with Fu Manchu guitarist Bob Balch – yielded some fabulous music. The lengthy, improvised jams filled a pair of records with brilliant, almost ambient desert rock sounds; a whole world of sonic textures that really capture a moment, but really allow listener to be really drawn in by the band’s almost cinematic qualities.

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ROBIN McAULEY – Soulbound

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A strong case could be made for Robin McAuley’s second solo album – 2021’s ‘Standing On The Edge’ – being one of the finest of the journeyman vocalist’s career. It seemed to hit a sweet spot in terms of melodies, and although the singer’s brand of melodic rock was hardly in fashion at the time of release, his love for the style appeared unwavering. The album’s strong musicianship and big choruses rivalled his earlier associations with the legendary Michael Schenker, and the record’s AOR slant made it a great fit alongside some of their other Frontiers Records releases from that time. Taking influence from Black Swan’s second album ‘Generation Mind’, 2023’s ‘Alive’ took a slightly harder turn musically, but still found Robin in great voice and an enthused mood.

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BANDAGES – Bandages

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Back in the mid 00’s, The Messengers released an album that was pleasingly punchy but also lent a welcome sense of accessibility via its melodic punk sound. That self titled record harked back to the Tilt debut from ’94 and other great fare, and introduced the world to vocalist Shannon Wilson, a performer who clearly seemed destined for greatness. It was the sort of record that deserved the kind of success gained by The Distillers’ ‘Coral Fang’ and a couple of other releases around the same time, and yet it never seemed to garner more than a cult following.

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