Following a fuzz heavy intro that suggests a love of shoegaze, ‘Abandoned Love’ – the lead track from Arrows of Athena’s second album ‘Daydreaming’ – opens up to share a techy sounding slice of alternative rock-pop in a Garbage meets Yeah Yeah Yeahs style. It doesn’t take too long before the number’s brilliant blend of mechanical rhythms and contrasting flowing vocal begins to make an impression. Against some familiar sounding music, the track places a spotlight on vocalist Jac-Lyn Gibson, whose performance here is almost strong enough alone to carry the entire track, and definitely makes it easy to forgive what might be perceived as sharing too much of an obvious influence. The vocal shares an immediate power, calling out clearly despite being subjected to filters, and ultimately sounds like the perfect compliment to a great musical melody. As for that intro: it’s not a red herring. Guitarist Scott Lerner creeps through the cracks to fill the bridges with more of that pleasingly aggressive style, giving this track a superbly tough edge when needed. When released as a single in 2025, it sounded like one of the duo’s finest recordings to date; when experienced as part of this full length, its impact certainly isn’t diminished, despite being complimented by several other strong performances. If you’ve not heard Arrows of Athena before, this will leave a superb first impression.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
POSEYDON – Time Is A River And The Waters Are Red
Formed in 1992 at the tail end of the first great thrash metal boom, it would take Belgium’s Poseydon another six years to release an EP before splitting up rather prematurely. After reforming in 2007 – by which time, the landscape of metal had shifted considerably – the band began to rebuild a following, and eventually released a debut full length album in 2011. That recording, ‘Cold World’ shared more of a death metal infused thrash, but showcased a band who were clearly capable of delivering the goods when it came to a genuine heaviness.
URIAH HEEP – Firefly
When David Byron left Uriah Heep in 1976, the band’s fans figured he’d be irreplaceable. His dynamic vocal range was an essential part of the Heep sound, after all. Not long after his departure, the band found a replacement in ex-Lucifer’s Friend vocalist John Lawton and, joining him in the newly configured Heep, came another familiar face – ex-Bowie/Spiders bassist Trevor Bolder, replacing the departed John Wetton. Despite Heep now being the underdogs, the resulting album – 1977’s ‘Firefly’ – was not only enjoyable, but a big improvement over the workmanlike approach which dominated most of 1976’s ‘High and Mighty’.
Watch: Kill The Silence share new video for ‘Superficial (Carry On)’
On their previous single ‘The Final Word’, Kill The Silence took some very heavy riffs and coupled them with an emo-centric vocal to set an interesting contrast in place. It was the kind of track that proved alternative/metal music was still pushing boundaries.
SHAPES LIKE PEOPLE – Under The Rainbow
A Wiltshire based dream pop duo featuring husband and wife team Carl and Kat Mann, Shapes Like People were formed as a side project to Carl’s indie band The Shop Window. Kat had already provided backing vocals on their ‘Daydream’ LP, but, if stories are to be believed, Carl hadn’t actually considered Kat for his then new project. It’s been jokingly claimed that Shapes Like People came together by accident, but like many happy accidents, the results were impressive. Their debut album ‘Ticking Haze’ played like the ultimate love letter to the 4AD label circa 1991, and although the whole record was enjoyable, between the waltzing time signatures of ‘A New Crown’, the harmony driven ‘Fireworks’ and the Johnny Marr tinged ‘Head Spun’, it offered a trilogy of tracks strong enough to place Shapes Like People among the frontrunners of retro sounding dream pop bands.