In September 2024, Hike The Peak released their ‘Ether’ EP. It hit streaming services just a couple of months after ‘Only The True Fly Free’ (an album made up of sporadically released digital tracks), but it was obviously far more than just a couple of leftovers. At its best, the material delivered some precisely arranged punk; sounds that, with elements of skate and melodic hardcore thrown into the mix and a strong influence from Face To Face, had a very American influence. Thanks to the input of a variety of vocalists from around the globe, the material didn’t always carry the sound that some people might’ve expected to come from a DIY musician from the north of England, but Hike The Peak sounded all the better for that.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
THE PALE HORSE RITUAL – Enchantress EP
Some projects take a while to get off the ground and become a concrete reality, but Ontario’s Pale Horse Ritual (formerly The Pale Horses) took the idea of not rushing anything to extremes. The earliest line up of band the dated back to the late 90s when they were an on/off project for the musicians involved, but it wasn’t until 2024 that a stable line up was formed and the band finally entered the recording studio. They might have taken an age to reach the world’s ears, but the ‘Enchantress’ EP (released via Black Throne Productions (home of Sons of Arrakis and AAWKS) is a real treat.
Listen: Pearl Handled Revolver share new track ‘Space Invader’
Back in 2016, British rock band Pearl Handled Revolver released ‘If The Devil Casts His Net’, an excellent album of dark rock tunes taking in influence from past greats The Doors with a swathe of riffs from Queens of The Stone Age and a pinch of early Deep Purple. They’d released material prior to this, but this record is where their brand of retro rock really came into its own.
A lot of time has obviously passed since then. The band have played a huge number of gigs – even appearing on the bill for the A New Day Festival in 2023 as support for Caravan, Ozric Tentacles and System 7 (the electronica duo featuring the legendary Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy) – and released a couple more albums.
KELSEY MICHAEL – Lethowsow
With its sweeping piano lines and jazzy bass, ‘Gry Maritha’ – the opening track from Kelsey Michael’s debut long player ‘Lethowsow’ – channels material from Joni Mitchell’s ‘Court & Spark’ and ‘Hissing of Summer Lawns’ period, but with the help of a swooning melody and vocal choir, it quickly takes on more of its own identity. Michael’s rich vocal joins a really great sounding tune, and although her voice is used very much carries the melody (as you’d expect), it never dominates the track as a whole. The song’s middle section gives way to some brilliant harp work capturing a dream-like quality, and an unexpected coda finds the band launching into a jazzier groove where the piano and bass come together in a way sounds like a welcome throwback to a McCoy Tyner recording. It’s at this point the listener could become aware of experiencing something rather special.
BIG CANYON – Big Canyon
On their debut release, ‘Horizon’, British rockers Big Canyon delivered some absolutely massive riffs. Often sounding like a much bigger, warmer version of Tangier and Tattoo Rodeo, and akin to more recent, retro sounding hard rockers in line with Blackberry Smoke and Bad Touch (albeit with more of a bluesy edge), they couldn’t be faulted from a musical point of view. The lead guitar playing was especially impressive. A very retro, slightly scratchy vocal took a little adjustment, but with some strong material in hand, it was clear that, even at an early stage, Big Canyon were a band on the road to potentially better things.