Red Mesa’s second album ‘The Path To The Deathless’ brought the world a selection of finely crafted riffs during the pandemic lockdown of 2020. At the album’s most melodic, tracks like ‘Death I Am’ injected an extra spookiness into a classic desert rock backdrop; at its most groove laden, Red Mesa blended the driving elements of early Sabbath’s faster offerings with an extra layer of fuzz that looked back to classic Corrosion of Conformity, and when occasionally stretching for heavier sounds, their slow and oppressive riffs showed a love for the mighty Electric Wizard. In terms of taking a bunch of key influences and chucking them into a giant stoner metal stew, it was the kind of album that genre fans would love.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
9-VOLT VELVET – Nude Beaches
Texan rockers 9-Volt Velvet serve up a superb selection of riffs on their first full length release ‘Nude Beaches’. It’s a record that values directness, with each of the tracks feature some really taut riffs, but unlike some garage rock oriented bands, 9VV’s best tunes aren’t just in the Band of Skulls mode. The best bits of this album draw from a broader musical palette, and sometimes do so within a single song.
POWERMAN 5000 – Abandon Ship
During the pandemic lockdown of 2020, Powerman 5000 released their tenth studio album, ‘The Noble Rot’. Beyond the band’s hardcore fans, the album went largely unnoticed, but it actually contained some great material. It was actually a contender for being the best Powerman album since the shelved ‘Anyone For Doomsday’ – excepting 2011’s brilliant covers collection ‘Copies, Clones & Replicants’ – and proved that Spider One was still capable of sharing some great riffs. Much like the rest of the PM5K catalogue, it showed his willingness to follow a musical muse, whatever the style, and it’s succinct and vinyl friendly half hour playing time ensured there was no obvious filler.
FRED ABONG – Blindness
Released just seven months after ‘Fear Pageant’, most of Fred Abong’s 2024 album ‘Blindness’ feels as different from its predecessor as ‘Fear Pageant’ had sometimes felt from the slightly slicker ‘Yellowthroat’. On a basic level, it’s great to hear the artist continually evolving, but that becomes more impressive once you consider the relatively lo-fi soundscapes that Abong often favours. A good chunk of this album doesn’t just represent a step forward, but a massive leap sideways into a world of the unexpected.
BA’AL – Soft Eyes EP
Ever since the release of their ‘In Gallows By Mass’ EP in 2017, Sheffield’s Ba’al have always been committed to pushing the boundaries of metal. That EP’s three tracks explored the extreme end of post-metal riffing, doom laden sounds, and even dropped in some black metal vocals for good measure. With a few melodic twists that explored a slightly more commercial goth based sound with clean vocals, there were concessions to some great melodies too, but didn’t offer anything particularly accessible to those not into extreme sounds.