This EP from The Magic Bus provides a brief but varied showcase for a talented band who aim to break down musical barriers. Blending traditional Greek melodies with elements of folk rock, stoner rock and trad metal, this EP’s four songs explore a vast musical landscape, but never feels in anyway disjointed. This is due, in no small way, to each of the melodies being linked by a strong vocal. Frontman Valentis Dafkos is in possession of one of those voices which is so big, it doesn’t matter where his music takes him; he’s there, with a very natural boom, sharing a volume that has as much confidence as the band’s biggest riffs.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
FIRE SALE – The Albatross / I Remember Damage
In the summer of 2023, punk band Fire Sale released an excellent two track 7”. The material worked some great melodic punk riffs, and with a heavy leaning towards pop punk with a pinch of skate, it sounded almost exactly like something you’d expect from ex-members of No Use For A Name and The Ataris.
MY LIFE STORY – Loving You Is Killing Me
My Life Story’s first new studio album in nineteen years, 2019’s ‘World Citizen’, was a great comeback. Although the orchestral elements may not have seemed as prominent as those that drove the band’s earlier work, the album’s best material still demonstrated how Jake Shillingford’s distinctive indie pop still possessed a pleasingly grand heart. With orchestral arrangements recorded remotely in Hungary whilst the “rock band” contingent of MLS worked in the UK, the results could’ve sounded disjointed, but its to the band and producer’s credit that everything came together flawlessly. On reflection, a few of the more obvious vocal filters made some of the material feel a little shiny, but, as a complete work, it held up well over repeated listens following its release, proving that the fans and critics’ early enthusiasm for the album was certainly not without merit. The live shows surrounding the record continued the My Life Story tradition of giving audiences an indelible experience – even without a full orchestra in tow – and then, having gained even more traction, any future plans were cut short by the 2020 global pandemic.
THROAT – We Must Leave You
On their 2018 album ‘Bareback’, noise rockers Throat created a sound that took the darkness of goth, the angular elements of post punk and the abrasiveness of industrial to create a record that was one of rock’s most confronting since The Birthday Party bowed out with ‘The Bad Seed’ in the early 80s. Sometimes sounding like Die Haut, sometimes like Fugazi crossed with something much darker, It’s fair to say, the album wouldn’t have been for everyone, but the way Throat took their influences, pushed forth and created something contemporary for the time of release was more than admirable.
WYOMING YOUNG AND STRONG – Wicked Upon You EP
Recorded and mixed by Bloodhag’s Jeff McNulty and mastered by the legendary Tad Doyle, this EP from Seattle stoners Wyoming Young and Strong has a huge, live in the studio sound that makes similar works by renowned producer Jack Endino seem half-arsed. Presenting a wall of distortion coupled with sludge/hardcore riffs that sound like early Tad battling with ‘Ozma’ period Melvins, the band take the stoner metal sound from their earlier ‘Black Wire’ LP and ramp everything up about three fold. The results are absolutely devastating.