In October 2024, Gustaffson released ‘On Broadway’, a brilliantly theatrical single that fused muted guitar parts with a waltzing time signature and a crooned vocal to create something that brought a fantastic twist to the world of adult pop. More than style over substance, the single also ultilised a huge yet simple hook to make the track even more memorable.
Watch: Check out ‘A Stone’s Throw’, the new video from Soho Dukes (featuring Spike Gray)
At the beginning of October 2025, Soho Dukes released ‘Sunday Magazines’, an unashamedly British sounding single that celebrated the past with a namecheck for Whispering Bob Harris and a rollocking arrangement that borrowed liberally from Mott The Hoople and early Quireboys. With a vocal hook on loan from Cockney Rebel, it was anything but subtle, but in terms of pushing those “feel good” buttons, the Dukes served up a winner.
Listen: The Last Bastion deliver a rallying cry on new single ‘Legion of The Damned’
In June 2025, Brit metallers The Last Bastion released their debut album ‘Who We Are’, a collection of songs driven by defiantly old school riffs. The songs may well have paid homage to the genre’s forefathers, and the material often sounded like something from the late 80s, but at its heart, the album had a lot of power. The ghosts of the slower, black album era Metallica cut through some of ‘Screaming In Silence’s heavier moments; a massive twin lead guitar creating a vital musical hook during ‘Medusa’ drew influence from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal but, when presented with a slower, heavier edge, also gave a nod to Slayer’s slow numbers, and that track’s featured solo showed how tight the band could be when delivering a raft of fretboard melting sounds. Perhaps most importantly, the huge crunch present during the slower parts of ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ suggested The Last Bastion would be a force of nature in a live setting.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #128
This week’s visit to the Singles Bar brings a whole world of variety. Bookended by two genuine power pop bangers, this selection of tracks also takes in some really tight funk, a new track by a cult singer songwriter from Scotland, the long overdue return of a dreampop inspired indie band, a loving recreation of a cast iron classic…and more. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!
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Acid Bath to play in the UK for the first time ever!
In 1994, just before the arrival of KoRn and the rise of what would soon be dubbed “nu metal”, the US metal scene was already thriving. Thrash had started to wain, but a whole world of band’s plying doom, sludge and hardcore elements helped to keep music fans of a heavier persuasion more than entertained.