The Fierce And The Dead unleash new single ‘Golden Thread’

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As a band, The Fierce And The Dead have never been shy of evolving. From their noisiest post rock origins, they slowly grew into a melodic juggernaut, mixing heavy grooves and progressive textures on their third album ‘The Euphoric’.

There’s growth and re-invention, and then there’s genre-fluid, which is certainly where the band found themselves during the writing and recording of their fourth LP.  Fans got a taste of the “new” Fierce/Dead in May 2022 when the ‘Wonderful’ single appeared on Bandcamp and other streaming services. For the first time, the band shared something song-based with a strong vocal, and for many, that was the biggest change. However, things had also taken an unexpected turn musically with a world of post-punk riffs colliding with the prog-ish experimentation.

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MARY FAHL – Can’t Get It Out Of My Head

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Mary Fahl first came to prominence as a member of October Project in the 1990s, but it was only after moving on and exploring solo ventures that the American vocalist began to reach her full potential. Despite not being the most prolific, her releases have been rich and sometimes quite varied. Clinging on to a folk core, and blending that with an easy listening vocal, Fahl’s best songs have ploughed a very adult MOR furrow, but those paying closer attention will spot a broad range of influences. For example, ‘Annie Roll Down Your Window’ shows an affinity for Indigo Girls, an almost Neil Finn-like pop element drives the folk rock sound of ‘Raging Child’, and much later on, ‘How Much Love’ conveys the dark heart of Tracy Chapman set against the sparseness of Daniel Lanois.

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UFO – High Stakes & Dangerous Men / Lights Out In Tokyo

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The body of work released by UFO’s second incarnation – featuring the now legendary Michael Schenker on guitar – has inevitably overshadowed the rest of their catalogue. The run of releases between 1974’s ‘Phenomena’ and 1979’s career-defining live album ‘Strangers In The Night’ represents a musical CV that would make any rock band proud, but there is so much more to UFO than those “glory years”.

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BAR II – How I Fake It EP

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Following on from their ‘Let You Down’ single in 2021, Belgian rock band Bar II’s ‘How I Fake It’ EP features a couple of their best recordings to date. Its two tracks are centred around some fairly chunky riffs, but despite being promoted as a “stoner duo”, the best moments branch off into an even spikier sound, often showcasing the musicians in a more inventive way.

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SCURÌU – Wilhelmina EP

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A one man project from Italy, Scurìu set out to convey the darkest musical interests of its creator. An early demo released during the pandemic lockdown of 2020 introduced a small group of listeners to a sound that blended classic doom metal with traces of black metal harshness, and a vocal that almost seemed to channel Love Among Freaks’ ‘Berzerker’. If it weren’t for the presence of some great riffs and atmospheric spoken word passages, it might have even sounded like a comical pastiche of the extreme subgenres, but somehow – despite a wilfully lacking budget, truly home grown stance, and lack of actual songs – the recordings had something about them that pulled in the listener. It says a lot about how durable Cathedral-esque riffs can be, and how extreme metal’s insular and sometimes truly claustrophobic feel will hold up against less than ideal recording circumstances.

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