Before the pandemic lockdown turned the world on its head and bands were forced to work from home studio setups wherever possible, US metal band The Last Reign’s career had really started to gain traction. Their ‘Prelude’ EP, released in 2019, mixed classic metal with waves of metalcore and a pinch of thrash to create something huge. The end result sometimes owed a debt to riff titans In Flames and Soilwork, but as influences go, it gave the band an especially solid sound. The ‘Evolution’ album (released during a troubled 2020), cemented their place within the metal underground, and a pair of EP releases – ‘Dangerous To Go Alone’, reimagining Last Reign material as 8-bit arcade machine soundtracks, and a covers disc ‘Just Too Darn Loud’ (2021) – showed that this sometimes very serious sounding band also knew how to have fun.
HOLLY BETH VINCENT – Hey Boy / Smash
This two track 7” by Holly Beth Vincent is an unexpected treat. Released a decade on from her ‘Minnesota-California’ album (a record that appears to have never made it past self-released CD-r status), these Travis Ramin produced tunes – first released via Ramo Records in 2012 – capture the one-time Holly & The Italians vocalist in a really sharp mood. Ramin’s studio techniques obviously have a hand in creating a pleasingly punchy sound and there are occasional parallels with his own recordings with Beebe Gallini and The Short Fuses, but that might amount to nothing if Holly weren’t in such interesting vocal shape.
DUST PROPHET – One Last Look Upon The Sky
Dust Prophet’s debut release ‘One Last Look Upon The Sky’ presents some immediately classic stoner metal, doom and desert rock sounds. Taking cues from Black Sabbath, Orange Goblin and Kyuss, the band instinctively knows how to make very familiar riffs immediately effective, and the sprawling nature of their material conjures a love for stoner rock’s forefathers almost as brilliantly as Black Elephant, Acid Mammoth, and Devil Electric before them.
WEST WICKHAMS – Magenta EP
In May 2022, alternative rock duo West Wickhams released ‘She Will Have Her Way’, an excellent EP driven by very retro goth, dreampop and synthpop sounds. Their ‘Magenta’ EP (released in November the same year) finds the band recycling a lot of the same moods, yet at the same time, the material conveys a feeling of moving forward. It’s safe to say that those who enjoyed the previous release will glean a similar amount of enjoyment from this timely follow up.
LITTLE BABY TENDENCIES – Bad Things
A collaboration between drummer Tyler Harrington (The Wirms/Off Peak Arson) and guitarist/vocalist Haley Ivey, Little Baby Tendencies are a fantastically angry duo. Their sound blends garage punk and noise rock in a way that seems pretty vital, and although their songs rely very heavily on a core of shouting and crashing drums, they also bring a brilliantly dirty edge to an otherwise typical world of distortion.