After releasing two solid melodic rock albums, First Signal delivered a genuine masterpiece with their third disc ‘Line of Fire’. On that recording, the union between vocalist Harry Hess and versatile guitarist-for-hire Michael Palace was truly inspired, and the resultant set of songs rivalled the early Harem Scarem output. In many ways, setting such a high benchmark meant that any follow up would likely feel a little inferior, but there’s still plenty about First Signal’s 2022 release ‘Closer To The Edge’ that comes to the gold standard of melodic rock, at least in terms of both composition and musicianship.
ELECTRIC FRANKENSTEIN / THE STRIPP – Split EP
At the time of this release, it may well have been fifteen years since Electric Frankenstein gave the world a full length album of self-penned, brand new material, but the band have kept themselves more than busy. In that time, they’ve released a bunch of singles (including an excellent cover of Alice Cooper’s ‘Under My Wheels’) and also lent their talents to a plethora of split releases, including discs shared with The Hip Priests, Kung Fu Killers and The Bordells. Making it somewhat easier to catch up with their sporadic recording style, a lot of singles and EP tracks have also been reissued on EF full length comps by Ghost Highway Records, further helping to maintain the band’s presence.
Watch the new video from Wanted Noise
As part of the promotional cycle for their newly released album ‘Next Generation’, Californian punks Wanted Noise have shared a brand new video clip for the track ‘Get After It’.
Watch the new video from The Cheap Cassettes
In January ’22, US based retro rockers The Cheap Cassettes released their full length album ‘Ever Since Ever Since’. It wasn’t perfect, but in amongst the no-frills riffs, there were enough top tier tunes to impress lovers of their previous works.
RYAN ALLEN – I’m Not Mean (Four By Ryan Allen) EP
When it comes to a Ryan Allen release, it’s never immediately obvious what you’ll get. His brilliant ‘Up Here’ EP from 2019 presented some brilliant punk-edged power pop via a song cycle regarding his divorce; the first of his 2021 releases, ‘What A Rip’ was a guided tour of his various poppier influences, and that year’s second venture, ‘Digital Hiss’, was an exploration of lo-fi, noisier work. That was also cool, but not necessarily what lovers of ‘What A Rip’ would’ve expected…or maybe even wanted.