Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore the various individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. The submissions keep coming, allowing us a broad selection of styles. This week, we bring you some great adult pop-rock from Norway, a singer songwriter with a superbly retro sound, a little bit of country, the return of some legends of German metal, and more besides…
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Irish rockers Hero In Error haven’t returned half heartedly with this self titled EP. Following a burst of drone, its opening track ‘Enemy Within’ absolutely floors the listener with an opening riff that’s as oppressive as Conan and almost as heavy as Heriot. Despite often being billed under the metalcore tag, there’s also plenty about this slow and crushing sound that comes much closer to pure doom. Not that fans should be afraid of any potential changes here; this absolutely massive approach suits the band perfectly, and as the slow riffs trudge their way across several bars, the heaviest music has the potential to win over new fans in an instant.
With amps fully cranked, the four songs that make up Izzy and The Black Trees’ ‘Go On, Test The System’ EP have a brilliant, live in the studio sound. The results mightn’t be as explosive as, say, the early works of A Place To Bury Strangers, but this Polish act have a similar love of distortion, and of reworking 90s influences to create an intensive experience. On this release, their no frills, full fuzz approach results in arrangements that explode with a really natural buzz; songs that owe a debt to Sonic Youth, The Jesus & Mary Chain, early PJ Harvey, and overlooked acts like Hammerbox and Yur Mum, yet still convey just enough of their own style to remain interesting.
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. This time out, we bring you a rather eclectic bunch of tunes, ranging from synthpop to light pop, from 90s inspired rock to post-goth. We’ve even managed to contrast a dance track and a soul pop based number with something very heavy, ensuring there’s something here for almost everyone. As always, we’ve had a truckload of submissions over the past seven days, so there’s more good stuff to come…
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In many ways, Russ Ballard’s ‘Since You Been Gone’ feels like a song that just won’t die. From its humble pop-rock beginnings on Ballard’s own (drastically overlooked) ‘Winning’ LP from 1976, the song has passed through several talented hands.