Over the years, the Lord of the Rings trilogy has been a fairly popular inspiration for concept albums. Even before Peter Jackson’s world dominating, award winning film adaptations, rock bands were looking to Tolkien for lyrical themes. Magnum‘s Bob Catley released an entire album of Middle Earth based songs back at the turn of the millennium; Blind Guardian released a full album of Tolkien tales two years previously. It could be said that many prog, power metal and battle metal bands are obsessed, but few have taken Tolkien to heavier places than Barrow Wight.
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Hear a new track from The Weakerthans’ John K. Samson
John K. Samson releases his second solo album ‘Winter Wheat’ on October 21st 2016.
For this release The Weakerthans and ex-Propagandhi man is backed by Greg Smith, bassist of his parent band and others as he takes us on a stripped back and journey through various thoughtful singer-songwriter moods.
ALL THAT’S LEFT – All That’s Left EP
From Ontario, All That’s Left are a five piece rock band who clearly carry within them a restless spirit. The three songs on their debut EP present the work of a very talented band, while simultaneously sounding like a bunch of guys whom haven’t quite found their niche. That said, all three songs are enjoyable if listened to in isolation – they just don’t necessarily belong together.
88 MILE TRIP – Through The Thickest Haze
Hearing the opening notes of this debut full-length LP from Canadian stoner rock band 88 Mile Trip has the unfortunate effect of making the listener want to turn off the disc in an instant. Frontman David Bell delivers the opening verse of ‘The Repressed’ a cappella style which, quite frankly, isn’t the best move. His huge voice has a natural tone, but much like hearing Glenn Danzig bellowing with no sense of occasion or restraint, in terms of over-singing, it’s incredibly overbearing. He wails through each word at full volume and really it’s not easy to listen to. Maybe the band wanted to make a statement and chose such uncompromising beginnings deliberately, but there’s also every chance that Bell isn’t quite the vocalist he aspires to being.
AVERSION – Aversion
Four years after their formation, Canadian black metal troupe Aversion unleashed their debut release in the summer of 2015. Released two years after a demo, this record still has a very demo-like feel by black metal standards. With a sound that’s never going to win over a huge audience to begin with, the rough and ready feel this album has, Aversion seem set on keeping their audience somewhat selective, but looking beyond that, there’s some reasonable playing.