Radio Days share new single featuring Kurt Baker

Italian power poppers Radio Days waved goodbye to 2020 with an excellent three track release, ‘I Got A Love’, presenting two very sharp self-penned tunes and a spirited cover of The Jam’s ‘In The City’.  Although bite-sized, the release gave fans everything they could hope for from a new Radio Days disc.

Continue reading

FALSE MEMORIES – The Last Night Of Fall

A new arrival at the Frontiers Records label for 2021, Italy’s False Memories were promoted in their pre-release materials as leaning towards “a gothic, doom metal vibe”. Although the band’s darker tones are something of an interesting move for a label that predominantly deals with melodic metal and a wealth of old school AOR, massive hair and the occasionally misjudged leather trouser, it soon becomes clear that nobody at the label has a clear idea of what “doom metal” actually entails. You won’t find any eight minute epics on this band’s third release ‘The Last Night of Fall’, nor will you find anything dominated by deep, booming voices, or any riffs that could be considered oppressively slow. Occasionally, the band unleash something of an unexpected heaviness – as is the case with album highlight ‘Deep Breath’ – but, in the main, False Memories have a strong relationship with a melody and something of a “safe” feel. In short, for all of the hard sell with a focus on darkness and heaviness, the label have signed their own Nightwish. False Memories can be a little more intense and often more interesting, but they definitely sit more within that musical sphere. For the more adventurous melodic rock fan, such a familiar Euro-goth sound should be enough to warrant a purchase, but this in no way should be considered “doom metal”. Luckily, despite an over familiar sound and the possibility of finding themselves in something of an over saturated market in terms of style, False Memories come armed with some decent songs, and in Rossella Moscalletto they have a very self-assured vocalist.

Continue reading

TWISTER – Ten Years Of Failures EP

Their name might not be among punk’s most familiar, but Twister are one of many great punk bands from Italy. They’ve shared labels with Latte+, Mega and Killtime, churned out some solid melodic punk and Ramonescore sounds, and slowly forged their way to cult status. Their 2016 LP ‘We’ll Be OK’ gained a few positive online reviews, but became most memorable due to a sleeve that paid homage to the legendary Teen Idols. By the end of 2020, they were still relative unknowns compared to some of their peers, but they were still capable of releasing some fine, melodic fare.

Continue reading

STINKING POLECATS – Stinking Polecats EP

After spending years fronting Ramones obsessives Tough, bassist Chris Polecat revived The Stinking Polecats. It was an unlikely move, given that Tough had gained some really positive press and the Polecats had been away for fifteen years – more than your average hiatus. But like so many good punk bands, those fifteen years might as well just have been two or three, since upon their return, the band merely picked up where they’d left off and sounded as good as ever.

Continue reading

THE LIVERMORES – The Livermores

The Livermores’ 2019 self-titled disc follows a couple of EP releases (including a fun split with Proton Packs), is advertised as a full album but still only clocks in at a length that some bands would still consider an EP. In an especially lean twenty four minutes, though, this band smashes their way through a full thirteen tracks of speed-driven punk, creating a listen that’s both enjoyable and incredibly energetic.

Continue reading