HIGHRIDER – Roll For Initiative

Highrider’s 2016 EP really meant business. Within twenty minutes, the Swedish In Flames obsessives growled, thrashed and pounded their way through four almost faultless tunes that owed so much to the past, especially with a root in classic thrash – and yet still sounded contemporary for the time of release. An unlikely soundtrack for the summer, that short look into a world that blended thrash with melodic hardcore and 70s hard rock organs promised so much for the inevitable full length debut. A year on, ‘Roll For Initiative’ expands on those musical themes and results in a more mixed album. Within the eight featured tracks, you’ll hear more of the things that made Highrider an instant success, but also a few experiments that aren’t quite as immediate.

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PARADISE ASYLUM – The Phoenix Rising EP

Paradise Asylum released their debut EP ‘The Storm Queen Cometh’ in 2013. The release was recorded on a meagre budget and vocalist Carla Warnes sang fairly flat throughout, but a couple of tracks demonstrated a can-do attitude that showed that even when they got it wrong, the band clearly loved playing together. Subsequent releases trod pretty much the same path.

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Check out ‘Truck’, the new track from The Fierce And The Dead

The last couple of years have really seen British art-rock band The Fierce And The Dead gathering momentum.  Their ‘Magnet’ EP contained some of their best work to date and also appeared on the Prog stage at the Ramblin’ Man Fair.

Quite understandably, there’s a fair amount of buzz surrounding their upcoming album, ‘The Euphoric’.   The album’s launch show at The Black Heart in London (May 18th) is the band’s biggest London headline show to date…and the forthcoming album promises some of their biggest sounds.

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AIN’T NO JOKE: Real Gone Sampler #9

A yearly tradition, the Real Gone Sampler is one of the most popular things in our calendar. In previous years, we’ve given away great music by Kurt Baker, The 1957 Tail Fin Fiasco and Black Moth. Every year, the project rounds up the very best in DIY acts and aims to get great music out to a new audience.

On occasion, we’ve even been lucky enough to give you two end of year samplers. This year, the download is only one disc long, but we bring you over seventy minutes of underground sounds. We’ve got dream pop, shoegaze, roots rock, garage rock, singer songwriters and a whole bunch more. It could just be the best Real Gone freebie to date.

As always, reviews for each album can be found behind the band name links.

Sleeve art designed by Elena Barrio.

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