Mastodon - Emperor Of Sand
“Opener Sultan’s Curse clatters and slaloms through the changes with an urgency that barely lets up throughout the album: ‘Straighten the curve/like a circle to return.’ Show Yourself is a sandblast of defiant desolation, while Steambreather offers a welcome switch in intensity, with its bone-marrow bass and siren guitars, as existential thoughts press hard on Dailor’s mind: ‘I wonder who I am/ Reflections offer nothing/I wonder where I stand/ I’m afraid of myself.’”
Invidia - As The Sun Sleeps
“As a snapshot example of modern US metal, Invidia’s debut is pretty much on the money. Sounding positively colossal and swinging a tattooed pair the size of wrecking balls, this effort is atepicallyonce heavy yet cunningly crafted to be as accessible as possible.”
Body Count - Bloodlust
“Amazingly, 25 years have elapsed since Body Count first ignited worldwide controversy with their inflammatory anthem Cop Killer. Depressingly, LA gangsta rapper turned rocker Ice-T is still addressing similar themes of racism, poverty and police brutality on the group’s sixth album, and they feel more relevant than ever.”
Wire - Silver/Lead
“Still mourning Bowie? Choose life – his spirit shines on in the relentless forward motion of Colin Newman and Wire, marking the band’s 40th anniversary with their sixteenth album, that sounds like the work of a band that’s just starting out.”
Aimee Mann - Mental Illness
“Like Glen Campbell, she processes an essentially unadorned, vanilla voice that’s still capable of conveying yearning tracts of emotion, and while Mental Illness doesn’t stray too far from the beaten path, it does offer something new for seasoned Mann watchers.”
Troubled Horse - Revolution On Repeat
“There’s no doubt about the health of rock’n’roll in the minds of Swedish rabble-rousers Troubled Horse. From the off, they charge at us with thundering riffs, their adrenaline-fuelled slabs of hard rock passionately carrying the torch of classic rock history into the future and beyond, swerving all-out nostalgia but celebrating their roots. And it’s a riot.”
Wonk Unit - Mr Splashy
“Wonk Unit main man Alex Johnson may be twice the age of the young punks his band often share bills and mutual respect with, such as Slaves and Shame, but like the equally craggy Sleaford Mods, no one’s dismissing Wonk Unit as irrelevant old farts.”
The Doors - The Doors (50th Anniversary Reissue)
“One of the greatest debut albums by a rock group. What kind of band in 1966 would include a Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht song on their first album, or even start the first track with a bossa nova drum beat? The Doors were unique, then and now, mashing up Indian ragas with blues, jazz, rock, esoteric poetry and a phenomenal songwriting ability. Bottom line: they didn’t have any bad songs.”
The best new rock albums you can buy this week
