Hello, everybody, Welcome to That's No Matter, your weekly rock and heavy
metal podcast, giving you the lowdown and everything going on in those wonderful,
wonderful worlds today. You can judge whether they're wonderful or whether there are there
are drawbacks to being involved with things. But we are here today. This
is Hyperblasts. This is our you know, our normally a little bit quicker
in and out news show. Today we do have a couple of sizable releases
hanging over from the end of March, last week's you know releases and everything
that we need to clear out of the way before April goes absolutely haywire.
So today, at the end of you know, this old new show,
so we are going to be talking and reviewing the new albums from While She
Sleeps and the new final album from Some forty one. So if you want
to hear those then you know, wait till around to the end of the
show. We are going to get to those. Before then we have some
news and business to talk about. Sam, you were discussing right before sitting
down to do this show. Obviously, when we get to some things like
you have been more excited to do podcasts in the past, Yeah, I
mean, this is the least enthusiastic I think I've ever felt about going into
doing a review, and that can you need to some of the ABMs you've
made me review, and like you've made me review Imperial Triumphant, I might
prefer reviewing Imperial Triumphant to what is going to happen? Yeah, so we
will. We'll get around to that in some time. A little bit of
you know, kind of stuff that has been been going on. I did
her over you know, the last week I went along to Creepers. I
guess you know they're kind of second tour. Yeah, they're sort of club
tour, the second tour for Sangua wore. So obviously I feel like I've
spoken about Creeper Live fairly recently, so maybe don't need to go to in
detail. But you know, this is sangle War was the T and M
listener album of the year, wasn't it. So imagine a lot of people
listening to us right now. We're probably also in attendance at a number of
these dates. I know they got over to Ireland for the first time in
like years, so people over there were very pleased to finally get to see
Creeper I went along to what was actually the final night of the tour,
which descended into a bit of mayhem at the very end of it. Obviously
Creeper were fucking wicked. No news there, I guess it's just, you
know, in terms of variation from like the bigger show that they went out
in and kind of November time, wasn't it when they did the proper headline
tour for Sangwavore, bits of kind of you know, set list tweaking and
stuff I have, I've seen them, do you know more set list tweaking
from tor to tour, but still some notable things there, you know,
of the Sangua Wore songs. I was a bit disappointed that one of the
songs they cut for something else was Black Heaven, which I did want to
see again. But everything in there was obviously still wicked. This thing has
developed during So they opened with Cry to Heaven into Poison Pens, which on
the previous tour Room three o nine was in that like fast hardcore slot,
so go big dramatic Cried to Heaven into mosh tracks. Yeah, creep stands.
They swapped out the turne in your Arms musher, But then love has
led Astray, which I was gonna say, love Leatherstray, I'm really happy
has kind of in the last few months since that first tour has kind of
like blossomed into like a favorite late album single for a lot of the Creeper
fan base, because that was always one of my third tracks on the album,
but it didn't necessarily scream, like that's one of the obvious you know,
like Staples or anything. But this thing has developed with them where you
know, the kind of the rose lyric in that song, people bring like
roses and like hand them up to Will on the stage. So like when
it literally it's been going on every single date that they've ever fucking they've played,
like since they started developing, people know to have their roses in hand,
and like by the end of the third song of the set, the
stage was absolutely coated in roses. They hadn't brought themselves, so that was
great. Other you know, like obviously when they go into the club tours,
you want to see them dip back a little bit. We got Black
Mass which for the first time in a while, which was very very nice.
Indeed also goes over Cavalry from the second the American Noir EP I can't
believe that Midnight is just absent from the set now, isn't it. People
keep asking them this on like if you follow their like instagrams and stuff,
and they say that they just played it to death for a little while and
then they'll get around to it again. But they've played down Below at every
single show, like down Below and Vcry and down Below are like, yeah,
I'm pretty sure you know that I've played every single fucking set since you
know that album came out, So I don't know what it is about Midnight,
where like within a year they were just like, now we're bored of
that one, but yeah, they will get back to it. Goes of
the Cavalry was very nice to see. Always a great moment there, the
kind of mayhem unfolded when so the encore they opened with Further Than Forever,
which obviously for the pre that was in the proper opening slot, but coming
out again with that whole thing was fucking incredible. And then they went into
Misery and that was where they I guess they intended on closing on and you
know the bit at the very end of Misery where if you've seen Creeper a
lot of times you know it always happens the kind of the I'm your chip
nail paint part where the crowd just sings the entire like bridge and final chorus
of misery before Will even does it himself. It's like you get an extended
version of the end because the crowd jumps in sings the entire part, and
then Will has to kind of bring it back around the bill it back up
again. That part got completely derailed by genuinely five to ten minutes of like
shit housery where it just descended into like final note of the tour chaos.
If any of you were at the Liverpool there, you'll know what I'm talking
about, where like people were chanting for Steve the fucking the Creeper's bus driver
who was apparently asleep in the bus outside and was completely none the wiser,
but people chanting for Steve to come out, and Will was like, what
you want, Steve, which resulted in Creeper's tour manager Billy Hutton, formerly
a Milk Teeth, to have to come out on stage and speak of the
black phone saying Steve's asleep, I'm not working. The whole thing just went
into complete mayhem and then the people were chanting for VCR and stuff as well,
which did result in once they finished a Misery, they were like,
yeah, we've got time, We'll do one more. Did VCR like impromptu
And my favorite part of the show was for that Sean in the sort of
a moment of madness, basically handing off his bass to Hannah to perform the
bay throughout that song while he did like the hardcore verse and then jumped into
the crowd, and then when he got back on the stage spent the entire
rest of the song. He didn't take his bass back, He just spent
the entire rest of the song two stepping across. That sounds like, that
says exactly what I mean. I've seen him two stepping across stage and stage
diving at hardcore festivals before, like dude is a mosha. That's really cool.
So, like you know, I've seen them do smaller shows, but
it was one of the rowdier ones that I've seen. And yeah, always
sound that sounds yeah, And again the contrast between that and the previous tour
was great. The support acts as well, not were the first one who
I also saw at Celestial Darkness Festival earlier in the month, and they are
the only, I guess, one of only a couple of bands in that
kind of goth sphere who I could see at Celestial Darkness Festival, and then
supporting you know, Creeper, and they're they're very strange kind of you know,
different vibe where I went in the underworld. That Celestial Darkness is like,
you know, very shadow. We are very suited to them. And
then suddenly they were in like in a big sort of a larger space with
like a big light shine and everything. The singer looks exactly like Nandor from
what we do in the Shadows. He was wearing the sparkliest jacket at Celestial
Darkness Festival, and I was pleased to see it appear here again, just
like the most kind of like almost comical to a point, certainly, if
you're not ensconced in that world, I think it definitely would come across as
comical, like sort of you know, vamping that kind of thing. And
then Zetra as well, who I've I've kind of come to realize I don't
really like at least in the live environment, like I've seen them about four
times now, which is more than you know, some bands I'm a big
fan of and it always just comes across very flimsy and sort of ephemeral to
me. And you know, I guess we've got some news later about their
album and everything, and you know, I'm open to hearing more because there's
not a lot of material out in the world, but at least the live
I feel like I've definitely had my fiel, et cetera for a while.
News we will get into it. We are going to start with an interesting
little teaser that was uploaded earlier today as we were recording this, which has
comes from Ghost, which seems to suggest that they basically have a feature film
in the works that is going to be kind of, you know, making
it to cinemas, I hope, and some kind of you know, the
interesting how wider release that would be, like you know, our Ghost at
that Taylor swift eras tour film level. Probably not, but you know,
we'll see how far that goes. But don't entirely have the information of what
this exactly is yet, but we know that there is some kind of Ghost
movie coming. Is that a concert film? It seems to be suggested that
there may be some other kind of elements in there. I'm getting what was
the Metallical Through the Ever, through the Never. I'm getting that vibe of
like concert film cross with narrative driven kind of horror movie thing, which was
weird when Metallica did it. Maybe Ghost with their their stick you know,
have more to do with that. But yeah, very intriguing. Yeah,
yeah, I'm curious about this, Like I'll go see it, Like if
it comes out a cinemas, I'll be there. Sure. Yeah. Interesting
kind of like of all the modern bands to do this, Ghost I probably
you know, the first pick you go to for a band to kind of
craft something more visual. I think the problem with the Metallica one was whenever
Metallica weren't on screen, You're like, I came for Metallica, I don't
care about all the other stuff. Was From what I've seen, I think
you're right, it's gonna be a concert film with a narrative, and I
think the narrative is about Papa four. Yeah, and there's the Sister Imperator
character and all these kind of things that they have. They actually have characters
who if you are like a hardcore ghost Stan, you have built up a
sort of familiarity with already without them being introduced in this movie. It certainly
seems like, you know, we're sort of looking towards the end of this
sort of you would imagine that like basically the Papa is it Papa far for
Emperor, that that character is probably gonna die and be you know, sort
of reborn in a new era for this could be what happens in the movie
exactly that. But yeah, I guess it can Ghost succeed where Metallica sort
of failed. I mean that was the thing I was trying to give a
single example of this being done well. And the Metallica one is bad,
the led Zeppelin one isn't great, But I don't know. The sketches that
Ghost put together are weirdly quite good, Like they're quite aesthetically pleasing, and
Tobias Forge, I mean a lot of practice acting as Papa, So I'm
hopeful. Yeah, if it's a Ghost concert film, you know, the
concert part of it will be really good. Absolutely, And I've said this
many times. We go but seeing a you know, a band who we've
kind of seen come up from a very small level get to a full on
concert film in the cinemas type level for me is very very novel. But
the idea of the sort of extra elements on this are a bit sort of
you know, they're the kind of the unknown quantity right now, and it's
a very very intriguan to see what might turn up. Hopefully we will have
more news sooner rather than later. We do have a new single from a
band that I know a lot of people are very very partial to. They're
called Better Lovers. They have released a new single called The Flowering. I
guess this is have they released any single since the EP? This is the
first? Yeah, the first. This is the first taste of a probable
album, Oh sure, yeah, or a second EP or whatever it turns
out of being. But you know, past that first kind of statement,
we have more Better Lovers music. This is a song that Sam You'll have
probably heard it live because they've said that they've been playing it live for a
fair while before kind of going into recording it. But Better Lovers the Flowering
so right in it. I mean, obviously I fucking love this, Like
no shit, I heard a planning. I was like, yeah, cool,
Better Lovers. I just I've kind of I know what I'm getting from
the now there's but in the middle of it gets that really weird, and
I was like, that's quite cool, like sort of different, the weird
tweaky tempo breakdown bit. Yeah, like that bit that was, Oh that's
cool, that's different. And that's and then the final bit with like the
bodies burning or I come with the lyrics, but like there's that kind of
hook that Greg shouting. I was like, yeah, cool, just keep
piling this up for me. I'll have all of this I can eat.
Yeah, there's a cool there's a cool like little Shop of Horrors inspired music
video with it. I agree, I think for me actually, like when
I press play on it, because I you know, I haven't spent as
much time as you and I know many others listening to like that EP putting
this on, I to kind of adjust, like, oh yeah, like
they aren't the Matheist sort of like maddest band you've ever heard. It's kind
of like it's quite accessible at the start with the kind of just sort of
like a thrashy you know, kind of more more straightforward every time I die
of quality. It's not complete chaos. But then when that breakdown bit arrived
and the tempost started being all sort of fucking bars, slippery. I was
like, Oh cool, that's like a nice switch from where we had been.
I can't think of another band who have fewer songs. And yeah,
it kind of seems reliably great already, because if this is the fifth or
they've got the pedigree where like people who like the what the members do are
going to just slaver over this case in point yeah, and like it's totally
justified because it is still great. Isn't just a case of Oh, it's
the guys, and every time I die with Greg, it's going to be
great. Like it's as good as you would expect that to be. And
I love the little wobbly effect they put on Greg's voice in this. It's
like he doesn't need any help to sound great, but he just adds a
cool flavor, which means I won't mistake the song for any other better lovers
tunes. I think, Yeah, I mean, I think I'm maybe more
like you perinin that I'm not slathering over this band the way other people seem
to be. But I'm yet to hear a thing I don't think is like
really fucking good. And I've also I've put this next thing in basically excuse
of these for Sam as a kind of like a continuation of where we've just
been. Four Years Strong. I've been releasing a couple of singles for what
I presumably be an album at some point, and that'll be cool because you
know, they've been on a good run of form lately and we've kind of
cited them as being, you know, as such. They released a new
single again today as we're doing this, and it's straight up got and every
Time I Die riff in it was like, yeah, fuck that is that
is literally just an every time I don't mean but every now and then.
They'll always have a kind of hardcore influenced song, They've always had that in
them, but this one like really goes on that like crushing kind of every
time I die like seven tinged like hardcore riffing, and I'm well into it.
This was like a nice little pairing for me of like, oh yeah,
cool, this stuff's still out there even if every time I die on't
I'll take it. Yeah, I'm not familiar with four Years Strong at all.
I knew they were kind of a pop punk band with a bit of
the hardcore thing. It literally does sound like every time I die. This
is one of the heaviest songs they've ever done, Like they've they've they've had
heavier moments in it, and but it always has been a bit more rooted
in pop punk. This is sure, yeah, like kind of shipping that
out and just kind of going let's just let's just rock and go hard and
it's really good. Like again, I wasn't expecting to be all that keen
on this just from the kind of world that I know four You Strong come
from. But I think it might be the best Jordan Buckley riff of the
week. I think it's like it's like that slippery thing you were saying.
It comes straight out the gay with that, and the vocals would surprisingly manic.
Like a lot of pop punk bands when they do the hardcore, they
have the two vocalist thing where they can do that quite nicely for you Strong.
Yeah, like weirdly shrieky and shrill and quite intense, which I wasn't
I wasn't expecting, So I don't know, maybe this is a blind spot
that I need to unblind look out. Yeah, they are that, they're
one of the one of the best bands in that in that world for sure.
But as as you were saying, Sam, It's just like if you're
enjoying the better Lovers tune and you need another song directly afterwards, that kind
of you know, moves out of that very nicely. For you stronger boll
bands currently, have you covered some sad in news For fans of you know,
heavy and hard stuff is Misery Signals. You know, the latest man
have been sort of stream with them in the last few weeks or whatever,
but Misery Signals have announced that they are, you know, over the next
however long, are going to be embarking on their farewell tour. Misery Singles
are a band that I don't think we've ever spoken about on this podcast.
We certainly we've never reviewed any of their albums. I am only passingly familiar
with, like the big one, basically the two thousand and four one that
everyone loves yes, which is of Malice and the Magnum Heart. I had
to say, like, and the last time I heard that record, it
did not punch up into being like one of the the upper tier records of
that era of metalcore in my view. But I know a lot of people
do hold that as being like, oh yeah, that's like, you know,
the fucking two thousand and four metalical record or whatever. If you're not
going to say, you know, the End of Heartache or or something else
oncoming store or yeah, but you know, good year dedicated metal core,
metallic hardcore people really seen to you know, vibe with with misery signals in
that era of it. They are going to be going. They've currently they've
only announced their US states for this. They have said that you know,
Europe in the UK, you know, keep your eyes peeled. It will
counbook those flights just yet. Yeah, so you know, maybe that'll be
a tour, maybe they'll turn up at fucking Outbreak twenty twenty five, whatever
it will be. But they've also they're doing set with both of their previous
lead singers are going to be you know, coming together and doing songs from
their respective kind of eras, which if you again, if you're a big
fan of everything is cool, I guess you know I'll throw to you Sam
here as the person who was you know vocally like you know, peaked by.
You know, misery signals farewell to and everything, but what a misery
signals kind of mean to that era? And you know, what's your take
on on this announcement. Well, I mean, actually they've got that like
one like classic album of Malice in the Magnum Heart that that is, for
me, is one of the like real top tier Naiise Milk or records,
so that they've just one of those bands who just remained remarkably consistent, never
really did anything sure that wasn't at least like very good, And I think
that was they were just one of those bandses just kind of like reliably kept
on going, have that classic album that people kind of really hold onto.
I never actually ever had had a chance to see them live yet, so
this one we're like, Okay, this is because they don't come here very
often. So this one I'm like, yeah, this UK tour happens,
I've got to get to that. But you know, they've had a good
They everyone those bands, I've had a good innings. They've kept consistent in
terms of quality and output. Now's the time for them to bow out,
and they're kind of bringing every aspect of that previous like lineup for vocalists together.
I think it'll be a nice send off. Yeah, and maybe more
discussion can be had there. But Misery signals hopefully for UK fans, you
know something coming sooner rather than later. Zetra as I sort of hit earlier.
They have finally announced that their debut album feels like Zetra been around for
fucking ages now in terms of people being like kind of oh, they're coming.
They finally actually got a debut album out is coming out on September thirteenth
via Nuclear Blast. They've released a single, which features Serena Chi and backing
vocals. My interest is pete by the fact that they've also said in the
track list Gabriel L Franco from Onto Others is also going to be on one
of these songs. Are going to be happy with that, aren't you?
Well? I mean I hope he just comes in just going. It's just
something absolutely ridiculous and that would be very ad living over the song. Yeah,
but they gave him no lyrics like you do your thing like like a
goth HP Baxter coming in just go Yeah. But yeah, Zetra finally got
an album coming out in the second half of this year. Unexpectedly, dream
Car Davey Havott came out of nowhere this week saying, oh yeah, Friday,
dream Car have got a new EP. It's called I Think just dream
dream Car. I assumed we're just like not active anymore because they released one
album in twenty seventeen. I have to say I love that album. I
really good ABU. Yeah, I still listen to it kind of, you
know, whenever I'm in a sort of AFI period, I will listen to
some dream Car as as well. But I've I didn't know how I guess
beloved that album was and how many other people out there were still listening to
it, whether I was some weird outlier, and I just presumed that that
was that project was you know, done, because they didn't see no one
and done. Yeah, but maybe it's just the thing they can come round
to whenever they feel like they have the moment or whatever, without any sort
of pressure on it. And again I haven't heard this EP yet. I
hope it's, as you know, up to the quality of the album.
But just the fact that dream Car as a project is alive is like quite
exciting to use to me. It is. It is also just like fucking
tour the UK of a FI please Dave. Like, I think it's great
that dream Car back. I'm excited, but it is just like it's one
more obstacle in the way of that a fi UK tour now and it's just
do we need that at the moment. Yeah, I would say that that
wasn't happening either way. I would say that dream Cart has not knocked it
down the pecking order. You know, if it happens, it happens,
be hilarious. If dream Card got her first, I swear I'll go,
I'll go because then I can just be like, well, at least I've
been in the presence of live so that's fine. Yeah, gomes Adam's mustache
at the moment. Absolutely, Yeah. Im looking forward to hearing the new
the new dream Card music. A couple more album announcements with some singles attached
to them as well. Candy in the you know, noisy, erratic hardcore
world, the person's hardcore speaking that. I'm glad that you remember that as
well. Yeah, Candy. Everyone announced their third album called It's Inside You.
It's going to be out on June the seventh via Relapse. There is
a one minute twenty two single called exist ends spelled exactly, which means it
has to be a David Cronenberg reference. We are going inside the video games.
Yeah, just Candy are kind of very They're very like boiled down to
base components, aren't they. It's like there are kind of erratic you know
out there, Like there's lots of like breakbeats and shit like that and kind
of you know, electronics and stuff in this, but it's like a simplistic
one minute twenty to the point version. They kind of you know, yeah,
they sort of follow the middle of that then diagram, don't they.
Yeah. I feel like when they came out, people just going, oh,
you know, it's kind of baby code orange. It just sounds a
bit like Forever, but I don't know, like it kind of sounds like
Forever at the most cave man and mental, which is fine for me because
you listen to this and it's just the sound of it is insane, Like
how do you get drums that sound like that? The way they clatter,
they almost drown out everything in the mix for eighty seconds. You really have
to pay quite close attention to see what else is going on. I think
I don't want to say that under Race because they do it quite a lot
of credit, but I think maybe somewhat selling them short saying they've boiled it
down because there's so many memorable parts. Even in this eighty second song,
they kind of had that slightly experimental hark, but they are the most feral,
like just rabid version of that, just frashing out there. So it
kind of hits the nice balance of being interesting so just not having any kind
of pretension to it and just kind of still wanting to murder you essentially,
but I'm just down for that. That kind of onslot of noise coming from
Candy every time. Yeah, and then also coming out on June the seventh,
and they're also speaking of kind of projects sort of emerging from a slumber.
I guess Umbra Vita are back with a second album, which you may
remember Umbra Vita as being the I guess death metal band kind of sort of
a hardcore leaning death metal band. Unsurprisingly in terms of the members, fronted
by Jacob Bannon featuring members of Job for a Cowboy, The Red Cord,
Sean Martin of Twitching Tongues formerly of Hate Breed is the main riffer involved here,
which explains why it's pretty fucking at it doing again like very violent death
metal stuff. Again, I didn't I enjoyed the deb alam came out in
twenty twenty. I think it was. I think it was a pandemic album.
I liked it because it's you know, a fast, furious death metal
album with fucking Jake Bannon screaming you. I'm not going to not enjoy that,
but I did. Again, it's another one, like I didn't know
how much it had actually sort of like duck around in people's imagination and how
much of a sort of like memory hole it had kind of you know,
carved out. So again another nice surprise to be like, oh cool,
you know we are getting a second and brevite record. And again this is
a two minute single that's been released from this belief is obsolete and I am
hit by some properly you know, nasty Sean Martin fucking metal riffs. Yeah.
I mean it's kind of equo your sentiments on whether it's forgote or not.
I completely forgot this projects ever existed until today, Like, which is
weird Jake Bannon for the death metal band? Yeah, but I think,
I mean, I have a hard time keeping up with all the kind of
Massachusetts metallic cardcore spinoffs there are. Is that the folk Onorn? Is that
a sludge one? Is that guys from Caving or you know that there's so
many and they're pretty much all of consistently high quality and listening to this,
I mean I haven't gone back to that record yet, but if it's as
good as this, I definitely will because I think this is again, is
it death metal? I don't know if that's the right word. It's sort
of the melting pot, isn't it sort of you know, death thrash,
hardcore, bit of grind. Yeah, it's kind of like converged with red
cord riffs, which yeah, I like. Yeah, good stuff. That's
as said coming out on June the seventh, There and Revite the Dillander escape
Plan have been announced for Brutal AsSalt Festival in Chechia, which is bizarrely that
they lead off here the Brutals announcement with them the worst thing to start an
announcement with, which is they say, might be boring for someone, but
definitely not for us. Why are you selling yourself short like that You've you've
booked the Dillander Escape Plan. Why why do you put your word forward?
That's not how you do advertising. But the reason that this is, I
guess, you know, high profile news for us over here in the UK
is this announcement. They've also said that Dillander skate plan. This is of
course the you know, Dmitry fronted calculating Ufinity playing version of Dillinger that is
going around. It's the first European continent you know booking that that has made
and it says here an exclusive show for Western and Central European metal festivals.
Now there's a couple of different hoops there that I'm like, you know,
does it mean no other festivals can book them? You know, where are
the confines of like western Central Europe? Are you going to see them turn
up in like and they're Poland or Russia or someone going further further east?
Probably not RuSHA at the moment, but you know, and you know,
we were sort of wondering, like, you know, I would I read
this and I presumed, ah, you know, no UK date certainly this
year because Western Europe I imagine includes US. But uh, yeah, do
you reckon this is? Uh you're basically your one shot to see this version
of Dillinger in Europe. I mean, if the way it's gone so far
as anything to go by, they'll be playing like shows to the end of
time. Because every time they've announced a show. Since coming back, it's
been like this is really it? Now, it's really is it? So
they're watching it exactly exactly, So it's next year there might be a full
touring unit of a full Dillinger tour. Again, it's I don't think i'd
travel to the to go see didn't just keep the funding this form. But
it is like, I also, I'm kind of suspicious that there will be
something next year. I've no reason to think that, but it just based
on the way this is going, it just seems like it's going to snowball
into something bigger. Yeah, maybe twenty twenty five they'll do, you know,
turn to put headlining Art Tangent or something along those lines. I mean,
those are the only thing is that because obviously I'm on their podcasts and
the promoters of Art Tangent and Daniation have both basically said they're asking too much
money for what this version of Dylinger would would bring in. So those the
most act of places they would turn up. But if they've already sort of
said at the amount they're asking it, so it's unlikely. I don't know
if anyone would kind of stump up for to get dinner over here. Yeah,
I don't know, a nice bit of just sort of like wholesome metal
history news. Dan Lilker is going to be filling in for Frank Bellow of
Anthrax for a few shows coming up in you Know the Americas, which were
the first time he's played with Anthrax for forty years. He of course played
on their you know, their very first record and then got kicked out and
then went into a career of like making way harder, slimier, nastier music.
And I loved his quote for this, saying, oh, yeah,
it was really nice having to learn Anthrack songs from the nineties because I've been
playing in fucking Brutal Truth and it's really easy, so just sleepwalk into that.
But yeah, nice, as I said, history there, and this
is very exciting, nice news for me. Nine Inch Nails currently Trent Reznoranticus
Acus Ross on the cover of GQ magazine, and there's a whole feature there
in which they detail that they are basically going into producing absolutely everything. I
don't know if you guys have read, like seen this list of things they're
doing. They've like based apparently they spent the last couple of years starting up
some kind of nine inch Nails company that is like branching out into making millions
of things where there's like a fashion line and like a video production kind of
company and like an epic games collaboration and fucking cume knows what's going on there.
Again, they said that they're like producing movies and stuff like with kind
of I don't know how that extends out of nine inch Nails, but they
said there's a TV show coming with the creator of The Bear and the one
that really made my fucking nys go, what is that? Apparently they're making
a film with Mike Flanagan, which is like two areas of my you know,
kind of fandom and interest. I did not expect to cross over in
that way. So that's very bizarre and I don't know what that will entail.
But they've also said with this that they are now you know, starting
to really think about making new nineich Nails material, and that is news that
made my heart singing, because Trent Reznor has unfortunately spent the last couple of
years being very down on the idea of making new units Nails in that kind
of like what's the point in the streaming era kind of way. That we've
seen some artists go for and you know, you feel for him, but
like it's it's okay for Gene Simmons to say that because he's Gene Simmons and
no one really cares about getting a new Kiss album or anything, and like,
yeah, the streaming world doesn't need a Kiss album, but I would
still like new Unich Nails albums. Nine inch Nails have something to offer,
like yeah, I mean outside of the fort of Trent Reznor in Fortnite,
Like yeah, nine Snails album, please give us something like from that,
because I have every fate. They're on those sort of like long and more
established of would say Lexy band at this point. I don't know, like
it depends on how you define it, because they are in terms of age,
they absolutely are. The problem is they're still vital. Yeah exactly,
that's I mean, they're They're one of the I was gonna say, that's
what I was saying, like obviously, of Legsy band, they are the
ones who I would have the most faith in, like again coming out with
something legitimately special. Well, for me, nine Snails are one of those
bands where even though I've been into them for like at least a decade.
I feel like I'm always finding new things, and even in the last few
years we've gone quite a lot of nineach Nails a bit, it's never enough.
They are one of those bands like no more more of that. So
if this, I mean, if if they have to be in Fortnite to
also make new music, then that is a Fortnite like Francis phil Coppola having
is like whinings to fund new movie, having his Fortnite escapade those v Bucks
and its Nails funded entirely by v Bucks. Yeah, very exciting. Again,
you probably wouldn't imagine this turning up, you know, within the next
year or anything anytime soon. But just the fact that they are like actually
interested in making Nine Nails music when the last few times he'd asked you'd asked
him, he'd said, no, I'm not interested in making new United Nails
music. We're moving in the right direction. So that is very very good
and you know, to keep you kind of you know, ticking over until
we reached that point. Something that's presumably arriving a lot sooner is that Mike
Portnoy has finished tracking drums on the new Dream Theater album, which I have
to say I put it in there obviously because I can go sam a little
bit, but moving very swiftly. It feels like not very long ago that
we were talking about Mike Portnoy rejoining Dream Theater and now he's like, oh
yeah, I've tracked drums for the whole new album. I was like,
oh shit. I had was like when did he rejoined? Because I was
like, didn't he leave? I was like, no, he did rejoin,
just like within the last few months that he rejoined. Yeah. Yeah.
This was one that just confused me. But I mean, yay,
yeay. It seems like they're just giving him back the band because it's like,
I mean, there will be less shit now he's back in. Yeah,
undoubtedly, but it they're just going, oh yeah, you write the
record, Oh yeah, you can pick the set lists. It's like it's
again Monkey's pots on. Ohyeah, I like to be in Dream Theater.
Okay, now that's all the thing you have time for. Now you are
swamps with Dream Theater. But I mean we said this is something. I
was never one of those it's not Dream Theater without Mike Portnoyd people, But
my excitement is substantially higher for him being in the band questions after their return
to Hyperblasts last week. We are kicked off here primarily got a couple that
are sort of related to you know what We're going to then spend some of
the later part of that they're talking about. But Michael Thomas is gonna kick
us off with I guess it's maybe continuations what we're just saying with Trent res
and everything. Is there still a place for double albums in the market primarily
led by streaming, And maybe this isn't the answer to the question you are
intending. I don't know, but I'm going to go with the kind of
high horse route here and say I don't care. It is about artistic expression.
Like if I can't think of an example from the last couple of years,
it isn't you know, I am made, nor Metallica or someone,
but like, you know, throw your mind back to someone like Yellow and
Green by Baroness or whatever. If that came out right now, If Baroness
turned up and like, yeah, we've made a double album, we did
it. You know, they're not doing it to gain any numbers or anything.
I would argue about like Baroness, they're streaming. Probably isn't going to
be affected by. You know, they're not on any kind of up in
terms of like oh shit, we're gonna make sure we get in playlists,
right, Baroness or Baroness. They kind of are where they are if they
turned up and a band who are particularly bands who are like primarily about selling
physical records, where a double album still you know, like, yeah,
it's the actual physical like layout of the product makes sense in terms of like,
yeah, this is what it was intended to be and it's coming from
that kind of creative standpoint. I you know, are you going to see
like a world smashing led Zeppelin physical graffiti style double album? Ever again,
I would certainly not imagine so in the streaming era. I guess only if
like I know, like the whole mainstream music world is talking about the Beyonce
album right now, which has like a million tracks on it. But if
if someone was gonna say that that's all I can think of in this sort
of thing, is that Beyonce is really like an hour twenty seven minute like
yeah song wherever country album. But if someone of like their if like a
Beyonce or a Taylor Swift or someone like that, of like that kind of
cultural you know, ubiquitousness goes. Yeah, I've got a double album.
That's when the only time that double album will enter any sort of like again
public discourse or anything at the moment. But in terms of our bands,
for whom streaming doesn't fucking mean a lick of shit anyway, I would say
it's like, no, a double album doesn't make sense if you're trying to
gain the streaming service at the moment. I would say that our bands don't
really care about that anyway at the moment, and so they can still be
produced. Yeah, I think that's the most kind of like elegant way of
putting it in kind of like really getting into it. I currently counter anything
you've said there, because this is it's all about the long album now anyway
for a lot of artists, about getting as many songs into as many playlists
as possible. And on the flip side, it's frother ices about not doing
any albums and it's just doing a constant stream of like EPs or whatever.
So the double album itselfing kind of like weirdly doesn't sit in there. But
I think the bands are gonna do it, are gonna do it because that's
the statement they want to make at the time, and they don't really care
of how it's gonna go that no one's going to make it just a double
album on a whim likes it's clearly an intended grander piece of work. So
why not still do them. I think it's a hard question to answer because
in some ways we're living in the golden age of the double album. No
one's calling them double albums. We just have loads of like low effort,
thirty song albums that seems come about multiple times a year, and it's even
it's not even just in hip hop and in that sort of thing where this
kind of came from. Like one of the best albums, maybe even the
best selling album of last year, if less I'm mistaken, was that Morgan
Wollen album, which is a country music record. There's like thirty five songs
and it's yeah, it's it's the rap formula. So no one's calling it
a double album. It's longer than a lot of famous double albums, which
is more like eighty to ninety minutes. And in some sense the streaming makes
double albums easier because they don't cost the listener any more to listen to than
a normal album, you can jump around tracks easily, and you know,
like we said, in the age of playlisting, the more songs the better.
The trouble is, I think it could lead to sort of shitty double
albums, where for me, a lot of my favorites are super varied,
have loads of weirder sides, like the White Album by the Beatles as songs
in are quite shit in isolation, but work to make the album better as
a whole. But that doesn't really work in the age of streaming. You're
like, you wouldn't you wouldn't play list some of the thirty to forty second
songs on that record, So sort of to take the opposite view that you've
say conparm but like the more cynical marketing idea would kind of I mean that
that sort of thing doesn't exist anymore, and it's so in some sense,
I think now is the perfect time start releasing double albums. On the other
hand, if you are going to obey the laws of streaming, you're going
to make bad ones. Yeah, I think it's it's a time that requires
less effort than ever to you know, put out a release of like thirty
songs like that that isn't formatted and structured in a you know, physical sense
like a double album would be, and it is just a essentially an extended
playlist of like here's my thirty five new songs, you know, PayPal,
Drake's bank account, whatever. But uh, and it requires more effort than
ever to physically manufacture them in terms of like vinyl costs and shit like that.
You know, a double LP is much more expensive to you know,
produce and therefore to buy then you know, a single one. But in
terms of just like like like Shamash are like an underground band that I really
love who have produced like a double album and they've also then done a triple
album, right, And it's like they're not selling a huge amount of units,
but they just went, yeah, it makes sense for these albums we've
made to be the so this is what we called them. So I guess,
you know, is there a place in terms of the streaming market,
like not for the double album as we imagined. It more just sort of
a you know, elongated thing that no one calls a double album anymore,
Like you were saying, like like you know, the new Beyonce thing or
whatever. But for a tiny band who streaming isn't fucking you know, paying
their bills anyway? Who cares? Just make what you want to make.
And if you want to make it and you have the means to then then
go ahead and do it. Tyler Ballad asks with some forty want doing a
farewell tour. It makes me curious to know who stands out as your favorite
last gig from a band. And this was you know, you've seen what
normally happens is bands will just bust and implode right and you'll you'll have seen
them for the last time, but you won't have known it when you were
watching them, and then you go, oh shit, that was the last
one. I was thinking more here in terms of, like, you know,
going into a show knowing this is the farewell this is the last one.
And I couldn't think of that many at first, and then I went
down the list and I was like, oh, I've seen a few,
and I've come up with a list of I've got nine bands here where I'm
sure that I saw, you know, like at least a farewell tour or
whatever, if not their their last one. What about you, guys in
terms of any sort of standout favorites. I mean, the standout picked me
of like the best last year ever seen, isn't their last show anymore?
So I can't really, I don't think it because it's dillinger like that that
last tour I saw Dylingdron was absolutely perfect, and now it's kind of like
the watermark for what a final sort of fair is a farewell version, And
we also don't know if we are actually going to see this new version,
you know, I mean, you know what botch like I thought about it.
Yeah, it's it counts the fairwell as much they have said this is
yeah, this is a one off, so I'm just counting that because all
the other ones are ones rather like again they've ever come back like Yellow Card
or the Gas like Anthem or anything like that, or have just imploded and
kind of like those legendary sort of things like that. I could probably say
every Time I Die the last every Time I Die show probably was one of
the best shows I've seen, but it like it wasn't meant to be.
Yes, every Time I Die. We're not counting those spontaneous implosions directon you.
Me at six will creep into this list for you. I'm sure they
will. When that tour comes. When that tour rolls around, I'm very
confident that that will land a very honorable high up spot in the best final
tours I see. Yeah, the only two that really came to mind for
me were, like you said, Sam Dillingder, Escape Plan who were back,
and the one that I always referred to was Slayer, who're also back.
So it's like my two treasured final tour shows are no longer final tour
shows. So outside of that, the only band who's actual last gig I've
seen I think is probably Ohms have you seen the Adampination last year? Who
like they were great. I'm not that connected to their music, so it
wasn't like this you know, weepy moment For me, it was just great
getting to see them for the first and last time. But yeah, there
was something funny about it, like thinking back to that Slayer show and how
Catharskit felt and now it's like, oh, there's there's more now. Yeah.
For me, it's like, you know, if you go back several
episodes too, when we had the big discussion about Slayers reunion and what we
thought about it, For me, there is like a treasured final memory with
that, you know, Slayer show and everything that this version is almost like
just a unconnected extension of in a way. So again my list, I've
got here of like bands where I've seen a farewell tour or whatever, so
you've mentioned a few of them, botch. I guess counts omes Dyllingers for
me. I might have told the story before. It's slightly tired by the
fact that they were going to play forty three percent Burn at the very end
of the set, and then someone in the crowd had a seizure and they
had to end early. So the Dylander farewell show that I saw got like
cut short one song from the end, but the obviously they were amazing Dark
Fortress last year I made an effort to go down to London and see their
final London show and that was really really great because I love that band.
Several years ago again and another band who were now were sort of back and
playing shows, but I went down ages ago to see the final weekend Natcho
show in London when they came in, and that was great. A couple
of bigger ones Hymn's farewell took does I missed that? I missed that failed
talk because I was really all the attitive of them in London, and I
was so ill that night, and so that is like a bitter yeah for
me, And that stands out as being a really good one because it was
the first time that I'd seen him as well. But also, you know,
there were ropeye reports of him live over the years, but I know
that kind of you know, Villa kind of really got his ap together and
made sure that this last tour was like stand out and they were fantastic.
So I have a brilliant, you know, final memory of him there.
Similarly, the Twisted Sisters when they played Bloodstock in twenty sixteen, and that
was like the final you know, Twisted Sister are going out. I think
everyone who saw that sites that as like one of the best Bloodstock headline slots
ever. Like it was so insanely victorious and celebratory and they were fucking wonderful.
One that again fands that means a lot to me. It was a
weird one with Ulter of Plagues, where Ultra of Plagues rather swiftly broke up
in the first place, and then they came back like two years later in
like twenty fifteen, and we're like, yeah, so we're just doing a
final run of shows because we didn't do one in the you know when we
actually broke up. But that was the only time I got see Ultra Plagues.
It was a damnation and they were absolutely incredible. And again that's that
was an experience. It really meant a lot to me because otherwise Ultra of
Plagues would be you know, one of those fucking favorite bands of mine's away
what if who I never got to see, so seeing that one really did
the stand out. But again, the best answer is the obvious one.
It's Slayer. Slayer's final UK show at download probably for ever be the find
that like the greatest final stand show I've ever seen, even though they are
now back, but yeah again I don't know if I'll see them or not,
so whatever, it still stands. That's that's the one. But with
a few others as well that are We're there very good indeed. And Calum
Reid asks, this is a almost a tetchie question in terms of like is
it even sensible to do this? Calum Reid asks, there are lots of
niche metal festivals happen at the moment, like Cosmic Void and Awful fest.
I like the Awful Fest is one of the examples you've gone to, and
again you can throw out loads of us from Fortress Fest, which is a
dedicated black metal festival to you know, there are a lot that have popped
up in recent years. If you were to organize your own one, what
genre would you focus on and what are some of the bands you'd have on
the dream lineup? So as I sort of the first thing to say is
in a sensible, like real life terms, I wouldn't do this. It
seems like a bad idea, Like how many festivals have we seen pop up
and then lose money and then fucking like get canceled before they happen or whatever.
And I again as a punter, it's it's weird because it's almost like
a monkey's poor curly situation because there are suddenly loads of festivals in the UK,
small ones I really want to go to, but there are so many
that I can't go to them all. Yeah, yeah, and just purely
if I go London black metal festivals, there are like three or four happening
per year and I can't go to all of those, Like surely just London
black Metal Festival, you should have one of those you know, but now
they're all fucking in there and they're all competing. And then I said,
you can cast that to other genres and stuff as well. So first off,
I wouldn't do this, but if I was forced to do it,
you've got to think basically what niche is not currently being perfectly like Fortress is
a dedicated black metal festival, Cosmic Void is a dedicated black metal festival.
I would not book up like, hey, does anyone want to come see
some Norwegian black metal bands? Right? That just seems like a bad idea
right now in terms of dipping and te into that pool. Obviously you've got
math rock and post rock and stuff is kind of you know, you've got
art tangent. It was kind of thing. So you've got to think,
what do I actually want to set up? What festival would I like to
go to that doesn't currently exist? I mean I had an idea of this
when I was just like, it kind of differ into somehos, but but
I would do like a dedicated kind of like naughties metal core that I that
I love festival like so have Bleeding Through un Misery Signals getestival. Would you
be reviving ghost Fest well, Ghosts was just kind of empiricon kind of core
like that' sort of thing. It was. It was like I had bits
hardcore death call that, but I'm doing like the purely like the Naughties and
maybe even going bitter get Dead Guy In and get some of the more modern
revivalist stuff Renounced, Dying Wish, see Space Cowboy, just like metalcore but
not like metal. Yeah, like you know, no trying to avoid it
going to hardcore and kind of like where Outbreaking lives because Albert obviously dips its
toe into this sort of stuff. We're booking Renounced in the past and Poison
all this year. But I'm purely just dedicated all out like metallic hardcore classics,
the modern bands reviving that sound. I would dedicate this at a day
to that. They feel like when that stuff gets put to outbreak Away,
it feels a bit like Outliers. You know. It's like you look at
Poison well and the Outbreak when they're like halfway down, you don't know how
many people are really there. But that was like, yeah, I would
go to that, you know, certainly I like those bands. I feel
like most of the niches that I'm into have already been kind of you said,
it kind of been covered like grind fest, death fests, black metal
fests, so on. So I think I'd go for more of a vibe
that unites the bands, like the way the kind of way the Outbreak have
gone more hip hop and email, but it still feels like a hardcore festival.
And I think I'd just start a festival for stupid bands, Like genre
wouldn't really matter. Anything that's a bit dumb complete you can call it on
like more on Fest dumb? Are you talking like party cannon or like what's
your deal? Yeah, and could play like Limp Biscuit, Macarb, Man
of War, Last Days of Humanity, ven Insane Clown Posse that's just a
bit and yeah, exactly anything that's just a bit stupid. I mean it'd
be quite quite difficult to book because you have to go up to bands and
you want to play more on fest, like want six pounds to play more
on Fest in like woking go to Yari from Winter Sun and say, oh,
We've got the festival for stupid bands. And I mean you can just
brand the whole thing around it, like you could only drink dr pepper the
only food would be like chili dogs, cheese peaks would be the vegan option.
The whole thing would just be a bitch for everyone exactly, and just
every year everyone goes and acts like a slightly dumb person for three days.
Yeah. Well, I had two ideas and they were based on, again
the kind of what bands do I want to see that I am not seeing
booked enough in the UK, and two sort of vibes distinctly jumped out to
me. The first one, it would basically be trad metal, because I
regularly lament the fact that we do not have a dedicated, full on trad
metal festival in the UK. Because I see them happen in other rows.
You'd be calling up Saxon. Yeah, well I'd be getting smaller than that
actually, But like you know, you look at like Europe has a bunch
of them, you know Germany. Do you see them pop up in the
US as well? Again, not entirely specifically this, but there's a event
that just happened called Hell's Heroes that all the fucking you know, patch jacket
people go out to and it's like, man, I wish I wasn't sucking
there watching Solitude of Turnus. You know, and stuff like that, and
like a mate of mine a few weeks ago he flew out to Athens to
one of these type festivals, and I was watching videos on Instagram of Visigoth
playing a like, you know, not too small room, you know,
reasonably sized room in Greece, covering like Manila Road songs, and the crowd
were singing so fucking loud, like you're watching ado song of Bloodstock, and
I go, I wish I could see that happen in the UK. You
know, we there's obviously there's a thing with trad metal and stuff like that
in the UK that doesn't have the following, which is part of the problem.
But like we had like Dominion Fest start up, but they went like
way too big, way too early. You'd have to start it smaller than
that, and your headliners would be like old new wave of British heavy metal
bands that again smaller than Saxon. You know, you'd be looking like Angel
Witch and Satan and stuff like that, and you could go get in bads
like Kirathung Goal while they're still around and excited and stuff like that and those
but your headliners, and then you'd fill it where again the bands I want
to see booked are bands like summer Lands and Eternal Champion and Smolder, right,
like, give them a festival they can come and play, and you
know Night Demon and those type bands, and you throw in some like hell
Ripper, Toxic Holocaust type bands. You can throw in some kind of high
command via thrash bands that kind of thing. But you know, just a
really proper like dedicated eighties but you know new bands like trad Metal Festival that
again other places in the world have that we don't have. And the other
one, again, the one that I really want, is it's weird it
again. I went to Celestial, a Dantner festival a few months a few
weeks ago, and it basically be that but better. Where like that festival.
Again, I had a great time when I was there, but I'm
pretty sure it would have lost money in terms of the you know, attendance
and everything. So I'd be surprised if they were coming that for another year.
So again I'd be trying to slip into that thing. And basically what
that was it was like, okay, so we got those black metal festivals
like Fortress and Cosmic Void and stuff. It's like, what if we did
that but kind of slightly goth. You're an artsier, but I'd really hone
in on, like i'd get you know, I'd have less of like the
folky black metal stuff, and i'd really hone in on basically like extreme goth
as kind of like the vibe of the festival, like those places where you
know, because you have those like goth festivals where you know up in you
know, Whitby or whatever, and they'll have like, you know, just
like old eighties bands playing, but I'm talking more like the points where that
bleeds into like us, you know, and like heavy music and things,
and the bands like you know, I want to see booked in the UK
who have not really got like a dedicated home for it, bands like Maggot
Heart and you know, bands like rope Sect and Dual are playing Damnation,
but they'd fit and that kind of thing, and the bread and butter would
be those places where you know, goth folds into like heavy extreme genres,
so it'd be like, you know, you'd have your stuff that I saw
at celest Your Darkness Festival, like Tribulations and Chapel Disease and that kind of
stuff you throw in like you know, devil Master, you know, like
Sonia a band I really want someone in the UK to book that kind of
stuff that isn't coming over. You can have bits of black metal with your
Lamp of Murmur and negative playing Ruins of Beaver and stuff like that, and
the headline of Pool. Again, this would probably like you know it small
thing, so it probably end up being like a you know, seven hundred
capacity you know, festival or something, and get your Grave Pleasures and unto
others and stuff to headline it or aim a bit bigger, and then your
headline of Pool is like trip to Coon can do it, and like you
get Olva doing you know, their kind of recent synthpop stuff doing it,
or you know, Chelsea Wolf someone like that could kind of you know a
top again some of those mixtures of like post punk and black metal bands and
stuff like that. Throw in some like electronic y stuff, you know,
your Perturbators, dram Magesty whatever, like heavy folk country stuff like Woven Hand
or whatever, kind of like occult psych rock like you know, just in
the Ancients ones, uncoll acid type stuff. Basically that sort of cross section
of like me saying that is perinfest, isn't it but it's just like a
lot of those bands are in a weird sort of cross section where they don't
have the most natural homes where it's like they're not really bloodstock bands. Occasionally
they're Damnation bands, but not dedicated And yeah, we need places to book
some those bands because they're ones along with the traad metal bands like you know,
Smolders and everyone where I'm looking at them announcing shows all over and being
like, ah, I wish we just had somewhere that kind of had a
home for the stuff like that in the UK. So thank you very much
for your questions. That is that for Patreon supporters. This past week we
had our album club Pack, you know, for the very last week of
March, where we spoke about some corkers of albums. It was actually it
was a very very good edition of the album club Pack. I thought we
had a couple of people saying, you know, favorite one in a while
when I thought the last one, you know, when we had blackoutgating.
All that stuff was a good time. But in terms of like some some
Magnitude albums where I was like a little bit almost daunted going in in terms
of how the conversation was going to go like, how do you try and
talk about like a ninety nine songs in twenty minutes grindcore record in a intellectually
stimulating capacity, right, not just going ah, this is so fast.
We ended up talking about you know, that album was kind of some range,
like you know, conceptual art piece and stuff like that, while also
talking about fucking thunder and Lightning by Thin Lizzie and what a ripper of a
record that is, you know, showing some love to an underrated palm read
the record, you know, an underrated band already, but even a record
that a lot of parmary the fans don't quite seem to have given the praise
that deserves. Very good addition of album club at this time. I mean,
I just haven't stopped thinking about Sons of Winter and Stars in like the
entire week. It's it's it's that and you know, stuff on god Zilyrics
cong now just been the two things of battling around in my Tokyo subway gassing,
you know what I mean, Yeah, as I'm saying, but yeah,
it was like there's a mental album club pack in a lot of way.
It's just in terms of like two of the out like I say,
the Winter Sun and Agro, those lead albums are just so they are such
extreme albums in kind of like what they represent, fascinating to talk about.
And yeah, I'm glad that we were all kind of all in on that
Parmory record because that's what I feel is properly overlooked. And I realized that
Fin Lizzie, there's Philzy and I'd never listened to that fucking rips. I'm
talking about extremes. Thunder and Lightning is just like extremely cool. Yeah,
yeah, I mean, like last month we did maybe my favorite band and
one of my favorite metal records. Yes, but just by virtue of doing
the Blackout, it was quite a tough preparation that, whereas this time,
pretty much every single all four of the records were just an absolute joy to
revisit and in some cases a bit tough to kind of get my head around
and think what I was gonna say. But just like, I basically haven't
even moved on from those four records since doing I've just been listening to the
same four albums over and over again. How many times you listen to Altos
Takes America in the last week, Well, let's sw that one sometimes do
that piece. It would just just have the Tokyo Subway gassing suite or something
if you have a spare seventy seconds. Yeah, so that was a doozy
to do. And that again over at the Patreon petrol Comm Slash That's not
metal. That was all there. So thank you very much for sporting and
checking out if you have done so. Before we move on to this extra
little dose of reviews, we've got releases for this first week of April,
and we have kicking us off, we've got Bob Villain Humble as the sign.
I know Bob Villain is playing pretty high up on two thousand trees this
year stream of seemingly you know, well liked records from him. So the
newest on that particular pile we have Feeder, you know, brit rock staple,
former Download Headliners, always a wonderful fact. Their record Black Slash Red
is out a couple of the kind of modern trendy metalcore school. We've got
Alpha Wolf with half Living Things. I was listening to a single from that
earlier that has iced tea on it, and that automatically makes anything you know
better and more fun. So at the very least you can check that one
out an error with Cure. We have Filth Southern Hostility, which is a
kind of Southern hip hop placed death core band literally just called Filth, so
you know exactly what the vibe is. They're punk bands. We have a
band we spoke about not too long ago, actually on an album, Roulette,
but strung Out, have a new album today called Dead Rebellion. We've
also got Bayside. I've got an album called there Are Worse Things Than Being
Alive and going way back to more kind of like uk Oi punk. Cockspara
wonderful band name, are releasing their record hand on Heart, moving as far
away from coxspar As you could PHAs feasibly do. Corpa Klani folk metal.
You know, Icons have their new record Ranka Rumpu in death metal. We've
got Ingested with their new record The Tide of Death and Fractured Dreams again similar
sort of techy, clean death metal. We've got our Repenance with Devotion with
its awful AI cover art. Moving into dingier territory. This is I guess
one. I'm be interested to check out Iron Monkey. I've got a new
record out today called Spleen and Gold and this is the second album of the
Iron Monkey like comeback reunion, which is if you're not like super in on
your you know, underground slidge metal. It's one of those comeback reunions that
people never really saw happening, and when it did, because you know,
there are former members who are very key who are you know, no longer
with us, people were like, I don't know if this really is Iron
Monkey, and it was sort of slightly controversial in that regard. But they've
come up with another record. It's been a fair few years now. It's
the first one and uh, yeah, Elliot, I'm curious, we probably
work with you this because it's a busy month, but like, how how
do you feel about the the you know, the Iron Monkey come back.
Well, it was one of those where certainly at the time I thought this
is just embarrassing because it was it was like the bass players now the guitar
player. The guitar player was now singing, and they got a new drum.
I don't know if that's the exact formation, but it was something like
that. I think there were were there six piece in the nineties and now
there was just three of them. So it just felt like a bit of
a bit of a wash. But I was expecting a second reunion album,
and then I checked out the single leading into this one and it's really fucking
good. Well, I went in with almost no expectations, but it's from
what I've heard of this new record, it sounds great. So I'm definitely
gonna be getting getting stuck into this one and with more hope than I ever
thought i'd have for an Iron Monkey record. Well, there you go.
Continuing in the you know, doomy stonery type route, We've got Friends of
Hell with God Damned You to Hell, which is just pure like Rise Above
record style, you know, retro doom, and we have Destroyer of Light
with Degradation Years in that sort of you know metal punk crossover zone. I
think this is as a band called Horned Owl with head Hammerman, which is
conjures up an incredible image of who this who this man may be. And
then in kind of you know, like more sort of like underground heavy metal,
is a band called Attic with a record called Return of the Witchfinder.
That is that band are like pure like King Diamond worship. So if you
want a bit of that, then you can go and find that and in
you know, dingier, nastier death metal than what we're talking about. Earlier
as a band called witch Vomit. Great name, good band as well.
Then you record Funeral Sanctum is out slightly you know, more more Doomia version
still funerals, Funeral Leech have got the illusion of time really violent, you
know, borderline war metal type stuff, Diabolic Oath with oracular hexations, and
then getting into some more kind of experimental underground type stuff. There's Locrian with
end Terrain, There's Austerea with Beneath the Threshold. We also have a I
believe a B sides album from you know, scandy punk favorites the good,
the bad, and the ugly with decade of regression. And there is of
course that dream Car EP dream Out as well, which I will be checking
out tomorrow as as you were listening to this. So that is normal Hyperblast
business, done and dusted. We have two album reviews to tag on to
the end of this whole thing, and we are going to start with While
She Sleeps and their album Self Hell, which is a weird one to do
in terms of judging the mood around it, I guess because While She Sleeps
Bless Him have become one of those bands with a slightly tumultuous place in terms
of like if you are to try and judge an overall trajectory of like are
they on the up or are they on the down? And I mean,
you know, in sort of commotion, commercial standing in general momentum rather than
just creatively as well, because the last time we spoke about an album with
theirs was Sleep Society in twenty twenty one, and that album, by all
metrics of how it landed, I think you would have to judge's success because
they had like a bit of a blip and reception with SO What for the
first time in their career. But then Sleep Society came along and were seen
to have basically pulled off all of the things that SO What had attempted,
even if the band was like very clearly different to what they've started off as.
Like again, I have to say, you know, and this does
not affect my reviewing, you know, capabilities, because I can very clearly
judge what I think works and what doesn't. But the last time I I
felt a kind of sense of real ownership over While She Sleeps and that they
were you know, for want of a better term, one of my bands
was around you are we. The kind of the way their sound has gone,
I wouldn't say has alienated me, but it stopped being the thing that
I you know, prioritize in my listening and I spend a lot of time
going back to. But so there was a clear chain identity between you know,
that sort of phase one and again sort of phase two While She Sleeps.
But of that second part, Sleep Society clearly was the most fully formed,
well adjusted example of it where you go, oh, yeah, you
can make a good go at this. And at that point, you know,
coming out of COVID that first festival season back everything, While She Sleeps
were being like touted everywhere as one of the bands who were like really tearing
it up along that album cycle, like you know, almost being described as
like a bit of a second breakthrough moment for them. The way they would
describe, you know, being described and the kind of mood was with them
on Sleep Society you would expect there as I guess after that little blit was
so what to be a trajectory that kept going up from there. Yeah,
I think Sleep Society was. There was a definite kind of writing of the
kind of shit when so what was seen as a bit of a wobble.
I mean I wouldn't consider weirdly so what isn't even their first wobble in some
regards, because like at this point Brainwashed was considered like look back on it's
kind of like, oh, they went a bit wrong there and then they
got right on you our we so instill popular opinion that they kind of have
an on off thing, even though everyone who says Brainwashed is not on their
great albums is completely wrong. It's their best album. But yeah, society,
you know, it landed. It landed well. We got them though
festivals or they were going down really well, we got them up to headlining
Ali Pally, Like it was the thing that really kind of it's kind of
unite the people who were into the kind of more electronic kind of very down
with the kids, like knew a sound of so what but with that melodic
metalcore that I loved on the earlier record, So it kind of was a
bit of a sweet spot of like I don't like it as much the first
three records, but it was like, if Sleeves are going to continue doing
the thing, they're going to do doing it. They won't Sleep Society.
That was I was fine with that. Yeah, I felt like that record
kind of remedied some of the problems there with their reputation from So What,
which I think before that they were, you know, fair enough seene as
the most exciting young British metal band, and then on that record they had
I think maybe slightly more than a wobble, but generally okay. But then
on Sleep Society it really seemed like they, like you say, turned around
public opinion and live shows went now really well. Let you say something el
to Ali Palley on that record, and for me, I was just looking
at that going what's the next move for while she sleeps? At that point
do they really aim big or do they just kind of consolidate that thing,
because they really could have gone either way. Yeah, it was so before
we've even reviewed this, even though they're coming off of a record that was
well reviewed and well liked, Even before I'd heard this album, there was
just this air of sort of resigned dread that was in the air about talking
about it for some reason, Like you know, I was having a conversation
with someone the other day about the singles that had led into this and they
hadn't heard them, and they were a bit taken aback when they were like,
Oh, people not liked the While She sleep singles? You like you
know that that's a weird concept. What has happened to While She Sleeps?
Like, not just musically, which we will obviously talk about on this album,
but the tone of voice which we use when we talk about While She
Sleeps seems to have changed. They operate as their own entity, which I
think it can be a really freeing, fulfilling things for a band to do,
but for Sleeps when they are like it feels like there's no one saying
no to them at this point, and that to me is starting to show
its problems where they're not they're whatever they feel like doing, they're going to
do and on the evidence of self hell, they should probably have someone kind
of like stepping in and sort of telling them, guys, don't wrap like
you're not good. It like just there's one example, but it just it
feels like, you know, they are not They're not trying to like they
just they're operating like a system where they're having to sort of like concern themselves
to which again can be great and like, you know, they aren't into
their fans. The Sleep Society on the page and and all that, and
like that I'm sure for them is a really unique way to operate, but
the end results are just starting to kind of get a bit alarming. I
think there's some extracurricular stuff about While She Sleeps that, like in the past,
was a bit cringy, but if people liked the records, you could
overlook it, Like that Sleep Society record, which you know, World Agreeing
was something of a comeback. That was a company with that really quite embarrassing
promo video with the fake press conference changing the music industry and stuff, and
it's like, I don't like so there there were some aspects to them.
That opening song is Enlightenment question mark, Yeah, but really other than the
postcode song at the end, hadn't really bled into the music all that much.
Whereas I certainly felt it from the first single. It felt like those
slightly cringey, ill judged aspects of While She Sleeps that were normally outside of
the music and almost infected the art now and that was alarming. Yeah,
And like I got, you know, through secondhand worth of word of mouth.
Some of the other action reactions to this before I'd even put it on
myself, and for whatever reason, I just I wasn't surprised to hear people
describing it as a bit of a mess, you know, even though their
last album had mostly been very strong, and somehow While She Sleeps have just
turned into a weezer where like you can't trust that the ship will stay up
right through any sustained period, you know, and that's so weird for a
band who not all that long ago. You know, throughout most of the
twenty tens, there was never any point where you'd question whether they were good
or not. You know, it was just taken as truth that While She
Sleeps were one of our consistent greats. And I guess their place is a
very strange one in terms of like the broader ecosystem right now because of their
generation of metalcore bands that broke through in the early twenty tens in the UK.
They're a successful one and they have endured and you know, you arguably
you know, bigger now obviously headlining biger ENnies and stuff than they were back
then. You can't say that for all of those bands who broke through it
that time. But they've not been able to step into kind of the real
you know, festival headlinings or of stardom the way others have. And now
they are in this era of kind of operating really on their own and independently.
You know, if you look at the way they distribute their albums and
everything, they operate a lot outside of a lot of traditional music industry channels,
which is, you know, really admirable and really cool. Their heart
is totally in the right place when it comes to you know, how they've
chosen to employ their crew and things like that. But I think it has
made them a bit of an island. And particularly in twenty twenty four compared
to when you know, so What and sleep Society were coming out, the
face of metalcore has changed. And it's not just that twenty ten school of
bands turning poppier and more arena ready, as they have done, but it's
a new breed of bands who have totally altered the identity of what is kind
of perceived as cool and of the moment in that kind of heavy music.
And how do Whilst You Sleep to contend with that? You know, And
like, I don't think you would say that this is while she sleeps attempting
to ride the bad Omen's train or something like that. But after Sleep Society,
I end out the kinks of experimentation that we're in. So what this
has thrown a whole bunch of other things at the wall, And I don't
know if these are ones that will be so efficiently ironed out the next record
around, because some ideas are just bad ideas. This to me feels a
bit like they're AMMO in that it's got that approach of throw everything into it,
throw all the shit at the wall, and just even if it sticks
or not, it's going on on the record. And that was my problem
of AMMO. That album is a complete mess of ideas. There are specific
points an album where I thought it really wants to be AMMO. That's me,
I like think. I think they have taken the same approach of just
trying to cramp every single idea they've had into this album, be it good
or bad. And that was my problem of AMMO. I think there are
some very good ideas now I think there are woeful ones that completely devour the
album experience for me. And I think the same thing applies to self Help,
I think, and maybe we're jumping a bit far ahead here. But
one of the prevailing things I thought of while listening to this record is I
don't know what the next step from this even could be, because so what,
even though there were some problems with that record, I felt like a
lot of the conversation was, well, you know, next time you say
they'll lieing these things out, they'll they'll shed some of the bad ideas and
focus on the good stuff. And that's basically what they did. Listening to
this, it's like, what do you do you retreat from this? Can
you mind this sound further? I don't know, because I don't even know.
I can't even really explain what the sound of this record is. The
only thing that and you've already both touched upon it I can think as a
good comparison is to bring me the Horizon. We don't have a genre thing,
And you know, part of me understands why they would do that,
because bring me the Horizon in some way a peer of theirs. And if
while she sleeps feel like they're at that crossroad where either they plateau, go
down, or you know, make the big shot to the big time,
and the path has been drawn by bringing the Horizon and it is going mental.
I could see why you try that, But listening to this, I
just think, what's the what's what's the arc you have in mind? Here?
Is there one? Yeah? And I think it's that sort of you
know, wanting to expand the ideas of the music. I think is very
authentic from them. But again I would throw it back to what Sam was
saying in terms of like the way they have kind of the the way they've
boxed themselves into a certain corner in terms of like their audience and kind of
who they are answering to. I guess does seem to have allowed some you
know, very poor characteristics to kind of go, you know, run unchecked.
And you know that in one part there is in general, there's a
trend of kind of you know, previously more intense and ready kind of metal
bands who are trying to recall the like catchy, you know, dance floor
ready music that got them into metal and going okay, let's translate that for
a new generation. And you know you've seen it. For example, when
when Silosis turned in a more kind of Panterra direction on their last record for
a transition that worked a lot more kind of naturally and seamlessly, but it
feels like there's almost as a generation that's been cursed by growing up with Corn
and Limp Biscuit trying to emulate that, because it's a miracle that Corner and
Limp Biscuit worked in the first place, Like that dude in the red cap
wrapping and that dude in the Adidas tracksuit making scat noises going down as well
as they did is an anomaly. Trying to you know, recapture some of
that thirty years later is a strange move. And this album is so jarring
because the intro is this like this inspirational chant on a kind of like black
Skinhead type, you know, sort of tempo into leave Me Alone, the
first chunk of which I was actually taken aback by the promise, which I
didn't expect because it's got a solid rift that starts heavier than usual for while
she sleeps in you know the twenties, right, like even Losses scream in
the first part of that song is much more like ravenous than it's been in
ages, you know, arguably since his surgery. And then the spoken rap
bit starts in like it's in the Yorkshire accent, you know, and it
just it just caves out beneath it. It's Dear Diary, Dear Diary all
over again, like and I don't want to keep making them ringalizing comparisons,
but leave Me Alone. I was just I was like, no, this
is exactly liked because that, you know, how that song begins with Ollie
going at it like he hadn't done for a good while. And as you
said, Los that opening, but blast on, leave Me Alone is really
ferocious, like real screeching. But then it goes into the rapping, and
I was kind of just like I felt the ground just pull out from underneath
me, and I was just like, oh no, the rapping was bad
enough and I could have taken that if then the chorus or something. It's
one of the worst choruses I've heard this year, just the most downers Leave
Me the heavily processed like non chorus, you know that like both bringing their
eyes and and bullet for my Valentine would have the pists ripped into them for
if they had, they had done it, you know, And again you've
got like, you know, decent sort of lamb of God by way of
while she sleeps tight riff in there that's providing a route for ideas that just
make you want to shrink down into your clothing a bit. The way the
soum opens just feels insane to me, because Peace of Mind we've sort of
brushed over it. But that is for a band an album that is already
starting off on the back foot. It's already got a handicapped from the lead
up to it, and opening with that rap and then building building building that
that kind of vocal to live on the wrapping, I hate it. Oh,
I don't know is there a word for that kind of wrapping, like
that sort of late era eminem thing. It's just it's one of the worst
sound and then that builds and builds and builds stop one of the first bits
of weird sequencing on this record stops dead and then builds up again into this
I thought the exact same thing. I don't want to keep harping on the
Bring Me the Horizon comparison, but it's really unignorable here, Like it isn't
even mimicking classic bring Me, it's mimicking the last thing that band of them
that was such a success and have since moved on from. And you know,
rather than having lyrics about you know, easy, your dog's face or
whatever it was you have, Like we fake what we we fake when we
can't confine to alleviate the feelings that we can't define. I don't know like
it, Like it just makes me cringe, like and bring me the horizon.
Aren't strangers to cringe the lyrics, But I don't know, Olie somehow
gets away with it. More on listening to this, it just if it
was sort of overly verbose and shallow and just doesn't work. And that chorus,
I really I kind of couldn't believe my ears. I it seems like
it's such an obviously bad idea for this song to go into the most phoned
in sounding clean vocal you can imagine. Yeah, And again I didn't draw
like the Dear Diary comparison, but the breakdown riff at the very end is
so derived The same thing, isn't It's the same exactly what I was complaining
about when we did the post human talk, And I was like, it's
the same fucking breakdown, just drag and drop, right, the same thing
happened, except now it's alien noises on it self. Hell, the the
exact same thing. Yeah, the single when we're going back to sort of
the the mood that was cast over this album in coming when that dropped a
single, trying to assess the kind of like, oh god, what now
that's going on? Well, I just think it's really bizarre because and it
comes in on the album and that like, let's praise the love inside of
isolated vocal part at the start My Balls Retreat, you know, it's like
I need to get out of here. And like when that came out as
a single, of the three of us who are on that show talking about
that, I was the least, like wholly negative about it. And it
just because like I could hear bits of While She Sleeps in it that I
liked, and I didn't have the whole context of what the album was going
to be, you know, so I was like, yeah, this is
weird, but like there's little you know, snapping percussion and bursts of energy
and stuff in it. Hearing it here, it's like it's now representative of
kind of the willy nilly awful hodgepodge that is this album, and it sounds
worse to me in the context of the album than even did on its own,
you know. And like that again, there are more competent elements in
there, but the chorus is abysmal, like how are they trying to do
this? Like mission impossible theme Biscuits song for what what they do and the
rap bridge is god smacking. The Now I wish I could say things differently
to set me apart from other lyricists. Now, this is a story all
about how my life got. You don't know my secrets because I'm not a
Gemini. It's literally every time that comes in, I like, I just
shruggled, like because I was like when Self Help came in on the arm,
I was like, oh, actually, you know what that first riff
that that plays up with a rubbish but that first one that was like,
it's a decent, actual new metal work. I was like, maybe I
have a bit harsh in this song. And then the song actually happens and
I was like no, no, no, no, this is this is
this is dreadful. And then it was that because I'm not a Gemini lyric
and I was like, lords, the fuck are you even saying like that?
Is one? Like I ripped into Oli Sykes are bad lyrics. You
know Oli Sykes will hear that looking kind of be like, now, well
we'll put that one to the side. That isolated vocal at the beginning.
It's proper like I see Vietnam, I see the choppers, I see the
napalm. It's just like it all comes flooding back. And I think,
I said, because this is my least favorite song of last year, and
I said something like it sounds like a band sort of crashing their career in
real time. And what baffles me about this song is I've heard it plenty
of times now, I've gotten used to it in a sense, but I
listened to it and I still I don't understand how bad it is. Like
I'm not trying to jump on it just to give it a kicking. It's
they're a band that I've put out excellent music, and I mean just to
echo you guys points, but like you don't know my secrets because I'm not
a Gemini. It's I don't know how that makes onto an album. I
don't understand how that makes it through a redraft of lyrics. And they've never
you know, they've had some naph lyrics in the past. There was that
one on You Are We where it was that you want your Countless Wars.
We want to countless Wars. I mean the albums called you are We right,
Like I tell you that that's never been necessarily there strike, But Sam,
what you were saying about the riff in that, which again I can
only refer back to my past self here and that'd be like, oh yeah,
okay, that part's all right. Like the guitars are always while she
sleeps saving grace like there. This is my problem with the album, which
I was kind of not getting into yet. But I was going to go,
well, I don't know if you're even going to say the same problem
that I have. I don't know, but there are terrible songs on this
record where Sean like pulls out a solo that pulls out of it the gloom
for like a moment, and it's a it's a really like one man carrying
the teen performance. What I was gonna say is when you hear a song
like to the Flowers, right, it becomes like distracting how regimented and stodgy
they are while he's like on a comet shredding, going past in out of
space, and it's like they're in different bands. And you know that video
of the children's party drummer and the doughnut costume. That's the image I kept
having with Sean on this album, and it's like he's like, it's actively
distracting. How indifferent lanes they are? So yeah, I mean when did
Waships become terrified of the riff? Like is one of my things on this
album, Like because track two Rainbows, which I think is one of the
better songs on it, and so it's not bad the breakdown on that which
has a gang vocal moshcol of into the black Hole, which is identical in
its delivery to the gang vocal moscol of We're being brainwashed on Rainwashed and on
that album going into a really stodgy, lifeless breakdown you get on the best
rifts Wash, it goes to the best moment of their catalog. Yeah,
And I was like, and then when I heard that, and I do
a double take of being like, you've not just like dose with that,
like Sonic goes back and then got into the most like like the the most
life, and I was like, where is the energy? And you're right,
Sean when he gets those moments of those Rose guitar, those League guitar
melodies which have always been some of my favorite things of While She Sleeps,
and that you can point out to so many great songs they've done where those
melodies absolutely take off. There are flashes of that on this album which kind
of just go like, oh yeah, Like To the Flowers is probably the
best song on the album for having that element really pushed to the forefront as
much as it can be, but it's so it's so fleeting, and even
even again about Sean's melodies, there was always really good, just hard hitting,
metallic guitar riffs, and there's none of that here, and it's so
disheartening to see them just sound say so regimented and just you know, there's
no There was like a real raucous punk energy to stuff like Brainwashed and on
This is the Sixth there was so much like live wire like rattling around,
and there's none of that here. It's so like just four to four regimented,
stodgy borings a Ga Tartan that doesn't really cut through anymore, like you
Yeah, and To the Flowers, for me, I think that is a
it's a fairly boring song. That's the one that demonstrates my point about how
you know, like disconnected how extra Shan is being compared to how lackluster what
the band generally is doing. Rainbows, I think probably is my pick for
the best song on the album. But it and but I completely agree with
what you're saying about comparing that to you know, some of where they have
been, and I guess that sort of demonstrates, you know, the album
intertally that I still think that that is the best song on the album.
And because they do, it's got that little bit of kind of skate punk
metal core of where they came from. It's god chorus with they kind of
radio accessibility to it. I like, I like the uh there's the kind
of distortion on the riff and everything. It's a bit like while she sleeps
via muse or something, and there's like a really the solo in that is
like a crazy like Matt Bellamy type soul that it's quite exciting. But for
me, it's when it gets like past the chorus, which again is is
the best chorus on the album undoubtedly in my opinion, but the glitched up
post chorus, you know, Rainbows, it's like you're not Grimes, you
know, and you've got essentially like an old style While She Sleeps on that
has just been like tampered with in a kind of garish way, and that
is the best electronics. The electronics of this album are terrible. I think
like they like it's that and the rapping are the two things that every time
they come up, I'm like, you know what they're doing, like the
drum and bass kind of beats and stuff like that. I think like Wildfire
has a little bit of that. I'm like, that's that's that's decent.
It's not nothing special, but it's not embarrassing. But there are whether he's
in the auto tune and the glitch vocals and all that combined with some the
terrible rapping. Every have those things come up, I'm just like, I
just don't like what I'm hearing, and I hate that this is a band
too, I love so much. I'm just doing these terrible decisions, completely
derailing decent ideas they're having. I'm really perplexed by what's happened with the electronics
and While She Sleeps because when so what came out, people going, oh,
you know, it's flawed, but I can see what they're doing.
And then a sleep society, it felt like we all just went okay,
they've kind of they've realized the potential of that idea, and then the next
album it's worse than where they started, and to the point where the songs
which have the least of them are the best ones, often just by virtue
of not having all that ugly decoration on it. Like you mentioned Wildfire,
which I think is one of the best. Yeah, I would say that's
another like passable song. It's kind of a shame because it's one of the
less ambitious ones on the record in terms of experiments with new ideas. It's
basically while she sleeps, While she sleeps, kind of melodic punks with a
bit of a qui exactly just like them, kind of doing something they've been
able to sleep walk one hundred times. What's kid? They ask? Again,
there are the weird lyrics. If I ghost, would you still look
through me? Probably? I would think that was easier in fact, and
you don't understand and one of them solid ghosts, I'm like slimer, but
you know, like but it kind of says something that because the tunes all
right, I can overlook that. Like when that comes up, I was
going whilsh sleeps, you know, what you like. But almost the most
virtues thing about the song is that it's a nondescript Yeah, I fear that
again, stuff like that. And what we're saying about Rainbow is like that
the best stuff is essentially straightforward kind of whoa radio forder versions of what While
She Sleeps done in the past. They've just now got sections in that make
it really clear that they want to be the prodigy, you know. And
there are other points where like they seem intent on writing the most boring songs
like Enemy Mentality that kind of just overcompensate with like, oh, the drums
are busy. It doesn't matter that anything else is particularly interesting, but the
drums are, you know, doing And there are so many why I'm i'd
entertaining about the electronics in this album, and I guess, you know,
this could be guitars as well, but like, there are so many spaceship
noises on this album over every single track, right, and like I'm not
adverse to that in concept, but the thinking of where they've been placed is
very fascinating to me in terms of like them just being everywhere thematically appropriate or
not. And it's like while She Sleeps to you they're writing songs that are
meant to be you know, relatable, and you know they're about emotions,
and then randomly you're just you're blasting off again like to the Flowers just has
chip tune in it, and I'm like, I don't entirely know why.
It's just very very like aw, it's all in there at all times.
And going back to what you were saying, sound about the riffs, I
again, for me, I've the wildstlyp riffing style changing is part of why
I'm not so with them in general. It's one of the things where I've
like struggled. Yeah, Yeah, and down is like the jump up and
Down festival while She Sleeps Rift that they have recycled a number of times now
over the past couple of albums, except that version of that has this like
electronic fuckery under that riff, and it sounds like that song that goes oh
like that for the Ferris Bueller song. Right, It's like that is playing
underneath them being like come on everyone, and I don't. It's so distracting.
I don't know what it's supposed to have. It's like I'm having a
bounce, but also my tummy is rumbling Mummy says, I should get off
the bouncy castle, like I don't know what it's in there, Like Down
should have been the fucking show piece on the album if you were telling me
that while Steps were gonna have addicts from a lev Rock up for collab,
like, I'd have been so down for that. And like the riffing,
you know, it's got a bit of weight to it, but is the
electronics sounds so dazing? Is my tummy gurgling during that riff? I didn't
understand. The saving grace on that track is that it's coming in and sounds
like a fucking beast, like like like he he does sound good. But
it's also it's the way that every one of these metical bands introduces their features
now and has done since. What Silence speaks. It's it's not a particularly
like it's not a special guest spot, but it stands out for him just
hitting harder than the rest of the record and like that that that that is
something I guess I feel it. When Down was a single, it was
a bit of an apology for self hell as the lead single because that got
a mixed put it a mixed response, But the problem is is this is
while she sleeps doing something that they've done plenty of times now, but it
just sounds a bit crap here, Like it's it's heavy and it's loud,
but it's so flat, like there's no push or pull or release. The
whole thing feels so static, and I don't know, something about just shrieking
you're bringing me down doesn't make me want to bounce around at a festival.
It's he might as well just be saying I'm a right rotten mood. It's
kind of baffling to me how something that seems so simple and so in their
wheelhouse isn't. There are two three minutes into ludes on it for seeming no
reason at all why, the first of which no feeling is final, particularly
is like not at all very sonically interesting or like at all advanced from what
anyone else has done. Those were the bits where I was like, I
remember, Ammo, I remember when they actually did that like quite well,
you know those sort of like and they were like and they were like a
minute long in that record. I was listening to this and I was like,
it reeks of one thing to have their cake and eat it too.
In terms of like they want to write that oh you're bringing me down,
big bangathon that makes you jump on your bed like you're a teenager. But
they also want to make the downward spiral with like no concern for how one
of those sides affects the other. It's like they want to be the stupidest
and the cleverest band ever. It was like that No Feeling is Final into
Dopesick was the moment where this album completely just like I was like, okay,
this is this is excuse. That's another moment of what Elliot was saying
about the sequencing in terms of like the intro of Dope Sick works in itself
if you go from whatever the previous like actual song was before it into that
and you go, okay, we slowed it down a notch. Doesn't need
three minutes of silence in between any chance head of maybe savaging something from this
album. No Feeling's Final into Dopsick was the end. Dope Sick is again
you're preparing for like a conventional while she seeks ballad. You know they had
nervous on the last one. But what follows is like I'd go as far
as say unlistenable, you know, like it's so unpleasant on the ear,
like trying to channel kind of in the end verses of like Mike Shanola wrapping
on a laid backbeat, except it's got this like crackerly screaming grating quality that
completely ruins that mood. And again the clunkiest lyrics you know, Hi Lo,
which you know again. Mark's made a recurring bit of turning recent while
she sleep lyrics into minions memes that you see on Facebook and totally works,
but like every element of it sounds like piss like that when he does I
Woke up Choe's Live, It's like every little bit just sounds so unpleasant.
I don't know if we all. I'm with Sam here that this was the
moment on the record where I thought, I don't know how you salvage this.
And part of it is that a terrible sequencing of the transition from no
feeling is final, which gradually builds into a metronome thing that's about the same
tempo as down and to the Flowers. So obviously the thing you do there
is you pick one of those songs so that it flows nicely. You don't
take your three minutes of empty space and slam the brakes on that it's going
to this softly plucked acoustic guitar, and I mean, this song is basically
what I feared the album would be, and yet worse than that. The
rapping is hair whiteningly bad. And you know, I'm not against the idea
of rapping maybe for while she sleeps, but like, whatever, the opposite
of flow is, that's what we have here, Like makes Ben Shapiro sound
like Davvy Diggs. It's frightening, and the song is like, it's so
dull, and the lyrics that's what I've got a fuck of imagination. That's
just like a lost young blood lyric and I'm getting high on feeling low.
It's you just got? Are you not aware of how cliche that is?
What is the appeal of a low energy rap rock song? Yeah, it's
just that they've started sounding like inspirational novelty mugs, you know. And the
acoustic song at the end feels like twice as long. I'm now imagining Minions
memes exactly. The only thing you go there is you go. At least
we're not closing on postcodes again. This album feels like they're either doing way
too much or like too little with something like that, and the best stuff
on this is decent in spite of what they're trying to do to it in
a way that made me think about like the best stuff on Gravity by Bullet
of My Valentine, And again the other band I was thinking about being and
I guess a similar predicament. It was it was Neck Deep a few years
ago, and they've just released their album sort of getting back on track of
what they're good at, you know, but there was this real problem of
like pop punk bands, when they try and level up the creative ceiling and
maturity of that, but in order to keep it sort of mainstream palatable,
they normally end up face planting into like the cringiest stuff, and you feel
for them because you go, you know, how do you experiment and spice
up the very normal mainstream metal slick template that everyone has fallen into. And
While She Sleeps have kind of had this trajectory where they've they've sanded down their
songs from how like chaotic and violent they were in the beginning in order to
make them kind of more mass friendly. But then what they've piled back onto
that to replace it, to experiment for is just shit, and like they
clearly want to be this kind of open minded, eclectic anything goes kind of
banned, but it's not. It's just not nuanced enough. It's bone headed
and garish and it's just like, oh, your nephew in the backwards cap
has gotten into the toy box again. Well this is it, Like for
how much more they have thrown into this album. They sound more generic than
when they were just as straight up metal band cranking the riffs. And this
is the problem is like you can you can throw all the genre blending you
want at something, but if you're not doing it in a way that is
interesting, or you end up doing is just sounding generic in different ways,
like sounding like other artists and just a bad version of them. And they're
like, I I like since me sounded more original when they were doing shit,
like even just album tracks on this the sixth until the Death that that
sounds more distinct to me than anything on this album. And that's, you
know, just a straight up riffer. Like I don't get how you can
broaden your scope so much and throw so much into an album and it sounds
and have less identity and sound more generic than when you were just going,
well, we fucking love the riff with a lot of the defense I've seen
in this record, and me that hasn't been all that much of it is
it's, well, you know they're getting into arenas. Now they've got right
stuff that will sound good on that stage, and you just think brainwashs would
sound amazing. Why do you need to, oh, yeah, song in
down to make that sound better on yeah? Like, I mean, that's
a whole other conversation about the merits and demerits of writing for arenas. But
I listened to this and I just think this is clearly like the least excited
while she sleeps record, and there's no songs on here where I think,
oh, that will sound good in in arena, not like you know,
Silent Speaks or the other hits they've had in the past. It's like,
you, the cool thing about what you've done in the past was you were
able to write a rena ready metal that was still vicious and you know,
hard nosed and aggressive. So it's like you've softened it and you've made songs
that are less catchy and exciting. Yeah. I think I can't remember one
of you said it, but something quite well earlier on I think when so
what I think was a record where you could see how they could improve on
it. This is a record where you just imagine they have to retreat from
it. You know, it's like, you can't fashion this into something that
will will work out in a creative sense. It's either you keep going down
this rabbit hole or just making records that are ugly to listen to, or
you write it off as a you know, a misguided failure. You do
a self titled album your next one, and let's check in in twenty twenty
six and see what the worlds she Sleeps self titled album turns out being all
right, a band who have probably been quite inspirational to her. Which Sleep's
actually a some forty one in that bratty punk rabble rousing Some forty one's new
album Heaven ex Hell maybe a little closer to what people have in their heads
than that. Some forty one albums over the last twenty years, I guess
have had different varying levels of like feeling a fight they're a big deal or
not. This one comes with the significance and expectation there of being the final
Some forty one album they are bowing out after a final world tour and this
album is to serve as their closing chapter. And we said this on the
news when it was announced, but the greeting of you know, some forty
one calling it a day had a different level of dignity to it. Then.
I guess a lot of other pop punk bands like them, because while
they have had you know, they've had ups and downs, they they maybe
haven't been you know, not on the pulse of what's like really bean relevant
a a in a long time. But they've never truly let the side down
or made a record that's like sullied their name. They've never made records that
trades it in like hey, we are a punk band. You know.
They were never quick to kind of divorce themselves from that any kind of badly
executed pop flirtation or anything. And so going out without a real black mark
on the record that is something that not many bands of their wilk can say,
is it. No. I think, like you look at any of
those sort of like bands you're just before them, or even sort of bands
from the noughties, though I know Newfound Glory records, I go like,
well, that one, that one is a bit shit, even as like
a Yellow Card fan, there are Yellow Card albums where go's not very good
either, Like you can go to Green Day wherever they all all of those
had wanted to have one or two hours where there is something maybe a touch
embarrassing, I think something one while they've never like it's been a while since
you know, they've had they've been great, they have never at least kind
of embarrassed themselves and sort of left and from where you left a real sour
taste as like creative in terms of like records they put out. So it
was kind of like nice going to scrip fing, like you know what,
you're only on your terms. Good to see, and I think kind of
still continues on with that, Yeah, Elliott, I imagine maybe you know,
the kind of classic pop punk thing, you know, varying loves investment
to that. But I would imagine at least for those kind of reasons,
that Some forty one as a band that is more respectable to even people outside
of like you know, being really into pop punk. Yeah, you know,
I have a sort of handful of pop punk bands that I really like,
and Some forty one were never one of the ones I returned to loads.
But I think they've got an excellent greatest Hits collection. Half hour of
Power is a right laugh. And I think, if nothing else, like
you said, the way they've blended metal into their sound, which especially more
shreddy stuff, doesn't seem like a particularly natural fit in a way. The
fact that it's not the headline grabbing thing about some forty one we just go
they're a great pop punk band or escape punk band. You don't think they're
the mental pop punk metal band that always, Isn't it crazy? It's like
almost the fact that you don't notice it straight away points to the craft associated
with it. And you know, I've not heard any of the records between
Chuck and this one, but from the sounds of it, no news is
good news, like there's no freak show to go and attend with any of
those. And I think, echo what both of you said, I think
the fact that they are taking the initiative to bow out without a dud is
super impressive. Yeah, I think you would say that the kind of classic
sum forty one run I would say ends at Chuck, which you know is
twenty years ago now, those first three albums, I would agree, Yeah,
what they kind of you know, their impact has really forged on the
period for me that has the sort of least stay power as like the earlier
part of the twenty tens. I remember when thirteen Voices came out, I
was like, well, there's just nothing really here that's going to stay with
me. But the last album, More and Decline was pretty good, which,
again not not a world changer, but the things that you associate with
some pointy one being charged up and a bit meaner than your average pop punk
band. Out for Blood is like their latter day ripper in my mind,
you know, I mean, that album is what got a lot of good
favor back in line with them in the sort of like the latter part of
their career, because they have had, I think, in the last couple
years from the album onwards, a real resurgence of people like, yeah,
some point one, we liked them. They're they're they're called yeah. And
for that reason, I guess I didn't realize how long ago that record actually
was. I was looking for an album like twenty twenty one, but it's
twenty nineteen, and so you know that that could have been an admirable last
note, you know, and so heaven, you know, Heaven and Hell
kind of following that up, and you're you know, this one will be
I guess it will be judged with you know, a degree more kind of
seriousness. And again there was announcement a long time ago Some forty one were
going to be working on a double album, and you thought, you know,
well, this could go either way. It was an amazing fake out
when this album is still only fifty five minutes long, right, which is
longer than usual for a Some forty one album for sure, But when you
knew it was going to be a double album, you make two discs.
Each one works out at just over twenty minutes. You know, the concept
is, you know, Heaven exhale the cover art, it's inherently a little
bit amusing. Twenty tracks of Some forty one is certainly that's a lot.
But at least when some bands go, you know, there's gonna be a
disc of this, and there's gonna be a disc of this thing. Both
of the pictures for what this is going to be. You know, there
was a disc of more pop punk and a disc of walkort of metallic.
You know, Some forty one can be adept at both of those things.
And you know, the first disc I guess is maybe the more like novel
one, because the metallic edge stuff has kind of been part of their bread
and butter for certainly the last handful of records. The first disc on this
is much more like dialing back into like a bygone era for some forty one
like waiting on the twist of Fate turns back the clock. I mean like
that that song is the most kind of like classic slice of just naughties pop
punk, like you would slap on an American pie movie, isn't it?
Like it is so of that and I'm here for it. It's still got
enough of the attitude and even if it's not as metallic as something normally are,
it's got real propulsion in the skate punk drumming, the fucking hack and
slash guitar chords, all that super poppy but with attitude. I mean,
like, so it's a it's a good way to kick off it. Yeah,
it's very much. It sounds like it's channing and influence a little bit
in terms of like it sounds like one of those fast blink on two songs
that I love. In the guitar riff, You've got Johnny Libertine later on
as well, which is very like it's Christmas Eve. I have only rabbed
three is like yeah, it's like we've got you the short kind of yeah,
but wait, not just the face is you know, really good.
It's melodically good. It's fizzy and zippy, and it has like guitar leads
buzzing all over it. And it was nice to kind of, you know,
get from Some forty one on a last album because that thing is what
the world at large has been a little bit more kind of devoid of.
Yeah, I kind of I think it speaks to the quality of the idea
for this as a last record, Like I doubled Some forty one album.
I mean, it wouldn't be wide asked if I had a Genie's lamp,
to be honest. But when you think a band like this who have two
quite distinct sides to them, it makes sense to explore those both in a
record, and by putting it Heaven and Hell in that order, you kind
of get something of a crash course in what makes Some forty one special.
And you know it is easy to go, oh the metal stuff that's there.
They say their bread and butter that's there. You know, they should
have say qua but waiting on a twist of thirtyre like, well, ultimately
they're a fucking really good pop punk band. And as someone who kind of
went in to this, you know, with not that all that much expectation,
I think it's very easy to get swept up in it, Like it
just sounds like the start of an adventure. Yeah. And land Minds,
like honest to God, sounds like a song that would have been played on
MTV in two thousand and one, you know, And I mean that in
the complimentary sense, because there is an immediacy the punches through those songs rather
than the kind of this kind of sludge of pop punk melody in like the
twenty tens and so on, and that chorus it sounds like one that you
you know, instinctively know with the you know, the can't help but walk
through your land Minds. It's just even like the the oh whoa kind of
part like isn't bad and doesn't outstay its welcome. Yeah. So I think
land Minds is exactly what you'd want a lead single for this sort of final
some point. It's almost sad that it's not going to have many years of
playing that song live, you know. Yeah, Like it's got a little
bit of you know, the kind of the grown up pop punk of like
Latter Day, like Blink when they're at their best doing it. It's got
to touch that. But it like I guess that just comes from you know,
some point one doing it twenty two four. But it is all bounced.
It's all just like got that big woe even you know, the soft
piano bit which friends get a bit schmaltzy, builds into that final chorus really
nicely. It is kind of like a last song let it rip. Yeah,
I think the chorus in that one feels it's not the only one.
I don't think it's the only one on this album where they hit across and
like I feel like I've heard that course before and maybe maybe it might be
a touch of like I'm talking about the covers, you know, but like
maybe it's just some of the coins as being a little generic. But they
are catchy and infectious in the right ways. I think, you know,
people say about the Ramones, the whole thing of oh you hear it once
and it's in your head forever. I think basically all the best poppy punk
bands are at least in some ways capable of that. And you know Some
forty one, that's true of all their big hits. You think, you
know, you hear fat Lip once, you hear in two Deep Ones,
and it's it's in your brain forever, and you know land Lies. When
it came out as a single, I thought, oh, you know,
that's fine, but I didn't really go back to it, and then I
found myself singing it just in day to day life. And is that song?
Is that the Some forty one single from a few weeks ago? It's
just it's been stuck in my head consistently since it came out, and I
think, like you say, them having that as a leading it's a shame
that they're only gonna get another year or so of playing it live because it
just sounds like classics Some forty one. Yeah, And there is a kind
of there's a buoyancy and exuberancy in like this stuff that kind of it almost
like bypasses like a lot of the kind of darkness and the more way down
sort of spirit that exists in Some forty one's music, Like certainly you know
post Chuck, but it's it's interesting how authentically it speaks to what people liked
about them when they very first broke through. There aren't really many examples of
one of these bands doing that with so much ease, you know, like
you have specifically this first disc basically going, hey, remember all Killer,
No Filler? Yeah, look at the Offsprings attempts at doing that same kind
of thing. You know. It's it's weird how like nice it is coming
from some forty one to hear them do that, you know. And I
guess there's part of that is, you know, songs like I Can't Wait
it's just like punk as fuck in a very like two minute guitar chords,
hammering you over the head like a nineties Green Day song, and it's like,
remember when pop punk was punk, you know, and it's it's not
unexploited song, it's still unashamedly pop, but it's you remember the fusion of
those things, stuff like I can't Wait. Future Primitive is the one for
that, like just real like rocking skate pung and there that I'm Letting Go
who chorus that fucking rules, really high energy solo, but yeah, I
can't Wait it's got you know, a bouncy pop punk rift I've heard a
hundred times, and you know it still works when they drop it, like
and it is. It is even on the Poppuler side of this project.
For the most part, they still remind you that, like they are a
punk band at their heart, and they aren't gonna shave down those edges too
much for them, Like there were occasional moments they might do a little bit
and you know, I will let them have that because they for the most
part they are hitting around the head with just like punk. Yeah, and
there are a couple songs like like Time Won't Wait you can imagine sort of
being like you know, like something that Derek will have like ghost written for
All Time Low or someone like that. But then Future Primitive comes around that
it's got that kind of circle pit mania to it in pop punk, and
you go, well, that's that's only some forty one, you know,
that's kind of giving you that and it's really energizing. Great song. Yes,
it just sounds like Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, like Big Woes skate punk
aggression and like Shreddy Solo comes in. At first, I was going,
well, lads, the metal disc is later like we're getting a bit headed,
but then you remember it's like, no, they were like their first
EPs like iron Maid and LEAs and stuff, so it's it really is like
as much like it's just you know, ninety skate punk in's some forty one's
very distinctive brand of ninety skate punk, and I just think hearing them play
that again, it just sounds comforting. Yeah, and you know, stuff
like like dopamine or like the closer radio silence they've got again those sort of
more like lighter in the air bits but bad mistake with that little skip on
the drums and that sort of there's a pop punk tempo that you don't hear
so much anymore that a lot of bands used to do, and that kind
of pop punk country. Yeah, almost like it's fine. And Derek's you
know, his chorus melodies and his delivery that they are very familiar in that
kind of immediate sense, but at the same time very distinct to him,
and it's got that, you know. It's just it's pleasant to hear those
coming from him, like he's like he's an artisan of that particular, you
know, form of writing a song like that, and it's just nice to
hear and I found like that, you know, that disc goes so quickly
because it is the zippiest, most upbeat, breezy material that something we would
have written in years, you know, harkening back to kind of the time
that bore them in twenty five minutes and so you know, of course that
flies by. One of the biggest praise that I can give this album is
I finished the first disc and I was still ready for another go of album,
you know, which is like the big worry with double albums that you
get to the end of the first one and go, Jesus, that's me
done. Didn't feel that by the time I've reached the end of this one
of this, No, I'd agree, because I think it is. It's
the songs are so to the point there's not an ounce of fat on them
for the most of the part. Like they are so just like in out
choruses, riffs, big bouncy bits more like I said, like the close
track, it is maybe probably one of my less liked songs on Disc one.
It's I think it's not bad when it comes to you know, pop
punk balladary. It's not you know, the fucking shit that was on the
Green Day album that we were laughing at. It's still got a bit of
you know, a bit of emph to it, so which some point you
won't bring. So it just means that you never find like this. This
one ever really drags on. So yeah, when it finished, I was
gonna like, bring on another nine or so songs. I think. I
think it helps a lot as well that most times when bands do this would
have been a double album, it's gonna be two different styles more often not.
The first disc is like the bangers, the stuff you want to hear,
and then they go now it's going into the ambience album and you're like,
oh no, I've had the album, like, please, don't don't
do this to me. I think it helps. You're going from a pop
punk record into a more metal punk record. So even if you are starting
to go, Okay, I think I've had my album, it feels like
you're getting a completely separate album in a way. I mean, the second
one, hell you know, I was ready to raise my horns and enter.
Hell I did. I did a legitimate double take when I was gearing
up for that. And the intro track is like daft punk voices or something
like not the hell that I was envisioning an interesting interpretation of that. But
you know, you don't wait too long until you get riffs, and then
Rise Up comes around and you're reminded, oh, yeah, not only are
some forty ones melodic instincts much better than most, but their peers weren't coming
close to that level of weight either. No, like that opening riff on
Rise Up and like the snot and the attitude is still there, but it's
kind of always got like a bit of scope that you would expect from a
heavy metal band in there as well, just funneled through momentous like propulsive pop
punk, and I think like really like really good, and like the breakdown
on that song is harder than anything on the Sleeps album if you ask me,
Like, no, that's what I was was exactly what I was gonna
say. When that beat down comes in, is that king, Yeah,
like proper like hardcore kind of in the background, like that yelp that comes
in, like wildly intense for some forty one to be putting on a record
close to thirty years in Yeah, and that part again, I was thinking
that marsh part is about as hard as the likes of bringing the horizon.
Do you know these days in those kind of moments and the fear with a
double album like this where the two sides are kind of majorly regimented. You
know, you know there are bands who have done kind of double albums le
needs different sides and it's just well, and you go, those things are
that go well together have been separated and are now less effective in isolation.
Like the only example I can think of right now is punoptoicons one amusingly,
but you know what I mean, right, that kind of thing happens and
like that the first disc though, you look back and he goes, oh,
yeah, that was like the pop punk dick disc, but it has
those kind of like harder punk inclinations on it. Rise Up is a metal
song with that marsh part, but it has a really zippy chorus again like
that there are they've leaned further in, but the core identity is still kind
of always there. Stranger in These Times has a cool kind of like stringier
heavy riff moving around the threat which bouncy last time. Yeah, like really
the first band that came to mind when that intro hit was tall but there,
and it still kind of packs a really good chorus and again, you
know, there are more Fillery tracks, there are tracks that I won't think
about again, but at the very least it was. You know, it's
pleasing to me that the pace is almost always there in terms of like skate
punk, core d beat. You could even say at times like it's not
allowed to become very stodgy or lumpen, because almost always just going, just
going, flashy, ripping solos, the thrash riffing in over the edge just
keeps it, you know. Biting You Wanted War is a great rift.
It's got like a kind of like heavier billy talent Naughty metal, Like,
that's one to me, I was like, that's the best bull of my
Valentine's song. That riff of that, like Mellow Jeff work, the Medical
Band's works. When the Mellow Deft were kind of making it really commercial some
point one doing that it's really fun. I was like, oh, hell
yeah, I kind of missed that riffing, And so when I got on
to some point one album, it just really made me smile. I mean,
House of Lives before that is kind of a bit like Naughty's emo and
kind of the drama to it. But again, on this side, they're
still giving each to these songs a bit of their own personality where you're right
over the edge, I kind of had it's got a bit of hardcore in
it, more like the thrash you've got, uh any one that has kind
of like low end to it, where like this is as heavy as this
sort of thing can get without scaring off the kind of the pure pop punk
fans. Like I think it's kind of animal that something are willing to actually
like out. They're the solo on that is like problem Metallica in its sort
of fresh influence. I think that they're drove from stuff that's all really just
fun and exciting things to just add into the some point one kind of established
formula. I think having those Derrek Whibley choruses does make the whole thing feel
a lot more distinctive, because I mean it would be distinctive enough of a
pop punk band that's going metal in the second half, but just having that
that root in the classic some forty one sound. I mean, I feel
like I'm repeating myself, but over the edge and I don't need anyone.
The choruses are just real standout moments, and I think it makes those songs
more memorable in the way that, like you say, there are some filler
tracks that I don't think I'll go back to again, but the ones where
I can remember and record the chorus, they just have a staying power that
I don't think, you know, the last Green Day record, or certainly
the last Offspring record or anything like that. It's kind of in one ear
out the other. But just having someone a songwriter to the caliber of Derek
Wibley I think does a lot for this record. Yeah, the cover of
Painted Black on the second disc. Strange choice, but I guess it ate
bad. You know, they've made a double album enough and you go at
this stage, all right, why not put a cover in there? I
quite like in the bridge there's like a Cliff Burton style base interpretation of the
melody. Yeah, strange choice, but it's there. Yeah, it's just
you know, in the lineage of double album other songs, it's in there
with Knocking on Evan's Door and five Finger Death Punch doing Mama said it's pretty
hard. In fairness, it's probably the least essential part of the album.
I still wouldn't say it's a terrible cover. I don't mean it like makes
the experience any worse. It's just kind of it's just there. But I'm
fine. Yeah, Like, you know if on repeated listens, I ended
up kind of wanting to skip this one, not because it was bad,
but I've got Painted Black. I've heard that enough times and it seems like
an odd thing to do, like put right towards the end of your final
album. But maybe there's an element of well, if not now, when
and they want to cover it sole Like I don't think some would have been
missing something if they left us off. But yes, it's okay. Has
a feeling of like this is the last time we've got to get everything we
ever wanted to do left on there. We really want to cover Painted Black
by the Bawling Stones, put it on the metal disc. You've got to
do it. That's on the bucket list things to do before we go.
Yeah, I think this album it's not necessarily like a hw massive leap from
like the kind of generally respectable level that they've been at. You know,
like if you were giving numbered scores in a magazine review for this, their
last few albums would have similar scores. You know, you're not jumping from
fucking you're looking at like it's it's a respectful Yeah, you're not going from
like four to nines or whatever. They've been pretty consistent, But the actual
ambition, I guess on a musical level, it's not necessarily gone hugely because
it's just they're piling on more of what they have always done in kind of
differently arranged ways. So it does occasionally it still plays a bit like the
greatest hits, you know, like I remember this, but you I think
you would at least consider the argument that this is their best album since Chuck
maybe, like you know what one of the couple afterwards, maybe if you
have particular fonds for those, But like I'm I'm just finding it all tinged
with this sentiment of like good for them, because like they've they've crafted their
last album and not only is it of a good quality, but they've also
they put it together in a way that was a bit of a new hurdle
for them, and it could have gone less well than it has and they've
generally pulled it off. And it's it's cool that they've chosen to end on
this kind of direct statement of like this is what we did, you know,
like our direct musical offering to the world was that kind of bridge between
pop punk and heavy metal. That was our thing that no one else quite
did like us. And you know, there was a quote from Derek in
the karrang cover story where he says, if there's one record that defines who
we are, it's this one. And that is something that every fucker in
the world says about their new record, right, But like, I actually
get what he's saying with this one. Like maybe not their best ever record,
sure, but in terms of like the components of the record, the
most some forty on records, you could entertain that being actually true. Yeah,
No, I'm kind of similar. I've just got a lot of good
will for this of being you know, a band on the kind of record
doing something good and not again taking a big swing, showing ambition and not
like completely like but not like just throwing every idea, every shit idea into
an ending with something there's a complete mess. It is still focused for a
big for a vast double album. They've just they've honed in on that the
two sides, and like, well, we're focusing on that there and that
there, and it just results in just a very easy listen for a fifty
five minute double album that is full of choruses that stick for me, that
doesn't ever like maybe isn't completely rammed of essential material, but I've never I
wouldn't. Wasn't there any point listener having a bad time? And I was
like, yeah, really, fucking give you some point one for like baring
out on a like note they kind of be like, this is a classy
note for them to end on. Yeah, I think they could have completely
coasted if they wanted to. They could have not released an album and just
done the farewell to or they could have just done another album in the vein
were the ones they've done recently, and it would have been noticeable just by
virtual of being their last, Like you say, taking a big swing,
And I've not heard the records in the middle, but I'll take your word
for it that it's every bit as good as any of them. And if
someone said to me, like, what some foot of one albums should I
check out? I wouldn't give them this to be like this is the best
one. But I can understand why someone would say, if you're going to
get the some forty one catalogue, it's definitely worth getting this one because it
kind of feels like it tells the story in a really heartwarming way. Yeah,
I agree. And certainly, you know, one last time the bands
that they kind of came up around, like Simple Plan and Good Charlotte and
stuff like that from that kind of two thousand and two era, you know,
they've distanced themselves from that lot and you know, run rings around a
few of them once again. So yeah, bravo Some forty one. You
know, it's a very fine final album and a very very respectable last note
to do. So yeah, bravo. There you go. Those are two
little extra reviews from the month of March, two big records that we were
not going to let float by us for very very different reason. Thank you
very much for listening. Let us know what you think. Are you enjoying
the final Some forty one album? Were we too harsh on While She Sleeps?
Can you see again what we said about kind of like, is this
a record that they just have to retreat from because it's unsalvagable or whatever?
Can you see a way which it can be? Selvash? You know,
is there a better While She Sleeps album in there? I would be curious
to hear what you guys think, so let us know. Go and join
the Patreon if you want to hear our Alm Club pac that we discussed about
Earli where we're talking about you know, Palm Reader and agrofab nos bit and
all that. But that will also give you access to the T and M
Discord channel, where we chat about all this kind of shit with you guys
all week long. So there you go. Next week we will be back
with a normal audition Hyperblast. We will also have more stuff coming to the
Patreon as we get underway. And yeah, next time we do album reviews
here it will be the fucking motherload of some big, amazing, wildly eclectic,
all over the place huge stuff records. So cheers very much. We'll
see you there for all of that. Bye bye,