NEBULA/BLACK RAINBOWS: IN SEARCH OF THE COSMIC TALE: CROSSING THE GALACTIC PORTAL
This astonishingly titled split album is the latest thing from Heavy Psych Sounds bringing two bands together. Nebula, long-established and always trippy, harks back to the 1970s for their three. Eddie Glass is at his best on guitar on the likes of “Acid Drop”, while the thing really kicks on the “Eye Of The Storm”, a weird thing, and the trip gets dark on “Caesar XXXIV”. More familiar to MV, Black Rainbows do their thing on “The Secret”, the better still lead-drenched “Thunder Lights on the Greatest Sky” and the wonderful blues piece “Dogs Of War” which floats and meanders, but still packs a real punch.
These types of releases are great for finding new bands to get stuck into and enjoy, and as a taster, you won’t do much better.
Rating 7/10
ZED HEAD: SHINY THINGS
You can go from “Not another one” to “Yes! Another one” pretty quickly to be fair, and in the case of Zed Head, about as long as the opening harmonica takes from “SMILING” Bob Adams on “Hole In My Soul” is as long as it’ll take.
You see, whether you need another Southern Rock band or not is a moot point, given that Canada’s Zed Head are rather good at this, the Rev Billy himself wouldn’t mind “Short And Curlies” – and yes they are the millionth band to cover Hendrix, but the version of “Are You Experienced?” isn’t bad at all.
“Body Snatcher” is 12 bar blues played by Hells Angels, the title track has just an undercurrent of violence, and “Trouble” is as classic sounding as you can imagine, and frankly any album that ends with a track called “Whoop Ass King” isn’t bothered about anyone’s opinion. Nonetheless, here’s mine: “Shiny Things” sparkles.
Rating 8/10
NOTHING MORE: CARNAL
One of American rock’s biggest bands over the last 20 years, the fire still burns deep in Nothing More. Eric V from I Prevail joins them for House On Sand” and its crushing, yet accessible feel, with its huge chorus in a way sets the tone for album seven.
The guests keep coming, with David Drainman from Disturbed adding his vocals to “Angel Song” but this – whoever is on it – sounds massive. “Freefall” shakes arenas, and if “Blame It On The Drugs” has a more pop side, then it’s got muscles too.
Flying in the face of the received wisdom that the album is dead, the 15 songs here take in plenty of twists and turns. “Existential Threat” has a touch of 90s industrial and modern prog fans might enjoy “Stuck” (which features Sinizter as the final guest).
And they can get weird or heavy and sometimes both at once, as on “Run For Your Life” but Nothing More are never less than interesting.
“Carnal” will satisfy the urges of their millions of fans.
Rating 7.5/10
SUNBOMB – LIGHT UP THE SKY
Michael Sweet and Tracii Guns are back for album number two, and it still surprises.
Metal to its studded belts “Unbreakable” is as good an opener as you’ll hear, and whilst it signposts the rest it’s striking just how heavy the metal is elsewhere. “Steel Hearts” has tinges of Sabbath, and Priest would be pleased with the title song.
Whatever your views on Stryper, no one can argue that Sweet can sing, and my goodness he throws himself into “Scream Out Loud” and the likes. Guns, for his part, has never hidden his love for metal, nor his desire to make a metal album. He really stretches himself on this, the slower “Winds Of Fate” a case in point.
The ballad “Where We Belong” is exquisite, but it is only right that the album ends with a fists in the air anthem, and “Setting The Sail” is that.
Not so much the sum of its parts – instead “Light Up The Skies” is putting the numbers together to make an entirely new equation.
Rating 8/10
THE WARNING – KEEP ME FED
One of modern rock’s fastest-rising and hottest tips right now, The Warning were over here in the spring – they played a 600-cap venue nearest me. One listen to the swagger on “Six Feet Deep” is enough to tell you that they’ll never do that again.
“Sick” shows no stadium will be big enough in the end, and as if to prove my point, the single “More” is already near 10 million plays on Spotify.
“Hell You Call A Dream” (co-written and produced by Anton Delost [Highly Suspect, Mayday Parade] and Dan Lancaster [MUSE, Bring Me The Horizon], is a masterclass in modern metal. Hooks, crisp production, anthemic, and it is typical of what The Warning do.
And they don’t let the grass grow under them, that’s for sure. Album number four in seven years ends with “Automatic Sun”, and it’s got the intent to take over the world. It’s absolutely certain.
Somewhere between Muse and Def Leppard in 1986, three sisters in Mexico might have all the tools to be huge. This is your Warning that “Keep Me Fed” will be on the menu for a lot of people.
Rating 7/10
KILBEY KENNEDY – PREMONITION K
The third and final installment in the trilogy from Steve Kilbey and Martin Kennedy. Building on the success of Jupiter 13 (2021) and The Strange Life of Persephone Nimbus (2022), “Premonition K” starts as it means to go on. “Breaking The Fourth Wall” is nothing if not trippy.
Kilbey is best known in Aussie psych warriors The Church, and he’s able to unsettle on the acoustic “The Doctor”, or when seemingly channelling the spirit of Jim Morrison on “Nowhere”.
There’s a haunting, swirling character to this. “My Better Half” has something of latter-day Marillion about it, and the spoken word delivery on “Whispered Voices On Tape” only makes it more threatening somehow – and whatever you think “Ouija Board” sounds like, it does. Trust me.
“The Song That Wrote Itself” adds a touch of electronic energy, but it ends a record that will doubtless take you to places that you would rather not go to.
“Premonition K” is never easy listening. It is, though, always compelling.
Rating 7/10
