Zebrahead – Walk The Plank

“Walk The Plank” is already the twelfth studio album of Californian punk rockers Zebrahead. Their straightforward, ‘I don’t care what everyone else thinks’ attitude is once more reflected in these 13 songs of pure happiness and absurdity. This whirlwind with black and white stripes will make you dance in no time! Who could stand still with instant classics like “Who Brings A Knife To A Gun Fight?”, “Headrush”, “Save Your Breath” or “Wasted Generation”? Of course there’s also time for the more soft-hearted fans. “So What”, “Keep It To Myself” and title track “Walk The Plank” are slower songs talking about typical teenage angsts like not being accepted and change. Zebrahead won’t be Zebrahead when they woud let you end up with any negative feelings, so after singing along with these teen anthems you’ll feel a whole lot better! So cheer up, Buttercup and pogo your heart out with these veterans of punk rock! We are the wasted generation!

– Frederik Geuvens

Baroness – Purple

"Purple" is the highly-anticipated fourth studio album of Baroness. These four guys from Savannah, Georgia, show once more why they’re getting in line with larger acts in the genre like Mastodon or Valkyrie. Their raw sound with wailing vocals grasp you by the throat with just a few occasions to breath normally like during “Try To Disappear” or “Fugue”. Real highlights are “Shock Me”, “The Iron Bell”, with a guitar solo that could remind you of Thin Lizzy, and the heart-breaking “If I Have to Wake Up (Would You Stop the Rain?)”. Last but not least the 30 seconds long “Crossroads of Infinity” leaves you with a confused but satisfied feeling with a strange preference for the colour purple…

– Frederik Geuvens

Luna Sol – Blood Moon

Stoner rock is the name of the game that Luna Sol plays. Only in this particular case we're talking about ‘mountain rock’! The project formed around vocalist/guitar player David Angstrom (Hermano, Superfuzz) was conceived when David moved to the rocky mountains of Denver, Colorado. Inspired by the solitude of the mountains, he gathered fellow musicians Shanda, Shannon and Pat to form Luna Sol. ‘Dark’ and ‘heavy’ are the keywords with “Blood Moon”, their first full album full of stoner rock ridden with filthy riffs and a whole lot of influential friends such as John Garcia, Nick Oliveiri and Dizzy Reed, who bringing their skills to this record. The tales of the mountains are vibrant; “Blood Moon” is a great debut album that will take from the valley to the summit.

– Steven Vanmassenhove

Grave Pleasures – Dreamcrash

After the demise of that other rock revelation, Beastmilk, the remaining members decided to rise from the ashes into a new form: Grave Pleasures was conceived earlier this year and set out to record straight away, the result being “Dreamcrash”, an apocalyptic tale comprised of deathrock and other sinister sounds. Taking their post punk to a new level, incorporating the diverse member rosters special skills ranging from black metal to goth and rock, weaving a sonic web of dark tunes.

Stating influences from groups as Killing Joke, Samhain and others, even touching grounds with The Damned. Grave Pleasures paints a picture that's intense and descends into the deepest abyss of the human mind.

– David Marote

After All – Rejection Overruled

Bruges, not just home to fancy lace, tasty chocolate and medieval sightseeing but also home to the finest band in the Belgian thrash metal scene: After All. Following their 2012 release “Dawn Of The Enforcer”,  After All decided it was time to kick some ass again, so songs were written, the studio booked and a new full album is on its way as we speak. But first they leave you with “Rejection Overruled”, a three-song EP on limited 300 pieces pressed in nuclear green vinyl. Featuring two new tracks and one reworked track the band once proves its talent and delivers a fine display of old-school metal vocals, energy, melody and hell-hard riffs. “Rejection Overruled” can keep every thrash metal fan satisfied while waiting for their next full album.

Banquets – Spit at the sun

The album title represents the album quite well, I think, because spitting at the sun seems like kind of a rebellious act, right? And that is just what this album sounds like: rebellious and passionate. However, there are also a few things I don’t like that much about it. For an example the singing/screaming starts to sound a little monotonous after a while. Also, the songs seem to lose a little of their power as they go along. Most of them start really fierce and then droop at the end. So I guess this should be Banquets’ challenge: to keep us entertained to the last second of every freaking song.  

– Renske Gommer

From What We Believe – Sink Or Swim

From What We Believe is a five-headed band hailing from Hermeskeill, Germany. These five guys already released their first album “Sink Or Swim” in June, 2015 and has been touring ever since. The dubstep-ish intro to the album called “Coming To Light” gives you the impression that you’ll be listening to a metal album with lots of electronic elements but nothing is less true. Of course, one can ponder on the real necessity of this song in the overall concept of the album but that would bring us too far. The rest of the album provides a full-on wall of sound with very tight guitar and drum riffs, roaring screams and angelic clean vocals. Everything sounds very polished and clean but this subtracts nothing from the pure, raw emotions in songs like “My Lighthouse”, “Compass” or title track “Sink Or Swim”.  One demerit of this album we have to admit is that each song could be of another band like Parkway Drive, Bury Tomorrow and many others. The influence of these bands cannot be overlooked and while listening to “Sink Or Swim” you have to admit that these guys must have listened very carefully to their heroes so they could sound like them. After listening to this album you’ll be left with no breath and the only thing you could do is just sink or swim.

– Frederik Geuvens

Atreyu – Long Live

The five-headed band from California, Atreyu has been paving their way since 1998. And after all these years they’ve stayed true to their signature format of shredding guitars, ripping screams and heart-breaking clean vocals. So don’t expect something completely different while listening to their latest release “Long Live” but who could blame them? They’ve found their lucky recipe and changing their sound just for the sake of change would be plainly dumb. So if you want to hear the real Atreyu, listen to songs like title track “Long Live”, “Brass Balls” and “Start To Break”! The Special Edition of this album provides the fans with hit single “So Others May Live” and new masterpiece “Stronger Than Me”.

– Frederik Geuvens

Moments – Hopes & Dreams

The Belgian melodic hardcore revelation Moments has finally found the time to record their first full album, “Hopes & Dreams”. The album starts off with the instrumental “Faith”. This ‘djent-ish’ and heavy intro immediately sets the tone for this super tight album. Each song corporates light-hearted twostep grooves with earth-shaking breakdowns, clean-cut riffs and the ever positive hardcore message. The only downside on this album could be the monotonicity of the screams, but we are eager to turn a blind eye on this when hearing songs like “Brothers”, dedicated to their friend Koen Daems who passed away last year, “Lost Souls” with the beautiful instrumental intro “Lost Thoughts” and “The Architect”.

– Frederik Geuvens

Yotam – California sounds

This album is what every singer-songwriter album should be: light, easy-listenable and catchy. Still, the songs do sound a little alike and there isn’t really one that has the ‘wow’-factor. So it’s a good album to relax to, to listen to on a Sunday morning, but it could use some spice, some twists to the gentle guitar riffs. Lastly, I have to say I do appreciate the song’s subjects. They’re not all about love, like so much music is nowadays, but about more refreshing things like the singer’s grandfather and the fleetingness of time. So all in all, this is a good album if you’re looking for something simple and calm, but not if you’re more into something provocative and novel. 

 

– Renske Gommer