One thing I’ve never been that sure about is the difference between hard rock and heavy rock; although I’m guessing that at some stage way back when somebody sat me down and explained that in detail. The press release I have before me describes Wolforna as a hard rock band, but you could equally well describe them as a heavy rock band..

OK so now we’ve got that out of the way. ‘Reset’ is a complex song both lyrically and musically. Worry not, I’m going to walk you through it.

So first to what the song is about, the band describe the song as ‘a journey through a moment of anger. It delivers verses and choruses that represent the building of frustration, a fit of rage that comes through a fierce riff in the breakdown, and a clean, calm-before-the-storm middle section. The pièce de résistance? The massive release of energy through one surging lead guitar solo’. The important thing is that the words are words worth listening to, they are not just ‘your average rock lyrics’. This, and some of the musical structure, kinda puts this in alt-rock territory.

Musically the song represents the story of the song in what I’m going to call sections. We start with heavy guitar riffing, a chugging fierce riffing break leads to a calm section with gently plucked guitar and the final release in an epically cut you down at the knees guitar solo, and riff to climax (so to speak).

The ‘song in sections’ approach isn’t an alien one to hard/heavy rock but here the band do it in under 4 minutes. That’s a tough ask, to say the least but because there’s a kind of musical theme running through, it works. And the ever changing sound makes for surprise and wonder at every second of the song.

To pull this off so well, you’d expect and assume the band know their musical chops and yep, the playing here is fantastic, and make for something that flows. The vocals too are fabulous; moving from top of the voice rock to lilting almost folkish quiet.

Wolforna continue to impress hugely. They bring their own take to the table that is hard, heavy or classic rock, adding the unexpected twist. ‘Reset’ is one great track, get on it.

Ah those lovable post-punk rogues Mince strike again with a song that is about, as the band say “‘Misprint’ is a problem that nobody is ever likely to face. We all have irrational fears, but what about the worries our minds haven’t even begun to cover? If you feel like you’ve forgotten or left something at home, it’s probably just the knowledge that anything can change your life in an instant. Be care-free”

To accompany these thoughts the band make what can only be described as a rattling stuttering sound that veers from loud and dirty to weirdly dark and moody. It;s chaotic and damn fucking glorious.

It sounds like some unholy mix of Bauhaus, The Fall and weirdly Bowie. Look I kid you not, I’m bloody sure that at one point you’ll hear something briefly that sounds like ‘Boys Keep Swinging’. Words are spat and screamed over the dirty loud music and intoned like spoken word poetry over the dark and moody.

Mince lay at the crossroads of post-punk and garage rock, their music is post-punk but there’s so much else that’s in there it’s only barely adequate to describe them.

This people, is a gorgeous racket that thrills, excites, and leaves you breathless for more.

The info

Mince as we know it Started in 2021, when the bedroom demos were released. The line up consisted of: Jamie, Owen, George (who have known each other since school), and Matthew who Jamie met via Joinmyband.com years ago. After years of trying to make the lineup stay together, it was at the start of 2022, when Clem joined the band, Mince really started getting cracking.

The bedroom demos not only garnered them fans from their friends, but also the likes of Hot Waxx who would promote them and Sugarhouse who would produce their first single – Ditch. Mince completed their first gig to an audience of almost 100 people with great success, bringing a large group of followers and also gaining one or two in the process.

They released the single ‘Ditch; in May this year.

There are five of them:

Matthew Banks (Drums) – The squire who screams in his record shop
Clem Pulham Creagh (Bass) – The wisest southerner in Burley
Jamie Haddington (Guitar, Vocals) – The scribe who flogs shirts
Owen Bennett (Guitar) – The well-traveled gentleman of Pudsey
George McDermott (Vocals) – The arch enemy of the microphone

Crooked Revival do ‘classic heavy rock’ heavy on the blues, big big guitars, screaming solos and vocals at the top of the singer’s voice. Look, full disclosure here (to coin a phrase) this is the stuff I listened to in my teens – more years ago than I care to disclose to be honest – it’s the kind of rock I loved, and still love; and Crooked Revival do it right, so right.

The track ‘Back To Freedom’ is your classic classic rock song (if you get what I mean). Huge guitar riff, that riff dropping out for the vocals’ thing. This is blues rock at its most raw and raucous. But wait, the more I listen to this the more I hear a touch of Southern Rock somewhere down in the sound.

I asked my friend – who’s also of a certain age – and he said that it sounded a bit like a really raw sounding Whitesnake track or a really heavy Bad Company track. Got to agree with that, but then again it doesn’t. It sounds like we’d like to remember that music sounding, and this goes for the three tracks on this EP.

Anyway, back to the track. I can’t not mention the solo. This is not an in yer face solo, it’s a smash you in the face solo. There will be injuries.

There’s something of the heavy southern rock about ‘Taking Too Long’ (your classic heavy southern rock band of the 80s is Blackfoot). Now what this genre does is to take that southern rock sound and meld it with heavy rock; so you’re going to get a mix of the two.

And mix it up this track does. The heavy rock is grindingly heavy but the vocal sections come with southern swing. And bloody hell is it good, so good.

And now for the big epic track ‘Something More’. This is something of a builder. It goes through so many sounds it’s jaw-dropping. It starts with something electric folk, takes a dive into a somewhat Eastern inspired riff with soulful vocals. Throws in a solo that’s going to cut you down at the knees. It’s the very epitome of the big classic rock track but at the same time it isn’t.

I’m going to explain that last comment. Although I describe the tracks on this EP as classic rock, it’s not a carbon copy of 70s and 80s rock because it’s picked up things from then to now; things that fit in, like the heavier Grunge bands, the funky/soulful rock of Lenny Kravitz, odd bits of grinding rock. And if I was inclined I could write it that way round. What I’m saying is that while it may remind you of music from back then, it’s very much music of today.

The\ one thing that classic heavy rock does need is spot-on playing, and the playing on these songs is astounding; there is simply not one thing that you can point to as wrong.The vocals are fantastic, some of the best rock vocals I’ve heard in a long time.

The song writing is great, yep the words are rock song words in style but there’s not a cliche ridden bunch of words. And the tracks are out together in ways that hit you with surprises, the unexpected.

Crooked Revival are making some of the best heavy rock I’ve heard in a long long time. The three songs on this EP are simply not enough, they’re merely a teaser of what must be coming. If you like you’re rock heavy and uncompromised, this is for you.

This rocks, it rocks big big time. Play loud as you dare, fuck no play it loud enough to disturb your street.

King Orange’s second release from their upcoming EP is a short, sharp blast of electrifying post-punk.

Like the veritable explosion of post-punk bands right now, King Orange are a band that take the various forms of post-punk and meld them into their own sound. In this there are hints of Gang of Four, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Nick Cave and Bauhaus, as well as No Wave and Kraut-rock.

Guitars are turned up to piercing in a rattling manic torrid of metallic sound, drums pound repetitively. In stark contrast the vocals are shout spoken. But wait, for this is changing; the sign is a brief flurry of discordant guitar but then it goes beyond sound. It’s a build but a build done in distinct stages rather than gradually. It’s dark, it’s gloriously dark and bleak, and on the edge of madness.

There is something of the manic preacher in the vocals and this perhaps reflects the overall theme of the songs on the EP. Singer and bassist Leo Joslin explains “There’s still that theme of religious and spiritual imagery that casts a shadow over the whole EP, and just like our last single ‘Patriot and Father’ the title points to its theological message. It’s the shortest track of the four too. The aggressive and direct guitars match the confused and panicked environment the lyrics portray, and the song pushes us into a new sound we’ve not really explored before.”

And in terms of ‘Self Torn From Sign’ he says “It’s about a lack of direction; the feelings of aimlessness and stagnation. Not just in the personal sense either where one is unsure of their orientation, but also on the communal level where our collective motion has stalled. Without a path there comes a lack of purpose, this song looks at the symptoms of that and senses left when direction leaves,”

I love King Orange’s take on post-punk, and ‘Self Torn From Sign’ is another brilliant example of their music. This is outstanding.

The info

King Orange emerged from Hull’s vibrant post-punk scene, but have crafted their own sound using wiry guitars, a churning rhythm section and deep vocals to create short, sharp songs that leave little in the way of excess. Working with renowned producer Alex Greaves (bdrmm, Heavy Lungs, Working Men’s Club),

The EP ‘Another Collapse in the Park’ is available on all platforms on the 28th October.

The band are:

Leo Joslin (Vocals and Bass)
Tom Green-Morgan (Guitar)
Oliver Witty (Drums)

If you’ve been keeping up you will have realised that I am a fan of DENSE. Part of it is their live performances which are immersive, other worldly and sonically beautifully battering. But there’s another part to it. While every release has that essential DENSE-ness, they take that sound in different directions.

With ‘Fossilised’ the band take their distorted garage psych into post-punk and punk sounds. It’s angular, it’s angry, it’s aggression and frustration captured in a sound. It is, and I don’t exaggerate in the slightest, terrifying. And yet this is not, and you’ll remember I said that the band always retain their DENSE-ness, a featureless blast of sound; there are builds, there are waves of crushing distortion. And in that sound there are moments of subtleness in sound that amaze, that thrill. And the vocal, well my friends, this is not just a vocal it’s a performance.

And while the music is angry in itself the words put that anger in context. I’ll leave this to the band to explain “‘Fossilised’ tells a story that represents the feeling of countless setbacks in the modern world. Austerity, climate change, and conservative regression contribute to feelings of being buried beneath layers upon layers over the course of what feels like an eternity; immobilised, freezing and inundated. Just as the being in this story’s trapped state immortalises their final moment of freedom, this track serves a warning in whether we too wish to be encapsulated in this time forever or break the rock around us and push for change”.

The combination of words and music encapsulates those feelings of frustration, repression and restriction, the feelings of being silenced. It’s a track about the now, and for us now. It speaks of the feelings we have now. It’s powerful.

This is an incredible song with a sonic beauty in its brutality; that talks about us today, and putting those feelings so perfectly into music. Bloody hell, this is fantastic.

The info

DENSE are Charlie Fossick (guitars and vocals), Dylan Metcalf (bass) and Sam Heffer (drums). The band are well known for their explosive and manic live show, having performed at an array of venues such as Brudenell Social Club (Leeds), YES (Manchester), Adelphi Club (Hull) and the Victoria (London), alongside the likes of Prettiest Eyes (US), Flat Worms (US), Frankie & The Witch Fingers (US), Crows (UK) & Strange Bones (UK).