I think that 6 years have passed since last Booze & Glory full length called Hurricane. It was such amazing album for me that I thought they will find it hard to make the same level album again or even better. Fortunately I was wrong. There were some line-up changes again like we are already used to from this band, singer Mark being only constant in the band although drummer Frank is also long time member of the band. For those who don’t know, these guys play melodic version of streetpunk/OI with anthemic choruses just made to sing along and lyrics to which you can identify with and they hit you right on the spot. There are 11 anthems on this album, my personal favorites being Family Isn’t Always Blood, Jimmy Fake, I’d Die For You and Legends. There is a kinda ballad at the end of the album, song called The One And Only, awesome song but different from the rest of material. This is another lesson in melodic streetpunk that this band delivered flawlessly.
Teenage Bottlerocket released their long awaited new full length album and it contains 14 songs of their recognizable pop punk mixed with Ramones like fast songs full of energy and melody, calling them purveyors of so called Ramonescore. Ray’s and Kody’s dual vocals are sounding better than ever creating superb melodies and awesome harmonies. Lyrics as usual deal with sci fi, horror, love and emotions plus humor. My personal favorites are faster songs like High Speed Yoga, also Friend Named Fly, Post Mortem Depression but there are also mid tempo more introspective emotional punk rock songs like True To You and She’s The Shit. Fans of this band will not be disappointed, this is way better album than the last one in my humble opinion, with more catchy and memorable songs. I really enjoyed listening to this excellent album.
Coltaine are hailing from Karlsruhe. Germany and they have been in the scene since 2022. This is their brand new sixth full length opus and it contains 9 songs. Coltaine is a name taken from Steven Erikson’s fantasy book series Malazan Book Of The Fallen. Music of Coltaine is a mixture of mainly post metal and post rock with doom and sludge metal influences. Lyrics deal mainly with themes like nature, life, death but also kind of fantasy in my humble opinion. Some of the songs get quite long but they are in no way boring. What I love about this record is eerie voice and melodies of vocalist Julia Frasch who is a really talented singer ranging from growls to more etherial gentle voice. If I must compare it to some bands it would be early The Gathering but without death metal singing. My personal favorites on this one are Above The Burning Sand and also Brandung. This is nice atmospheric music opus and have a listen. 8,5/10
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 