ROCK

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SAXON PROUDLY DISPLAY THEIR FOLLOW UP TO “INSPIRATIONS” WITH NEW CLASSIC COVERS RELEASE, APTLY TITLED: “MORE INSPIRATIONS” British Heavy Metal legends, Saxon, return with a second ‘deep dish’ serving of the inspirations which have fed their immensely successful 40+ year career. Whether unveiling a sensational take on The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s “The Faith Healer” (in the process showing the direct lineage from teenage turntables to international glory), getting feral with The Animal’s “We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place”, letting loose a high-octane take on Alice Cooper’s “From The Inside”, or laying down a ferocious tribute to KISS’ “Detroit Rock City”, More Inspirations is a joyous trip into the sounds which galvanized the Barnsley boys and continue to get spun on home stereos and tour buses. Produced by vocalist/co-founder Biff Byford, with Seb Byford helping record the music alongside mixing engineer Jacky Lehmann, More Inspirations also includes enthusiastic takes on Alice Cooper, Rainbow, ZZ Top and Cream, as well as a thunderous “Razamanaz” by Nazareth, a tasty take on The Who’s “Substitute”, and a thick groove take on Uriah Heep’s “Gypsy”. Whether this is your first dance with such classic songs, or you’ve come to see where Saxon were born, More Inspirations delivers the goods and then some. More Inspirations will be released on CD Digipak, 12” Black Vinyl, Digital Download and Streaming. Available to pre-order from January 16th 2023.

Things Are Great is an album by Band Of Horses, released in 2022. Things Are Great includes a.o. the following tracks: “Warning Signs”, “Tragedy Of The Commons”, “You Are Nice To Me”, “Coalinga” and more.

Despite the sudden death of guitarist Robert Buras during the recording of the album, Sivert Hoyem and Frode Jacobsen soon decided to continue with the completion of the release. The majority of Buras’ guitar parts had been recorded when he died, and the rest of Madrugada stated that finishing the album was like therapy for them. Without guitarist Robert Buras ‘Madrugada’ fell into bits. Although they managed to complete their fifth and final studio album, the self-titled ‘Madrugada’, is brimming with anger and loss and the band had to come to an end. However, in June 2018 it was announced that Hoyem, Jacobsen and Lauvland Pettersen had reformed the band for a series of shows in 2019.

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ARCHITECTS have delivered their 10th studio album; an arena-ready opus entitled, the classic symptoms of a broken spirit , the follow up to their 2021 breakout album For Those That Wish To Exist, which hit #1 on the UK sales chart.

Finding yourself with a UK Number One album and selling out arenas is enough for some to repeat a winning formula. Architects however, are forever moving forward. “It was definitely validating and felt really cool for like a day,” recalls drummer, producer and songwriter Dan Searle of hitting the top spot with For Those That Wish To Exist.

“For a lot of the bucket list things you reach in any career, there’s a momentary gratification then you’re like, ‘What next?’ You just move on. By the time the album came out, my head was already in the mindset of ‘broken spirit’. That was where I was at.”

Searle notes how it was their albums Lost Forever/Lost Together, All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us, and Holy Hell that really “cemented what the band was about” and “took them to a new level” as a rock powerhouse and leaders of the UK’s metalcore scene – making it all the more “daunting” to reinvent themselves on the records that would follow. “I wanted to make this album with a different aesthetic. We were enjoying working with the synths and doing stuff that we hadn’t done before.”

As a band who never stop writing, the kernels of the songs that make up the classic symptoms of a broken spirit were already in progress before the ink had time to dry on the artwork of their last record. Architects were on a creative roll, and the record was born of that creative freedom. Produced by Dan Searle and guitarist Josh Middleton, with additional production from frontman Sam Carter at Decon’s Middle Farm Studios and their own Brighton Electric Studios before being mixed by Zakk Cervini, the band were buoyed by finally being back in a room together after their last album was made mostly remotely due to COVID restrictions. The result was something altogether more “free, play-ful and spontaneous,” Searle explains.

Carter agrees: “This one feels more live, more exciting and more fun – it has that energy. We wanted it to be a lot more industrial and electronic. That was the main mission. They can sit side-by-side: Mr. Electronic and Mr. Organic.