It was double celebration time for Los Angeles rockers The Bites this week. The band's second album hit the stores, and new single Dancing With The Devil tore our Tracks Of The Week contest up, blazing through the opposition like a scythe through dairy-free spread. So congratulations to them.
Steven Wilson and The War On Drugs weren't too far back, so congratulations to them, too. This week? Listen hard, vote harder, and we'll see you back here in a week.
Greta Van Fleet - Tear It Down
Blending a Heart/Zeppelin-style gallop with urgent acoustic strains that build into something grand and heavy, Tear It Down finds Greta Van Fleet on pensive, commanding form. Another juicy tone-setter for their new album, Palace For The People. “The function of the artist is to provide what the universe cannot,” declares gleefully loquacious frontman Josh Kiszka. “We wanted to make a record that personifies adventure, passion, brutality, beauty, sex, and imagination, so that’s what we did.”
Villagers Of Ioannina City - Requiem
We’re big fans of VIC’s new album Venceremos, and Requiem makes a sprawling yet stirring, hooky case for it. Eight hypnotic minutes of old-world atmosphere (think mournful, heady swirls of clarinet and bagpipes, native to their home turf in north-west Greece), its traditional folk heart comes with Maiden-esque heavy metal boots, deft tempo changes and soaring lead guitars. “Requiem is a reflection on endings, where the journey fades, and only truth remains,” singer/guitarist Alex Karametis says. “It’s about facing yourself at the final moment, weighing a life lived.”
Dirty Honey - Lights Out
Kicking into life with an anticipation-building, AC/DC-flavoured guitar hook, Dirty Honey’s new single romps biker-jacketed through oomphy classic rock touchstones (‘DC, GN’R, Black Crowes…), settling into a juicy, dancealong chorus. “Lights Out was the first banger,” said guitarist John Notto. “It’s one of those rare times when I got the solo right on the demo! It’s only one flavor of the album though. There’s so much more.”
Royal Blood - Swallow The Bomb
Childhood mates turned rockstar duo, Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher make a deliciously gnarly, groovy racket on this latest taste of their next album, Dead Company. It’s sort of like hearing their first two records, newly ripped and raring to go after a few sessions in the gym, plus a refreshing touch of Supergrass in the higher notes of the chorus and Mike’s vocals in general. Just over three minutes and it goes by in a heartbeat – never a bad sign. More, please!
The Pineapple Thief - God Knows
One of our favourite tracks on the contemporary alt/prog rock luminaries’ latest album, Far And Wide, God Knows rocks like 2026’s delicate but fierce answer to Radiohead’s gnarly Bends-era highlight Just. Driving, enigmatic, progressive music ready for big stages. Or, to put it another way, a proper banger with brains. Like the sound of that? Be sure to check out Far And Wide in full when it comes out next month.
Kit Trigg - Glass Ceiling
British surfer/DIY dude Kit combines puppyish energy with a winning melody full of sunshine and skatepark-fresh optimism on the tight-but-loose Glass Ceiling. Warm, bittersweet harmonies, Kit’s high lead vocals and an infectious ‘can-do’ quality give this homespun affair healthy sprinkles of fairy dust. “We had a music video organised, but the rain had other plans so we used my iPhone to make this instead!” Trigg says.
Pieces Of Molly - Skinwalker
Feisty New Zealanders Pieces Of Molly are heading to the UK in November to support Asomvel on tour, and this should give you a good idea of what to expect: 100mph, turbo-assisted rock'n'roll, powered by a riff that isn't too far removed from Lenny Kravitz's classic Are You Gonna Go My Way. The song's relentless, punched-repeatedly-in-the-face momentum is matched only by a chorus that proves there's more to the band than solid riffing, and the solo is a Thin Lizzy-meets-NWOBHM doozy.
Speed Of Light - Inch By Inch
Speed Of Light are a sibling power trio from Santa Monica whose roots can allegedly be found in a joke gift guitarist Cameron Christiansen received from his grandparents to annoy his parents at the age of seven: an acoustic guitar. Fourteen years on, Cameron has graduated to electric, and – joined by sister Riley on vocals and bass, and brother Tyler on drums – the band are an extremely lively proposition, with a hybrid modern-rock-meets-grunge sound and plenty of attitude. Inch By Inch is a banger.
