It's been another triumphant week for Kiwi rockers Pieces Of Molly, with new single Skinwalker the fourth song by the band to top the Tracks Of The Week podium, ahead of hot things Greta Van Fleet and Dirty Honey. This quadruple victory is a feat matched by very few, and bodes well for Pieces Of Molly's debut UK shows in November.
This week, another eight contestants are on the starting grid, and look! The lights have changed! Off they go!
Clutch - Wasted Lands
Listen up, rock fans: the title track of Clutch’s next album is here, and it does not disappoint. H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King are name-dropped within seconds. Fallon and co’s inimitable blend of bluesy hoodoo, punk-addled fire and piledriver riffing sounds match-fit and ready for a fight. It’s like hearing ZZ Top with lead boots. Or the dirtier, gnarlier cousin of their 2015 groovefest Psychic Warfare. The sort of shit you definitely want in your life, in other words.
Thundermother - Bimbo Boost
With that hard-kicking, Smoke On The Water-in-reverse riff and shoutalong AC/DC vibes, the Swedish foursome made us smile with this one. Yes it’s about as subtle as a bowling ball to the head (not to say that the point about women in the public eye being held to disproportionately more exacting beauty standards than men isn’t spot-on – it is), but pulled off with the right combo of humour, melody and quality chops. Familiar and faintly ridiculous, in a good way.
HOL1D4Y - Holotropic
“Some albums I’ve made have been pretty arduous, filled with debate and ideas from many different directions,” Holiday says, as he releases his psychedelic new album Topology. “We’ve made a joke that it is difficult, like birthing a child. Topology was more flowing and came quick and without strain…like releasing a valve.” You can definitely hear that here. Holotropic is the hypnotic, blissed-out opening track with a touch of QOTSA in its veins, evocative of childhood nights spent stargazing to Pink Floyd’s Echoes in his Californian desert home.
Europe - Come This Madness
The title track of the returning Swedes’ new album is a banger, reflective of the big, moody but groovy good stuff to be found therein. Capped off with a casually ace solo from John Norum – and with Joey Tempest seemingly yet to feel the wear of age on his voice – it’s the sort of textured, dynamic banger you’d be genuinely stoked to hear in a setlist. Classy work from one of classic rock’s most consistent groups.
The Temperance Movement - Silverlight Blues
Further teasing their much-anticipated comeback album, New Promise Land Incorporated (out in full next month), The Temperance Movement are on prettily bittersweet form with Silverlight Blues. Like the rest of the album it’s a raw, hot-off-the-floor affair with the ease and warmth you’d hope for from such a tight group of seasoned pros – while also channelling the life experiences of the last few years. It’s good to have them back.
Crown Lands - Through The Looking Glass
Tales of ancient darkness, riding on dragon’s wings and a pedalboard the size of a swimming pool all feed into this sumptuous live single from the Canadian prog duo. Weaving textures of Rush and Zeppelin with their own old-world atmosphere and fantastical storytelling, Cody Bowles (percussion and vocals) and Kevin Comeau (guitars with *all* the necks) create something that feels luxurious yet light, its heaviness and technical flexes offset by a melody that slips down very easily.
The Sedonas - Reckonin’ More
Stomping into Tracks Of The Week in a rich, gritty flurry of blues rock guitars and strident lead vocals (“Is he an American Toby Jepson?” one Classic Rock staffer wondered) The Sedonas mix swaggering US roots and rock’n’roll into one juicy, classic but bright-eyed package. You could say it’s what’d happen if Joe Bonamassa wore denim shirts and made a heartland record, but really Reckonin’ More is its own thing. No rulebooks are rewritten and yet it has a certain edge that makes us sit up and pay attention.
Crossbone Skully - Riding With Angels
Tommy Henriksen and the gang are back with another track from their upcoming, Mutt Lange-assisted second album Condemned To Rock 'N Roll, and it's undeniably huge, with drums that boom like Def Leppard at their peak and a chorus so big it can probably be seen from space. Riding With Angels is so confident it begins with that chorus, with Henriksen's Joe Elliott-meets-Marc Storace voice handling the vocal with the right amount of razor-throated ease. The album arrives in January.
