It's been a big week for Crossbone Skully, the excellent Def Leppard-alike band led by Alice Cooper axe slinger Tommy Henriksen, who've just triumphed in our latest Tracks Of The Week tournament. So congratulations to them, and to Phil Collen, who joined them on the open-top bus victory parade.
Congratulations also to Jack J Hutchinson, whose fancy new song Rise Again pipped The Pineapple Thief's New World Order in the battle for the minor medals. And now we start again, with eight new candidates lined up to assume Tracks Of The Week Hall Of Fame status. We hope you enjoy them.
Green Lung - Black Magick Radio
Gallop your way into the week with these gothy London rockers, and this heartily good fun slice of their forthcoming album Necropolitan. Teamed with one of their best videos yet, it sucks you into an FM radio-powered kaleidoscope of cultish mischief, monstrously moreish riffs and '70s living room furniture. “Black Magick Radio is our love letter to occult rock itself, and a promise to spread its gospel as widely as we possibly can,” the band say. “All together now… Eko Eko Azarak, Eko Eko Zomelak…"
Spiders - Creature Of The Night
With a simple but very effective, toe-tapping verse riff, infectious levels of energy and a touch of Blondie in the chorus melody, the nostalgic Swedes’ latest rock’n’roller makes an appetising case for their next album, Crystal Eyes. Catchy and fast-paced, its rawness laced with glitter, sweat and leather, it was written about "a person or being so irresistible that they take pleasure in ruining relationships and destroying people's lives, watching them burn to the ground..." Lovely.
Royal Blood - Ten Over Ten
Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher return with a heavy, pummelling yet light-footed bang with this first new release following 2023’s Back To The Water Below. “After putting the Royal Blood engine in neutral for a couple of years, we've been building up the revs and are playing faster and harder than ever with this album,” the band say of Ten Over Ten’s parent record (coming out in full in November), Dead Company. “Written and recorded with the stage in mind, we cannot wait to play it live for years to come.”
Castle Rat - Dragon
With such a heavy boot in the medieval fantasy camp – where swords and chainmail aren’t so much fashion choices as a way of life – New York doomsters Castle Rat had to write a song with such a title at some point. And so they did, and it rocks. A heady fusion of Sabbathian sludge and treacly 60s/early 70s psychedelia, elevated by Riley ‘The Rat Queen’ Pinkerton’s sumptuous pipes, this newly released single/video version (featured on last year’s The Bestiary album) is just the shot of riffy, escapism we needed to banish those last bits of heatwave brain fog.
Sari Schorr - Mr. In The Middle
Kicking off with a killer, stabbing lead guitar blast that fans of contemporary blues six-stringers like Joe Bonamassa will lap up, Sari Schorr’s new single pounces straight out of the speakers with one apparent aim: to put the ‘rock’ in blues rock. Also, quite a bit of ‘roll’. And so it does, Sari’s vocals on powerful form as slickened Stevie Ray Vaughan vibes keep on punching out around her. Tasty guitar solo, too.
Battlesnake - Mud Apocalypse
On this new single, Aussie ensemble Battlesnake opt for a lo-fi alt rock approach, with a surprisingly gentle, folky… Just kidding, it’s a ridiculous (yet tight, on-the-money) feast of blood-spurting, skull-crushing, organ-squelching bravado, accompanied by down-tuned riffs the size of mythical monsters, Queen-glittered twin lead guitars and a level of metal-studded swashbuckling of which Rob Halford would be proud. There’s even a horse neighing in there somewhere, for some reason.
These Wicked Rivers - Sing Another Song (feat Kezia Gill)
Something with a dulcet, countrified sway now – country rock’n’roll by way of Derbyshire, if you will, courtesy of These Wicked Rivers and guest co-vocalist Kezia Gill. Think Lynyrd Skynyrd rugs, gospelly backnotes and heart-warming harmonies between Kezia and rough-crooned frontman John Hartwell. Need something a little gentler and sweeter to accompany your morning cuppa? Try this guy.
![These Wicked Rivers - Sing Another Song Feat. Kezia Gill [Official Music Video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/goWbBDKUP_0/maxresdefault.jpg)
The Sixsters - Can You Believe It
And finally, something a little more day-glo. The Sixsters are an all-female Ukrainian rock band who relocated to Essen, Germany, following the 2022 Russian invasion of their homeland. Formed in 2018 in a town near Kyiv, the group was founded by drummer Kateryna Kuziakina when she was just nine years old. Eight years on, they're producing a beguilingly effervescent mix of punk rock and pop rock, and Can You Believe It is more fun than a litter of puppies on a trampoline. The band's fifth album, Ghost, was released earlier this year.
