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At this rate, we're going to have to ban The Warning from our Tracks Of The Week contest, simply because their presence is transparently unfair to everyone else in the rock world. After collecting 97% and 98% of the overall votes in their two most recent appearances in the content, this week they picked up an astonishing 99% of the votes, rivalling only Kim Jong-il and Serdar Berdimuhamedow in historic ballot box dominance. So congratulations to them.
Trailing far behind The Warning's wondrous wake were Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse and Des Rocs, so congratulations to them too. This week? It's a more level playing field, as The Warning have a week off.
Alex Henry Foster - Springtime
Back in the early days of the pandemic, when lockdown was still a novelty and bands weren't playing live, Canadian progger Alex Henry Foster performed a livestreamed set that blew our tiny minds to such an extent that we still haven't entirely recovered. Springtime captures much of that same euphoric vibe, with ringing guitars, hints of North Africa, and the kind of uplift you only get from music that aims for transcendence and hits the target dead centre.
Bats! - Midsummer
Not to be confused with New Zealand band That Bats, South African band The Bats or the Irish band Bats, Bats! (note the exclamation mark) are from Sweden and feature members of JIRM, Spøgelse, Nationalteatern, Steget and Souls! Second single Midsummer is, they say, "influenced by 70s rock, Blue Öyster Cult, Kiss, Guns N' Roses and Turbonegro," and there's literally nothing wrong with any of that, although to us it sounds more like Grace Slick fronting Aussie larrakins the Celibate Rifles. And there's nothing wrong with that either.
Parker Barrow - Nothin' Left To Save
After more than half a century, Led Zeppelin still cast an occasional musical shadow over rock music from the southern US, and there's a swagger about Nothin' Left To Save that definitely harks back to Jimmy Page and co. Throw in some Black Crowes, a tinge of gospel and a powerhouse vocal from Megan Kane, and it's clear Nashville's Parker Barrow are hitting vibrant new heights. "This song taught me a lot about my voice," says Kane. "How to trust it, stretch it, and use it in ways I never would have naturally gravitated toward."
Identity Crisis - Pictures
While Eddie Vedder has a new single out this week (Better Believe, recorded with Chicago-based non-profit youth organisation Guitars Over Guns), here's something that harks back to Pearl Jam's early days. Texan alt-rockers Identity Crisis have a singer who definitely gives off Vedder vibes, while the thumping Pictures sounds like something from Ten or Vs. crossed with Alice Cooper's Eighteen. If you're in New York, you can catch them supporting the UK's very own Barns Courtney at the Silver Lining Lounge on Friday.
Villagers Of Ioannina City - Ghosts In The Sky
Age Of Aquarius, the 2019 album by psychedelic Greek stoners Villagers Of Ioannina City, was one of the very best albums released that year, so we're delighted that they've finally returned to the studio to record a follow-up. Ghosts In The Sky – the first track to emerge from upcoming long-player Venceremos – picks up right where Aquarius left off, with much titanic riffing and the usual supporting complement of bagpipes and zourna. A possible soundtrack to epic future battles and violent storms, it's possibly the most heroic thing to emerge from Greece since Heracles himself.
Beth Hart - Stuff For You
Plucked from the deluxe edition version of Beth Hart's 2024 album You Still Got Me, the previously unreleased Stuff For You is an absolute joy, powered by a glorious walking bassline and starring a vocal from Hart that's both off-kilter and effortlessly carefree. "I'm on the wrong meds!" she sings during one brief lull, before cartwheeling deliriously off into full jazz-blues-swing territory. Wonderful.
Battlesnake - I Killed Satan
Anyone who hasn't been following Australian titans Battlesnake too closely may have assumed that the band had already killed Satan, but no, they've only just got around to it, and, what's more, they documented the encounter. "I filmed this footage early last year on our trip to Hell," frontman Sam Frank explains. "We didn’t realise that Satan would be there and he was being awfully disruptive. So we had to kill him." The song, of course, is utterly demented. All hail Battlesnake, the band Manowar could have been.
The Lonely Ones - Dark Side Of The Disco Ball
The Lonely Ones describe themselves as a "three-piece, vocal-oriented hard rock band," and Dark Side Of The Disco Ball is excellent evidence of those leanings. It comes across as a jubilant cross between Church Of The Cosmic Skull and Golden Earring's classic Twilight Zone, while the video includes plenty of hot vampire action. Lawd knows what the local authorities are putting in the water supply in Columbus, OH, but the residents clearly need to keep slurping.
