Ewy "World Is Mine" (2020)

Ewy is an artist that showed up on my Spotify Weekly a while ago and hooked me in with his melodramatic voice, British accent and sad guitar playing, it all mad me reminiscent of Crywank, The Front Bottoms or even Park national which are all bands I quite enjoy. This isn't the only aspect of that makes this small indie folk punk artist so enjoyable though.

This record is special to me because of it's big emotional impact, it felt strangely personal which is the result of this album being written in lockdown, it's presence of which has undoubtedly affected all of us and is something we can all relate to. Other topics of this album include failed relationships and his disappointment in the world in general, you know, typical folk punk stuff.

In a total of 12 songs and 30 minutes Ewy manages to capture all these topics perfectly via his sad British voice, sounding more like a rant than singing, this isn't a bad thing though, this and his acoustic guitar cause for his perfect capturing of the folk punk aesthetic Ewy is obviously aiming for. With poppy influences on these songs and fun but unique lyrics these tracks manage to stay in your head for weeks on end. Especially 'Itch' and 'Jewelry And Teeth' do this intricate mix well, they're fun songs with a way deeper meaning when you actually look at the lyrics.

Not only is Ewy a really great artist he's also a really fun and nice person to hang around with, he's often active in his Discord Server and I've often hung around with him in voice chats, he's really cool and likeable person.

9/10

Puppy ''The Goat'' (2019)

 Finding this band through Xisuma's Music Blog a few weeks ago and their general aesthetic of the album cover and titles like Entombed, Bathe In Blood and I Feel An Evil made me prepared for some crazy glamour and heavy metal riffs, I felt slightly relieved when that wasn't exactly the case, I have appreciation for music like that but it doesn't quite satisfy my ears, instead this record came at me with some epic Metal riffage, Alt Rock melodies and pop-tinged infectious hooks.

With their Alt Rock moods and some dabble into Classic Rock licks Puppy makes this Groove Metal track do wonders. Main focus on the guitar work is no exception in many bands but Puppy doesn't feel the need to exaggerate theirs with heavy distortion or cheap thrills. The vocal presence from this 3 man band is nothing to laugh at either, combined with perpetual riffs and tugging tones the constant rockage gives you a sore neck. Beautiful layered harmonics illuminating the whole album and giving off a Deftones like feel.

Continuously intertwining some quirks make sure this record never tires, having had this on repeat almost every other day. The band proudly wears their influences that range from the 70s to the 90s, howling rock solos, glamorous guitar licks and occasional hazy psychedelia are frequently found. Tracks like Handlebars even bring in the heavy churns I've only heard before in KoRn's music. Bathe In Blood is a beautiful combination of metallic riffs, prog-tinged spiraling and the raw emotion often experienced in Deftones' records, making it a surreal listening experience. 

An arsenal of riffs, amazing supportive drumming, crunchy and limitless tunefulness all riding on the currents of sinister undertones make this debut album incredibly accessible, there will be songs for everyone on here, an irresistible spell cast on anyone fortunate enough to come across this band's path. Their easy listening might be the one downside of this record, with so many resources at it's disposal this band would do great with experimenting around with different song lengths or some more daring styles. They're not unfolding their wings and utilising their full potential, this is only their first record though, I am super excited for what they do in the future.

10/10

Bring Me The Horizon ''Post Human: Survival Horror'' (2020)

Having been a fan of BMTH for a few years and mainly of That's The spirit and Sempiternal hearing this EP for the first time scared me away a little. The massive blast beats, high energy sound wall and mix of Electronic, Metal and Pop influences were a little much in comparison to the other albums. Revisiting this 30 minute EP a month later changed my mind. I was on the edge of my seat listening to it, the Pop influenced hooks and Electronica around every corner combined with Mick Gordon helping on production and mixing this is I was very reminiscent of my dabble in the video game Doom Eternal.

This album length EP is BMTH's first try with their new formatting to releasing music, they were tired of the restrictions of albums and the suggestion of making EPs struck gold for the band. Post Human: Survival Horror is the first of apparently 4 EPs in the Post Human quartet. The first song Survival Horror perfectly embodies many peoples experiences with the global pandemic going around, they managed to capture pure frustration and translate it into music.

With dense synthesizers droning, heavy guitar riffs, blast beats, drums and samples galore this record keeps high energy while not forgetting about hooks and catchy melodies that stay in your head for weeks on end. They also remember to keep tuneful swaying bits in their songs, the perfect amount of time to really take in what you're listening to before the sound starts building up again and you find yourself completely immersed in it and Oli Sykes' screams. 

One certain track really stands out, the feature of BABYMETAL on Kingslayer, a song that could very well fit on the Japanese groups discography. Utilising their quirks and musical aesthetics combined with the rest of this EPs general sound makes this song the favourite of many. Furthermore Teardrops has made a name for itself in my head, it's catchy hooks and melodies won't leave my mind and they got me to listen this record more times than I can count.

All in all this album length EP is incredibly cunning, utilising many features for some unique sounds and voices while keeping it concise and cohesive, seeing this change in the band's direction is an exciting one, I'm curious as to what the other records under the Post Human banner will bring, I am hoping that they get their own identities and quirks instead of them being copies of each other with slightly different meanings, I have high hopes for the future.

9/10

Wilbur ''Your City Gave Me Asthma'' (2020)

 Listening to this album always manages to get me in the feels, it's an incredibly therapeutic one with it's Singer-songwriter genre and sad emotional tones, I discovered this record because Wilbur Soot is actually an entertainer on YouTube as well, hearing this for the first time right after I had binged some of his content struck me hard, how did someone so jolly sing something so sad.

Back when Wilbur used to live in London he quickly got disgusted by it's environment, the city quite literally gave him asthma and the scarily high mortality rates on the undergrounds made him sick, this album was him expressing his distaste for it all which is why it's so emotional, London ate away at his mental health throughout his stay, luckily he's moved away since then.

Like I mentioned before, the singer-songwriter style fits perfectly with the tone of this record, simple guitar progressions and on occasional tracks some brass instruments. His soft voice combined with very faint harmonics and supporting vocals really drive home the idea that this was all recorded in a bedroom by someone fresh out of college.

8/10