Famed for their live performances – spearheaded by the antics of Janine Shilstone – it’s a blessed relief to find all that energy captured in the more sterile surroundings of a recording studio. Quite how the sound engineer managed to do this without blowing up the equipment will remain one of life’s mysteries. The technical excellence of the song writing though is there for all to see: the little jazz flurries in the rhythms link seamlessly with solid indie rock guitar riffs and are seriously impressive. There are places on songs such as ‘La Di Da’ where the technical ability nears Primus levels, making this an album that will have musicians drooling.

The science part isn’t the only highlight because Shilstone has tonsils of pure gold. A Celtic lilt reminiscent of Dolores O’Riordan matched with the unbridled power and range familiar to fans of the Marmozets’ Rebecca MacIntyre makes for a heady combination. The sense of unadulterated fun shines through with every note sung and once again the mix captures all the nuances of the vocals as well as the big broad brush strokes. Even when played through those little in ear speakers that tend to turn everything beige, the music and that amazing set of pipes are loud and clear.

It should be said that not everyone will love this album; it’ll be too eclectic for some. There’s a very good chance though that people not prone to musical myopia will be drawn in and fall in love with it. This is a record that genuinely crosses boundaries which means it’ll find favour with many different music fans. Vukovi have produced a record that shows what the future of music might sound like.  It’s a future that looks very bright indeed.

GARY TRUEMAN

Following a successful tour with Cradle Of Filth, keyboardist – and crucially, backing vocalist – Aimy Blair Miller decided to leave the band. This might explain why new album ‘Grimoire’ all but lacks the very thing that set this group apart in the first place and it’s hard not to see this record as letting the pack catch up. When you play the album more though it has a wonderful quality of growing on you.

The main reason for this is the arrangements being more traditional than the oft touted black metal predilection for free form, making even the most brutal music easier to understand. The songs also have a natural flow to them too; in very loose terms, they’re accessible.  The down side is a feeling that you’ve heard it all before no matter how good it is. The inventive spark has been replaced by nothing more than solidity.

Helping things stay above a thumbs down is the production, which unpicks the wall of sound at critical moments making this an album that is supremely heavy and perfectly listenable even through cheap and cheerful in-ear headphones.  Not many people get to play music on high end equipment these days so it’s nice when the mix works at any level.  High on quality but lacking the punch and originality of earlier work She Must Burn have at least not gone into free-fall.   They can take heart from the fact that they’ve overcome losing such a key member of the band without imploding and ‘Grimoire’ provides a solid base camp ready for an attempted climb to more success.

GARY TRUEMAN

One of those songs it has to be admitted would grace almost any contemporary album made. ‘Money Tree’ isn’t complex, nor does it break new ground. What it does do brilliantly though is cruise down a well worn route with its head held high, the windows wound down and the stereo cranked up to eleven. This is an immense tune sung with real panache by Estelle Artois. Some of the newer material is pretty good too including ‘Jaegerbomb’ which runs along fuelled by good old fashioned twelve bar blues. It’s simple but massively effective thanks to the subject matter and that swaggering vocal once again.

There’s the odd hiccup here and there. ‘This Ain’t Dead’ is a bit too subdued and ‘Half Of The Man’ sits back into retroland further than the rest of the record making it sound a bit out of place.  Mostly it’s full steam ahead though with the feeling that you’re listening to people who have an instinct for writing music and have gelled on a level that many would be jealous of.  Australia loved them so much they sent the group off to the Middle East to perform for the troops. Now it’s England that has them and I’m sure it won’t want to be letting them go home again any time soon.

GARY TRUEMAN

The Nottingham quartet have taken a little while to get going with their early style showing promise but needing a few wrinkles ironing out. Now they are silky smooth, at least as far as horror punks go.  They had a kind of epiphany at Rebellion festival in 2015 putting on such a strong showing that they were one of the first bands offered a repeat booking the following year. ‘Tales From The Murder House’ makes that same leap from earlier material with the naturally raucous sound tempered by some well varied writing. It’s not complicated but it hits the spot.

Natalie Thornton has worked hard over the years moving from simply one of the pack in her Girlfixer days to something rather special. Her wildcat vocals on this record fit the music perfectly although there are odd moments when the production threatens to overwhelm her voice. The mixing, it has to be said, is a bit woolly throughout.  We do get something quite rare for a punk record though, a genuine power ballad, of sorts.  ‘Born From The Storm’ shows a band willing to be creative while also acting as a platform for Thornton to show off a cleaner style.

‘Tales From The Murder House’ captures Headstone Horrors’ natural energy rather well, coming across a bit like a live studio recording.  It sounds a lot like those underground vinyl pressings you used to get back in the eighties which captures the right mood at least.  The really big plus is the strength and depth of the writing within a genre that traditionally offers little scope.  That, along with a stable line up, means we are likely to hear a lot more from the ghouls from Nottingham in the future.  Prepare for corpse paint sales to soar.

GARY  TRUEMAN

The thing with this latest release isn’t that it’s a good follow up; actually, it’s a great one.  It’s not even that the affable quartet have now proved they’re capable of high quality consistency, which they are.  The real thing is that ‘Angels’ Share’ as a stand alone record is that rare beast, a genuine no filler thriller from start to finish.  How many great records do we know like that?  Not many.  Even the ones cited as milestones in music almost always suffer from millstones around the neck of perfection.

Moving a few steps away from their hard edged classic rock roots, The Simpletone have produced the kind of record that if it had been made by people with a more illustrious history it would be feted as a benchmark for others to aim for.  There’s an underlying tone of early Sabbath that draws you in before you realise the guitar work is more free flowing.  Then you get little touches of southern rock and a complete change in mood with the stripped back ‘Love Street’ which has an almost indie vibe to it.  This is a complex album but it’s still very easy to listen to.

Glenn Eastoe’s vocals knit everything together keeping a constant bearing within the ebb and flow of the music.  Even the monstrously long ‘Storm Chaser’ weighing in at over eleven minutes is a pleasure to listen to throughout its whole length.  It’s this track that shows the real reason why the whole record works so well.  The writing is outstanding being devoid of egotism and the production is spot on with just enough crispness without being too sharp.  If ‘Angels’ Share’ had the backing of a major label then everyone would be raving about it.  As it is it deserves to be heard and to show that bands like The Simpletone can produce mini masterpieces with little money but a huge reserve of talent.

GARY TRUEMAN

Joined on drums by the man known as Jim, this three piece may have only been around for a year or so but have already been making waves on the live circuit. It’s often difficult for a band to recreate their live vibe on recorded material but here The Empty Page succeed by not overproducing their debut to death. It by no means sounds like a garage album but it does retain that rawness that fans will recognise.

Those people familiar with Kelii’s passionate delivery will feel right at home listening to her new outfit. Falling on the rasping side of clean rather than pure screamo you get to hear the lyrics as they are intended, within the music. So often people end up having to Google them simply because half of the words are unintelligible. To be able to pull off real intensity like this with the message getting through in real time is a trick not all singers manage to pull off. How often do we strain to listen to a song being sung by someone that sounds like they’ve not finished eating their pudding yet?

When it has its groove on ‘Unfolding’ is nothing short of masterful.  Those peaks are occasionally muted by a little retrospective discord that takes the gloss off purely because it halts the natural flow. It has to be remembered though that Pantera had a similar criticism levelled at their ‘Cowboys From Hell’ record and that didn’t do too badly.  Combining gnarly alt rock with feisty punk rhetoric, The Empty Page may well be the right band at the right time, with the right album.

GARY TRUEMAN