Good Knives "A Place Called Doubt"

There’s more to Good Knives than just your average hard rock band. Their latest album A Place Called Doubt would show anyone that while there is a definite classic rock influence to their sound, they have no intentions of sounding like anyone but themselves. The reason I find this very apparent is in the bands singing. Singer Shaunny P does have a familiar sounding voice, reminding me of Joel O’Keefe from Airbourne (one of my least favourite modern rock bands thanks to their complete unoriginal sound). However, unlike Joel, Shaunny doesn’t seem to want to sing in front of an AC/DC rip-off, but rather a band making original sounding material making his vocal capabilities shine that much brighter.

Divot "To Shape The Mold"

Do you remember around the early 2000’s or so how many alternative bands seemed to come out, not all exactly sounding the same but having similarities such as their slow and heavy tunes, not so happy lyrics and kind of a neo-grunge attitude? Bands that come to mind are Three Days Grace, Deftones, Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, etc. This is the kind of alternative rock sound I think anyone would use to describe Divot’s sound.

Steel Threads "For Those Who Are Left"

One type of music I haven’t reviewed yet (because up to this point I’ve never been given any of it) is folk rock. My interest in folk rock stems more toward the more edgy stuff from the classic rock days; Crosby, Stills and Nash, Neil Young (with or without CSN,) Joni Mitchell¸ all that good stuff. I do however enjoy bands that play a more prominently traditional folk, perhaps bands with a bit of a pop fusion mixed in such as The Strumbellas, a Canadian band that was brought to my attention in early February, and then there is of course Mumford & Sons. Love them or hate them, I respect people’s opinions on them, I am a fan. I saw them live late last summer and thoroughly enjoyed their show, and I do think they are quite unique. But this article is about a very different traditional folk rock band, Steel Threads.

The Colourist "The Colourist"

I guess it’s kind of obvious, but when I review an album that I bought myself, not one that I was given for review, it is because it’s an album that I like and therefore the review will nine times out of ten be a positive review. I don’t have the money to just go out and buy random albums for the sake of reviewing them, though I really wish I did. I did this recently with my review of Ume. I have to admit that this album, The Colourist; the self-titled debut album by the California four-piece indie pop rock band, is one of those albums. I came across it on the day of its release, listening to samples of the songs and I really felt it was something that I could get in to. Luckily I was right.

The Lad Classic "Thunder"

The first time I’d heard of Toronto hard rock band The Lad Classic was probably close to a year ago when they followed me on Twitter. I always listen to the independent bands that follow me before following back. At the time they just had an all acoustic EP called Lightning, something I normally don’t find to be a good idea in terms of sampling music if a band is also an electric band, but I really heard something in that acoustic EP that I thought it would be a good idea to follow them. Then every now and then I’d see their name pop up playing live shows around Toronto, more so than practically any other independent band I’ve come across, which made me realize that The Lad Classic are a bigger deal than I estimated.

Mark Stone and the Dirty Country Band "The Sequel"

So this is going to be a unique review. Hard country rock band Mark Stone and the Dirty Country Band is about to release their second album - simply called The Sequel - sometime in June and if you pre-order the album, you get six tracks immediately, then when the album is released, those who pre-ordered the album get the other four tracks that will complete the album PLUS two bonus tracks exclusively to those who pre-ordered the album (so 12 tracks altogether.) The thing that makes this, what will be a review of The Sequel, so unique is that the second half of the album is so top secret that Mark Stone would only give me the first six tracks from the album (the six tracks you immediately get when pre-ordering the album.)

Ume "Monuments"

 It was in a recent Guitar World issue - the one that counted the top 50 Eric Clapton moments - that featured a small article on Texas rock band Ume. It was then that I was first gained knowledge that such a band existed, and to top it all off they were mere weeks away from releasing their album Monuments. I checked them out right away; their song Black Stone was not hard to find on YouTube, and I knew immediately that this was going to be big.

Rynheart "Rynheart"

Toronto hard rock band Rynheart wear their influences on their sleeves, as have a lot of bands I’ve written about. That, of course, is never truly a bad thing. Another of the independent bands who seemed to grow up fans of 80s hard rock, it isn’t hard to hear the balls of Guns N’ Roses infused with the sleaze of Poison on this four track self titled EP that I was given by them. I mean who doesn’t like a good hard rock song that can shake the ground under your feet?