All the new music! A lot of my favorite bands keep surprising me with new music this year and I am not here to complain about it! In fact, give me all the new music! I’ll take it! Anyways, let’s check out this fun mix of new singles.
Royal Blood
“Sad But True” – While this song is not new, it’s new to Royal Blood! Metallica is releasing the Blacklist album in September, which is basically just an album full of covers by some of the most random artists you can think of. Now, Royal Blood is not all that random, but it is really cool, and so is their cover! I’m not a huge Metallica fan, but this is one song of theirs that I both know and like, so it was cool to hear a new spin on it. I thought the guys did an excellent job of combining their style, but still paying homage to the original sound. There were times when I could distinctly make out one or the other, which was very interesting for my brain to try and figure out. Either way, very solid cover!
Weezer
“Enter Sandman” – Speaking of very solid covers, another Metallica song covered on their upcoming Blacklist album was “Enter Sandman” by Weezer. Given that I just saw Weezer at the tail end of last week, I was interested in checking this out. I, along with a lot of people in the comments, assumed this was sort of going to be a funny cover before I started the song. Given that they are often times funny or make parodies of things, I think that was a valid thought to have. But I was wrong, and Weezer totally crushed it! All of the instrumentals were about as hard as the original, but I appreciated that Rivers didn’t try and mimic James when doing the vocals. The cool twists taken on this cover were omitting the instrumentals on the solo and just going at it with the vocals, but they also added in a little riff from “Buddy Holly” which was very fun to hear. Both of the Metallica covers I’ve checked out do have me interested in listening to more, so be on the lookout!
Bastille
“Thelma & Louise” – Given that Bastille’s lead singer, Dan Smith is a humongous movie buff, am I surprised that this song is named after that particular classic? Absolutely not. But, I was very interested to hear this new single, especially since I wasn’t all too keen on the last one they put out. This one might have been marginally better, but everything they’ve been doing since the release of Doom Days just seems to be missing that something extra special I felt from their debut. In fact, the song’s first few notes gave me horror flashbacks to Footloose, but luckily got out of that sound pretty quickly. With that being said, the music, while upbeat, was just wholly unforgettable. Maybe with a few more listens I could swing it, but I don’t think Dan’s signature vocals can carry this song to being one of my future favorites.
Motionless in White
“Timebomb” – In the band’s first new single since their Creatures tribute from their livestream show, “Timebomb” perhaps marks the band first single off of their upcoming release. Now, I have no further details on a new album, but Chris Motionless did confirm one is coming, and maybe it’s coming soon?! Anyway, as promised, this song is much heavier than what they’ve put out on their past several efforts. I know my sister will be pumped about it, and frankly, I didn’t mind it either. I know Chris has sang more in the past, but this new track doesn’t seem that far out of their past range. Along with that, it also featured clean vocals by guitarist Ricky Olsen, which I thought added a nice and new layer to their sound. Chris’ screaming has also taken on a few different ranges, but he’s also probably being helped out a little bit by newest bassist, Justin Morrow. Regardless, it’s a solid single and I look forward to hearing it live in a couple of weeks!
Miles Kane
“Don’t Let It Get You Down” – Perhaps different than anything else I’ve written about thus far is this brand-spanking new single by Miles Kane. That name should sound familiar given how much I’ve been gushing about his band with Alex Turner, The Last Shadow Puppets. In their off time though, Kane releases music as a solo artist, and this is his first song since last last year. Even more exciting, this single came with the announcement of a new album in January! I look forward to hearing the rest of the album when it comes out. In the meantime, this new single is really fun! It’s upbeat, catchy, and gives off a vibe that’s a mixture of 50s pop, R&B, and maybe even some swing. The bass line is sick and Miles’ vocals and lyrics are hella cool. This isn’t my usual style, but I can get behind it!
Suave Punk
“Heat Death” – A Youtube ad has finally gotten to me! Many times over the course of the last several weeks I’ve heard the intro to this song and I wanted to check it out, but would ultimately skip the ad and then promptly forget about it. Well, I finally listened to the whole dang thing and it is so good! As a whole, this song reminds me of Wallows in certain parts, like this could be a song they could make if they wanted to. However, Suave Punk seems to be much more chill and dreamlike, which is a sound that has interested me in the past, but he makes it even better with intricate guitars and a heavy riff. This is an artist I have never heard of before, but I will definitely be listening to more of in the future!