Vanishing Point

My favourite Australian metal act from Melbourne, who are under lockdown right now, because of a massive second wave.

Their new album is coming out soon.

So far “Dead Elysium” and “Salvus” have dropped and I can’t stop playing em.

“Dead Elysium” with its keys and syncopated guitar riffs remind me of Evergrey.

“Salvus” has this major key vibe in the intro, which hooks me in. And without having any information, it looks like the song title is a play on “Salvation + Us.”

It’s an addictive song, so I press repeat again.

7 Angels

The song and band are also called “7 Angels” and Mark Slaughter guests. Its Moroccan style intro gets me interested, but its the balls to the wall hard rock vibe gets me interested.

Perfect Plan

“Better Walk Alone” is typical of the melodic rock coming out of Europe and the Frontiers Label. Its derivative but still a good listen. Check out the Chorus on this. Its huge.

“Time For A Miracle” kicks off with the military snare and a guitar riff that reminds me of Kashmir from Led Zeppelin in its triplet like pattern. And the verses remind me of “Metropolis Pt 1” from Dream Theater.

I’m interested. The whole album is coming out soon.

Andy James

“Die A Devil” is the song, another instrumental piece which has a lot of good melodic moments, shred and some great riffs.

Three Days Grace

Have you seen the memes about Gotye with the punchline of “Hey, you are somebody That I Used To Know”?

Anyway, Three Days Grace (the version of the band that exists right now) is bringing the song back into our lives, in a modern rock way. Then again, I’ve always said that Gotye’s song is a copy of song from The Police called “King Of Pain”.

Haken

The album is “Virus”, which is a coincidence because the title was decided way before the whole COVID-19 spread worldwide.

So if you like progressive and technical rock/metal, then this album would fill the void. This band actually came onto my radar because they reminded me of Dream Theater, and some of the guys in the band toured with Mike Portnoy as “The Shattered Fortress”. But on this album, while they have kept that Dream Theater influence, they’ve decorated it with a bit of Periphery style technical metal.

And I was going to do a review on the album but the Angry Metal Guy nailed it. Check it out.

Starset

I kept seeing this band getting radio plays on a different blog I follow, so I thought I should check em out.

And the song that keeps getting radio plays is not my favourite at all. If I had to make a decision to like the band on that song, then it would be a pass. However, I stuck around and listened to the whole album called “Divisions” which came out last year.

And my favourite songs, are “Where The Skies End”, “Perfect Machine”, “Stratosphere”, “Faultline”, “Solstice” and “Diving Bell”.

Ocean Alley

It came up on a rock playlist and I checked the album, but I only like two of the songs. “Tombstone” and “Way Down”. These two songs remind me of The Night Flight Orchestra and early Marillion.

Primal Fear

“Metal Commando” is the name of the album and it’s the usual metal fair with song titles like “I Am Alive”, “Along Came The Devil” and “My Name Is Fear”.

Pinnacle Point

This band could release an album under the Kansas band name and people would believe it’s Kansas. “Symphony Of Mind” is the album and go to tracks are “Ascent To The Point”, “Never Surrender”. “Shadows Of Peace” and “Dangerous Times”.

Well that’s it for July 2020 releases.