It’s the Friday of Thanksgiving week, and not only does that mean the 2024 album release schedule is winding down in general, it also means there’s barely any new music out this week because of the holiday. But there are some great new albums to talk about–particularly from non-US bands–and I’ve got a few new reviews that you can check out below. And if you haven’t already, you can read my review of Kendrick Lamar‘s GNX, which went up late last week after last week’s Notable Releases was posted, following the album’s surprise Friday afternoon release.
A few honorable mentions this week: The Innocence Mission (which Bill reviews in Indie Basement), Sech, Juice WRLD, Juanita Stein, The Last Poets and Tony Allen ft. Egypt 80, Yung Kayo, Good Morning, Des Demonas, Total Tommy, Cotton Mouth, Brian Nasty, Blinker The Star, Mark Barrott, Rikuto Fujimoto, Gregor Tresher, Jaeychino, Sakura Tsuruta, Jakob Bro, 96 Back, Rroxket, the Leo Bhanji EP, the Parcels remix EP, VIAL’s re-recorded version of their 2019 debut EP, Sasha’s score for the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit Da Vinci Genius, the Crippled Black Phoenix double album of covers & reworks, the Tom Petty live album on Third Man, the OCS live album / 7″ box, and the War box.
Read on for my picks. What’s your favorite release of the week?
Bedsore – Dreaming the Strife for Love (20 Buck Spin)
The Italian band’s sophomore LP blends real-deal ’70s prog and harsh death/black metal in a way that Blood Incantation and Tribulation fans should take note of
Some people have already finished and posted their year-end lists, and if yours is one of the many lists that have or will recognize Blood Incantation’s progressive death metal opus Absolute Elsewhere as the genre-transcendent masterpiece that it is, you might wanna make sure to spend some time with this late-in-the-year Bedsore album too. They already showed off a knack for blending prog, psych, and black/death metal on their very good 2020 debut LP Hypnagogic Hallucinations, but they’re swinging for the fences like never before on Dreaming the Strife for Love. Like the new Blood Incantation album, you can tell that Dreaming the Strife for Love wasn’t just informed by progressive death metal but by actual, full-on, ’70s prog nerd shit. Just look at the analog synth and the double-neck guitar in Bedsore’s new press photo; these folks look more like Yes/Camel/Genesis nerds than metalheads. And that side of Bedsore very much shows up on this album–keyboards, organs, horns, acoustic guitars, tricky time signatures, guitar-god solos, the works–delivered with love and care for their ’70s-era forebears and blended expertly with the band’s knack for death and black metal. The Blood Incantation comparison is hard to shake, but this album also reminds me of The Children of the Night/Down Below-era Tribulation for the way it uses elements of harsh, extreme metal to create what sounds like an evil version of triumphant, melodic arena rock. Both of those bands have cracked a code that appeals to both “metalheads” and “non-metalheads” in a way that feels damn effortless, and Bedsore just might have done the same.
Hidden Mothers – Erosion / Avulsion (Church Road)
Post-metal and post-hardcore collide on the UK band’s towering debut LP
UK band Hidden Mothers are clearly students of a wide range of heavy bands, and they combine so many different walks of heavy music life on their debut LP Erosion / Avulsion, which marks a big leap from their promising self-titled 2020 EP. Throughout these eight towering songs, I hear everything from Cult of Luna to Thrice to Alexisonfire to Deafheaven, and Hidden Mothers lean into the common ground between all of those bands, without worrying abou their perceived differences. Similar to a band like Brutus, it feels like post-metal and post-hardcore all at once, and as long as your musical interests fall anywhere in either of those orbits, there’s a little something on Erosion / Avulsion for everyone. They’ve got harsh screams, warm cleans, wall-of-sound guitars, and a seasoned aura that you don’t always hear on debut albums. This is clearly a band that’s dead set on leaving an impact.
Beatles ’64
This is a film, not an album, but it’s the music-related release that I’m most excited about this week, and it’s also perfect for Thanksgiving weekend, the same weekend that Get Back was released three years ago. Produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by David Tedeschi, Beatles ’64 is a new documentary about The Beatles’ first trip to America, and just like The Beatles’ Ed Sullivan Show performance was 60 years ago, it’s the perfect thing to get the whole family gathering around the TV for this weekend. It’s out now on Disney+, and you can read my full review.
Read Indie Basement for more new album reviews, including The Innocence Mission’s new album, and browse the Notable Releases archive for more recent reviews. If you missed it late last week, read my review of Kendrick Lamar‘s GNX.
Looking for a podcast to listen to? Check out our new episode with The Offspring.
Pick up the BrooklynVegan x Alexisonfire special edition 80-page magazine, which tells the career-spanning story of Alexisonfire and comes on its own or paired with our new exclusive AOF box set and/or individual reissues, in the BV shop. Also pick up the new Glassjaw box set & book, created in part with BrooklynVegan.
And, if you haven’t already, subscribe to the new BrooklynVegan digital magazine for free! Our first four editions are out now, with cover stars MJ Lenderman, Jessica Pratt, Mannequin Pussy and Paramore.