The Struts
Young And Dangerous
(Polydor)
★★★★★
The down the wormhole, cocksure retro groove feel to this sophomore release by these glammy British rockers is a big beat balm of wicked songs for sore ears.
Tune after tune ear-worms deep into the listeners’ psychic jukebox so much so that you can’t get them out of your head.
A dead-ringer for Freddie Mercury, singer Luke Spiller bellows throughout firing up a hot band with a massive future ahead of them.
Killer songs Body Talks (with Kesha), In Love With A Camera, Bulletproof Baby and the infectious Primadonna Like Me, classily crunch along like a rocked-up Ferrari on a gritty dirt track.
Anthrax
State Of Euphoria
(Island Records/UMe)
★★★★★
An album of coruscating songs that will pin you to the ceiling, this 30th-anniversary edition comes with a big metal cowbell ‘doink’ of extras.
Being the fourth studio release by these stalwart metal ambassadors, this comprehensive package includes the original album re-mastered, all the B-sides, plus ‘Antisocial’ recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon in 1989.
Most revealing is Disc 2 which contains ‘Charlie’s Archives’, an intimate trove of recordings of the songs as they were being developed in rehearsal towards studio recording sessions.
A sumptuous booklet of personal snapshots, with liner notes by metal master Alexander Milas, completes a highly contagious package.
Haken
Vector
(InsideOut)
★★★★
First impressions of an album centred around the concept of a creepy doctor with an unusual interest in a patient may seem convoluted in the least. However, it’s the sheer scale of epic musical interpretation that convinces in spades.
Riff-heavy bombs of musical menace mix in with more proggy textures to keep regular fans satisfied. However, moving towards a slightly new trajectory of sound, Vector oozes with a fresh sonic dynamism.
Gryphon
ReInvention
(GRIFCD01)
★★★★
The original medieval musical crusaders who flourished in the seventies blowing their crumhorns with gleeful abandon, Gryphon have returned with a magical menu of catchy songs on this charming release where humour is very much to the fore.
Song titles such as A Futuristic Auntyquarian, Haddocks’ Eyes and the catchy Rhubarb Crumhorn crumble along with toe-tapping mirth. Nevertheless, it’s the exquisite musicianship that underlines this entrancing album that is hearty manna for the ears.