You know what they say: If it’s too loud, you’re too … something. Honestly, I couldn’t make it out above the ringing. Anyway, here are some of the noisier albums of July, listed in alphabetical order. Just click on the cover picture to go to the original review page (where you can also probably listen to the album in full):
Bones UK
Bones UK
The dynamic, daring and dangerous duo of Rosie Bones and Carmen Vandenberg — last seen (and heard) lending their talents (and attitude) to guitar hero Jeff Beck on his edgy electronica disc Loud Hailer in 2016 — get their own with this mix of low-slung electronica and swaggering industrial rock, smartly decorated with incongruously infectious pop hooks. They’ll get under your skin.
Kryptos
Afterburner
The veteran thrash-metal power trio from Bangalore, India — yes, India — don’t try to reinvent any musical wheels on their fifth full-length. But they do succeed in reproducing an arsenal of metal styles from the late ’70s and early ’80s — from the chugging riffage of Judas Priest to the speed-demon complexity of thrash and the aggression of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal — all fused into one hybrid band fronted by a spewing demon. Call it heavy meta.
Pretty Vicious
Beauty of Youth
These baby-faced Welsh rockers make an impressively solid debut with a perfectly balanced blend of indie-rock, power-pop, punk, glam and grunge — though it might also remind you of Arctic Monkeys, Oasis or even an edgier Cheap Trick from time to time. More vicious than pretty. Thankfully.
Sum 41
Order in Decline
Dig out that old sleeveless T-shirt and tight black pants: The Sums are back. The impressively resilient and unrepentantly in-your-face Canadian pop-punk vets get political on their seventh album — but without sacrificing their classic cocktail of metallic riffage, punky attitude and razor-sharp pop-rock hooks.
Throwaway
What?
Remember The Gong Show? And The Unknown Comic? The guy who told jokes with a paper bag over his head? This is sorta like that. Except that instead of a comedian, it’s an scrappy indie-rock duo from Detroit. And the person hiding inside the sack is singing and playing guitar instead of barking bad gags. And it’s not a dude, it’s a woman. And her name is Kirsten Carey, so she’s not really unknown. Come to think of it, it’s nothing at all like The Unknown Comic or The Gong Show. Never mind.
