Last night I decided I would skip my regularly scheduled Song of the Day post in favor of a monthly recap post. As it turns out though rock is far from dead and my recap post end up being entirely rock and metal releases. Ain’t nothing wrong with that right!?
The month started off a pair of new singles from Sweden. After 8 years of silence, Blindside returned with a new song titled “Gravedigger” and Narnia dropped their second single off their upcoming album From Darkness to Light due out August 2nd.
The holiday weekend wasn’t all veterans though. Newcomer Haiva ru released “Hard Feelings” a single off her forthcoming album/EP.
July really started heating up following week with a pair of new releases from Solid State Records. Oh Sleeper released album number four and new-signee Empty dropping a 3-song EP.
That’s just the beginning of what Solid State released this month though. Unless you’ve been living under a rock with no WiFi you probably know that Wolves at the Gate have a new album out. If you only pay attention to album releases though you might have missed Norma Jean’s new song “[Mind Over Mind].”
And before we depart from the heavier stuff, let me mention a couple of more singles from this month. One is “Hurricane” by the band Convictions. The other is “Me Against Myself” by Wage War.
Enough with Solid State, let’s talk Tooth and Nail. The real highlight this month (dare I say year!?) in my opinion is John Van Deusen‘s album (I Am) Origami Pt. 3 – A Catacomb Hymn. Trust me, this isn’t an album you want to sleep on.
That’s not all from Tooth & Nail this month though, there’s also a first single from Disciple’s upcoming album and re-released song from Paradise Now (formerly Written in Kings).
Stepping away from singles for a second, there were a few albums and EP I haven’t mentioned yet worth checking out. First is Indie Vision Music’s own Light the Way who released “Dad Gang” this past weekend. Another IVM favorite, 2 Minute Minor also released a new album month. Fellow IVM writer Loyd Harp liked it enough to make the song “Bottom Feeder” his Song of the Day pick. Check it out below.
In other album related news, SILVERSYDE returned with a new album on Rockfest Records and new artist Carousel released Smoke + Mirrors.
On to EPs, Audiofeed rockers Salt Creek released a new EP called If You Were There. Check out the IVM here. Another EP worth checking out is High Hopes by RELIC which had the song “Life on Earth” featured as my Song of the Day recently.
Speaking of song of the day picks, let me mention a few more of mine: “Don’t Waste My Time” by The Color Negative and “Give and Take” by Kingslynn.
If you’re looking for some new music videos White Collar Shideshow’s new music video for “I Didn’t Come Here to Die” is as strange as ever and Rusty Shipp filled their’s on a submarine.
A few singles worth your time: Deep Valleys kills it with Forever, the seconds single off their new album GOLDHAVEN coming out August 4th. And not to be out done, Strange Her released two new songs this month ahead of their new album A Marginal Sea coming out August 12th.
Finally, I’ll wrap up the rock and metal section with “Sunny Side Up” by The Timbre of Cedar and “You Ain’t Ready” by Skillet (click here for review). Can you guess which one is my favorite?
So what you think, is rock still alive and well? If you’re still not convinced check out my 2019 Christian Rock playlist.
Hey Noah! Wow! I had no idea there were so many rock and metal releases this week! One more I’d like to mention is Alabama’s Post-Hardcore act Meadows. They also recently released “In Those Days & Also After, Pt. II” available at their bandcamp page for $3: FFO: lighthouses, Idle Threat., Household, and Ruiner https://meadowsal.bandcamp.com/album/in-those-days-also-after-pt-ii God bless you, brother!
10/10 recap