Tripswitch & Heaven's Basement follow-up

It's kind of tough reviewing these after spending the day listening Anti-Flag and the new Adversary album...but here's goes:

Tripswitch Until
Seven fairly muddled tracks involving confused layers of unimpressive wailing, hysterical shrieks, random electronic samples, moments of forced calms and chugging guitars which lead nowhere. Chaotic and dull all at the same time, I'm not sure this will make it onto the pod. Still, if you ignore the vocalist and former bare knuckle boxer Jamie's arrest on suspicion of murder, they've had a good run of label interest, have previously recorded with Andy Sneap (Trivium, KSE, Machine Head) and had the odd tv feature and rock playlist to boast about...so maybe I'm just having a bad day.

Heaven's Basement Sampler
GREAT fun!!! Lower the shame guard and pretend you're at the front of a Thunder concert (yes, they've toured with them) dressed head to toe in skin-tight leather and head full-throttle down the road to self-indulgent oldschool sleaze-rock. WOOOOO!!! The vocals are shrill, gritty and uplifting, the guitars melodic to the last and the choruses will stick in your head for days. Pretty much all tracks are worth an ear, but Fear of Getting Off is a particularly awesome track with a gutsy guitar solo threaded throughout.
Grab your grin and ride!

PS. And now for something completely different: THE OBLIGATORY JUST-BACK-FROM-HOLIDAY POWDER VIDEO

New week. New music.

In the mailbox to review this week:
Huron (sampler)
Tripswitch 'Until' (alb)
Papa Roach 'Hollywood Whore' (sampler)
Heaven's Basement (sampler)

HURON
A hefty dirty rock band from Plymouth whose amusingly-titled debut album Cheyne Smoking can be found out 20th April on Rising Records.
'Lust Of War' is all killer riffs and gritty vocals (that sound gloriously like old Anselmo at times) with indulgent slices of playful guitar thrown in. 'Killer In New York' fades into filler territory a bit but 'Pain Is Me' gets back in the stoner vibe with a poisonously infectious chorus. Awesome.
Catch them touring the UK wth Viking Skull and 101% Pantera!

PAPA ROACH
So, the bugs are back in town. Bizarrely, though, the sampler they've chosen to send out features a couple of cheery old tracks among the new, and single 'Hollywood Whore' sinks fast when compared to punchy favourite 'Getting Away With Murder'. It starts with some angsty singing and chuncky guitar action but the chorus drags painfully and you're left with a serious need for release. Complete with a melodic whining from frontman Shaddix and rhythmic repetition about tearing yourself open, 'Scars' isn't much better, remaining the sort of unmemorable track you'd expect to find at the emotional peak of a teenage rom-com. Ho hum.