Kris Band Barras - Halo Effect - VINYL LP

A musical career is a living, breathing thing - a sonic moodboard of passions and influences that goes wherever the muse takes it. For Kris Barras Band, formed in 2015 and led by MMA fighter-turned-musician Kris Barras, that muse has guided them from blues beginnings to a hard rock renaissance. It continues to be one hell of a ride, having reached number 5 in the Official UK Album Chart and number 1 in the Rock & Metal Album Chart with 2024's 'Halo Effect'.That fascinating evolution continues on their forthcoming sixth album, 'Monsters We Made', with a sound that continues to suit the scale of the legendary venues they've played, including Wembley Arena and the Royal Albert Hall, while drawing comparisons with the likes Black Stone Cherry and Shinedown - which suits Kris just fine. InchWe wanted big singalongs, big riffs, big solos,Inch the band's leader says of their creative ethos this time around. InchThe kind of hard rock music that belongs in arenas - dense, complex and able to energise the biggest crowds.Inch Such ambitions are easier said than done, but with the band's guitarist/keyboardist Josiah Manning on production duties, it's a task the Devon band - completed by bassist Frazer Kerslake and drummer Billy Hammett - have been equal to. For evidence, you need only listen to the colossal opening title track, which tackles the idea of being your own worst enemy and features what Kris rightly considers Inchone of the best choruses I've ever writtenInch; or the epic ballad, InchOthersideInch, which plucks at heartstrings and orchestral strings alike.InchI'd like to think this record could unite our older and newer fans,Inch says Kris of 'Monsters We Made', a record that will appeal to blues fans thanks to it's contrasts between light and dark, as well as rock fans wanting to bang their heads.

Rock and metal music have always been a haven for those who have bigger stories to tell; who have grander emotions to convey. For more than thirty years, Finnish figureheads Amorphis have done their best to carve their very own niche in heartfelt yet aggressive, melancholic yet soothing tunes. On HaloInch, their staggering fourteenth studio effort, the Fins underline their trailblazing status as one of the most original, culturally relevant and rewarding acts ever to emerge from the land of the thousand lakes. In the past, mythology and legend took the role of today's pop culture Stories and a set of values uniting us by giving us a voice and a tapestry on which we can find each other and identify with something. By weaving the tales of Finnish national epos InchKalevalaInch into their songs and interpreting them in a timeless way, Amorphis combine the role of ancient minstrels and luminaries of the modern world, honouring tradition without getting stuck in the past. The vibrant, lively, and touching beauty that is InchHaloInch highlights their musical and storytelling mastership on a once again soaring level It's a progressive, melodic, and quintessentially melancholic heavy metal masterwork plucked from the fickle void of inspiration by original guitarists Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari, bassist Olli-Pekka Laine, drummer Jan Rechberger, longtime keyboardist Santeri Kallio and vocalist Tomi Joutsen, the band's long-standing lyrical consciousness Pekka Kainulainen and a selected group of world class audio professionals led by renowned Swedish producer Jens Bogren. Considering the band's prolonged journey in the forefront of innovative metal music, it's difficult to grasp how Amorphis manages to raise the proverbial bar time and time again, presenting a more than worthy finale to the trilogy begun with 2015's InchUnder the Red CloudInch followed by 2018's InchQue

2022 studio album from Mykki Blanco. Stay Close to Music is unlike anything they have released before. Adventurous and expansive, it shatters any previously held assumptions about Mykki's artistry, leaving them free to define their sound for themselves. Throughout their evolution, poet, artist, musician Mykki Blanco has continuously blurred genres - pulling rave, trap, grunge and punk influences into a swirling pool of experimental hip hop that celebrated queer and trans experiences. Stay Close To Music features contributions from Saul Williams, ANOHNI, Dianna Gordon, Devendra Banhart, Jónsi, Michael Stipe and more.