January 2018 New Music

True story, I have written a Best of 2017 post stuck in draft mode that will likely never see the light of day. Why? Because 2017 was an overwhelmingly great year for new music. Trying to sum it up in one post proved to be too sprawling to get a handle on. As 2017 recedes further and further in to the past I decided to start fresh and this is the first of 12 I plan to publish over 2018. Enough preamble, let’s get to the tunes!

This time last year we already had new albums from Wyldlife, AFI, The Menzingers and Lower than Atlantis. By comparison this year is starting off a lot slower. All hope is not lost though because January gifted us an album I’m betting will still be a strong contender for Best of the Year come December. I’m talking about Norway’s own Audrey Horne and the fantastic Blackout.

2014’s Pure Heavy was a solid album but Blackout is the best the band has released yet. Kicking off with “This is War” what follows is 11 songs of ass kicking rock and roll that happily evoke early KISS, Thin Lizzy, and numerous other rock bands from the 70’s while still sounding modern and fresh. The first single, “Audrevolution”, is a great place to start. If you find yourself headbanging along after the first 30 seconds this is the album for you.

The title track, “Blackout”, lays on the cowbell for a guitar layered masterpiece that is already my early favorite for best hard rock song of the year. If you told me it was a lost Paul Stanley song that Audrey Horne decided to cover I wouldn’t bat an eyelash. It sounds ready made for the Starchild himself and is an absolute scorcher.

“Satellite” has one of the dankest bass groove I’ve heard in many a moon. It ends with an homage to Eddie Van Halen’s iconic “Beat It” solo which would only be considered audacious if it didn’t work so damn well.

Unfortunately that’s about it for January. I told you the year started off slow but Blackout should keep you occupied for some time to come.

As a special bonus, here is virtuoso Leo Moracchioli with his metal cover of Toto’s “Africa”. If you dig this, look him up your music site of choice. He is basically a one man wrecking crew for covering pop songs with heaping helpings of shredding guitars.

And because I love you and want you to be happy here is Leo’s take (heh) on Ah-ha’s “Take on Me”. This dude has covered everything and he plays all the instruments and vocals for all the songs. He’s an absolute madman and my new personal hero!

Want more? How about Gotye?
Let it Go?
The Safety Dance?

See you in February when I’ll be sharing new music from Turbo Negro, Brian Fallon, and more!

Links:
http://www.audreyhornemusic.com/
Leo can be found at: https://frogleapstudios.dpdcart.com/