The UK’s quintet aptly known as Imperial Circus play a style of groove and hook laden heavy rock, and their debut album “Above The Deep” is a solid debut production-wise. Musically, they’re very good as what they do, but there is nothing out of the ordinary on this ten tracker as the songs are your standard verse, chorus, verse, chorus affair. The vocals are good, but again, nothing that really impresses. However, I do give their singer Leigh Dickens for making an effort at being a strong crooner as his vocals definitely fit the band’s music and do provide a lot of emotion, which is a good thing.

“A Bitter Pill” is probably the most stand out track on this album and features plenty of catchy hooks.

Don’t get me wrong, Imperial Circus is not that bad of a listen, it’s just that there is something missing from their music, but you never know, this could be your band. “Above The Deep” should appeal to fans of Disturbed, Finger Eleven and even Papa Roach.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Finnish melodic rockers and metal heads Amoral have been at it since the late nineties, with their debut album “Wound Creations” being released in 2004. Singer Ari Koivunen sings with so much passion and fire, you could almost feel his sorrow. There is something very unique about the way he blends his cleaner and melodic vocal harmonies with the real rough and scratchy screams of great despair.

The vocals overall are just fantastic on “Beneath” and speak volumes of many great influences and memories of heavy metal and rock from the good old days.

Musically, Amoral will fucking rock your world with rock, metal, jazz and blues influences, so if you think this is a lot for your ears to handle, just imagine listening to “Beneath” as a whole, you will be blown away into musical bliss, no kidding.

The one interesting point about Amoral is that they define their style of rock/metal as Classic Rock Of The 21st Century. Considering with the many unique rock, metal, instrumental rock and blues influences found within their songs; this quality alone sets Amoral apart from the rest of their heavy rock counterparts.

There are plenty of memorable riffs and rhythms that’ll make you want to throw your fists in the air and nod along to every one of their beats.

The album art is pretty cool too, with a scene of an under water landscape somewhere in the deep waters of the world’s many oceans.

This is my second time listening to Amoral’s “Beneath” opus, and I’ve already found even more unique elements among their song arrangements, so I can only imagine what will happen when I’ve listened to it another several times, ha, ha. I cannot wait…

Popularity: 100% [?]