So many times I am asked what new bands I like. To be honest for a while there wasn’t much for my personal tastes. Lot’s of aggression but not much in the way of songs. For me if it’s hard rock or metal I MUST like the singer and the music must have some sense of melody to it. It’s one of the reasons I don’t care for death or extreme metal. I can appreciate the energy, but for me, I don’t hear songs and not a fan of “cookie monster” voices. I’ve NEVER faked liking a band because everyone said I should or they were the new hip thing. That trend for me goes all the way back to being a little kid. Which is why I was routinely made fun of for liking bands like Kiss and others when they were very much thought of as “uncool”. But I must say I am very encouraged by some of the new stuff coming down the pike. There is this trend of no nonsense straight up riff based hard rock by a whole new generation of young bands. Essentially bands with members in their 20’s that sound like they are from 1973! Anti Mortem. Scorpion Child, Kyng, Monster Truck, Rival Sons, Witchcraft, and many others have recently peaked my interest. I don’t know which if any will come out of the pack and it’s too soon to see which will develop into truly great bands that stand the test of time. But at a time when hard rock and metal needs a new Appetite For Destruction to kick everyone’s ass and shake things up and help bring back rock, there are some strong signs on the horizon. I am rooting for all these guys and you will hear many on my radio shows sprinkled among the classics. New and classic rock acts still very much needs your help to break through. So keep an eye out for this stuff and spread the word if you like it. Hopefully one of them really hits and puts a charge in a fairly stagnant world lately for new hard rock bands.
What have you heard new you like? As always comments welcomed and encouraged here!
PS: I no doubt forgot others that I like. Perhaps the biggest challenge we have with so much music so available so easily is navigating what’s out there and remembering it! Another reason I still love CDs. Much easier to keep in your line of site when it’s a physical item vs an easily lost download, file or link.
132 Responses
Never heard them mentioned outside Europe much, but Audrey Horne is a fantastic band. Have a listen, Eddie.
The answer is The Answer: New Horizon. Check this out along with their past catalog, great classic hard rock vibe. These guys got their break opening up for AC/DC on the Black Ice tour.
Eddie,
I would love to write a lengthy message to discuss every group that we seem to both love, but alas, in keeping with the spirit of a blog and not getting off topic, I’ll leave that for another time.
Go back in time and search out bands you ignored when you were 16. I have found countless old groups (ones that actually were from the 70’s and 80’s … not just sound like they were) that I either didn’t know existed or perhaps overlooked in my zeal to rock out to whatever was popular (in rock of course). Just tonight, while looking at all the suggestions in this blog, I found a band I never heard of called SIGNAL and they had only 1 album, called LOUD AND CLEAR…….. It is absolutely awesome. Sure, it’s fits my tastes so I don’t expect all you guys to go and fall in love with it, but the point is, do some archival work. Use Spotify for sampling and use Amazon or other CD places for the “IF YOU LIKE THIS” “THEN YOU’LL LIKE THIS” suggestions. That’s exactly how I found SIGNAL tonight.
Just tonight, starting with Eddie’s suggestion of Scorpion Child and Monster Truck, and reading through the suggestions from other commenters, I found the following (quite a few came from the if you like this then you’ll like this suggestions at Amazon).
1) Scorpion Child
2) Monster Truck
3) Red Dragon Cartel (Jake E. Lee new band)
4) Signal (Loud and Clear)
5) Coney Hatch 4
6) Vandenberg’s Moonkings
7) Gotthard (trying the first 2 albums as suggested)
8) KXM (George Lynch’s new band, comes out this Tuesday)
9) Will the Thrill (Thanks for the Support)
10) King Kobra (yes, I hate to admit I don’t have any of their music.. )
So that’s just from reading the first page of blog comments and doing a little if you like this, then… shopping.
A couple of new(er) bands that I would also like to suggest:
Winery Dogs, Voodoo Circle, Heaven and Earth
Stangiato
all the time i used to read smaller articles which
also clear their motive, and that is also happening with this piece of writing which
I am reading here.
There are a ton of good bands rising up. So cool that you support them on That Metal Show and the radio. They need help in this dark age of record sales. Some are touring nonstop. We need to support these guys so they can continue to bring good new music to the table.
Here’s my list:
Voodoo Highway
Trucker Diablo
Scorpion Child
Butcher Babies
Tragedian
Kobra and The Lotus
Kamelot
Epica
Witch Meadow (Tribunal Records)
Train Of Thought(Rhode Island based)
moonkings