#NewMusicFriday: April 11th 2025

As this site turns another year older (thanks Facebook memories), #NewMusicFriday is bolstered by the addition of it being Record Store Day tomorrow. The annual celebration of independent record shops sees a whole host of special vinyl releases. This year, the likes of A Day To Remember, Black Sabbath, Frank Turner, Oasis, Judas Priest, Rage Against The Machine, and the Ramones are just some of the names releasing limited vinyl.

As for the usual #NewMusicFriday round of releases, I’d say there’s no stand-out or major release, but as always, there’s plenty of new music to hear. The new releases from Magnolia Park, Halflives, and Gallus are covered in detail below. In addition to them, there are returns from Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, Danish death metallers Cabal, and dynamic Welsh rockers Those Damn Crows. The latter of these, titled ‘God Shaped Hole’, sees the Bridgend group solidify their place amongst the Alter Bridges of this world, delivering anthemic hard rock in abundance.

Parisian alt-rockers Storm Orchestra aim to share the same space with their debut record – ‘Get Better’. Packed with stadium-sized hooks, the trio dash between gritty anthemic rock, like on ‘Drummer’, to euphoric rock ballads (‘We Will Be The Last’), to adrenlaine-rushed rock (‘Get Back In Time’). Aided by a vulnerable lyrical spine, ‘Get Better’ is an often fun, if safe, offering.

Elsewhere, German metalcore titans Annisokay deliver ‘Abyss Pt. II’. Vocalists Rudi Schwarzer and Christoph Wieczorek continue to dynamically bounce off one another, while as a unit they maintain their sonic evolution. That’s despite remaining in the confines of the crushing metalcore scope. Within Destruction aim to evolve from their deathcore roots on new album, ‘Animetal’. It sees the Slovenian trio bring together their brutal sound with anime-inspired electronic flourishes. It’s a relentless and, at times, versatile offering. Welsh-speaking alt-rockers Breichiau Hir aim to showcase a cohesive sound with their new album, ‘Y Dwylo Uwchben’ (translation: ‘The Hands Above’). With flashes of Manchester Orchestra, their sophomore record radiates with euphoric and emotional choruses.

Some of today’s other releases come from Bon Iver, The Mars Volta, Teen Mortgage, Ok Go, Cytotoxin, Speedway, and Offended By Everything. Whereas Bloodguilt and Ghosts of Hope dropped releases earlier in the week.

Magnolia Park – VAMP

Magnolia Park is a band that refuses to be pigeonholed. From the punchy pop-punk of ‘Baku’s Revenge’ to dabbling in metalcore on ‘Do or Die’  to flirtations with EDM, hip-hop, and alt- and hard rock, their heavy output has been musically scattered. ‘VAMP’ is the Florida group’s proper second full-length (excluding the ‘Halloween Mixtapes’) and sees them at their most ambitious.

Centered on a neo-gothic concept, ‘VAMP’ involves the turmoil between Aurora X1, a half-cyborg/half-human, and a group known as the Shadow Cult, led by her estranged father, Obsidian. With multiple locations (Nocturne Nexus, the Shrouded Forest, Nether Sky City), and groups and additional characters, Magnolia Park has fleshed a detailed narrative and world-building with ‘VAMP’. Musically, it is the realisation of how they’ve evolved in recent years.

Read the full review here.

Halflives – How Much A Heart Can Take Before It Breaks

Having firmly been transformed to being a one-woman project, Halflives‘ Linda Battilani’s latest EP reverts to the catchy alt-rock that put eyes on her almost ten years ago. ‘How Much A Heart Can Take Before It Breaks’ sees her in a reflective mood, allowing its five tracks to explore societal expectations, self-empowerment and acceptance. It provides a personal edge to an otherwise safe sound.

Battilani can no doubt write a soaring, memorable hook; tracks such as ‘No Way Out’ and ‘Permanent Damage’ are evidence of that. However, her slickly produced melodic rock lacks a distinct identity, even if she has an incredible voice.  Unfortunately, she’s in a pool of artists that tick the same boxes.

Despite these stylistic shortcomings, Battilani can take pride in writing a thematically focused set of songs. When it’s paired with annoyingly catchy songs like ‘perfectly broken,’ there’s still potential of some form of sustainability to what Halflives do. However, with numerous EPs under her belt and the absence of a fully recognisable sound, Battilani and Halflives may only have a couple more opportunities to truly fulfil the potential shown over the past decade.

Gallus – Cool To Drive

Scottish mob Gallus leans into their punk side on this five-song EP titled ‘Cool To Drive’. Its title track, along with ‘Depressed Beyond Tablets’ quickly show the quintet’s ability to write witty songs swirling with energy. Vocalist Barry Dolan has a charisma pull, matching the band’s looser, scrappier sound. ‘Perfect Health’ sees them collectively swagger with confidence, allowing Dolan to tell a story of dystopian (and reliable) health care. ‘Just Dessers’ fizzes with post-punk angst as Dolan takes aim at ‘copy-and-paste’ bands, amid a favourable fuzzy and angular riff. ‘It Bit’ closes this short outing on a high. Eamon Ewins and Gianluca Bernacchi’s guitars brazenly rush to match Paul Ewins’ tempo, as the track becomes unhinged in a snarling manner.

Pivoting from the indie-heavy debut album, ‘We Don’t Like the People We’ve Become,’ Gallus embrace a scrappy, energetic sound that feels aligned with their often tongue-in-cheek, working class songwriting. ‘Cool To Drive’ has personality and consistency with addictive traces that make Gallus an exciting prospect North of the border.

What is out on #NewMusicFriday?

Magnolia Park – VAMP
Epica – Aspiral
Cabal – Everything Rots
Those Damn Crows – God Shaped Hole
Bon Ivr – Sable, Fable
The Mars Volta – Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos Del Vacio
Halflives – How Much A Heart Can Take Before It Breaks
Storm Orchestra – Get Better
Teen Mortgage – Devil Ultrasonic Dream
Gallus – Cool To Drive
Annisokay – Abyss Pt II
Within Destruction – Animetal
Ok Go – And the Adjacent Possible
Breichiau Hir – Y Dwylo Uwchben (The Hands Above)
Benthos – From Nothing
Cytotoxin – Biographyte
Exiled Hope – Apocrypha
Bloodguilt – Bloodguilt
Ghosts of Hope – From The Ashes of a Tethered Heart
Offended By Everything – We’re Safe For Now
Speedway – A Life’s Refrain
Idle Heirs – Life Is Violence
Mamalarky – Hex Key
Sevendials – A Crash Course In Catastrophe
The Birthday Massacre – Pathways
The Last Mile – Holding On To Hope

Record Store Day 2025 Selections

View the full Record Store Day 2025 UK list here

A Day To Remember – Attack Of The Killer B-Sides
Beabadoobee – Live & Acoustic In London
Black Sabbath – The Eternal Idol
Black Stone Cherry – This is Black Stone Cherry’s RSD album. The band really likes it.
Bloc Party – Little Thoughts EP
Blur – The Magic Whip
CHVRCHES – Every Open
Deicide – Once Upon the Cross (Limited 30th Anniversary “Autobots” Vinyl Edition)
Dinosaur Jr – Guess I’ll Crawl (Live In Santa Monica)
Doves – Cally/Lean Into The Wind
The Dwarves – Sunshine, Lollipops & Rainbows
Frank Turner – Positive Songs For Negative People (10th Anniversary Edition)
The Futureheads – RANT (RSD 2025 COLOURED VINYL REPRESS)
Gorillaz – Demon Days Live From the Apollo Theater
The Hives – Tyrannosaurus Hives
Jet – Get Born (Rarities)
Joey Valence & Brae – Good Songs by JVB (RSD25 EX)
Judas Priest – Live in Atlanta ’82
Kasabian – Kasabian
Motley Crue Smokin’ In The Boys Room / Home Sweet Home – 40th Anniversary
Motorhead – The Lost Tapes Vol.6 (Live In Berlin 1992)
Oasis – Time Flies… 1994 – 2009
Pixies – Bossanova / Trompe Le Monde Live (140g Ice Blue vinyl) (RSD 2025)
Post Malone – Post Malone Tribute to Nirvana
Queen – De Lane Lea Demos
Rage Against The Machine – Live on Tour 1993
Ramones – Loco Live
Rise Against – Nod (7″ Single)
Roger Waters – The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux (Live)
The Rolling Stones – Out of Our Heads (US version)
Saxon – Wheels Of Steel
Scott Weiland – I Know It’s Too Late / Missing Cleveland (Live)
Skindred – Union Black
Stone Temple Pilots – Live In New Haven 1994
Supergrass – I Should Coco (30th Anniversary)
Talking Heads – Live On Tour ’78
Taylor Swift – Fortnight
The Killers/Bruce Springsteen – Encore at the Garden
The Verve – Voyager 1
W.A.S.P. – The Last Command
The Who – Tommy OST
YUNGBLUD and Lil Yachty – When We Die (Can We Still Get High?)

If you think I’ve missed something or have a new album/EP/song to tell us about, tell us about it here.

If you’re looking for the latest tracks focusing on rock, punk, hardcore, metal, emo, and everything in between, then check out our ‘Newish Music’ playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.