{"id":87989,"date":"2019-08-09T15:00:50","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T14:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=87989"},"modified":"2023-04-07T14:25:54","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T13:25:54","slug":"review-mallory-knox-mallory-knox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mallory-knox-mallory-knox\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Mallory Knox \u2013 Mallory Knox"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It\u2019s make-or-break time for Mallory Knox<\/strong><\/a>. Following 2017’s lacklustre ‘Wired’<\/em><\/a>, frontman Mikey Chapman departed. Now, bassist Sam Douglas has stepped into his shoes. A very different vocalist, it was a brave choice. It signals a significant shift in the band\u2019s sound, with everything riding on the quality of their self-titled record.<\/p>\n

Wasting no time, the band establish their new approach. It\u2019s riff-heavy, stripped back and very much garage rock. Songs like \u2018Psycho Killer<\/em>\u2019 and \u2018Whenever<\/em>\u2019 are driven by huge slabs of muscular guitar. There are no slow songs, no plodders. Even the poppier numbers such as \u20184<\/em>\u2019 and \u2018Black Holes<\/em>\u2019 are ballsy and don\u2019t let up. The comfortable arena-filling sound of their older work is gone. This is a harsher and dirtier album, clearly, they\u2019re not fawning to their old fans.<\/p>\n

Douglas has a good voice. It\u2019s not as smooth or powerful as Chapman\u2019s and at times he can sound extremely rough. It\u2019s a huge, but very effective, contrast.\u00a0 Especially as he can turn out a superb hook. On \u2018Freaks,<\/em>\u2019 his voices twists and turns to real effect. While \u2018White Lies<\/em>\u2019 does use similar melodies to their older songs, he really makes them his own.<\/p>\n